In Hell
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Movie Reviews of In Hell
Movie Review: This movie is Awesome with a capital A
Summary: 5 Stars
Im not into vandamme, but I did enjoy this movie. It was done very well, I really felt for him. The fighting was very realistic and as a fan of UFC I enjoyed it. I showed the world how real people fight. No spinning kicks or death touches but dirty...savage like punching, strangles, and holds.Movie Review: Great movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Van Damme gives a great acting role as well as fighting. I am not talking about splits and spin kicks but niddy griddy street fights. The supporting cast was great as was the plot. I highly recommend this movie to everyone, not just Van Damme fans.Movie Review: I am still kicking, I must be on broadway
Summary: 5 Stars
Who the hell are you?Alex
Alex who?
yeah
Movie Review: Don't drop the soap (p.2)! Van Damme's Best Acting Job!
Summary: 4 Stars
The Jean Claude Van Damme Review Matrix (JCVD-RM)
1. Who is he? Kyle, a foreign inmate in a corrupt Russian prison
2. Which family member/friend must be avenged? Odd for a JCVD flick, his avenging happens early when he unleashes his inner Samuel L. Jackson in A Time to Kill on a unibrowed assailant who previously gutted JCVD's wife
3. Does he take his shirt off? Even in the shower scene JCVD doesn't strip.
4. Does he have sex with a C-List actress? No, but he almost has sex with a C-List actor.
5. Is there a tournament? Yes. Prisoners do battle and the warden's buddies bet on the outcome.
6. Is training needed for this tournament? Absolutely. And while in "the hole" he has plenty of time for pull-ups, push-ups, and leg-raises.
7. Does he do the splits in training or in the tournament? For some reason JCVD is portrayed as frail, so he can't show his ability to do the splits.
8. Does he punch someone in the balls? Oh, you know it! What guy, who doesn't know how to fight, who's stuck in a prison death-match, wouldn't connect his heel bone to another prisoner's bone?
9. Does he do a series of flying or 360 kicks? Warning! Absolutely no flying kicks in this movie!
10. Is his enemy unbeatable? Neither his physical nor metaphorical enemy stands a chance.
11. Does he overcome an injury or other hindrance? Just mental instability
12. Does he win? It's JCMFVD!!! He eventually owns the prison!
Essentially it's a cross between Star Trek VI (where Kirk kicked the alien in the knee/balls), a classic episode of "The A-Team" where B.A. gets purposely put in a prison to uncover a warden-controlled inmate fighting scandal, a Russian version of The Shawshank Redemption, the concubine scenes from Conan the Barbarian, the shower scene from Victory, and one specific scene from Interview with the Vampire. Just trust me.
The major characters seem like a collection of mental patient professional wrestlers. One looks like Machine from 8MM (mask included), but sounds like Jodie Foster from Nell. Another is an aggressive rapist who looks like an L.A. cholo, and forcibly sodomizes a newbie who is only kept alive to get corn-holed by fight champs. The final oddball is Inmate 451 (Lawrence Taylor), a psychotic arsonist (Get it?! 451!?!) who murders his cellmates and waxes poetic about the morality lessons of prison, survival, and humanity.
Without flying kicks and the splits, this one is less JCVD than most others. However, it's an honest attempt by JCVD to play a role deeper than his norm. Nonetheless, the movie incorporates the most enticing pieces of other action films, and delivers an interesting, albeit predictable plot. By normal standards it's pretty ridiculous, but JCVD standards are different. However, JCVD displays great range as a man who decays inside a deplorable situation, yet finds the willpower to eventually overcome adversity (especially during his completely insane moments).
Highly Recommended.
Movie Review: Van Dammes best acting yet...is it good enough?
Summary: 4 Stars
The story is about Kyle LeBlanc (Van Damme), an American working in Russia, who avenges the death of his wife killed by a criminal after he is found innocent by buying a corrupt judge. Kyle is arrested and goes to a prison controlled by nasty officials and a warden that gains a lot of money organizing and taking bets with fights between the interns. At first, LeBlanc has no meaning to live, haunted by the image of his wife he even tries to kill himself in desperation. But with time he becomes a cold, heartless man, training hard to defend himself from the gangs and from the guards. The dedication leads to a gaining of respect inside those walls, especially in his relationship with his cellmate, a violent and mysterious man (Lawrence Taylor) who works as the living memory of the place, writing about everything that happens there. Rapidly Kyle turns himself into a "savage," brutal fighter, facing opponents even from other prisons and is considered the champion while some of his friends try to make him remember the man that he was. At this time, a new menace arrives in the form of a man called Valya (Michael Bailey Smith), a prisoner transferred only to fight against Kyle.That's the journey of Van Damme's character in one of his most difficult roles. Well, everybody knows that Van Damme it's not Al Pacino but he tries very hard to make a convincing and troubled man tormented by the horrors of the life in jail, floating from a good man to a savage beast. Unfortunately his character is the only one with depth in a script full of holes and clichés, so his efforts are mostly in vain. One good example is his relationship with his cellmate played by Lawrence Taylor; at first they don't like each other but suddenly they became good friends, with very little to explain of justify this, what is a great flaw considering that Taylor's character is the key of the finale and the soul of the film in a way.
In order to compensate for the flaws of the script, director Ringo Lam makes the film with a very gritty and dark tone, almost too serious, with a lot of violence and a claustrophobic mood. This is reflected in the fight scenes, all very realistic. Don't expect Van Damme to do his fancy kicks here 'cause it's all about street fighting, with some great grappling moves from sanbo, wrestling and jiu-jitsu, specially in the fight between Van Damme and Michael Bailey Smith, who is the most menacing opponent that Van Damme has faced since Bolo Yeung.
But all the atmosphere, the fights, or the will to do a great film are not enough. With so many underdeveloped characters and situations it's frustrating to see all that style; it's a great cover to a so-so book.
5 Stars for Van Damme
3 Stars for the movie