Dignity's a funny thing. While Steven Seagal's only recently allowed anyone to land a single hit on him while he's going through the motions of kneeing their heads in (Exit Wounds), Van Damme's been getting soundly thrashed in everything he does for years now and his latest venture takes this to new extremes. All the Replicant character ever does is get thrashed, usually by Michael Rooker with his 'Beaker from The Muppet Show' face, occasionally by his evil alter ego and sometimes by any old random passer-by with some aggression to vent.
Obviously this is fun to watch, but when it starts leading into scenes that become humiliating for other reasons (the, er, 'abrupt' encounter with the prostitute springs to mind), you can't help but think it's all going too far. Watching Jean-Claude Van Damme getting kicked senseless while chained to a radiator is one thing; watching him cream his jeans is another matter entirely.
Still, on the whole Replicant's not a bad way to waste a couple of hours, and it's probably the best thing he's done since Timecop. Okay, so the story's got so many holes that it ends up being more hole than story, and that ending is particularly awful, but at least you can see where the budget went (e.g. the low-ceiling ambulance chase near the end) - and credit where it's due, at least Van Damme's attempting to branch out a bit. Legionnaire involved a bare minimum of face-kicking, and Replicant is more a sci-fi-tinged crime thriller than your standard plot-free Jean-Claude vehicle. He's even quite menacing as the greasy serial killer, though that's probably because all he has to do is scowl, stomp around, push people over and not say very much.
Decent effort, then, but I still can't see Mr. VD leaving the murky world of direct-to-video any time soon, no matter how many Hong Kong directors he works with.
Obviously this is fun to watch, but when it starts leading into scenes that become humiliating for other reasons (the, er, 'abrupt' encounter with the prostitute springs to mind), you can't help but think it's all going too far. Watching Jean-Claude Van Damme getting kicked senseless while chained to a radiator is one thing; watching him cream his jeans is another matter entirely.
Still, on the whole Replicant's not a bad way to waste a couple of hours, and it's probably the best thing he's done since Timecop. Okay, so the story's got so many holes that it ends up being more hole than story, and that ending is particularly awful, but at least you can see where the budget went (e.g. the low-ceiling ambulance chase near the end) - and credit where it's due, at least Van Damme's attempting to branch out a bit. Legionnaire involved a bare minimum of face-kicking, and Replicant is more a sci-fi-tinged crime thriller than your standard plot-free Jean-Claude vehicle. He's even quite menacing as the greasy serial killer, though that's probably because all he has to do is scowl, stomp around, push people over and not say very much.
Decent effort, then, but I still can't see Mr. VD leaving the murky world of direct-to-video any time soon, no matter how many Hong Kong directors he works with.