There was a time when you’d read that Jean-Claude Van Damme
was in a movie and make a point of seeing it in the theater. But somewhere
along the line his star fell and he began making movies that seemed destined
for the land of straight to DVD. It was the same trajectory that happened to
Steven Seagal which makes you wonder why the two haven’t made a series of films
together.
If you look at his list of credits his last good movie was
probably JCVD out in 2008. Prior to that one you have to go back to SUDDEN
DEATH in 1995. Yes, he’s made a number of pictures since then and even had the
role of lead villain in THE EXPENDABLES 2, but he’s never followed up on the
potential displayed in his earlier films. It may be in part due to his
reputation as an egomaniac or it may be bad management has placed him in poorly
made movies. But the fact is this film will not elevate his status.
Here he stars as a man with no memory who enters an ER in a
hospital about to close its doors. With a limited staff on hand they do their
best to patch up this severely wounded man and discover who he is. One nurse
named Suzanne (Autumn Reeser) stays with him to help and eventually aids him
when a group of killers arrive to take him out, finding out that his name is
Phillip. Randomly killing anyone in the ER they track down Phillip and the
nurse as he takes them on one at a time. Even wounded he can handle those sent
to kill him.
Most of this is told in flashback as Suzanne is questioned
by two FBI agents, Agent Mark Holman (Peter Stormare) and Agent Linda Sanders
(Maria Conchita Alonso). Several things about her questioning seemed odd to me
and stemmed from a poor script being used. Both agents seem adversarial to
Suzanne as they question her, especially Holman. As a victim in a mass shooting
incident one would think they would be a little more sympathetic and less
accusatory. The other odd thing, and maybe this is just my personal problem, is
finding two agents in the FBI whose accents are as thick as seen here. Again,
that could just be me.
Very little is believable here and most of it doesn’t play
out well in any way you look at it. The pacing is up and down and never
straight through. Van Damme does little acting and his martial arts techniques
have been on display for years. The film tries to redeem itself with a SPOILER
ALERT ending that is reminiscent of THE USUAL SUSPECTS. But even that can’t
save the entire project. For a movie to be good you have to give us something
worth watching other than the last 5-10 minutes.
Perhaps one day a studio will call up both Van Damme and
Segal to do a joint venture, a film with a decent script that allows both of
them to show they do have the ability to act and to offer on screen fighting
skills that both shared with audiences at the zenith of their careers. This
film has a problem just doing that with one of them. If I were Van Damme I’d
set my ego aside and also hire new management. Until that happens he’ll find
himself in films like this one.
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