Wake of Death (2004)

Tagline:

Revenge is all he has left.

Back of DVD:

As a mob enforcer, Ben Archer (action superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme: back to his hard hitting best!) worked for criminals. Now, as a cop, he works to put them behind bars. But his personal and professional lives collide the day his wife takes in the runaway daughter of a Triad gang boss... and is brutally murdered for her interference.

Hell-bent on revenge, Archer joins forces with his old underworld friends... and wages an all-out war against the Triads that will leave a wake of death unlike any city has ever seen before.

Movie Review:

First of all, if you are reading these reviews sequentially, apologies for the delay in getting this review up. It's just been one of those weeks, but I'm back now to continue this unintentional expose of B-action superstars that I started with Steven Seagal's "A Dangerous Man" and followed by Dolph Lundgren's "The Shooter". Who knows where this will go, but it seems like a good theme to run with.

The movie starts with a flashback of a car chase shootout that seems to end badly as it cuts to Jean-Claude Van Damme sitting in a morgue between two corpses with a mournful and defeated expression on his face. This cuts to JCVD, who seems to work at a club, saying to colleagues that he has had enough and wants out. Something is not right in the land of Van Damme; but to which order events are taking place in we are not sure of yet (all very Pulp Fiction). This intro scene would feel more at home in his excellent self-titled movie made a few years later.

A boat load of illegal Chinese immigrants arrives at the city docks and are processed by INS. One of the INS workers at the scene (Van Damme's wife Cynthia, played by Lisa King) feels sympathy for a teenage girl that was on the boat and takes her home for the night instead of leaving her at a processing centre. Van Damme has a son of his own and tries to bond with the girl over ice cream. Also, I have to mention early on that the only actors in this movie that I couldn't stand were JCVD's wife and son; his wife in particular has a whiny, permanently whispering voice that annoyed the hell out of me. Perhaps that is why she has only done two other things besides this movie, according to IMDB anyway, including a DTV sequel for Home Alone.

Meanwhile, a Chinese business man with nice shoes disembarks from a private jet and enters a waiting black limousine (i.e. he's evil). He is Sun Quan (Simon Yan, a veteran of Chinese cinema) a triad crime lord who is actually smuggling drugs in the boat along with the people. When he meets with a crooked INS cop from the docks we even learn that some of the people smuggled died due to heroin packages they had swallowed bursting in their stomachs. Harsh. What we also learn is that the girl being accommodated by Van Damme's wife is Quan's daughter. Oh no.

Cynthia is at home having lunch with her parents, family and her temporarily adopted immigrant daughter (but no JCVD) when an armed gang of triads smash in and kill everybody in the room, including Cynthia. Quan's daughter escapes but JCVD's son is kidnapped. When Van Damme arrives home to his dead wife he understandably loses it and begins to methodically piece together how to get his son back and avenge his wife, while protecting Quan's daughter. Then out of absolutely nowhere during a tear-jerking scene a freaking ninja attacks him with a sword, and just to remind you that this is a Van Damme movie he is kick-boxed out of a window.

This is a very different type of movie for Van Damme. If I hadn't seen "JCVD" previously I would be more surprised than I am, but still the acting qualities he shows in this are far and above any of his 90's work. I don't think he even smiles once in Wake of Death, but I guess there isn't much to smile about. There is a lot of tender piano music and quiet scenes throughout but they aid the story well, unlike the usual cliche tender piano music played in action movies when something bad happens. Van Damme has become a much better emotional actor in his later years work.

Van Damme gathers his club associates as a small vigilante posse and takes down the first pawn in his game of revenge, Andy Wang (Tom Wu). They go to his brothel/hotel wearing balaclavas and very swiftly take out all his henchmen guards, leaving JCVD with the cool job of blowing Wang away with a shotgun to the head: "This is for my wife!". This is more like a Dolph Lundgren movie at this moment, but the characterisation of Van Damme's club associates is something from a Tarantino movie. One has a strong accent, one is in a wheel chair, they play cards and make espressos. Then together as a family of sorts, brutally torture a guy with a god damnned POWER DRILL. There is serious glee on their faces as they plunge the drill into the guys arms and legs - one of the most painful (literally) scenes to watch in any Van Damme movie I know, but a hugely effective information gathering technique.

