Highly Overrated But Still Good

Blistering performances.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

I've been a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme films since No Retreat No Surrender back in 1986, in fact, that's when my interest in martial arts movies started to grow. To be honest, Van Damme has done some bad films in his time and this has to be one of the worst, though not because of him... Van Damme is the strongest actor in the cast.This is a strange story of police corruption and gang warfare which flares up out of control when Hong, played by Cung Le is released from prison and drives into St. Jude. So that premise alone should allow for great drama and martial arts action, especially as Cung Le is a mixed martial arts champion and the cast sports Peter Weller as the crooked cop Mister V. However, the story is weak and full of plot holes, whereas the martial arts scenes are all fought in slow motion and is easier to spot the fakes and the fluffs - the thrown punches that miss their opponent. The slowness also distracts from the action. There was a reason some 80's martial arts films speeded up the action, they knew it made it more exciting. Hence, you slow it down and it gets boring. This was a major fubar by director John Hyams - the other was to try and make the film stylish and cool, it was too obvious and failed miserably.Then there's the set's these are so cheap and tacky they look as if they were either abandoned buildings or somebodies garage. Should have paid for a location scout, people.It's Weller as the over-the-top Mister V and Van Damme as Tiano who actually appear to give a damn about the film as they both get into their characters pretty well, though it's nowhere nearly enough to raise this out of the toilet it should be flushed down.Yet another movie that could have been so much better had things been done differently.I wouldn't even recommend this to Van Damme fans as he's just not in it fo long enough. If you're thinking of making a martial arts film then you could watch this to see how it shouldn't be done!

JCVD Jean-Claude Van Damme is finally the master who does the teaching. What this is at the core is Yojimbo, or Fistful of Dollars, or even Last Man Standing. A very classic story in which a stranger comes to town, and either plays both sides against each other, or convinces the more logical folks to join him. Cung Le is really good in this as the quiet stranger, and there is just enough of the prison flashbacks to fill in the whole backstory, I found that I really did Enjoy this which at the start I would not have expected. Peter Weller is exactly the character that he has played in every other show for the past 3 years or so, a dirty cop kingpin, and compared to his lot in Burn Notice this is more fitting, closer to the character he plays on Sons of Anarchy. So all told, and tightly wrapped up I would recommend this After Dark movie, they do make a few good ones now, and again. However I would only recommend this to guys looking for a brainless action movie that will make you feel smart, and able to keep up. There is not a lot here for anyone else though, any of those other movies I mentioned would be a better choice, though this is not completely without merit as I have said.

Call me lame, but I still love me some Van Damage. Every time he has a new film coming out, I go out of my way to see it. I can't help it. I grew up with the guy, and he means a lot to me, but this was so disappointing, it's not even funny. Cung Lee certainly has some movies, there is no doubt about that, but he needs to start picking better scripts, so he can utilize his talents for maximum effect. For big Van Damme fans like myself, prepare to feel slightly ripped off and ultimately disappointed. Despite his top billing, he is barely in this film, and is reduced to a glorified cameo as a mentor to Cung Lee in prison, and the scenes between them are quite forgettable. When the fighting scenes happen, they are actually fairly exciting and violent. Cung Lee is terrific when it comes to action, but he needs work on charisma and personality as well. He is not yet able to carry a movie on his own. Peter Weller makes for a solid villain. He's usually dependable and here was no different. We also get Kristopher Van Varenberg (Van Damme's real life son) and he is proving to be quite the solid actorFinal Thoughts: It's too boring for its own good. It does have some good action sequences, but the boredom that frequently comes in between all that kills any momentum. Cung Lee has potential. I just hope he chooses a little more wisely in the future3.5/10

The director of two newer Universal Soldier movies, John Hyams, has apparently wanted to move onto the martial arts level with similar elements and ideas. Unfortunately, the screenwriter Tim Tori is not up to scratch, thus the outcome is complex mix of gang violence, martial fights, looking back in the form of flashbacks and unrealistic cases such as fully corrupt US police unit. As for the cast, then the only decent performances were provided by Peter Weller Mr. V and Jean-Claude Van Damme as Tiano, all the others seemed to derive from non-decent amateur theaters. Van Damme's part is strangely short and dull, although it was evident that he is still well fit.Although its length was 1 hour and 20 minutes only, it was dumb to watch at times. Even for brain-switch-off entertainment, there are much better options. On the other hand, it is no worst-movie ever or similar overstatement.