Second In Command Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES
It's time to take charge!
Jean Claude plays an official who's just been appointed as Second In Command to the U.S.Ambassador at an American Embassy in a small, turbulent Eastern European nation.When local insurgents attempt a coup d'etat, the nation's President takes refuge inside the embassy.The embassy is then besieged by the well-armed insurgents.The U.S. Ambassador is killed in the ensuing action, an now it's up to Jean Claude and the embassy's small detachment of U.S. Marines to fend off the attackers
| Jean-Claude Van Damme | Sam Keenan |
| Julie Cox | Michelle Whitman |
| William Tapley | Frank Gaines |
| Alan Mckenna | Capt. John Baldwin |
| Razaaq Adoti | GSgt. Earl "Gunny" Darnell |
| Warren Derosa | Mike Shustec |
| Serban Celea | President Yuri Amirev |
| Colin Stinton | Ambassador George Norland |
| Emanuel Parvu | Cpl. Chevanton |
| Razvan Oprea | PFC Devereaux |
| Velibor Topic | Anton Tavarov |
| Elizabeth Barondes | Jennifer Lennard |
| Vlad Ivanov | RSO John Lydon |
| Mihai Bisericanu | Marshall Geller |
| Ian Virgo | Cpl. Will Butler |
| Simon Fellows |
5.20 out of 10 (1328 votes)
Visitor Reviews
boring at best but
posted on 11 Jul 2009Well, the movie is unrealistic from a strategic/military point of view , from the political one and pretty far from what could actually happen in Moldavia.And since the plot is a recycled one and the movie itself has no real artistic value, I really must ask myself what could be found interesting in it. Still I must admit that from the part played in this movie by Van Damme , it could be considered a step up for him, considering his past roles, and I don't think it should be considered his fault that the guys who write the scripts for the movies he plays in, are dumb asses(the one who wrote for this one is no exception) .I'll try watching it again, maybe I'll see what I didn't the first time.
Surprisingly good, even with that classic b-movie title!
posted on 05 Jul 2009The title of this movie at once reminds me of those instantly forgettable direct-to-video movies that seem to come out by the hundreds, but soon you realize that it is the perfect title for this story. The story takes place in a country called Moldavia, where there is much internal strife over an alleged order that the president gave, which led to a huge amount of innocent deaths. An insurgency rises, demanding that the president be tried in their custody, which presumably would consist of not much more than a brief mention of his crimes followed by torture and execution. That's just an assumption, of course. Van Damme plays Commander Sam Keenan, a Navy Seal sent in to handle the situation, which grows increasingly desperate and dire. One of the best things about the film is how realistically it presents the mass protests, which are so good that I imagine they must have used stock footage of real protests. Either way, they are seamlessly integrated into the film. Unfortunately, the one street on which the majority of the exterior scenes are filmed looks strikingly like a soundstage, but no matter. The gunfights, another easily botched element, are quite well done here. There is an authority battle as the clearly competent Keenan struggles to convince the commanders around him of a course of action that might save everyone but may also be more dangerous, while others in the top echelon immediately decide upon the tactic that will certainly save some lives but also certainly doom others. Keenan plays a pretty generic hero in this way, going the more dangerous route to save more lives, but it is undeniable that this is Van Damme at his highest class. He's not given a lot of meaningful stuff to do (he gets to say cool lines like "Get the people to the TLU and the president to the ACR. Go!"), but this is one of his best performances.His primary assignment is to hold off the impending insurgent force while both the American military and the Croatian army close in, conveniently with exactly the same ETA. You know something big is going to happen soon. Sadly, the CGI air support is pretty dismal, but it serves its purpose. The leader of the insurgency is also a little too much of