I really enjoyed Wake of Death. When summarised on the back of a DVD cover the plot looks very similar to any other DTV action movie. But JCVD's honed acting skills and the interesting characters added into the mix, along with the eclectic soundtrack and cool cinematography, make it stand out from the crowd. It's not all high tea and crumpet cinema though - there is a sweet motorbike chase through a mall, a car chase with exploding tanker truck and a by-the-numbers shootout ending on a boat (it reminded me a bit of the ending from Back in Action actually) with twin Desert Eagles and a guy falling off the ships mast, all before finally killing Quan and getting his son back. Hooray!

Next up: perhaps a lesser-appreciated Schwarzenegger movie.

The Video:

An excellent presentation overall on this R4 disc. I bought this in a 3-pack with Legionnaire and In Hell on separate discs on one of those compilations that Sony has been putting in recent years here in Australia (you can get other JCVD 3-packs, Steven Seagal packs, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, and others - they are great value). The picture and audio were both crisp and clean, with a nice 16:9 video and a dynamic surround soundtrack.

Sourced From:

eBay for $4.25 for the three aforementioned movies.

Trailer:

More Screens:

The Shooter aka Hidden Assassin (1995)

Tagline:

Seduction is a Deadly Weapon!

Back of DVD:

When the Cuban Ambassador is assassinated, special agent Michael Dane must travel to Prague to hunt down the person responsible. Time is running out: the U.S./Cuban summit is scheduled to take place within two days. And the seductively deadly French agent is not making matters any easier...

Movie Review:

As post #20 was a Steven Seagal movie, post #21 should definitely be a Dolph Lundgren vehicle. This is not one of Dolph's best by any stretch but it is a solid, if unremarkable thriller with a few interesting twists.

Dolph is summoned to Prague by his old friend Alex (John Ashton, Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2). Dolph and Alex meet with some diplomats and secret police types, and Dolph is persuaded by a large box of cigars to do a hit for the man Dick Powell. Dick suspects that female assassin Simone Rosset, played by the lovely Maruschka Detmers, was the shooter in the assassination of the Cuban ambassador. This affects Dick because there is to be a summit in Prague in two days between the US and Cuba and Simone could ruin it if she turns up guns blazing. Dick "wants this woman out of his life" and Dolph agrees to take the job, with Alex's assistance.

Dolph and Alex tail the girl going about her daily routine running a cafe, and going to a club at night dancing all erotically. There is a hilarious "duh duh" expression on Dolph's face when he watches Simone dance. It really would have played well if the music changed to "why do birds suddenly appear". The next day Dolph tries the undercover approach and acts as a patron of Simone's cafe; in fact he pretends to sell her wine as she is quite the connoisseur. The two get right trashed on red plonk then go down to Simone's basement (oo-er). The trap is set and Alex sneaks up to Simone but before he can make his move Simone's bodyguard comes crashing down the stairs and lunges at Alex. Dolph kicks the guys arse (go Dolph!). Simone attacks Dolph with a fire extinguisher and she is finally drugged unconscious and thrown into the boot of Dolph's car. Problem solved and the summit secured.

But of course it wouldn't be that simple. Simone apparently a master of escape techniques frees herself from her handcuffs and sets fire to the car, as they are driving in it. Dolph and Alex pursue Simone through the streets of Prague then into the cold water of the river but local cops who know no better put a gun on Alex and Dolph and Simone escapes. Dick Powell arrives at the scene a very angry man and puts on a good "this negligence will be punished" show for the watching diplomats, but ultimately gives Dolph and Alex another chance to catch Simone.

And so it goes on, really. Dolph tries to get help from Simone's business partner slash girlfriend Marta by pretending he is on her side, and she appears to be buying the story - Dolph even gets into a believable car chase with Alex persuing them - but he is double-crossed when Simone's bodyguard pulls a gun on him. The two girls escape into a waiting train at the station but Dolph being Dolph jumps onto the tracks, shoots through the rear window and climbs on to the roof (very Under Siege 2 and half a dozen other movies).

It's all pretty standard fare. Not to say this movie is bad, it's just hard to write a glowing review of because nothing much out of the ordinary really happens. There is a few action scenes and shootouts from moving cars and running along rooftops, and a couple of twists involving the key players in the movie. Simone gets smoochy with Dolphy, Dolph turns on those that are paying him, Dolph and Simone get shot at by atypical henchmen (the greasy types, the suited types with dark sunglasses) etc. etc. The Prague land and cityscape is very nice though.

