disdressed12

(2012-05-02 03:34:25)

Van Damme shows some acting ability in this one

as far as i know,this movie represents a big departure for Jean ClaudeVan Damme.to me,it marks the first time he has put in a good actingperformance.this movie is more of a drama than anything.there are somefight scenes,but they are much more realistic and gritty than his pastfilms,at the one i have seen.the movie also contains some very brutalmoments,some implied,others shown. Van Damme's character is shown asvery human in this movie.there was also a point to the film,somethingsorely lacking in previous efforts.it was entertaining,but also veryhard to watch at times.if you are expecting over the top fights andstunts,you won't find it here.instead you will find what seems to me tobe a fairly accurate portrayal of life in prison,and the horrors thatoccur there.for me "In Hell" is a strong 7/10 based largely on itsrealism and Van Damme' heart wrenching performance.

b_funk_masta

(2012-05-01 23:57:49)

one of the best

This is not only one of the best van Damme movies I've seen, it's oneof the best movies I've seen in a while. I think the summary saidsomething about guys in a prison fighting for the wardens enjoyment.Well, yeah, but the story goes much deeper than that. His charactergoes through some amazing developments, and van Damme looks like he'sbeen taking a few acting lessons. And the plot is interesting andsemi-believable. It's set in a foreign country, where he gets sent toprison (for a good reason, if there ever was a good reason to be sentto prison) where life is, well, hell. But his experiences leading up toand inside the prison break him down, and build him up into somethingelse. It's really amazing to watch his character transform. If you likevan Damme, and you're ready for some drama, a real story, and of coursevan Damme beating on people, you shouldn't miss this movie. I'd say theplot gets an 'A-' the acting gets a 'B', and the action gets a 'B-'.

(2012-05-01 04:28:09)

sick, funny, van damme

this movie wud get 5 stars if it was not for me bein a professional critic, i took an oath vowing i wud never give a movie 5 stars unless it totally deserved it, an example of a movie deserving 5 stars wud be any movie combining van damme with the "actors" of "Big Ballers", but in hell comes reallll close...the only drawbak of this movie is the darn prison scenes where sick, tuff prisoners buy "sukas" aka dudes to sleep with, n do it prison style...that jus grosses me out....van damme aint havin it tho, whenever sumone buys him as a "suka" n says "ill see u 2nite", he breaks the rules of the prison n gets himself solitary confinement....who says van dam doesnt have brains? well except where he tries to hang himself with a rope thats way too long....the best part of the dvd is the "makin of in hell" ...i wish mr damme wud make a strait to theatres movie but i think the mussels from brussels van damme will be makin strait to video movies till blockbuster shuts down...lawrence taylor is oh so wise in this movie in which he recites his knowledge n ends his thoughts with the word "bullsh;;"....actaully, this movie is dark, n actaully tries to use symbolism n teach morals n stuff, but its still funny for sum strange reason [ van damme , lawrence taylor, come on]

callanvass

(2012-04-30 07:33:12)

One of Van Damme's best films!,a Very brutal and gripping Prison film that I loved!

In Hell is an emotional gripping prison movie, that really had mehooked from the get go, and if this isn't Van Damme's best performanceit's very close to being it!. There are no fancy kicks from Van Dammein this movie just pure raw fighting and I absolutely loved it, and theopening is very sad and especially gripping, as you will feel for VanDamme's character, plus you will be rooting for Van Damme to get outand escape!. One scene that really makes me cringe is when Van Dammebangs his head against the cement wall in the prison repeatedly, andLawrence Taylor and Van Damme in my opinion made a good team and hadpretty good chemistry together, plus for a DTV film this is as good asit gets!. It's extremely well made and directed, and most of thecharacters are pretty likable as well(except the villains), plus theare many disturbing images and scenes as well!. Overall This is a mustsee for every Van Damme fan, as I Believe it's one of his absolute bestfilms!. ***** out of 5The Acting is fantastic!. Jean Claude Van Damme is terrific here ifthis isn't his best performance, then it's very close to it he reallygave a stellar acting performance here, and you will really feel forwhat he goes through, I think Van Damme could be onto big things inacting as he is really mature now!. Lawrence Taylor is excellent as451, he Doesen't say much but his performance is there and I think youall will be surprised by the performance he gives!. Lloyd Battista andCarlos GГѓВіmez are good as the villains you will hate them!. Chris Moiris good as Billy he was likable, it was really sad with what happenedto him.