a movie villain, although I like the final confrontation between him and Keenan (which would be a spoiler, but did you really think that wouldn't happen?), in which Keenan does something that reveals a deep flaw in his character. It's something that some people in the military might like to do to the bad guys in real life, but not the kind of thing you expect from a benevolent movie hero. And by the way, I love how, even with the sheer magnitude of firepower in the movie, it all comes down to a hand-to-hand knife fight.The movie ends with a sufficiently cheesy scene, although it stands out as a pretty glaring omission that the true guilt or innocence of the president, who allegedly caused so many deaths, was never proved one way or the other. I have been learning a lot about Mao Tse- tung lately, which has led to a gigantic mistrust of certain governments and powerful individuals. I guess we have to assume that he didn't commit the crime of which he was accused. Maybe they were banking on the "Insurgents" vs. the "President," so people would automatically assume who were the bad guys and who was the good guy. Too bad it's not that clear cut in real life…
The worst van Damme film ever
posted on 27 Jun 2009Now i am a massive van Damme fan I've seen everyone of his films and i could say that i like everyone one of them until i watched this film. There is so much wrong with this film that not even van Damme can rescue. Firstly the storyline is just awful its just not realistic, i only say this because the film is obviously trying to be very accurate and life like as possible. The filming is terrible, it keeps showing close up views of everything, things that u don't need to see like and close up of a mans arm and a close up of tyre the list is very long so i wont go on. Now when anybody goes to watch a van Damme film they are not expecting the storyline or the acting to be amazing they are just looking for some great action and fighting from van Damme but this does not happen. van Damme fights like 3 or 4 times in the whole film and when he does its done with a close up camera view and some weird slow mo effect that just doesn't do nothing for the film.I hate to say this about a van Damme film but this is one of the worst films I've ever seen. Even if you are the biggest van Damme fan (which i am) i guarantee you will not like this film.
Disappointed... again :(
posted on 27 Jun 2009To all of the JCVD fans digging for reasons that his recent movies aren't that bad, we need to stop pretending. I'm a devoted fan, but I just can't convince myself that this movie was any good at all. Like most of his loyal fans, we got hooked because of his fighting style. Second In Command had maybe three hand to hand fight scenes involving Van Damme, and they were all garbage. The first fight in the hotel was over in about 5 seconds. The next fight which was almost 40 minutes into the film, lasted about 20 seconds. The final fight scene didn't even hit the one minute mark, and was far from being a climactic fight. Sure there was some decent gun battles, but any actor can shoot a gun. Who's writing these scripts anyway? The plot points and supporting characters were all from a "cookie-cutter," and it didn't even seem like JCVD wanted to be there. Why is it so hard to have lengthy fight scenes scattered through out the whole movie (ie. Double Impact, Lionheart, etc.) I'll always be a fan, but if he's going to keep giving us such poor efforts, he could at least do more than one movie a year.
The return of the myth Van Damme !
posted on 11 Jun 2009An excellent film for the return of Van Damme. With an excellent script and scenes of action, Second in Command is an excellent film that marks with a positive point the career of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme proves another time that he is a master in action films and I was really very happy to see that Van Damme is getting back. Replicant, In Hell, Wake of Death and Second in Command had been four excellent films. What remains us now is wait for The Hard Corps, Til Death and Bloodsport 2. Congratulations, Van Damme!10/10
"Give them hell... that's an order!" More Eastern European lensed straight-to-DVD JCVD nonsense.
