Customer Reviews

Death Warrant / Movie [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Jean Claude Van Damme Review Matrix (JCVD-RM)

1. Who is he? He's Detective Louis Burke, who goes undercover as a prisoner in a penitentiary with a lot of unexplained deaths.
2. Which family member/friend must be avenged? His partner was murdered by a maniac named Sandman.
3. Does he take his shirt off? Not only does the Sandman homoerotically remove Louis' shirt in the shower, but in the climactic final battle, Louis is pressed up against an iron furnace door. Naturally, this singes the shirt to smithereens, and Sandman kindly removes the rest. Sandman has clearly been in prison too long.
4. Does he have sex with a C-List actress? Unless there was a deleted scene with his cellmate, I don't think so.
5. Is there a tournament? As far as I'm concerned, being in general pop. at a penitentiary IS a tournament.
6. Is training needed for this tournament? The only training needed was in regards to a firm grip on the soap when showering.
7. Does he do the splits in training or in the tournament? Only in the shower room.
8. Does he punch someone in the balls? No. I don't think he wants to insinuate anything to the larger prisoners.
9. Does he do a series of flying or 360 kicks? There are approximately 78 spin kicks in this movie; Louis only receives about 3 of them.
10. Is his enemy unbeatable? He may be the most unstoppable force JCVD has ever met. Let's put it this way: Louis shoots the Sandman five times early in the movie, and the Sandman survives. Later, the Sandman gets kicked into a 1500 degree Celsius blast furnace, gets out, does a little stop-drop-and-roll, and is ready to fight some more.
11. Does he overcome an injury or other hindrance? Early in his fight with Sandman, Louis gets hit in the face with a two foot wrench. So, I guess that counts.
12. Does he win? After impaling the Sandman on a bolt sticking out of some piping, and getting taunted, Louis calmly walks over scrambles the Sandman's brains - just picture the process by which McFlurries are made at McDonald's and you have a good idea.

With grunting and mono-syllabic lines galore, the true genius of everyone's favorite Belgian homunculus is in full force with Death Warrant. Not only that, but the sound effects are incredibly trumped up for this one, with every kick and punch accompanying a swoosh through the air and finishing with a thud into raw meat. The "organ harvesting with the help of corrupt police"-angle is also an oddly interesting one for a JCVD movie. Overall, this isn't the best of his oeuvre, but it's got a few hardcore battles that will have you air-punching to get in on the action. This is solid JCVD gold.

Jean-Claude Van Damme's martial arts extravaganza is bolstered by some fine editing, a dark, scary soundtrack, and some mighty fine camera work. Despite some B-level acting (except for Robert Guillaume as a supply doling inmate) director, Deran Sarafian, keeps the whole affair rolling along well enough to provide some key suspenseful moments. The plot involves police investigator, Louis Burke (Van Damme), who becomes a mole in prison while investigating a deadly crime ring while the elusive "Sandman" lurks in the background with nine-lives more reminiscent of Michael Myers than a super criminal. Although this element breaks up the film's credibility somewhat, it ups the tension as well. In the end 'Death Warrant' is a lively hour and a half movie that has enough going for it to make you forget its weaknesses.

A J.P.'s Pick 3's = Good

If you would of said Van Damme back in 1990,people would of responded he was in Bloodsport or Kickboxer which were simply martial art type of films.Van Damme stepped up to the level with Schwarzenegger and Stallone in this box-office hit.Even though jail movies have been done before like Stallones "Lockup" and Sean Penn's "Bad Boy's" Death Warrant took it into overtime,having a convincing villian in the "Sandman" and a believing hero in Van Damme.An undercover cop in jail?Dangerous if you ask me but Van Damme fights the odds and comes up victorious in an all out supercharged war.With fast pace kicks and fight sequences Van Damme is your ticket to nonstop action...

As a longtime afficianado of the Van Damme oeuvre, I can honestly say that this film does right by the requisite cliches (where prison movies are concerned), and is actually not bad for repeated viewings.

Similar in pace to Stallone's "Lock-Up" and slightly less entertaining, but still pretty good, "Death Warrant" gets higher marks than it should because of the action (well-choreographed until the climax, which is stricly by-the-numbers Van Damme signature moves), the moody lighting and production accuracy, and Robert Guillaume and Patrick Kilpatrick as the veteran inmate and omnipotent nemesis, respectively.

Van Damme still had a few films to go before he reached his peak, but this was a step in the right direction.

Now Jean Claude Van Damme is an action superstar,I should imagine he's probably desperate to write stuff like this off his CV. Death Warrant is an admittently entertaing,but soporific and unpleasantly violent affair,told with very little conviction.

I want to go with 3 stars on this film, but some part of me says there is enough fun in Death Warrant to go with 4 stars. You can't expect more than a typical prison movie with this one - the crazy inmates, the corrupt guards, the big prison villain, and the undercover cop - played by Van Damme. Unlike the movies that Van Damme continues to make today, this is one of his older titles, which means a younger and more skilled Van Damme. Although there are not an abundance of fights in this film, Death Warrant displays the powerful moves of the great Van Damme we once knew.

Fun is the name of the game, although it weird to say the word "fun" when referring to a prison movie. Well, its the kind of fun entertainment that pits an undercover cop named Louis Burke into a prison, simply to investigate the numerous deaths that have been occuring there. We get to see hundreds of weird, insane, and crazy inmates - many of whom get a bit too close to Van Damme's face, thus creating your typical prison fights and what not. There are the usual corrupt guards as well, once again stirring up some havoc on the side. And then there's the one guy that forms an allegiance to help out our investigator, who is played by Robert Guillaume.

As usual, its all about the action. As mentioned, I had hoped for more fight scenes, but when there is one, boy they are tough and hard hitting. The best obviously is going to be the last fight of the movie, against a really weird guy named "The Sandman". He appears in the beginning of the film, and we assume he is killed by Burke. Closer to the end of the film, he is alive and well, and enters the prison, with his eyes set on Burke for revenge. Their fight is at least 5 minutes, and is accompanied by an audience of screaming inmates watching from all corners. Its an evenly matched fight, as both guys get to do some serious damage.

Death Warrant is probably one of my lesser favorites from the early Van Damme movies which include Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Lionheart, Double Impact and Hard Target. But compared to his more recent films, you won't find this kind of action in them. Pick it up to complete the classic Van Damme collection. Though the movie might be a bit cliche, its a chance to add some more great Van Damme action to the pot.

Jean-Claude is at it again as a cop who goes undercover in the prison system to investigate a plot involving corruption among the cell guards.

The film heats up when Van Damme's arch-rival, a psychopathic killer who for some reason, which is never explained, can withstand bullets and other fatal moves, shows up at the prison and exposes him as an undercover cop.

If you're in for Van Damme, you know what to expect though this is a lot slower and less action-filled than a lot of his other features.

Van Damme goes undercover in a prison to uncover some mysterious deaths. He runs into transvestites, a black man missing an eye and the Sandman, yes! This movie is pure [poo], but I loved every mintue of it. When the Sandman threw a wrench at Van Damme's face, I was laughing so hard I split my pants. The Sandman was pretty clever by breaking a lightbulb over Van Damme's face, but Van Damme jumpkicked him into a furnace, yes! But wait, the Sandman jumped out of the furnace on fire, pure hilarity! You can't kill the Sandman, but Van Damme ultra kicked him into a screw. YES! Buy this movie now. Support Van Damme forever.

This is a great action movie with wonderful fight scenes. Van Damme rules!

Has Jean-Claude Van Damme ever made a movie where the plot is likable? Well the answer is yes. Lionheart, is among one of my favorite storyline by JCVD. Unfortunately he rarely makes movie that deviates from his bread and butter plot: he's trying to get home (or get his family back together) and something or someone is preventing that. He usually does strange kicks and other moves to get his stuff back together.

Death Warrant is a bit different from JCVD usual plot. At first the movie is very interesting. It actually hooks you in and draws your attention until some point near the end. JCVD is a Canadian police who pretends to go to prison in an attempt to find out why inmates are being killed. It gets interesting as JCVD tries to figure it out and it sounds like a macabre plot where organs are being black marketed after killing inmates in their sleep.

Unfortunately, the story deteriorates to a point where sense is no longer made. It turns out the very people that sent him to prison to uncover the mystery are the very people who are doing it (ignore sense for a while, here). Not only that, now they want JCVD and his lovely assistant dead and they send another inmate, Sandman, who is going to kill JCVD but is also his nemesis who was shot multiple times at the start of the movie but somehow lived.

Eventually the movie comes down to a question: is the action good enough? The answer is yes and no. The final fight of the movie is just ridiculous. It ends nearly the same as all his movies. JCVD getting some good moves in, everyone cheering for the bad guy - even hitting or saying harsh things to JCVD - then suddenly JCVD gets badly injured where he's holding his sides like he's badly wounded. Everyone is cheering wildly for the bad guy at this point and suddenly, JCVD musters up his last strength and starts doing flying kicks ignoring the injury to his side, and starts going on a rampage. Suddenly everyone starts feeling pity and remorse and actually starts cheering for JCVD and after he makes one final desperate flying kick, the bad guy goes down and everyone is cheering wildly for JCVD and pats him on the back like they were with him all along.

So in the end, the movie fails badly not because it's bad but because it's the same dang thing as all of his movies but with worser plot line.