Not the first time I've watched this one but I was bored so I gave it another try. Typical JCVD stuff in his prime: a ton of fight scenes (excruciatingly staged and painfully slow), a detective dressed like he just stepped off a fashion catwalk, his well-moussed hairdo hardly gets moved out of place even in a prison riot or a fight to the death, the hilarious facial expressions that are always saved for the final fight-to-the-death scenes, bell-bottom jeans and platform shoes (yes, even in prison they allowed him to dress stylishly), etc etc. It was all great...for an 90's JCVD movie. By today's standards, it was laughingly painful but I wouldn't rule it out; you just have to unplug your brain, sit back and enjoy the fight scenes. The rest of the movie is just ugly wrapping that you have to rip through. Cynthia Gibb was...mehhhhh....a part of me wants to say "hot", but she really wasn't. Just kind of an attractive nuisance, really. Granted, her character was an integral part of the story, but honestly, she was just kind of...there. And with a pretty face. Supporting characters like Hawkins, Priest, even Sgt. DeGraf were all great in this one, so I give a nod to those as well. This definitely wasn't his worst movie...but let's face it, Jean Claude van Damme was never going to win any Oscars for his acting chops. We enjoyed watching his (staged) fight scenes. It's easy to believe he got his butt tossed out of a NY bar by a bouncer; I'm not sure what his real martial arts expertise (if any) amounted to, but I can't see him pulling off any realistic, high-action, high-intensity fight scenes; they're all incredibly stiff and slow in his movies, so I'm not sure whether he really had any martial arts expertise. He could sure twist his face into some incredible contortions, though. This is worth watching but again, you have to disconnect your brain and remember this was at the height of JCVD's popularity, nothing more.
Review by ShubesBlockedParent2022-04-16T01:10:11Z
Not the first time I've watched this one but I was bored so I gave it another try. Typical JCVD stuff in his prime: a ton of fight scenes (excruciatingly staged and painfully slow), a detective dressed like he just stepped off a fashion catwalk, his well-moussed hairdo hardly gets moved out of place even in a prison riot or a fight to the death, the hilarious facial expressions that are always saved for the final fight-to-the-death scenes, bell-bottom jeans and platform shoes (yes, even in prison they allowed him to dress stylishly), etc etc. It was all great...for an 90's JCVD movie. By today's standards, it was laughingly painful but I wouldn't rule it out; you just have to unplug your brain, sit back and enjoy the fight scenes. The rest of the movie is just ugly wrapping that you have to rip through. Cynthia Gibb was...mehhhhh....a part of me wants to say "hot", but she really wasn't. Just kind of an attractive nuisance, really. Granted, her character was an integral part of the story, but honestly, she was just kind of...there. And with a pretty face. Supporting characters like Hawkins, Priest, even Sgt. DeGraf were all great in this one, so I give a nod to those as well. This definitely wasn't his worst movie...but let's face it, Jean Claude van Damme was never going to win any Oscars for his acting chops. We enjoyed watching his (staged) fight scenes. It's easy to believe he got his butt tossed out of a NY bar by a bouncer; I'm not sure what his real martial arts expertise (if any) amounted to, but I can't see him pulling off any realistic, high-action, high-intensity fight scenes; they're all incredibly stiff and slow in his movies, so I'm not sure whether he really had any martial arts expertise. He could sure twist his face into some incredible contortions, though. This is worth watching but again, you have to disconnect your brain and remember this was at the height of JCVD's popularity, nothing more.