Wake of Death
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Movie Reviews of Wake of Death
Movie Review: (2.5 Stars) His Best in Years But Still Needs Something More
Summary: 2 Stars
The title 'Wake of Death,' new film of Jean-Claude Van Damme, is rightly given to the very violent contents. Van Damme plays a bouncer Ben Archer who is quitting his job after seeing what he doesn't want to see for 20 years. But he has a beautiful wife Cynthia (Lisa King, 'Home Alone 4') and a kid at home, and all he wants is just a quiet life.
Anyone who knows some rules about action flicks will detect what will happen to his family when kind-hearted Cynthia (who is an INS officer by the way) takes home a little Chinese girl found among the refugees from China. And the little girl is connected with a Chinese triad, in fact, a daughter of a ruthless boss Sun Quan (Simon Yam, 'Tomb Raider 2'). And these events occur at the night when Cynthia and Ben are sleeping together in bed, showing part of their bodies in the ill-lit room.
[TYPICAL REVENGE STORY] Yes, Van Damme is getting more and more serious these days, as you have seen 'In Hell' recently. 'Wake of Death' goes similar course, but this time it's a revenge story with more violent actions with shoot-outs and car-chases. Though the script is a standard one, one inventiveness is found in the relations between Van Damme's hero and his former associates French mafiosos. These French gangsters give a timely help or two to Van Damme's character in a more bloody fashion than the Italian guys who were seen helping Arnie in 'Eraser.'
So how good is this film? It depends on your expectaions. 'Wake of Death' shows fairly good car stunts and shoot-outs, but the lack of imagination on the director's side is too obvious. My opinion is, it is much better than 'Derailed' (his worst), far below 'Timecop' (arguably his best), on par with 'The Order.' But it's just my idea. The point is, Van Damme shows pretty good acting here, but the actions, or the logics behind them, look awfully disjointed. The bad guy's motive to bring back his daughter at any cost is never explained, and the relations between the characters are very confusing. (Case in point. You get a glimpse of two veteran actors Burt Kwouk, 'Cato' of 'Rerurn of Pink Panther' and Jacqui Chan, 'The World of Susie Wong,' but the moment they appear on the screen, they get killed, without leaving no impression on us.) But most damaging thing is the film's shoddy editing that virtually killed some of the good stunts such as two motorcycles running in a shoppoing mall. I still do not know what happened at certain point of the story.
Philip Martinez, formerly producer of B action films such as 'Dot Kill' or 'House of 9,' gives his second film as director. (Incidentally, his first feature was, the imdb says, 'Citizen Verdict'(03) starring Armand Assante and Jerry Springer!) As to 'Wake of Death' he decided to shoot this film in South Africa though the story is set in America.
Fans of Van Damme might hail the film as his come-back. I don't know, for I still fondly remember joyful thrills when I watched his 'Timecop' or 'Universal Soldiers.' 'Wake of Death' is good as Grade-B, straight-to-video actioner, but it's not good enough for me.
Movie Review: wok of deeth -- theyre air much wahrs
Summary: 1 Stars
"Wake of Dead" is the most loathsome, disgusting, unethical, and poorly shot film I've seen in a while. Even if you took out the scenes with Van Damme harassing and screaming at a defenseless 11-year old girl, thrusting in an unpleasant sex scene, stabbing a villain in the genitals, and having the good guys torture a buffoon with an electric drill, it would still be the nadir of Van Damme's dying career. This film is basically about Ben Archer (Van Damme) trying desperately to get out of the violence and secrecy that being a "mob-enforcer" entails and live his life straight for his wife (a social worker) and his young boy. Or, as he says in his thick-tongued accent: "I'n fished. I'n tyred. I ded stuff in ma pass I'n note prood off, in ma life, I juss wantta prootek ma famile." Even though he says "I loaf ma wiffe," and thinks thrusting his waist proves it, he cannot protect her. When his wife takes her work home - when she brings home a Chinese druglord's daughter who ran away - the Chinese come looking. It would have probably only taken about a week to get his daughter back from the American government and court system (I don't care what kind of "investigating" Van Damme's wife does, no one is going to believe a desperate story from a desperate little girl trying to stay in the country), the Chinese drug lord tracks down his daughter and does the most logical thing to do when you're in a straight-to-video action flick: he shoots everyone in the vicinity. But still, he doesn't get his daughter back! Of course, Van Damme's wife is killed. So he gets angry and kills the drug lord and about fifty other idiots. Well, all this happens after Van Damme turns maudlin, drinks gallons of liqueur, and cries out: "I'n oing to mizzah. I'n oing to mizzah." This drawn out scene made me a little uncomfortable; it probably reflects what Van Damme does every night when he thinks about the pathetic scripts he's given.
There are plenty of fight scenes for you action lovers, although Van Damme seems to have decided to give up beating people to death - like he did in his early films - and now relies wholly on shooting everyone several times. This might have something to do with that huge shiner he has on his forehead. (Did someone crack him over the head with a liqueur bottle?) It doesn't help cover it up much when the whole film is shot entirely in extreme facial close-ups! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he doesn't look like he can fight. If I ever got into a fight with Van Damme, the first thing I would do would be to block all his punches with my face and head and deflect all his kicks to my solar plexus and gut. . . so I do admit he would take me in a fight. But it really doesn't do wonders for your career as an "action superstar" if you get beat up a lot.
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