(2012-04-29 20:56:16)

I'll have to see the last of it when hubby's gone hunting

I knew that Jean Claude Van Damn had created some pretty-boy kickboxing movies a decade ago. When my husband was interested in watching "In Hell", I wasn't enthusiastic about it. Wow, did our roles reverse. He was soon bored. I, on the other hand, had realized that when you scratched beneath the surface, there was a whole lot more to this film than realistic prison violence. My redneck husband is also the "Keeper of the Remote" and it wasn't long before he was surfing other cable channels. I must buy it! 3-Star rating because I only watched the first half but I'm hopeful that it ends up with a 4-star or above!Way-to-go Jean Claude!KDi

robert l.decker

(2012-04-29 10:06:02)

ahhhm...okay.

i finally saw it the day after christmas.i just read some of the comments.most people liked it,i notice.one persondid'nt.i guess i'm sort of in between.i mean,i admire and respect theactingperformance,the plot,storyline,script,what have you,but i guess it's kindofdepressing that he did'nt start using his kickbox skills at all.it's likethat part of him died,and maybe it died for the sake of getting moreordinary people to be fond as well as interested by his change ofpace.i agree,it's better acting than the past van damme,but at the sametimehe really does neglect all those hard years of martial arts training infavor of pleasing the masses of early 21st century action film critics andobservers.people now seem to be sick of some people doing martial arts andwould rather see them being more ordinary which to me is allright to apoint(1 movie here and there)but it will indeed really,really startgettinglame and depressing if he keeps up this particular format(martialartlessvann damme).like i said,i respect someone,especially action actors who showversatility but please do another bloodsport type movie soon mr.vandamme.my rating.6.5/10as compared to others.bloodsport8.0/10kickboxer8.5/10nowhere to run6.5/10

Igor Shvetsov

(2012-04-27 22:16:12)

Midnight Express II

In Hell (a.k.a. The Savage) is a nice if regular action vehicle for VanDamme. Perhaps, it could have been much better should it was set in somestereotypical Middle East correction facility (Billy Hayes case comes tomymind). Warning: some spoilers ahead.I don't dare say that the production design is mediocre. Simply it'sobviousthat neither Ringo Lam, nor his (mostly Bulgarian) crew have ever hadpoignant experience behind bars in the Russian penitentiary. (Neither haveI, good God, no! There are plenty of immensely accurate documentary andfeature films of the Russian origin, sufficient to gain someinsight.)There are loads of unlikely and irrelevant details and goof stuffdowngrading this otherwise passable actioner. Let's leave alone theponderous premise itself involving brutal fights unleashed by the prisonauthorities, superfluous and flat characters (including that annoyingmoth),endless cliches and loopholes - at least this is somewhat excusable forthisblow-their-brains-off sort of Hong Kong-inspired flicks.Firstly, one can hardly realize that this mishmash takes place in Russiaunless you pick up inarticulate Russian speech. Extremely rarely eye cantake a glimpse of a Slavic type of face. Amazingly, in most cases Americanactors looked more convincing as Russian inmates, than the Bulgarians.Bailey Smith was simply awesome as mammoth Valya, unfortunately his partwastoo brief and insignificant.Secondly, there's too much liberty and too vast space provided to theprisoners as portrayed in this film. Ask Lord Judd or another human rightadvocate whether the conditions in an average Russian jail are THATrelaxed!Moreover, foreign cons (even from less civilized countries than the US)arenormally transferred to special prisons/institutions and confinedseparately, aside from native criminals.Thirdly, the background music for some obscure reason bears a considerableamount of rather "orientally-inclined" tunes. Instinctively I wasdesperately trying to spot a mosque somewhere in the vicinity. Certainamount of silly and unlikely sprinkles of Russian traditional (e.g.Kalinka), folk or rowdy songs even deteriorates the overallimpression.Finally, the escape sequence against the backdrop of some vaguephilosophical reflections from the LeBlanc's "spiritual mentor" issecond-rate, ridiculous and abrupt. A mere disrespect to the Russianpenitentiary system :-)))Well, however, we all have got used to Hollywood's colorful portrayal ofinfinite stupidity and brutality of Russians, and who cares how honestlyitis presented? Nonetheless, perhaps exactly due to its over-the-topimprobability and grotesque, it made it to grip my attention until theclosing credits. Van Damme is good as usual if slightly restrained.Violence, strangely, not abounds as much as expected.P.S. Russian obscene term "suka" (bitch), frequently misused in the movietorefer to the male (gay) sexual partner, has a somewhat different meaninginthe criminal slang. Russian prisoners thus use this word towards traitorsmeddling with the authorities. A more appropriate term in that particularmeaning as used in the film is "petoukh" (cock, i.e. malehen).

