In Hell
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Movie Reviews of In Hell
Movie Review: Finally a decent Van Damme Flick
Summary: 4 Stars
I had about given up renting the Van Damme flicks, especially after the horrible Derailed. I watched this last evening and was very surprised. Van Damme finally gives a real acting performance and has a supporting cast that does the same. There is no fancy spinning kicks, just down and dirty real street fighting and realistic depiction of prison life. It is a story of redemption. Losing his wife and all that is dear, Van Damme descends into the hell of a russian prison and learns about being true to oneself. Highly recommended.Movie Review: always a fan of 'in hell'
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't know what it is about "In Hell" that I've continued to like all these years. I don't watch alot of fight movies by jean-claude, or by anyone as a matter of fact...but this one sticks with me. it's your typical tough guy fight movie, acting is okay, plot is pretty straightforward, as most action/fighthing movies are.
I gave this movie 4 stars because I believe it was well done, the action scenes made up for the dry plot! Definently a must see. Obviously, it's more of a guys movie. Yeah.
Movie Review: WOW, A fresh Van Damne movie that is good
Summary: 4 Stars
Van Damne delivers a great new movie, thank god, because if he did another bad movie, and see and hear bad comments, he will prolly call it quits but no he still got it.I expected a little more from this movie, like he did fight, but no fancy kicking just punching, but the movie was still good.Movie Review: Van Damme in a flick worth watching
Summary: 4 Stars
Along with many of the other reviewers I must say this is something of a rarity, a good Van Damme movie. Make sure you watch fairly closely to catch the small details that make it this way.Movie Review: Above Average Van Damme
Summary: 3 Stars
Van Damme plays Kyle LeBlanc a foreigner currently residing in Russia. His wife complains that he's always so busy working that they never get a chance to see eachother. He promises her that this is only a temporary situation and that things will soon change. He's right. While talking to her on his cell phone during his drive home she is brutally attacked and targeted for rape. Panic-stricken Kyle races home to save her, but he is too late. His wife's attacker, however, is still in the house. He jumps Kyle from behind, but the enraged huband fights back starting a rousing chase scene through the busy city streets. Justice takes a turn for the worst through legalities as Kyle LeBlanc is the one sentenced to life imprisonment for taking the law into his own hands. What follows is a dark and gruelling picture of life behind bars and prison corruption.This is one of Van Dammes better pictures in recent years. Director Ringo Lam is one of those directors who gives B quality pictures the same care he would give an A quality film. He has a fine visual flair for storytelling as is evidenced throughout the film not only in moments of action (his car chases are always a highlight) but in subtle yet memorable varieties of camera placement (witness the scenes of solitary confinement which is a very small space yet he makes the absolute most and best of that space). Van Damme has the capability to be one of the greats in this genre. He has not only the looks and physical skills needed for action pictures, but also, as is shown in this picture, the ability to convey emotional feeling without having to speak which, given the nature of action acting where words are often few and far between, is definitely a great plus. Most of the action in this film for instance comes after long period's of time where Van Damme's character is watching, waiting, reflecting, suffering, and just simply trying to stay out of trouble. These moments help make the action that inevitably does come after them all the more meaningful. Ringo and Jean-Claude work well together and succeed in keeping audience interest during these quieter moments throughout the film, moments that exist primarily to set the stage up for what most people watch Van Damme movies for, the fights. The fights in IN HELL are rough and raw. All of the prison fighters are big and bulky convicts and as such there is an appropriate amount of wrestling and dirty kick-em-while-there-down tactics. There's a minimal use of high spinning kicks (usually a Van Damme staple) and a lot of bare knuckle punches, but there are some nice wrestling takedowns to spice things up now and then. The fact that the fighters here don't do anything really spectular is actually a plus. The bare bone tactics seem more fitting to the theme of IN HELL where people who are treated like animals can become animals.
Now for the drawbacks. Lawrence Taylor is given the role of narrator and has a tendency to be a little monotonous. He does fine otherwise, but there's a lot of ineffectual narration throughout the movie. The story is a little overfamiliar. Even Van Damme himself has visited this territory before in DEATH WARRANT (prison is a good setting for Van Damme films though since that was another one of his better vehicles) where he played an undercover mountie looking into prison corruption. Also, there's no central villain to root against during the climax. While there are various baddies you come to hate, in the end it is the prison system itself that is the real villain of the piece. This serves the film's purpose, but the final showdown becomes a little less personal and a little less involving without that one central figure. We are given a few hated villains to root against throughout the movie, but they are only a part of the climax and not the climax itself. All in all this is a good Van Damme picture and hopefully things will continue to swing up from here for him and his fans.