posted on 02 May 2009Second in Command is set in the civil war torn Eastern European country of Moldovia, there the situation is at critical as the newly elected President Yuri Amirev (Serban Celea) tries to Govern his people. However he has a huge insurgent problem, a 500 plus strong group of militia lead by Anton Tavarov (Velibor Topic), while trying to storm the Presidential Palace & seize control of the country several civilians are shot & killed by Palace guards which sends the angry mob into a violent frenzy. At the US Embassy ambassador George Norland (Colin Stinton) & his second in command, ex navy seal Commander Sam Keenan (Jean-Claude Van Damme), organise & carry out rescue mission in which President Amirev is saved from the insurgents & sheltered in the US Embassy. With US relations already low in Moldavia the Embassy becomes the point of attack for the insurgents who are determined to overthrow President Amirev...This American Romanian co-production was directed by Simon Fellows & as far as I am concerned Second in Command is pretty poor even by JCVD standards whose films are usually fun & watchable if nothing else. The script is a sort of poor mans cross between Black Hawk Down (2001) with it's story about US military soldiers trapped in some anti American country up against local militia with the base under siege plot of Assault on Precinct 13 (1976, 2005) & there's even a Zulu (1964) style against all the odds fight at the end where the good guy's are badly outnumbered by the enemy but still carry on under impossible odds. To give Second in Command some credit I thought the story was alright & it certainly moves along at a good pace, there isn't much boring exposition but that obviously comes at the expense of the character's & the marines in particular suffer in this regard as it's very difficult to tell who is who since they all look the same & aren't even given names. The action is quite small scale, JCVD doesn't get to use his moves very often, there's that whole somewhat cheesy American patriotism in the face of overwhelming odds type sentimentality & was it just me or did it seem like no-one else lived in Moldovia apart from US soldiers & heavily armed insurgents? Where were the local population?As usual JCVD gets to be the hero, despite all the evidence pointing to one solution & one way JCVD opposes it for no good reason & then turns out to be totally right & he gets to save the day, save the US civilians, the Moldovian President & therefore the entire country. Just in a days work for JCVD really. The storyline in Second in Command is very topical & could be said to be based on some sort of realistic foundation, or you could say Second in Command uses the current political climate to hang a less than average JCVD action flick on. Whichever way you want to look at it I suppose. The single most annoying & irritating aspect of Second in Command is the cinematography, it's awful shaky hand-held camcorder stuff which I just hate anyway. You know, it's when the camera twitches, jerks, sways & just feels like it's being operated by someone who is drunk. I hate hand-held shaky camcorder cinematography, it's used quite often these days yet I don't know a single person who likes it. Why do filmmakers continue to use this style? Where's the evidence that people actually like it? The action set-pieces aren't great, there's a few shoot-outs, a couple of fights, an exploding bus & that's about it.With a supposed budget of about $12,000,000 Second in Command feels very cheap, the awful hand-held cinematography, the small scale action & some poor CGI work don't help either. Although set in Moldovia this was filmed in Bucharest in Romania. The acting isn't anything to write home about & JCVD seems to be on autopilot here & pretty much phones in his performance.Second in Command is very much second rate JCVD, if this is anything to go by his Universal Solider (1992), Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994) & Sudden Death (1995) days are long behind him. Still, he has made worse than this although that's certainly no recommendation.
Rubbish
posted on 02 May 2009I'm giving this a 1/10 to counter anybody who gave this a 10/10. Did you see the film? J-CVD was looking tired, the script was predictable and the acting sucked. He IS turning into Steven Seagal except that Seagal's films are more watchable. I've never expected much from a J-CVD film, but I never expected so little, either. Anybody expecting a martial arts film will also be disappointed. I don't know if he's feeling his age or is just trying to do a more intelligent part, but it didn't work. The film is full of action but the devastation the helicopter attack would have caused only resulted in localised pyrotechnics. The previous reviewer suggests that this film is better than 7 Seconds – I feel I am going to be disappointed again. I'm only writing this review to try and save other people from wasting an hour and a half of their lives. Avoid!
Van Damme for a new generation (huh?)