kent church

(2012-04-27 10:08:55)

The Shawshank Redemption starring Van Damme

"The Savage" is Van Damme's attempt at making a genuine good movie and mostof the time the film succeeds. Van Damme stars as Kyle LeBlanc, an industrial engineer working in Europe,whose wife is murdered and the killer set free. When Kyle guns down themurderer at the courthouse he is sentenced to life in Russia's worst prison.The warden at this prison is organizing fights between inmates and bettingbig with his fellow wardens. It doesn't take long before gentle and kindKyle is forced to fight. Cut to months later and Kyle has become a savage, aman who fights without emotion and kills without thought.Van Damme pulls this off quite nicely. There's a big difference betweenfamily man Kyle and savage fighter Kyle. Most of the performances in thisfilm are dead on.Special mention must be given to the story. Although it's not the bestscreenplay ever written it's certainly interesting, and far more compellingthan a lot of direct to video flicks. However there areproblems.For starters the film looks like it was edited with a chainsaw and the Bgrade budget undermines some of director Ringo Lam's A grade intentions,which is a shame because this is one of Lam's, and Van Damme's for thematter, better efforts. "The Savage" is a good movie, not just a good action or Van Damme movie, buta good movie in general. Hopefully now Van Damme will make a film that willbe released in theatres. This film shows he's more than ready forit.3 out of 5.

barbarossa-3

(2012-04-26 02:36:12)

Absolutely ridiculous

The authors know nothing about Russians prisons, the movie isabsolutely cockamamie, has nothing common with the reality. They alsodon't that the foreign prisoners in Russia have a special prison so theforeigners NEVER live together with Russian criminals. The uniforms inthis movie look if they were stolen somewhere in Latin America.Prisoners in Russia also don't work outside the prison. Each kill inRussian prison is a subject of investigation so the prisoners kill eachother only if there some very important reasons. Playing soccer is alsoforbidden in the prisons, contacts between the prisoners are veryrestricted, no chance for bloody combats etc etc etc. So this movie hasNothing common with the reality.

(2012-04-25 15:04:12)

Above average acting by Van Damme!!