I might sound like I am being harsh; the movie is enjoyable and I didn't fall asleep, so that's good, but there is a fair amount of plot-babble to provide backstory that really isn't necessary. Blow up a tanker truck or something. I do prefer my Dolph movies to be explosive like Direct Contact or Showdown in Little Tokyo. Direct Contact isn't a bad reference point actually, though it was made ten years later, as it has a similar theme - Dolph pulls an undercover job for the government to pick up a girl, but it's all actually a ruse. That movie was far more ridiculous and less mainstream than The Shooter (one of Dolph's post-Universal Soldier efforts, and definitely when he was becoming less and less seen in the general publics eye) but also far more fun.

Still, I'll probably watch this again at some point. The shootout at the ambassador party is quite nice.

The Video:

This was a special one. Through my friend Jeremie who runs the website Dolph: The Ultimate Guide I acquired two versions of this movie: an NTSC full screen presentation that was uncut and with English audio, and a PAL 16:9 Widescreen uncut version that only had German audio. Through a series of micro-cuts (at the reel change points) I was able to synch the English audio (after an NTSC>PAL conversion) to the German video. The results are pretty damn good and vastly superior to the American R1 fullscreen presentation. There is a Korean widescreen DVD available on eBay but this combination has 10 minutes of extra footage on it, though I am not sure what footage is added. I have done this with a few other Dolph movies so expect to see them in the future! Runtime 100 minutes (standard US cut is 89 minutes)

Sourced From:

dolph-ultimate.com - join the forum and chat all things Dolph!

Trailer:

More Screens:

A Dangerous Man (2009)

Tagline:

They Started This. He'll Finish It.

Back of DVD:

Action legend Steven Seagal stars as Shane Daniels, an ex-Special Forces operative released from prison after serving six years hard time for a murder he didn't commit. Back on the street, he comes to the rescue of a beautiful young hostage stashed in a car trunk with millions in cash. Wielding a devastating combination of street fighting smarts and martial arts skills, he suddenly finds himself in a deadly showdown  with international drug merchants and the local corrupt cops. As the only ones standing between him and his newfound freedom, they're about to discover just how dangerous one man can be in this explosive, wall-to-wall thriller.

Movie Review:

This is my 20th review and I thought it fitting to finally bring Steven Seagal into the fold - what with his upcoming return to the big screen in Machete - with his latest direct-to-dvd actioner A Dangerous Man.

It starts with a woman walking to her car at night. She gets in and calls her boyfriend/husband (Seagal, you can tell because he greets her with "Hey baby doll", a classic Seagal greeting). Next thing you know she is being carjacked by a thug. Quick on the scene is Seagal who chases the thug away. The next thing we see is the cops in the morning looking over the dead thugs body and Seagal being interrorgated for the kids murder. As he is ex-special forces it is assumed that he killed him and is convicted and sent away for six years.

The day before his parol hearing Seagal gets a Dear John note from his wife dumping him. He's standing in the rain too, poor guy. He is aquitted of all charges in the hearing because new forensic evidence has proven his innocence, and he is given three hundred thousand dollars by the state as compensation. He politely tells the judge to stuff it as no money can give him his lost years and lost wife back. Go Steve. His first day out he goes to get alcohol (the first thing anyone would do after six years without) and is threatened by two dreggs that want his wallet. They won't take no for an answer so Steve "fucks them up real ugly" (his words) and beats a guy to within an inch of his life with the stripped out insides of a handgun. Believe me, it aint pretty; definitely one of the more brutal Seagal beatings I've ever seen. Seagal covers his tracks by taking the surveillance video from the bottle shop VCR. Something I guess he learned in special forces training.

Seagal flees the scene and ends up at a lookout point somewhere. He drinks his alcohol and has inappropriate thoughts about his ex-wife when he notices a few cars roll up. The first is two young guys out for a good time, the second is a black car with two Chinese guys in it and the third a single cop in a patrol car. The cop pulls the black car over and asks to see the Chinese guy's licence but he pulls the 'me no English' defence so the copper hauls them out and demands they open the boot. In it is a bag of cash and a whole array of guns and before he can react the copper is shot. One of the kids from the first car makes himself known and is also killed. Seagal finally intervenes and kicks the Chinese guys' arses in a medley of punches, kicks, snapped arms and his patented Slap-fu technique. He also explodes a car as a diversion by putting a handkerchief in the petrol inlet and setting it on fire, causing the car to explode. Then finally he shoots the guy. Brutal.

