Simply Perfect

Memorable, crazy movie

Excellent adaptation.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Ben Archer is a thug/enforcer for a criminal organisation.Tiring of the work, he tells his co-workers that he's ready to retire.His wife Cynthia is a social worker for the INS. She brings a Chinese refugee girl to their home.Soon, Sun Quan wants his daughter back. Cynthia is murdered, and Ben's son Nicholas disappears, along with the Chinese girl.Ben must save the children and avenge his wife's murder...Yes it's one of Van Dammes best performances in a while, but it's by far the action movie people are making it out to be. It's more character driven, with a few set piece thrown in for good measure.We are treated to the bent cop, the explanation to Van Dammes accent, and the inclusion of a man in a wheelchair, and his psycho butler.It's all by the book stuff, and nothing new is seen here, it's just that as a Van Damme fan he really does have a good range in this, and you really care for his character and his cause.Soifyou want all action Van Damme, you will be little disappointed, if you want a great performance from Van Damme, you've found it.

I already noticed, that there are certain categories of bad movies. Like "It's so bad, that it's actually good". Well, this one is just plain bad. It'n not even "brainless fun" type.The plot is simple. In Hong Kong 14-year old girl witnesses her father, triad boss Sun Quan, killing her mother. She runs off in fear and ends up in refugee ship, headed for Los Angeles (where else!). This ship happens to belong to the same triad boss and is used to smuggle drugs with help of American official. In States a social worker, who also happens to be a wife of shady fellow Ben Archer(JCVD), takes her home. Sun Quan arrives to L.A. to find his daughter and all sorts of mayhem ensue.It's an action flick, so simple plot is not a bad thing. If it's well executed. But instead we get bad acting and random events that just happen without any attempt to connect them logically. The guy drives to a restaurant to meet his wife, carrying loaded and ready to fire gun? Everybody does that! He sees some Chinese in Chinatown and starts firing at them? Everybody does that too! People are running around the city with guns and nobody pays any attention? That's just happens all the time in L.A.! Scared kid runs away from restaurant, apparently not knowing that his mother is killed, and goes where? No, not home, which usually is the safest place in the mind of small child. He goes to his daddy's friends! A man tries to rescue his kidnapped son by randomly shooting and ramming kidnappers' car? Why, the hell, not, the kid's insured! At the end of the movie Ben Archer takes the girl with him to docks, where he intends to meet a bunch of armed and not very friendly thugs. You think he plans to exchange her for his kidnapped son? No, he plans to leave her alone in the middle of the docks - apparently it's the safest place for little girl. The docks are swarming with thugs, who openly carry AK-47's? So what, it's common sight in any port in the United States, especially in Los Angeles! And while Ben goes on his personal vendetta, breaking all the laws and glasses in process, police is nowhere to be seen. Because, he's the hero, give him a break! There you have it, some high points of this movie. The explanatory dialogues (like when Ben and his wife have romantic moment in the bathtub and she says "i am a social worker and i have seen some nasty s***t", yeah, right, like only now you tell him, what you do for living), jumpy MTVesque cuts with fast-forward inserts doesn't help either. And violence for the sake of violence (especially scene in the basement with Mac Hoggins) makes Ben and his mates to look on par with triads. And it sure as hell didn't make me feel for any of supposedly good guys.Now, some might argue, that action movie needs only gunshots, buttkicking, explosions and no logic whatsoever. I disagree. I myself do enjoy some early Seagal or Van Damme movies, with equally little plot. But they had some sense to what was happening. And besides, that was like decades ago and even back then "Wake of death" would have been a bad movie. I still watch "Last boy scout" or first "Die hard" from time to time and i think these are The Proper Action Movies. "Wake for death" is not. Or maybe i'm just getting too old for this crap...

The movie begins when a Chinese little girl witnesses the killing her mother by her gangster father named Sun Quan(Simon Yam) and she flees to Los Angels aboard a ship with other abducted immigrants. An ex-gangster named Ben(Jean Claude Van Damme) is ready to retire himself; his wife(Lisa King)is a social worker, taking the refugee little girl to their house. Then, she 's cruelly killed and his son along with the Chinese girl are kidnapped. Our revenger hero wages war against the criminals .The sad Van Damme must rescue the kids and revenge his spouse, meanwhile he's attacked and pursued from all sides by Chinese triads, being only helped by a French gangster's trio.This film direct to video-rentals, displays action-packed, extreme violence, pursuit cars, thrills and is quite entertaining. It's thrilling and tense , at time suspenseful movie and the firepower, explosion, struggles, motorbikes races are very well done. Suffering Van Damme plays finely an affected gangster, acting similarly to 'Hard cops'. Van Damme confronting nasties, using his martial-arts skills, furthermore some chase cars are pretty exciting. Remaining cast though unknown make nice acting, besides appears uncredited Burt Kwouk ,the famous Chinese fighter against Inspector Clouseau-Peter Sellers. This interesting film results to be a standard actioner, but packs atmospheric action set pieces and is fast movement . The motion picture is well produced, though with middling budget, and directed by Philippe Martinez. He's a prestigious producer, such as 'Harsh times, Modigliani, The piano player, Van Wilder 2'. This is the second and best film as director , along with 'Citizen verdict'. The picture is extremely energetic and be liked for true devotees of main actor. It's a must see for Van Damme fans.

Wake of Death was the first "Van Damme" movie I'd seen in a couple of years. Shortly put it's a real surprise. Where Arnie acts in big budget movies only, Chuck Norris has become a TV star and Stephen Seagal is heading on the emotional tour, none of them has evolved the way Jean Claude has. It's a metamorphosis! The movie is still centered around action, but "Van Damme" makes you care. His character feels real enough, he's not the 'staring off in the distance' kind of muscle actor anymore. With age, he's gained bearing as well. The lines in his face, the way he acts without forcing his role. He is more patient, takes his time and it makes the roles he chooses more realistic.It's time to look at the now... and Van Damme is in it!(PS: He's come a long way even since this movie; Watch "Until Death" to see where it's taken him today.)