Sadly Over-hyped

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

As Good As It Gets

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I caught this by chance, and am not a particular fan of formulaic violent Police stories. But… It was quite good. JVD plays the taciturn out of town cop with a rabbit, brought in to supplement the numbers of the Texan border guards. Andree Bernard is hotter than the Texan midday sun as a barmaid, and the rogue Special Forces team turned drug runners are convincing adversaries.A classic, formula, bar brawl where a mouthy local picks on the wrong man is well handled, as is a quickfire shootout with some alleyway muggers. A set piece confrontation between the drug runners bus, disguised as a Church outing, is absurd. The choice of weaponry absurd. But if you like explosions, sirens, cars becoming wrecked, machine guns and the like, it does just fine.JVD's treacherous partner Billy is well played by Gary McDonald. JVD's taunt that Bily's adulterous wife was fond of giving other men oral sex, and Billy should remember that the next time he kissed her was memorable, as was the result.Border security, illegal immigration, drug running and local politics all appear in the mix just the right side of credibility, even if the finale inevitably tests that credibility to its limits.At ninety five minutes, it does not outstay its welcome.

(Credit IMDb) A former New Orleans cop battles drug cartels and ex- Army Special Forces who are smuggling drugs from Mexico into U.S. through a Texas border town.I'm a massive fan of JCVD. I own almost all of his movies. Even though his work is mostly STD these days, I still watch every one that comes out. Unlike Seagal, he actually tries still. That being said, JCVD has churned out some forgettable crap as well. I wouldn't call this crap, but it's uninspired and mediocre to say the least. When you open a film with Van Damme feeding a rabbit with a carrot, you know it isn't going to be that good. Those expecting Vintage Van Damage will be disappointed. The fight scenes are tame, with only brief snippets of Van Damage. The main selling point here is Van Damme vs Adkins. They have a solid, if underwhelming scrap. I expected much more from two of the best in the world. The only other thing that stands out is a decent chase involving a bus. Van Damme is on auto-pilot here. His presence is there, but his heart doesn't seem to be fully into it. Sometimes he delivers, others he seems bored. I didn't buy into his pain with his dead daughter either. That's mainly because it is so vaguely written. Natalie J. Robb is entirely unconvincing in her role. She wasn't intimidating in her tough role at all. Adkins can play a henchman in his sleep. He should have been used better. This is one of JCVD's forgettable STD movies. It's somewhat dull, lacking in action, and has a poor story. It's not terrible, but certainly not very memorable. Unless you're a die-hard JCVD fan like I am, I'd pass4/10

This is the best direct-to-DVD effort from Van Damme that I have seen yet. Van Damme plays a border patrol agent who is out to stop heroin smugglers trying to cross into the United States. The action in this movie is great and the fight scenes rank with Van Damme's best. Costar Scott Adkins shows why he should be the next big star in the martial arts genre. For further evidence check out "Undisputed 2". Adkins is so good in fact that before I watched "The Shepherd", I thought that Van Damme might not look very believable in defeating him on screen. Van Damme holds his own though and although he isn't quite as athletic as Adkins is, he can still kick with the best of them. All of the fight scenes in this film are very well done and the gun battles are above average for this type of film as well. The only negative thing I can say about this movie is that the story is a little underdeveloped. I think Van Damme's character's motives should have been presented earlier in the movie, especially in regard to why he carries around a rabbit. The reason he does is very cool but you don't find out until the very end. There are a couple of other things that are never really explained either but this is a Van Damme movie so you know where the priority lies in making this kind of movie and it ain't character development. Overall though, this is a solid action movie that I recommend. So run for the Damme border!

Van damme has done some great films over the years and this one hits a big ten in my books. From the setting of Mexico to the five star fight scenes, this movie was amazing. The film is all about border patrol officers protecting there territory which is the border of Mexico. Ex navy seals are smuggling drugs out of Mexico into the united states of America (USA), Van damme and Scott Atkins give stunning performances as the cop and the villain. Although this film wasn't as good as until death but it still gave the action,acting and the film a five star look. I always look forward to these b grade action films and they keep getting better. keep them coming van damme.Watch this film if you enjoyed films like - Until death, The hard corps and second in command.