Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

coex23 Spoilers!!The basic story here in the Philippines is Van Damme rescues a woman in an alley, she buys him a drink, they have sex, he wakes up without his kidney and then has to get it back. It's nice to have both right? No! JCVD was about to donate his kidney to his estranged brother's dying daughter! Time is ticking away!Well, if you chose this movie after having read the plot description: kudos! Not saying this stuff doesn't happen in the world, as it clearly does, but they way it's set up and executed here is slightly on the preposterous side of things.You would think after many years as an iconic action figure, JCVD could land a roll that has a budget. (OR, maybe he could take a cut in his pay to help out the crew a bit? You know, like Keanu.) There is more green screen effects in this film than any random thousand public access TV shows from 1982. It's that bad. On top of that, there's way too much unnecessary CGI effects (bullet holes with smoke, bullets seen zinging by, really bad blood splatters, etc). Yes, it's a b-movie, but come on: have some pride in making your film and do it right! For a rather average action film, this whole premise is rather weird. Having our hero wake up from covert surgery and then load up on morphine and pursue bad guys is quite a stretch for any viewer. Then to have him quite viciously beat the crap out of several bad guys with almost no consequences on his wound, body, etc... kiinda silly. Then to throw in the convoluted back story of his niece/daughter dying is a bit much. There's one scene where JCVD's brother picks up the limp, dying body of the girl and asks JCVD if he wants to hold her; as if she's not real. He passes her to him and, of course, she wakes up! Later, after finding JVCD's kidney, after it was put in the body of a different dying 7 year old, there is a long moment where JVCD's brother is holding a shotgun to the kid and seriously about to kill him. Naturally, it doesn't happen. BUT, what a freaking odd moment to write into a JVCD film. When dying kids are tossed into the plot and moved around like pawns for the sake of action and/or drama, you can count me out.Finally, as you expect from a script this utterly stupid, the dialog is beyond bad. I got the feeling that whoever wrote it never studied language in any form, nor studied film either. Absolutely abysmal dialog crammed on top of a juvenile plot.And, yes, as per his contract in all his films, we get fully nude JVCD, including multiple rear end shots. Ugh.Buyer beware!

kathorder i'm rod, i watched van damme movies religiously until legionnaire and street fighter which were terrible, up until then i liked them all. this was the first movie of his i had watched for a while and it was the best movie i have seen for a long time, the plot was realistic and could happen to anyone which i liked, and the plot twists were very smart and well written. fight sequences were excellent and i put this right up there with lionheart as my favourite and both of which i can watch over and over again and never get sick of them, know what i mean? i hope he does more movies set in asia like this one, with detailed story lines and varied interesting locations

davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Deacon (Jean Claude Van Damme) has travelled to Eastern Europe to donate a kidney to his dying niece. Only the night before, after a night of passion with a mysterious woman, he awakens to find what he was planning to donate already removed with no explanation. His brother, and niece's father George (John Ralston) is unaccepting of this, and along with Kung (Aki Aleong), Deacon's right hand man, they set about trying to track down the guilty party who have taken Deacon's organ without his consent.The dark, moody tone that has been permeating Van Damme's work for about the middle of the last decade continues with Pound of Flesh, his second collaboration with director Ernie Barbarash after 2011's excellent Assassination Games. Maintaining that film's dark, raw veneer, the plot is impressively different and inventive, honing in on a theme not usually explored in action, but sadly, this is where the praise pretty much runs dry.While the delivery is as brutal as AG, this time Barbarash hasn't managed to craft quite as engaging a story, punctuated with long, dull stretches between any exciting action. He's somewhat older now, and VD's physical prowess obviously isn't as impressive as it once was, with his side kicks now looking a little less than thrillingly authentic. He appears to be trying to explore a more dramatic angle now, and as such the film doesn't develop in the normal style of such films, but this is hardly what you're watching it for.It's got some good things going for it, but on the whole, it's a bit of a let down when you think what went before. **

Destroyer Wod This movie was somewhat hyped as the "Van Damme is back in full action force" or something like that. I was expecting an action showcase, with spin kicks and fights all the way true. Instead the movie seem to focus a lot on story...Don't get me wrong, the story is not bad, its not stellar either but this is more what would i expect from a Pierce Brosnan movie in 2015, not a Van Damme one.The first fight of the movie despite being very short is actually one of the best, it shows kicking and what we are use to see from Van Damme. The rest seem to mainly focus on MMA type of ground and grappling attacks, which if done right can be fun on screen, but here i tough it didn't suit Van Damme at all. The fights just appear to be slow, clunky and lack luster in general. I know Van Damme is not too young anymore but i left me without much excitement unlike his other recent movies that i fairly enjoyed.Sadly Darren Shalavi passed away lately and this will be one of his last film along his Kickboxer remake role(if he had time to finish everything, which i hope he did) and to be fairly honest i know he could do much better than in this movie. Maybe he had to tone down himself to match Van Damme, but i saw much better fights with the younger Scott Adkins for example.Another thing that was very bad is the fake CGI blood, it really looked terrible. There is also one particular gunshot they totally forgot to add the damage to it. You will know which one when you see it.Now despite being far from a great movie, it was enjoyable to a degree, i guess i was just expecting a lot better from a kick ass trailer. I had much more fun with 6 Bullets and Ennemies Closer for example. But i still think Van Damme has a lot of potential left, i hope he keep making movies. Lately its been hit or miss but the misses mostly had him in secondary roles, like Dragon Eyes or Universal Soldier 4, but this one has him really as main character. I will still rent the next one no matter.