In his latest movies, Van Damme has shifted toward suspense and drama, which makes his characters more believable. In Hell is without a doubt one of the most tear jerking movies I have seen in a while due to Van Damme's powerful screen presence. In this movie, Van Damme slowly breaks down mentally until he is dirty with an unkept beard. In fact, he looses touch with reality to the point that even the movie's villians look at him horrified and shocked!! In Hell is more of a thriller than a mindless martial arts video. Van Damme is following in the footsteps of Jet LI, Jackie Chan, and my man Ho Chung Tao (AKA Bruce LI) who are great actors in their own right. One element that an above average actor must have is vulnerability. That is my major gripe about Steven Seagal's movies. HE almost always looks the same-his hair, his wardrobe. But the big flaw of Seagal's movies is that his characters are "perfect", with no flaws that most people have at least to a minor extent. On the other hand, Van Damme is not afraid to play roles that show weakness or vulnerablities in human nature. Even Jet Li and Jackie Chan have played alcholics and other flawed personality traits in which they had to battle within themselves to finally defeat their enemies. In many films, Jet LI also makes amends to those in which he has wronged. Van Damme is showing an ability to take risks with his acting by playing roles that show weaknesses in himself and his characters. Very moving, powerful performance by Van Damme!! All Van Damme needs is a good director and producer to compliment his new vision of more "realistic" acting to continually deliver high quality movies to his fans.Above average acting, good choreography, and a believable plot make this a suspense thriller well worth watching. I give this movie a 5 star rating.

Stephen Bailey

(2012-04-23 10:57:23)

I hope JCVD actually reads these reviews

I've seen several of Van Damme's movies and I thought they were all CRAPwith the possible exception of Sudden Death, and that was only saved bythedelicious performance of Powers Booth. So, my wife forced me to watch InHell and I wasn't looking forward to it.Wow. Was I ever wrong. It's actually a pleasure to admit that at myage(40)I can still revise long-held opinions. Jean Claude Van Damme CAN act!!!Notonly that, he's bloody good. This movie is on a par with the original DieHard in showing a "normal" guy forced into (very) abnormal behaviour justtosurvive. The plot (unlike ALL his previous movies) is solid and the'peripheral' characters are actually believable. I was rooting for himthroughout. Why the hell has it taken him so long to find such 'depth'??IfMr Van Damme can star in a couple more films of this calibre then he couldwell end up being a real Star, and I'd like to see that.I'd (highly) recommend this movie as it came as such a nice surprise tome.

(2012-04-22 19:26:27)

Definitely Van Damme's best attempt at drama 9/10

After the terrible Derailed Van Damme teamed up with Replicant director Ringo Lam again. Some will say come on Van Damme in a drama. But he plays it like a normal he doesn't go for a Shakespeareian performance. It stars Jean Claude Van Damme as Kyle Le Blanc & Lawence Taylor as 451. You start off a guy has broken into Kyle LeBlanc's house his wife was killed by the burglar & Kyle shows up & finds his wife he chases after this guy. At the trial he's found innocent Kyle LeBlanc is filled with rage he shoots & kills the man who murdered his wife Kyle ends up getting sentenced to life in prison. So he was working overseas in Russia so he'll be in a prision in Russia. We are introduced to 451 & Lawence Taylor has a ton of great monologue's. There is 1 guy named Billy the jailers have this guy they like Andrei & he just has his way with Billy if you've not seen this movie you should. Kyle sees what happened to Billy & he starts a fight with Andrei which puts Kyle in solitary he tries to take his life it is a slow build to Kyle's fight with Andrei & I liked it I wasn't board with a slow pace case I'm involved with these characters & I usually don't care for the art house film making but it works. Kyle has a beard & long hair he's been in the cell for a long time he faces off with Andrei it show how Kyle LeBlanc has lost his humanity he kills Andrei just the way he does & it is well done. We got this guy in a wheel chair he told the guards that Billy was going to escape while it's probably not the right thing he did result in Billy being killed 451 burns him to death. Billy tells Kyle before he dies "Don't let them make you something you aren't." These fights are done for money & entertainment for jailers Generals. No matter how big the fighters The Generals bring in Kyle refuses to fight them. 451 helps Kyle escape during the riot. The prison is closed 3 months later & that's pretty much the movie. Ringo Lam did a great job directing I hear he can be a pain to work for but he can take small budget films & make them look theatrical so he's probably a PRO. I mean he made it look more theatrical than Predators & Mas hitt y which should've went direct to video. Jean Claude Van Damme he can do drama if his ego isn't involved. Lawence Taylor did a very good job he's better than a lot of pro athletes that go into acting. I do warn you it is hardcore gorey I'm not talking about retarted SAW BS. This is gritty if you remember that movie The Quest years ago this was what The Quest should've been. That waa directed by Van Damme & you can tell his ego was involved it wasn't good. I promise I'll do a 2nd round of JCVD reviews & bury The Quest. This was a recommendation so I recommend it too.