posted on 29 Mar 2009STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits Action movie lovers have been treated to a recent cavalcade of treats from action maestro Steven Seagal, but his sworn counter-part Jean Claude Van Damme, has chosen to make his fans take long breaks in between his new films, drawing out the suspense and anticipation for his next filmic treat. Many or few, both their films have been fairly matching in terms of quality generally, but at least JC has let the bad taste of his last dud die down before treating his long-suffering fans to another piece of cinematic bilge. But maybe the Muscles from Brussells is at a bit of a crossroads in his life at the moment. He may be in much better shape and far more dynamically athletic than Seagal, but all the same, he's still 45 years old now, and the days of his no-brainer, eye candy martial arts flicks like Double Impact, Kickboxer and Bloodsport are long behind him. And so we have him in Second in Command, a far more mature movie with minimal martial arts and a big story with tonnes of political intrigue and twists and turns (a Van Damme movie where you have to pay attention and think??? What is the world coming to?)Commander Sam Keenan (JC) has been assigned to protect the president in his embassy in an Eastern European country. But when one of his men fires at and kills a rebel insurgent protesting outside, it plunges Keenan into a desperate battle to get the president outside safe and sound. When the rebels start taking hostages and with US enforcements hours away, he desperately struggles to maintain his authority and complete his mission successfully.As I said, this is a much more mature and well plotted/written for VD to be doing and a far cry from his earlier pieces of hokum, but at the end of the day it remains just that, a Van Damme movie, not a bloody Tom Clancy adaptation, and the lack of high-kicking action from The Muscles from Brussells is not acceptable here. It's not as if he's just got too old like Chuck Norris or is badly out of shape like Seagal, he may be 45 now and a bit older and creakier than his No Retreat No Surrender days but of all the action stars he resembles one of the most in-shape, dynamically athletic looking out the lot, in tip top shape to still perform fun martial arts moves.The script's a little predictable in parts too, with some clunky clichés popping up in the script from time to time, along with an inconsistent, apathetic villain and a story that fails to add up to the sum of it's parts. I've no problem with VD trying something new and this isn't an awful attempt, but the flaws are quite apparent. **
Not impressed.
posted on 01 Feb 2009As an action flick "Second in Command" is nothing we haven't seen and it's based on a very unoriginal plot. Featuring an American intelligence or military action in a poverty ridden Eastern European Country. The problem with some of these movies is that the production staff does very little if any research. As if people who make these movies don't expect these movies to be shown in those Eastern European Countries they portray. Things like a Rebel Leader swearing in Serbian or Croatian language while speaking on the phone to Van Damm - from what I know in Moldavia or presently known as Moldova local population speaks Moldavian (romanian dialect) and Russian. I give this movie 2 for the lack of research and unoriginality.
Second in Command... my opinion
posted on 21 Dec 2008Even with my expectations low I came away very disappointed by Second In Command, this is simply not the kind of film I - as a huge and loyal Van Damme fan - want to see him in. The recent 'Wake of Death' and 'In Hell' were much closer to what works for Van Damme and were a step in the right direction - as reviews indicated - after shockingly inept films like 'The Order' and 'Derailed', alas Second In Command is a step backwards. Simply put this is not the type of film which plays to his strengths or allows an iconic action-hero like Van Damme to 'do-his-thing', it merely leaves him standing around as the plot advances, providing him with only an occasional moment to shine (and even these moments are handled poorly, particularly the final fight scene).If this was a larger budget film, with a more original plot and stronger actors to deliver it, we might have ended up with a solid war film, but the low-budget-direct-to-DVD market is simply not the place to make these types of films. Sure, Second In Command looks good in the basic shoot-out scenes, but once things escalate (and the terrible CG helicopters arrive) things look terribly fake and as a result it's impossible to suspend your disbelief. I didn't see real military men, I saw actors in uniforms trying desperately to seem authoritative and failing. Even in huge-budget war films it can prove difficult to convince audiences of its authenticity (such as in Windtalkers) let alone in a small budget production like this.Yet sometimes a low budget film can rise above its limitations with the help of a talented director, but this is not the case here. Simon Fellows gets the job done - and the production looks good considering the budget - but he has no grasp on what makes action cool. Take one look at the best action directors and you see the flare, precision and skill they bring to even the most brief and unimportant action scene. Second In Command is the worst kind of action film-making, the director simply shoots a bunch of 'coverage' and then edits it together later on; you have no sense of geography as the shoot-outs occur, it simply edits from a shot of a 'good guy' firing a gun to a shot of a 'bad guy' firing his gun... and so on until one of them falls over dead. It's not dynamic or cool, it's just there. Trust me, I'm as sick to death as the next guy of poor imitations of John Woo's style, but if this is the alternative, I'd take a cheap imitation of Woo any day.So what bits are good? Well Van Damme himself is looking good for his age, his face is getting more creases and as a result he looks more rugged which suits him, he's put on a bit more muscle which is a relief to see as he looked a bit emaciated in some recent films. Van Damme's acting comes off as pretty good, which is a feat in itself when you consider how dull his character is. One thing you can say is that he's still charming and has a strong screen presence (particularly evident when acting against such a bland supporting cast). The few fights and the countless shoot-outs are all unexciting and frankly tedious, but there is one highlight where - after saving some hostages - Van Damme crushes a guy's balls, then kicks them, then knees them and then - as if that's enough already - sticks his thumbs through the guy's eye sockets... now that's what I call Van Damage! More violence like that would have gone along way.CLOSING THOUGHTS: If you want an heroic martial-arts film go rent something Van Damme made long ago. If you want a TV-movie-style-War-film where Van Damme stands around nodding and occasionally shoots a gun this is everything you could ever ask for. But seriously, the bottom line is this is one of his weakest films and only worth seeing if you are a huge fan who will take whatever they can get.
