Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

arnuld-mizong Like I always say, I do not write many reviews. First, I only write if the movie is extremely good and 2nd, if people are unnecessarily bashing a good movie or 3rd, it has a low rating. I decided to write this review because of 3rd reason. A different kind of movie from Van Damme, far away from his usual kind of action movies. You see him as an actor than the one kicking-ass. I saw it many years ago and have not forgotten the experience. It kinda reminds me of another movie called The Beast of War (with Kabir Bedi in ensemble cast). Both set in some desert and both unforgettable in a good way. This movie shows you the toll of war on one man and his comrades, a war with guns and knives, not of hi-tech weapons. You should see this damn well made B-movie. One of the most memorable movies I know. There are other very well made movies in usual action settings from Van Damme like "Wake of Death" and "Knock Off" and from Steven Seagal like "Urban Justice", "Pistol Whipped" and " Ruslan: Driven to Kill".

SnoopyStyle It's 1925 Marseille. Boxer Alain Lefevre (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is forced to take a dive by crime boss Lucien Galgani. His ex-fiancée Katrina happens to be Lucien's girl. They plan to run off to America after he wins the fight. The plan goes wrong and he escapes by joining the Foreign Legion. He is sent to Morocco to battle the locals. Lucien sends assassins to kill Alain.Jean-Claude Van Damme is in a movie with an actual story. It doesn't make the movie good. The story is full of questionable plot points. The start is not that tense. I kept waiting for him to join the Foreign Legion. After all, that's the point of the movie. There are some relatively good war action. Overall, Van Damme is not good enough of an actor to make it without kick fighting.

lastliberal I know, another Van Damme picture, but don't write it off too quickly. Despite the fact that it went direct to video, it really is a good movie, and probably the best job of acting that Van Damme has done.It has a great supporting cast, too. Remember Steven Berkoff as Lt. Col. Podovsky in Rambo II? "I don't know who you are yet, but I will!" He has the same accent here. He may just be a sergeant now, but he still has that presence.Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr Eko from "Lost", The Mummy Returns, The Bourne Identity) also adds greatly to the story of those seeking a new life in the Foreign legion.Also great jobs from Nicholas Farrell, and long-time Van Damme film actor, Kamel Krifa.Sure, it's the same story you have heard many times about the Legion, this time being carpet-bombed by the Berbers, but it still is worth your time.And, the music was great, too.

lost-in-limbo It's 1924; in Marseilles, France and boxer Alain Lefevre goes on to win a fight that he was supposed to take a dive in. He had it all planned out that he would win and then leave with his old girlfriend (who's now with the mobster) to head to America. However things go terribly wrong, and this leads to Alain joining the Foreign Legion to mould a new identity to escape from those mobsters. Although this second chance is going to be a hell of an ordeal. What good can come from a straight-to-video, Jean-Claude Van Damme action film? Well, you know won't be expecting a masterpiece or even a great movie. So it gotta crash and burn. But wait a minute. "Legionnaire" actually breaks that trend, to be one of Van Damme's better movies of recent years. Hey, it's probably my favourite of his and that's saying a lot when compared to "Time Cop", "Universal Cop" and "Nowhere to Run". I don't know why I enjoyed this film so much, but even with my second outing, it delivered the minor goods in a simple, flourishing formula. There's no escaping the old-hat concept creaking in the set-up. It might be a change of scenery. Although, it's no different from a ordinary war film with an assortment of token characters setting up a loyal partnership to pull together when it gets tough going. There's no pretensions to its clichéd material and while, its contrived and heavily laced with them. It seems to get away this dramatic edge and its survival of the fittest message is passionately orchestrated. Most of these men are burdened souls, escaping from life or trying to prove something. This is why these comrades hold a strong emotional rapport with each other, as they know when they signed up there was no release clause to fall back on. The gleefully, corn-riddled script provides plenty of overstrained melodrama and electrically campy banter. The camera-work is swiftly executed and an elegant music score that could turn fiery in an instance are resourcefully worked in. The performances aren't anything special, but surprisingly competent and workable. Vann Damme is *cough* … solid, yes that's true. He's portrayal is quite convincing and subdued in his blistering like attitude. There's good turns by Nicholas Farrell, who chimes in as an optimistically, witty British man, Mackintosh and Daniel Caltagirone as the fickle Guido. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is an excellent character-actor and he does wonders with a plain stereotypical character, Luther. They were quite a likable bunch that we got to know. Steven Berkoff is compulsively good as the hot-wired Sgt. Steinkampf.When watching Van Damme flicks we know there's must be some kick-ass martial arts when he's wiping the floor of the bad dudes. Oh no, that hardly happens here at all. There are a couple of moments, but they are short lived. It plays for a meaningful war film, where its main focus is the high-octane battle scenes than just one-on-one combat. Sometimes the action does play second fiddle to the inner-goings of the men, but the loud, relentless war scenes were well organised and made for a more believable rough 'n' tumble foray. This just proved how much the French army were out of their league when facing the skilfully quick and deadly Arabs on their turf. Here he's no potent individual, but relies on his comrades to look over his back. Few surprises occur and knee-jerk jolts find there way into the warfare. When it came to the final minutes it seemed to lose a bit of creditability, to what has happen before it. An ambitious detour to the formula for Van Damme, but it mostly worked out and delivers undemanding entertainment.