(2012-04-21 16:42:59)

Absolutely terrible

Van Damme movies have never been smart. They will not be remembered inthe future. They just have been an entertaining....to kill anevening... But this one...Oh my... It's getting worse and worse, andprobably should be humiliating to Russians (50-year old music and100-year old dancing are really irritating, not to mention his awfulhaircut). Even fighting is not fancy anymore. Don't know what to expectfrom coming "Kumite" Oh well...

(2012-04-21 13:05:48)

A solid four stars for this ATYPICAL Van Damme feature!

Something happened to Van Damme in the new millennium which very few film goers,other than his hardcore fans,really picked up on.Many of his films became much edgier and in the last decade he has produced some of the best and more compelling films of his career;and In Hell(released June/03) is no exception.This hard edged film starring Van Damme and directed by the eccentric Ringo Lam,is their third collaboration together.The film starts out nice and easy but gets grittier and grittier as the film progresses with terribly graphic and violent action,and populated by some pretty dysfunctional characters.The plot involves Van Damme as Kyle,an American who works in Russia with a pretty wife.On his way home from work one evening while talking to his better half on the cell phone,their connection is disrupted on her end when she is confronted by an unknown assailant.Kyle hears the struggle and races through the streets to get home.He finds his wife on the floor dead and the perp still in the house.Kyle gives chase but he is cut short by the police who mistake him for the perp.They do end up catching the assailant who goes on trial for the murder of Kyle's wife,but gets off scott-free.Kyle is so despondent at the verdict that outside the courtroom he grabs a security guards gun and shoots the man dead.This leads to Kyle's trial for murder,and of course he gets sent to a Russian prison.It is a terribly tough environment for inmates in the institution and Kyle,along with other new inmates,quickly learn their place in the prison pecking order.A young man that enters with Kyle is immediately pegged as the "pigeon",shall we say,for one particular prisoners' "delights".Kyle is himself constantly picked on and more often than not,he is sent into confinement in a cold,damp cell through which the prison waste flows.He loses himself eventually,even tries to commit suicide unsuccessfully but after a few visits by a moth(who he believes is his wife),he decides to take on the prison system on its terms and begins to train to fight while in confinement and out.Fight after fight ensues and Kyle becomes the prisons favourite,bet on by all the prison staff,including the warden.When his young friend eventually succumbs to one too many "encounters",it wakes him up and he decides not to fight a special inmate transferred in from another prison.He is put in chains outside day and night for his disobedience and the prison inmates finally rebel and all refuse to fight.Kyle does not give in and when he is returned to his cell,his cell mate tells him he can get him out and hands him a book listing every murder that the prison staff have committed over the two decades he has been there.Kyle,in order for the escape plan to go through,must fight one more time.The warden has told his guards to kill Kyle after the fight,and when the dust settles and Kyle's nemesis is defeated,he is escorted to a large garage to be driven out of the prison.It is here his cell mate jumps one of the guards which enables Kyle to take care of the other.It's a prison staff car and he makes a clean break out of the prison.His cell mate confronts the warden,tears his tongue out and drinks the wardens blood from a decanter.Due to his diary Kyle gives to the authorities,the prison is shut down two months later.When you read this scenario you might think,oh great here's another movie where Van Damme karate chops and kicks his way through more film footage.Not the case.What makes this totally UN-Van Damme-ish is the fact that for the first 45 minutes he is constantly getting the crap beat out of him.And when he finally realizes its' better to join them than to beat them,there are few if any fancy karate kicks or spins that you usually associate with him.He's like his fellow prisoners and just uses his fists.There is a startling scene where Van Damme(with scraggy long hair,not like his usual looks),is fighting the man that not only continually hounded HIM,but constantly raped his young friend.The man has got Van Damme down and there is no way he's winning as he is being dragged around the grounds in a delirium.Just when you think the guy is going to deliver Van Damme a final blow,Van Damme pulls it out from somewhere,gets the guy down,jumps on him and chews on the guys neck.The guards pull him off and he turns over screaming with blood all over his face,as if it had brought him back to life,like a vampire.Startling and gross,yes,and doubled in impact(double impact...hmmmm)because it's again not what we expect from him.Technically speaking this DVD comes in BOTH widescreen and fullscreen,unlike the Amazon blurb which just lists fullscreen.It is also available in Dolby 2.1 or 5.1 sound,with or without subtitles.There is also a 15 minute featurette on the making of the movie.By and large the film is clear and crisp but it does at times get a bit grainy.All in all this film is one of the most Un-Van Damm-ish movies you will ever see,especially when it involves the amount of physical action this does.It starts out nice and easy but gets edgier and grittier as the film roles along with alot of "ewww" and turn your head moments when the action gets white hot.This is just one of many of Van Damme's better films from the last decade.He has improved so much over the years as an actor and a director.The trouble is the larger general audience seems to be oblivious to this fact.Maybe his upcoming appearance/exposure in the Expendables 2 will hopefully correct some of that.