A very intense and informative action movie for Van Damme 3 thumbs up
posted on 03 Dec 2008I really enjoyed this film because it kept me on edge. It also seemed very realistic to me. The subject of being second in command was dealt with very realistically also. The movie gave me insight into possible hostage situations and I was very proud of Jean's role in this movie. He was very strong, courageous and a caring leader.The movie seemed sort of like a live report on Cnn News almost. The action kicked off right away. The characters were believable. It was a movie yes but one was able to take away a quest to learn more about countries where the government is under attack or you can learn about people revolting. I was just happy to see Jean Claude making in my opinion an excellent movie. Sometimes or a lot of times his movies may not get good reviews but you can tell that he really puts his best in bringing a character to your living room so to speak. I would want him on my side protecting me and my country. He has integrity in this movie and heart.
Not an accurate movie
posted on 09 Nov 2008This is probably one of Mr. Van Damme's worst movies in my opinion. I wouldn't even grade it a good B movie! As a 20 year veteran of the U.S. Navy, I was shocked at the poor attempt to recreate US Military uniforms. The officer uniform he is wearing when he enters the hotel at the beginning has Enlisted service stripes (that go approx 1/4 the circumference of the sleeve) instead of officer stripes indicating rank which totally encircle the sleeve. The jacket itself has such large lapels that the ribbons and his Seal insignia are not even visible. Actual uniforms may hide the first ribbon, but the Seal insignia is quite large and very visible when worn on this uniform.In addition, when he arrives at his new command after the attack, he is greeted by a Marine in one of the worst uniforms I have ever seen on a Marine! If a Marine were to wear his uniform in that manner, he would not be a Marine for long! It is very apparent that the US Military did not get consulted for this movie! Errors glare like this throughout the movie. I am a 20+ year retired veteran of the USN and quite able to accurately known what uniforms should look like!
Classical Van Damme Touch
posted on 03 Nov 2008All those people who have said that this movie is a total spoiler or those people who passed the remarks "don't buy this movie" are all Van Damme haters.After Replicant this was the second best JCVD direct to DVD! Yeah believe me this movie will rock you from the start to the end point. You will be stucked to your seat and your breath will hang out there with jcvd.This movie is a combat movie ( War style ).Tanks, RPG, Choppers and more. Very heavy explosions perfectly filmed. Suspense is also part of it. The Cold war between Van Damme and the first in command was also good drama. No Fancy kicks this time but Van Damme seems to be very much mature actor.Not more to say you all must watch it and say for your selves. " EXCELLENT "
OK! not the Best JCV flick,, but action alright!
