Im inclined to think that all the people who gave this an average of 8/10 must be the cast & other crew who worked on this movie. Im astonished that this almost awful movie has got such kudos from the voters so far - did these people view a different movie to me?? because the one I sat through was poorly directed & poorly acted by all involved.
The story sets out to make you dislike Van Damme's character, it does this, but not in the way the I think that the director intended. I guess the intent was to reveal this character later in the movie as a reformed man & give us all a glimmer of hope that we can all better ourselves no matter what we've done - sadly, due to the way that the movie unfolds this 'feel good factor' ending misses the target by miles and you could'nt care less about Van damme's character because of this. In all honesty, its a tough roll to play - it requires a great deal of skill to pull it off & I think it was a little beyond Van damme's capabilities. In my opinion, this is more of a Nicholas cage or John travolta type of roll & Travolta would've been my pick - though with the script & poor direction he & Cage would'nt have touched this howler with a 10 foot clown pole! Perhaps with better direction this could've been a blockbuster - the story, despite its flaws, is'nt that bad - if Smokin Aces can excell then its not inconceivable that Until death could too.
Van damme's accent is quite hard to understand too, there are parts of the movie where I missed the dialogue due to this - which is very frustrating because you really need to hear what the LEADING character is saying because, after all, the story is about him! Disapointingly, the entire cast are all weak in this, the bad guys are laughable, Selina Giles acting contains more wood than a rainforrest and Gary Beadle's attempt at a stereotypical angry black police captain wont be winning him any Oscars either. I have to say, the supporting cast seems to have been picked at random on a $50 budget, a very poor choice indeed. And what was Stephen Rea thinking when he accepted his roll in this? I know he's not the greatest actor in the world but he just was'nt convincing enough warrant his fee for this movie.
Van damme is so very different in this movie, there's no over exaggerated fight scenes, he does'nt do the splits or throws his legs & arms around like you would expect him to - this is a little weird. I liked the idea of casting Van damme in this way and was really hoping he could nail this part, but his final effort seemed hollow & unpolished. I would like to see more of Van damme in these type of rolls because he is due a great movie part & although his career has never been a shining one he has been with us now for such a long time and he really deserves a great movie roll to top his career off nicely. I don't think he wants to go down in Hollywood history as the European Steven Segal with nothing but 'B' movies under his belt. Its a real shame that Jean Claude has had such poor rolls throughout his career & has been overlooked so many times.
To summarise, go see/rent this only if you are a die hard Van Damme fan or you are a budding film critic with needs to practice your skills - you'll find it easy to pen a 1000 word article on this film. I've only briefly scratched the surface with my comments & from what I have seen with regards to the high score this has received from other viewers votes, I seem to be in the minority with my low opinion of this film....
But did I expect too much from a Jean Claude Van Damme movie?.....
The story sets out to make you dislike Van Damme's character, it does this, but not in the way the I think that the director intended. I guess the intent was to reveal this character later in the movie as a reformed man & give us all a glimmer of hope that we can all better ourselves no matter what we've done - sadly, due to the way that the movie unfolds this 'feel good factor' ending misses the target by miles and you could'nt care less about Van damme's character because of this. In all honesty, its a tough roll to play - it requires a great deal of skill to pull it off & I think it was a little beyond Van damme's capabilities. In my opinion, this is more of a Nicholas cage or John travolta type of roll & Travolta would've been my pick - though with the script & poor direction he & Cage would'nt have touched this howler with a 10 foot clown pole! Perhaps with better direction this could've been a blockbuster - the story, despite its flaws, is'nt that bad - if Smokin Aces can excell then its not inconceivable that Until death could too.
Van damme's accent is quite hard to understand too, there are parts of the movie where I missed the dialogue due to this - which is very frustrating because you really need to hear what the LEADING character is saying because, after all, the story is about him! Disapointingly, the entire cast are all weak in this, the bad guys are laughable, Selina Giles acting contains more wood than a rainforrest and Gary Beadle's attempt at a stereotypical angry black police captain wont be winning him any Oscars either. I have to say, the supporting cast seems to have been picked at random on a $50 budget, a very poor choice indeed. And what was Stephen Rea thinking when he accepted his roll in this? I know he's not the greatest actor in the world but he just was'nt convincing enough warrant his fee for this movie.
Van damme is so very different in this movie, there's no over exaggerated fight scenes, he does'nt do the splits or throws his legs & arms around like you would expect him to - this is a little weird. I liked the idea of casting Van damme in this way and was really hoping he could nail this part, but his final effort seemed hollow & unpolished. I would like to see more of Van damme in these type of rolls because he is due a great movie part & although his career has never been a shining one he has been with us now for such a long time and he really deserves a great movie roll to top his career off nicely. I don't think he wants to go down in Hollywood history as the European Steven Segal with nothing but 'B' movies under his belt. Its a real shame that Jean Claude has had such poor rolls throughout his career & has been overlooked so many times.
To summarise, go see/rent this only if you are a die hard Van Damme fan or you are a budding film critic with needs to practice your skills - you'll find it easy to pen a 1000 word article on this film. I've only briefly scratched the surface with my comments & from what I have seen with regards to the high score this has received from other viewers votes, I seem to be in the minority with my low opinion of this film....
But did I expect too much from a Jean Claude Van Damme movie?.....