nstevens-5

(2012-04-21 18:33:57)

New Nadir for the Muscles from Brussels

I had the misfortune of seeing this garbage as captive audience on acoach trip recently and having read, goggle-eyed, the glowing reviewshere thought I had better set the record straight. Don't worry aboutspoilers incidentally as this film is devoid of plot, but you'll enjoyit if you like watching people getting their faces smashed down theirthroats.The film kicks off with a fairly nasty female beating, rape and murderfor all you rednecks out there, but our hero wastes the killer of hiswife outside the courtroom so that makes everything all right. He is inRussia by the way so then is unjustly incarcerated in a Russian jail,where he is systematically brutalized by the sadistic guards. IsAmerica ever ever going to grow out of this kind of dismal toe-curlingcharacterization? This sad affair is a litany of increasingly brutal beatings and malerapes punctuated with an excruciating cracker-barrel philosophy of the"you have to be what you are, not what they want you to be" ilk fromthe narrator that had me squirming and writhing in my seat.Presumably when the film stock was running low, Mr Van Damme incrediblydrives his way to freedom through the prison gates with a damningdossier after donning a Russian uniform. We are then told that theprison was shut down three months later. Hooray! Do yourself and your loved ones a favour. Don't. It's 90 minutes ofyour life you'll never get back.

Lucas Ellis

(2012-04-21 04:55:59)

Best Van Damme movie, although not saying much!

Kyle LeBlanc(Van Damme) is sentenced to life in prison for the murderof a man who he knew to be the killer of his wife. To make thingsworst, he was an American working in Russia and in this particularRussian prison, the prisoners fight for the wardens amusement.The movie is definitely the best Van Damme movie I have ever seen,which as I have said in the summary, is not saying much. He usuallystars in incredibly bad movies, but this one is different. Its a muchbetter role of him, although I was unconvinced that he was just somesort of American civilian. The movie actually would have had a greatidea for the movie, if the idea hadn't been taken by a movie called TheShawshank Redemption ten years prior. But the movie was surprisinglyentertaining. I was quite entertained by the mindless fighting scenes.Overall, I really wan't to recommend this movie due to the great fightscenes although I can't because of the massive amount of flaws and badacting. Sorry Mr. Van Damme, you tried.I do not recommend this movie.