posted on 28 Oct 2008Well, i was sitting down to watch the DVD of "16 Blocks" a Bruce Willis flick, which i found rather interesting, (will write about that later) and i saw the trailer of "Second in Command" a Jeane Claude Vandame flick. the trailer as usual made it look awesome. so in my ensuing search, i went forth and conquered. I got myself a copy of the movie. Man! that was simply the worst decision of my life! the movie sucked to the core. Vandame's movies have been going downhill, and continue to go down way beyond repair. the movie tends to glorify the military and the fact that its a low budget flick is evident from the poor sets, and bad CGI / SFX. gwash, even te students of NYUFI could have done a better job! well, the story is, ... hmm.. how do i put it, non existent. the usual, JCV comes, glorified entry, hype, sex, guns and more guns! here you have a tank shooting at a building and the marks are left on the wall like a 50MM AA gun. its rather sad. The apache's and Sikorsky's in the film are shown to have a range of 6Hrs, WAHAT? three hours, hovering time, and a return journey. its painful to see JCVs flicks go down like this. after movies like UniSol, kickboxer, the quest, and hard target, at least they were genuine action flicks, where JCV had some serious kick ass action scenes. His karate is rather good, and it needs to be showcased, here there was nothing !!! phat! still trying to recover from it!
A perfect JCVD comeback
posted on 24 Oct 2008First of all, the people who are saying this is a crap movie, i think they hate JCVD, why you say like this, r u guys afraid of JCVD's Fame, at least if you are criticising, you should be realistic, whatever they have said, it seems they haven't even watched the movie.The movie is a complete one, it has every thing in it, and is very good. Its not a very big budget mumbo jumbo, its an average one that has been filmed and finished nicely Overall i rate it very good, though not much martial arts cause JCVD this time is no karate guy, he is a commander and so its type of army. Some good explosions, choppers, and in the end, the JCVD solo fight with the BAD GUY.go JCVD go go go
Above average but Van Damme lets his recent standard drop!
posted on 27 Aug 2008The film sees Van Damme star as Sam Keenan who is given the task of protecting the new president of Moldavia (made up? Maybe!) from violent protesters and ardent supporters of the country's previous regime. Essentially this is a siege movie, and with a plot somewhat resembling Dolph Lundgren's The Defender. Both movies are very similarly toned, however while Lundgren received mostly positives from that film (and more so from his directorial follow up the Mechanik) Van Damme will probably not earn the plaudits on this one. Now the man himself is not the problem, but the film suffers from amateurish direction and overly ambitious delivery of it's ideas in which the film tries to deliver the requisite amount of atypically military imagery. For instance helicopters make appearances in this film, only mostly they are poorly done CGI helicopters. As such the films attempt to look more expensive results in it looking cheaper. This is where SIC fails and where The Defender did not.The direction from Simon Fellows lacks imagination, cohesion and competence. The trouble is the director is too quick to try and mimic certain styles from other directors. There is also too much compensation made in the editing room. Many of Fellow's stylistic choices do not work and only serve to hinder the film and whereas Dolph Lundgren made the Defender taut and polished, SIC is sometimes a little slipshod. However as the film progresses, Fellows gets a little more controlled. On a technical standpoint the rest of the film is okay, with mostly polished cinematography and an okay musical score.The cast are good with Van Damme ably supported by Raz Adoti, Julie Cox and Alan Mckenna and William Tapley. Jean Claude himself is good in a pretty straight down the middle kind of role. He's not required to stretch as much as in Wake Of Death, but Van Damme gives his role a humanity and the role some conviction and thus adds depth to the 2 dimensional character as written on the page. Van Damme is certainly developing as an actor and he now adds so much to roles that other action stars would simply do competently. JC has improved so much and in regards to the action stars of the moment Van Damme is the most interesting as an actor. I certainly hope he stretches himself in future roles, cause I think having matured as a person he has a world weariness to him and an inner depth that shows up in his last few roles and there is now something going on behind those eyes.The action in the film is okay. In terms of hand to hand combat there as some nice brief flourishes from JC, and there's a average length fight scene at the end but that suffers from poor editing and choice of shots. As for the rest it's primarily gunplay and Fellows chooses to go docu style which half walks and half doesn't. However the last half hour of the film is mostly action and the pace picks up nicely and we have a good amount of explosions going on.Overall this is not a write off and by no means one of Van Dammes worst. It's good to have him back after a long wait following Wake Of Death, but understandably some fans may be disappointed. I can only say to them that Hard Corps promises much more and that also this film is far better than Seagal's recent turkeys. **1/2
Used. old . already done . poor acting.
