"Legionnaire" is a forgettable politically correct version of the French-Foreign-Legion genre. The plot is linear (this is not a fault). Van Damme is a boxer who swindles a gangster boss in the Marseille of the 1920's, in the meantime causing the death of the boss' brother. To save himself, he joins the Foreign Legion, goes to North Africa, and, after the usual hard training, reaches a fortress in the desert, where his regiment is readily destroyed by the rebels of the Rif.
Political correctness is abundant: Van Damme is a Polish immigrant, roughly treated by French people, needless to say. At the Legion there is a black fellow from the States, who introduces himself uttering a speech against the racism of the Americans (what an original idea!): of course, he will be Van Damme's best friend in the regiment. Well, I guess that in the twenties people were really so racist that the very idea of enlisting a black in a regiment of whites was just unconceivable. In old movies we could see a single legionnaire resisting to hundreds of Arabs. Here, for the sake of political correctness, the exact contrary happens: a whole regiment of legionnaires is swept off in few minutes by the Rif rebels. Most predictably, Van Damme is nobly spared by the chief of the Arabs, who does not miss the chance to deliver an anti-colonialist sermon. However, in "Legionnaire" we also find some stereotypes in the old-Foreign-Legion-movies style: the ruthless sergeant, the inept officer, a number of bad guys who rescue their honor with a heroic death.
To conclude, let me remark a nonsense too preposterous even for a genre not celebrated for likelihood. The French boss recognizes his fiend Van Damme in a photo on a newspaper (a reportage with pictures at the Foreign Legion, in the 1920's?? And a boss so attentive in checking newspapers??). At any rate, he forces a pair of gangsters to join the Legion to take his revenge on Van Damme (??). The subscription lasted 5 years (as stated in the movie)! And how can the thugs be sure to be enlisted exactly in Van Damme's regiment? And why Van Damme does not report the two killers to military authorities, or at least inform his mates of the danger? What about bribing some comrades of Van Damme to shoot him, thus avoiding all this mess?
Political correctness is abundant: Van Damme is a Polish immigrant, roughly treated by French people, needless to say. At the Legion there is a black fellow from the States, who introduces himself uttering a speech against the racism of the Americans (what an original idea!): of course, he will be Van Damme's best friend in the regiment. Well, I guess that in the twenties people were really so racist that the very idea of enlisting a black in a regiment of whites was just unconceivable. In old movies we could see a single legionnaire resisting to hundreds of Arabs. Here, for the sake of political correctness, the exact contrary happens: a whole regiment of legionnaires is swept off in few minutes by the Rif rebels. Most predictably, Van Damme is nobly spared by the chief of the Arabs, who does not miss the chance to deliver an anti-colonialist sermon. However, in "Legionnaire" we also find some stereotypes in the old-Foreign-Legion-movies style: the ruthless sergeant, the inept officer, a number of bad guys who rescue their honor with a heroic death.
To conclude, let me remark a nonsense too preposterous even for a genre not celebrated for likelihood. The French boss recognizes his fiend Van Damme in a photo on a newspaper (a reportage with pictures at the Foreign Legion, in the 1920's?? And a boss so attentive in checking newspapers??). At any rate, he forces a pair of gangsters to join the Legion to take his revenge on Van Damme (??). The subscription lasted 5 years (as stated in the movie)! And how can the thugs be sure to be enlisted exactly in Van Damme's regiment? And why Van Damme does not report the two killers to military authorities, or at least inform his mates of the danger? What about bribing some comrades of Van Damme to shoot him, thus avoiding all this mess?