Van Damme

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...In this one, Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a French cop (to explain the accent) who discovers he has a twin brother heavily involved with the Russian mob. This, the second film in what is to become the Van Damme twin trilogy, is the second worst Van Damme film after Cyborg. Not one thing in this movie makes sense at all. After his brother's death, Alain (Van Damme) travels to New York where everyone mistakes him for his brother Mikhail, including his brother's old flame (Natasha Henstridge) and two incredibly dim FBI agents. The convoluted plot wouldn't be a problem if there were some cool action scenes to drive the film and fool the audience into thinking its fun. Sadly, even Hong Kong action maestro Ringo Lam (City On Fire and Jackie Chan's Twin Dragons) couldn't save this movie even if he wanted to. Hopefully, he'll follow his protégé...

Mohammed 24.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of Maximum Risk (DVD)

Van Damme's finest hour

Advantages: Great performance from Van Damme
Disadvantages: Not your typical action flick

...You know, I've always thought that Jean-Claude Van Damme got a raw deal from Hollywood. Talented, charismatic and undeniably athletic, he was a high-kicking sensation when he burst onto the action scene in the late-80's. But poor career choices and well-documented personal problems meant he never quite hit the big time as an action star. These days, people largely think of him as the king of B-movies, lumping him in with fellow low-rent actor Steven Segal. But whereas Segal's career floundered under the weight of his ego, lack of personality and expanding waistline, Van Damme's is a more interesting and, in some ways, more tragic story. JCVD is a work of fiction based around reality. And the reality, in this case, is Van Damme himself. The film opens by introducing Van Damme as a faded, over the hill action star. His agent can...

Dr-Jones 19.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of JCVD (DVD)

DAMM FINE BEER

Advantages: Surprisingly good
Disadvantages: Not many

...AK Damm 1876 was produced to celebrate the founding of the Damm brewery in (wait for it) 1876 in Barcelona by a guy called Augustus Kuentzmann. Yes, you guessed right, he wasn't a native of Catalan, but an expat from Alsace. He decided to brew a type of beer he was familiar with, but the locals weren't. And so a legend was born...or at the very least, an uninteresting story. These days, the Damm brewery produce a modest range of different beers, the most famous being Estrella Damm and Voll Damm, but here's what they say about AK Damm: "Pure malt from selected varieties and hops from the German Hallertau region give this beer its smooth personality." Speaking of Alsations... An Alsatian went into a telegram office, took out a blank form and wrote: 'Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof.' The clerk examined...

proxam 21.04.2006 · Read review
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Review of SA Damm AK Damm 1876

Van Damme's finest hour - great film

Advantages: Great acting by Van Damme
Disadvantages: If you go into it expecting a conventional action flick, you'll be disappointed

...You know, I've always felt that Jean-Claude Van Damme got a raw deal from Hollywood. Talented, charismatic and undeniably athletic, he was a high-kicking sensation when he burst onto the action scene in the late-80's. But poor career choices and well-documented personal problems meant he never quite hit the big time as an action star. These days, people largely think of him as the king of B-movies, lumping him in with fellow low-rent actor Steven Segal. But whereas Segal's career floundered under the weight of his ego, lack of personality and expanding waistline, Van Damme's is a more interesting and, in some ways, more tragic story. JCVD is a work of fiction based around reality. And the reality, in this case, is Van Damme himself. The film opens by introducing Van Damme as a faded, over the hill action star. His agent can't get...

Dr-Jones 14.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of JCVD

Double Van Damme - Double Impact

Advantages: A kick ass movie
Disadvantages: It's not rocket science

...Mr Van Damme is one of fortunes favoured few - a famous Belgian. (OK who thought he was French). He was a renowned body builder and karate expert in his home country before he made a fledgling career in Hong Kong ku fu movies and subsequently moved out to Hollywood in the early 1980's, where he got his big break in the Seattle karate film No Retreat No Surrender. So what about this film then? Made in 1991, it's a martial arts film with Van Damme taking the parts of both twin brothers. Stop laughing at the back there. Twins by the name of Chad and Alex Wagner are forcibly split up after the murder of their parents by a Hong Kong triad. Alex stays in the former British colony ending up as a smuggler/run runner, while Chad somehow (it isn't explained) ends up in Los Angeles as a personal trainer. To make matters even...

pinkmatchstick 23.12.2005 · Read review
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Review of Double Impact (DVD)

Van Damme gets bloody in yet another action thriller.

Advantages: Plenty of punching, kicking and shooting.
Disadvantages: Cliched, stale plotline, stiff dialogue and characters.

...Another of the countless Van Damme films to be unleashed upon the public. Naturally its an action thriller starring Van Damme as a 'kickboxing police inspector', interesting premise so far, trying to solve the murder of his twin brother whom he was seperated from at a very young age. Funny how Van Damme plays his own twin in another film but nonethless a fairly typical Van Damme plot, namely Van Damme taking revenge for something, usually a death with plenty of bloodspill on the way there. Of course there's eyecandy also, where would a Van Damme film be without the love interest? Natasha Henstridge is provided as blonde totty for the muscled star. Strangely she was his brother's girlfriend whilst he was living, not at all creepy that she ends up dating her dead boyfriend's brother? Odder still the fact that Van Damme's character...

Rustycakes 17.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Maximum Risk (DVD)

VAN HELSH**

Advantages: Great theme tune and some good action sequences.
Disadvantages: Overuse of CGI, bad writing and a waste of money.

...I went to see Van Helsing the past weekend and I wasn't all that impressed. I mainly went to see the film because it looked good from the trailer and the fact that it was made by the director of one of my favourite films 'The Mummy'. It just shows you how important trailers are nowadays to the movie industry. Even a crap film with a good trailer can do well. For example Charlie Angels: Full Throttle, what a bad film, but it had an excellent trailer with that loud prodigy music blarring. Anyway back to Van Helsing. The movie opened in the U.S with about 50 something million dollars in total and will probably make a lot next week too. Though I'm not sure it will make it's £180 million budget back in America alone. This flick will have to take some hard earned cash from the worldwide box-offce. The Story Basically Van Helsing is...

ralfschumacher 12.05.2004 · Read review
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Review of Van Helsing (DVD)

Van for the Money

Advantages: Tremendous fun that doesn't take itself seriously
Disadvantages: Shoddy CGI in places, more plot holes than a colander

...Gabriel Van Helsing is a Vatican-sponsored monster hunter sent to Transylvania to aid the Valerios family?s quest to destroy the evil Count Dracula. Once there, Van Helsing discovers Dracula?s nefarious plot to take over the world. The question is, can he save the world and get the girl when he has vampires, werewolves and Frankenstein?s monster to deal with too? Director Stephen Sommers brought us the hugely enjoyable ?Mummy? movies and here he plunders Universal Pictures? back-catalogue for a tale that incorporates all of the studio?s best-loved monsters. Sommers isn?t known for his subtlety and this film is no different. It is chock-full of big action set-pieces, dashing heroes and occasionally dodgy special effects. But it is a rollicking good Saturday matinee movie with enough thrills and spills to keep you cheering the heroes...

afy9mab 13.06.2004 · Read review
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Review of Van Helsing (DVD)

Van Damme not at his best

Advantages: Van Damme action
Disadvantages: Lame film

...One of Van Damme's first films and he will be glad that it was. At least he hadn't gotten much of a following at that point. If he had, it would have destroyed his career! The plot is almost non-existent, set in post-apocalyptic future with a disease ravaging the American nation...scientists are close to the cure and Gibson (Van Damme) is en route to help spur them on. The action isn't too bad, but as always in these films you get the whole Van Damme kicking the living hell out of people with ease to come up against a dumb opponent at the end where he nearly loses just to put up a spirited fight back at the end to claim the victory....cliched to the hilt. I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a Van Damme follower who has yet to see this film....

poodu 12.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of Cyborg (DVD)

Van Wilder

Advantages: Some funny scenes, Ryan Reynolds plays his part well.
Disadvantages: Not really bringing anything new to the genre.

...Van Wilder: Party Liaison is a comedy film starring Ryan Reynolds and Tara Reid with Kal Penn and Daniel Cosgrove the most notable supporting cast. Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds) has been at Coolidge College for seven years and has shown no intention of graduating. He is enjoying his time there and spends it partying, helping his fellow students and organising parties and fundraisers. Understandably, Van's father no longer wishes to pay for his 'education' and withdraws his funding. As Van is the big man on campus, the college paper journalist, Gwen (Tara Reid) is asked to write a paper on him and his exploits. This is such a success that she writes a follow up paper. Van attempts to romance Gwen but she is already involved with Richard (Daniel Cosgrove) so the two men start up a rivalry with one another which results in them playing...

dandadda 06.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Van Wilder: Party Liaison (DVD)