(2012-04-19 15:43:15)

Please Support This

This review is from: In Hell (DVD) Please support this movie. In Hell is a movie that attempts to fill its dark, prison combating with more than meets the eye, and even though In Hell isn't an entirely successful picture it is infused with enough ingredients to warrant multiple viewings. I mean you've got to give Van Damme credit after all these yrs, and flops, he's still bustin it and genuinely trying to make a non inferior product, sure he's got to pay the bills but one gets the feeling that with this movie it's also still about creativity and entertainment.

(2012-04-19 10:13:06)

A Masterpiece!

Brilliance is achieved once again by Jean-Claude Van Damme! "In Hell" is about Kyle LeBlanc, a man sentenced to life in prison after he killed his wife's murderer. Yes, blissful nirvana is addressed in this simplistic yet brutal prison drama. Only an actor like Jean-Claude Van Damme can perform with such versatility! He refused to eat that savage food and lay next to all of that sewage! What kind of man is LeBlanc for turning into a beastly creature to become the number one contender in those yard fights! Dog saliva rejoice, as inmates fight for their lives and sleeper holds are the most dangerous weapon! Forget the Sandman, you have the bald man to worry about this time. But of course, Van Damme wins because he's Van Damme. "In Hell" is one of the best Van Damme movies and he was once again robbed of all awards.

(2012-04-17 17:39:01)

Van Damme is on the way up! 3.5 Stars

As others have noted, both this and "Wake of Death" have shown a change in direction for Van Damme, choosing to delve more into complex roles, drama, and believable acting, rather than two dimensional fight movies. Not that I suspect we will be seeing him on the nomination list at the Oscars any time soon, but here again he turns in a credible performance. After being jailed for avenging his wifes murder, he is subjected to a brutal Eastern Block prison regime, where the dollar rules, the guards and warden are corrupt, and you sleep with one eye open. We see the gradual deterioration of an outwardly "normal" man, whose only means of survival is to become one of the cruel and violent inmates he has come to despise. The fight sequences are short, snappy, brutal and bloody (no box splits, or flying spinning back kicks here) and the viewer is immersed into the savage world of gangs, violence, and desperation. "In Hell" is an apt title, but the film has some surprising twists, and different outcome to what one might expect, and is well directed and well scripted throughout. Hardly an original story, but the European makeover adds another dimension to a standard prison flick of say "Lock Up" or many others. On the whole, I recommend this movie, and hope to see Van Damme continue to develop his characters in this way. I've always enjoyed his other, and often more aimless fight movies so felt a teeny bit agrieved at the lack of martial arts, but overall the movie is pretty darn good. Enjoy!

(2012-04-17 01:36:15)

WAY OVERRATED

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT VAN DAMME'S MOVIES COULDN'T GET ANY WORSE. AFTER GUNNING DOWN THE MURDERER OF HIS WIFE, KYLE [VAN DAMME] GETS SENT TO PRISON FOR LIFE. TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, THE WARDEN FORCES THE PRISONERS TO FIGHT AGAINST EACH OTHER TO THE DEATH FOR PROFIT. VERY VIOLENT AND VERY BORING. VAN DAMME JUST ISN'T WHAT HE USED TO BE. THE MOVIE STARTS OUT OK, BUT IT QUICKLY RUNS OUT OF STEAM. ALMOST ALL OF THE ACTION SEQUENCES ARE DOWNRIGHT BORING. THIS MOVIE IS DEFINITELY PROOF THAT VAN DAMME'S BEST DAYS ARE WAY BEHIND HIM. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, FORMER NFL STAR LAWRENCE TAYLOR HAS A ROLE IN THIS MOVIE. ONE OF THE WORST MOVIES OF VAN DAMME'S CAREER. WHEN YOU REALLY THINK ABOUT IT, IT'S JUST AN ACTION VERSION OF ''THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION''. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME OR YOUR MONEY ON THIS TIME-WASTER. AND IF YOU STILL DECIDE THAT YOU WANNA SEE IT, DON'T SAY YOU WASN'T WARNED.