posted on 23 Aug 2008honestly .. what a piece of junk . I could waste time writing more about this movie but .. nah .. If you're 12 years old, blind deaf and like action man this movie is something you will really enjoy BrorimShould I shut up if I do not have anything good to say ? I don't think so :)arrgh i have to spend time writing 10 lines of text. Alright then . there is not a single actor in this movie I'd like to see in another one for a long time ..
Van Damme helped by a group of Marines battle against rebels communists in a far country
posted on 06 Jul 2008Jean-Claude Van Damme as one army man is an US commander assigned as second in command to the American Embassy in an Eastern European country called Moldavia.Then,communists rebels try a coup state.The official gets free the President and they take shelter into US Embassy nearly deserted that encounters itself under siege by violent insurgents.Meanwhile Van Damme saves the damsel in disgrace,an enticing journalist(Julie Cox) and he along with a detachment of soldiers fight against nasties attackers which have surrounded the siege.The picture packs noisy action,shoot-outs explosions,politics intrigues and minimum characterization.It's exciting and tense ,at time lackluster action film,but the blown up,struggles,gun-play are well done in this routine actioner.The story is plenty of firepower,action packed,fights though is added an interesting politic suspense.Jean Claude Van Damme is fine as action hero in this middling budget film.Long time ago he played big budget movies(Time cop,Universal soldier,,Double team,Hard target),nowadays he makes low budget and directly to video(Derailed,Wake of death,In hell)like in his first films(Black eagle,Cyborg,Bloodsport).The film is well photographed by Douglas Milsone(Dungeons and dragons,Sunchaser,Body of evidence)in natural scenarios of Rumania though the coup détat is happened in Moldavia(ex-Republic of Russia).The motion picture is correctly directed by Simon Fellows who directed a Wesley Snipes vehicle(7 seconds)and he recently directed ¨Until death¨again with Jean Claude Van Damme. The film will like to action genre enthusiastic.Pointlessly energetic and occasionally fun for only the true devotee of main actor.It's a must see for Van Damme fans.
Not a bad Van Damme flick
posted on 16 Jun 2008OK here4s the scoop, me and my friend always rent Van Damme films whenever they come out to DVD so we can have ourselves a good laugh while we are intoxicated. I saw this movie at my video store, giggled at the cover, and rented it. My goodness!!!!!!! For the first time.....in a long time, we found ourselves not laughing hysterically at a Van Damme movie. This movie has a pretty good story line that involves corruption and politics in a third world country. This movie has you guessing throughout, and it has a pretty descent ending. I gave this movie a 10 only because Jean Claude shocked me with this movie. Otherwise id give it a 7. Definitely worth the rental
a great improvement on wake of death!!!!
posted on 27 Jul 2009well i finally got to see this movie yesterday and i have to say it was well worth the watch..... Anyone looking for a martial arts film look elsewhere as this in nothing like his traditional films.....its a full on action film.... GOOD POINTS.....fast paced action film, a good plot good believable acting,a nice end fight with the boss....BAD POINTS...the camera work will drive you crazy at points...someone obviously decided to try and copy things like black hawk down,24 etc...and failed. the film does look like a expensive film that is until we get to the CGI helecopters at the end which look about as realistic as house made out of jelly....SUMMARY.... overall this is a good film....although this is a straight to DVD release....don't let that put you off as there have been a lot of films on the cinema recently with big name stars that this film easily outclasses... there arn't a lot of fight scenes but the for realism martial arts would not really have a place in a violent gun battle...but the few scenes there are are very realistic including a nice knife fight at the end. but be warned those looking for films like bloodsport or kickboxer don't look here...but if your looking for a nice fast paced action movie,then this is for you.