Steven Seagal is quite a heavy set man these days and what he lacks in running ability and light-as-a-feather agility he more than makes up for with his huge presence and wrestling-style punches. When he beats guys in A Dangerous Man you know they really deserved it. There also seems to be far less use of stunt doubles, at least obvious ones, and much more direct Seagal martial arts action. After he's done with kicking arse Steve opens the car boot and finds not only the money and guns but also an unconscious girl. The kid who survived helps Seagal with the girl and they escape in the kids car. Once the girl comes round (her name is Tia) she explains via flashbacks that she had been kidnapped during an illegal immigration meeting with some Chinese guys and crooked cops, and that the cops shot and killed her friends. Apparently she is trying to help get her uncle in from China and these people smugglers were going to help her, but instead they double-crossed her and were going to use her for ransom. If you can't trust people smugglers, who can you trust? She says her father will help Seagal flee the country if he helps her get her uncle.

I've seen a lot of Seagal movies in recent months; in fact I have acquired them all on DVD or Blu-ray. His classics remain classics but a lot of his DTV stuff is just as good, some of it even more fun simply because the usual big-screen cinema rules no longer apply. When you know from the beginning that your movie won't be shown at the local Hoyts you can play with it more; make it more violent and give the audience precisely what they want - guns, fights, explosions. Driven to Kill aka Ruslan, Pistol Whipped and Urban Justice were also great Seagal DTV movies. In fact this movie is similar to Urban Justice. Seagal taking out the trash one by one to avenge his dead son, or in this case, to help a kidnapped girl.

The leader and second in the Chinese people-smuggling gang have both done DTV before. The leader, Chen (Terry Chen) was in Hardwired as the watch salesman and in Wesley Snipes/Jason Statham movie Chaos. Chen's second is played by Byron Mann, who was also in Seagal's earlier DTV work Belly of the Beast. His name in this movie is The Colonel. I couldn't help but think of KFC every time his name was mentioned.

The kid with Seagal is part Russian and his dad runs a rival Russian gang. He may be Russian but he sounds like Swisgaar to me. He promises to help Seagal because he saved his sons life, so by the end of the movie you have Seagal and the Russians in an all out shootout with the crooked cops and the Chinese gang. That's what I like to see in these movies, people working together for a common goal - bad guys laying waste to even badder guys. Seagal gets a few more action scenes; some real vicious ones actually. He snaps about half a dozen arms, and pistol whips a guy at least ten times. At one point in a saw mill he throws a guy into a bansaw and you see his remains spurt out of the machinery. In the same mill Seagal shoves a guy into the blade of a circular saw which gets embedded in the guys forehead. The best kill however is when Seagal takes what looks to be a chopstick and slowly inserts it into a guys neck. Very effective and made me wince.

I love this ultra-violent Seagal but there could have been more of it. When he was on screen it was awesome but there were large chunks of the movie when Seagal and his two new buddies were not on screen. Chen and The Colonel get a lot of screen time, and the lead crooked cop gets his fair share. I wouldn't say I was dissapointed with the amount of Seagal slap-fu and shootouts but you can never have too much of it. At least what there was, was all gold. Seagal rarely tried to be hip and cool like he sometimes does by trying to speak 'street talk' either. The guy will never be Shakespeare but when he doesn't over-act he delivers his lines fine, and he did that admirably here. For the Seagal DTV knowledgable you will be glad to know that there is far less dubbing of lines in A Dangerous Man than something like Into the Sun or, God forbid, Attack Force.

A highly recommended movie. If you have only seen classic-era Seagal like Above the Law or Under Siege and want to dip your toes into the seedy world of direct-to-video Seagal, I suggest you start here and work your way backwards through his filmography.

The Video:

I watched the unrated 16:9 enhanced R1 Paramount DVD and it was immaculate. My viewing screen is only 32" so I could easily mistake this for a bluray. Colours are vibrant, blacks are deep and the image sharp - this movie is very 'modern' in its filming with a few blue-shifted scenes and quick editing, and the DVD quality reinforces that. The audio was loud and crisp with the gunfire and explosions loud and in your face. Couldn't ask for much more. Runtime 94 minutes.

Sourced From:

eBay for US$8 + shipping.

Trailer:

More Screens: