Customer Reviews

The Order

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Synopsis:
Rudy Cafmeyer (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is an international artifacts smuggler whose father is a well known museum curator. When Rudy's father (Vernon Dobtcheff) goes missing mysteriously in Israel, Rudy embarks on a quest to find him. The end result is a confrontation with a lovely Israeli police officer named Dalia (Sofia Milos), the loss of a couple friends and being wrapped up in a religious conspiracy involving a strange middle eastern cult and a cultist (Brian Thompson) with nefarious plans.

About the Movie:
If you're looking for a well written, well thought out, well acted action flick, this isn't really it. But really, are we surprised? It has Van Damme in it.

In fact, The Order is something of a rip-off of the Indiana Jones movies. You have the archeologist father who goes missing, a son looking for him, a weird religious cult, and a lost religious treasure . . . Nothing new here, well, except for maybe the martial arts element.

But it's not all bad, making up for a silly, clichéd and completely unoriginal plot by having a few very enjoyable moments. Van Damme is an entertaining martial artist and while his fight scenes aren't as flamboyant or entertaining as, say, Jackie Chan's, he holds his own quite well. Van Damme even gets to engage in a sword fight in this movie, which is probably the first time I've seen him do that. I bet you can't guess who wins it.

The best scene in this movie, partly because the musical score adds so much to it, is the one where Van Damme is masquerading as a Hasidic Jew, with a beard, hat and curly hair, then has to run from the police through the middle of crowded Jerusalem. There's something very goofy about the whole sequence that makes it quite comic and a lot of fun to watch.

Charleton Heston has a cameo in this movie as well, both as the narrator of the opening teaser and in a role later on. Unfortunately, it has him dying rather senselessly in the first 3rd of the movie, wasting the talents of a great and notable actor. It would have been wonderful if Charleton could have played the role of Van Damme's father instead of Vernon Dobtcheff (who's put on accent was atrocious). Heston's such a solid actor, it was disappointing that he didn't have a more significant role.

The acting in this movie isn't great. Even Heston's role is a bit on the stagey side. And of course, Van Damme will never win any awards for HIS acting. But this isn't a movie you watch for the acting, and a lot can be forgiven since the attractive Sofia Milos plays the female lead and incidentally is probably the strongest actor in the film.

One strong point of this movie is the musical score (arranged by Pino Donaggio). It isn't on the level of top notch movie, but it's possibly better than many action movies have, blending humor and a real feel for its subject matter into what is at times, a masterful addition to the action sequences.

Overall, this is a brainless, sit down and have fun type of movie. There's certainly quite a few martial arts action movies of this type out there that beat this one hands down, but The Order has its high points and could be a lot worse.

About the DVD:
The Order comes in a plastic hard case on a double sided DVD with both fullscreen and widescreen versions in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. It has not been translated into any other languages besides its original English, though it does contain English and French subtitles. Both the video and audio transfer appear to be very good. Even on a high resolution screen, the video had only a little grain and few artifacts.

As far as special features, this movie has none except for three theatrical trailers, two being for other movies. It also has scene selections, though I don't count that as a special feature. Overall, this is a very basic, no frills DVD release.

Bottom Line: A unoriginal but somewhat entertaining film on a budget DVD release. 3 Stars.

Well, first of all the viewers of this movie should not take it seriously. It's not that type of movie. Its more of a campy/spunky type action film. Yeah, it is a lot like Indiana Jones, and isn't Van Dammes best, but still has many high points to it. If you want Van Dammes best acting DON'T start here; go watch In Hell, Wake of Death, Lionheart, or maybe Timecop for that. For his action/martial arts skills this isn't a bad place to go. It has quite a few good action scenes in it. Van Damme is always cool as hell and has some good lines. The ending is also pretty good as well. With the ending you get Van Dammes best kick(jumps and glides) out of all his movies he has ever done, even at his older age. The movie as a whole isn't nowhere near as bad as a lot of people think. It's just another action film that Van Damme fans and MAYBE action fans should love. But like I said its NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.

Jean Claude vanDamme's movies are obviously not meant to be taken seriously. The Belgian actor has always relied on his physical presence and kickboxing action to fill theatres or rent movies. In THE ORDER, he tries a more comic approach, in his attempts to locate his missing archaeologist father and a rare religious document. Brian Thompson has an uninspired role as Cyrus, the leader of a distaff cult of the Order, hence the title of this movie. There are some fun kickboxing scenes; the car chases are bland compared to those orchestrated by John Woo; and Sofia Milos is attractive as the lady cop who joins van Damme in his quest. I agree that Charlton Heston should have played the father; he's wasted in a cameo role. Pino Donaggio (Carrie, Dressed to Kill) does a nice score for the movie. Ben Cross overplays his villainous cop role with plum relish.
Standard van Damme fare, so don't expect anything more.

THE ORDER sees the reteaming of action star Jean-Claude Van Damme and director Sheldon Lettich (LIONHEART, DOUBLE IMPACT).
Van Damme plays Rudy Calmeyer, the son of an archeologist who has in his possession a rare scroll that belongs to an obsessive religious sect (No, its not the SPCS) who have a creative name like The Children Of God or something along those lines. Naturally the "COG" want the scroll back so they kidnap Calmeyer's dad and take him to their compound in Israel. But of course they hadn't counted on messing with Jean-Claude, who sets off on a mission to rescue his father administering various butt-kickings along the way. Calmeyer is also fortunate enough to have the assistance of a sexy Israeli cop, Dalla (Sofia Milos). But as with all looney cults there are ulterior motives involved: like creating a devastating bomb.
Thankfully I can't say the same about the movie, which features plenty of action, stunts and martial arts sequences which make THE ORDER easily the best Van Damme since MAXIMUM RISK. It's just sad that his movies get released direct to video now, as Jean Claude is in good form here and the story which he co-wrote is actually pretty good (esp.when compared to THE QUEST). Charlton Heston's role, in which he gets second billing is in actual fact really nothing more than an extended cameo. There's also some rather clumsy humor, a good example would be early in the movie where Van Damme steals a priceless egg from a museum but is caught by security guards. On hearing their warning shots the guy who is guiding him via radio asks "Was that a gunshot?" to which Van Damme replies "No, I farted". Somehow I don't think someone like say, Steven Seagal would be able to play scenes like this and get the intended laughs. Jean- Claude's back on top of his game with this one. Lets hope he can show action fans (and Hollywood) what he's really capable of.

Van Damme stars as a thief and a wayward son of an archeologist who gets kidnapped while in Israel. It is up to Van Damme to save his father and prevent "world war 3" That's the story in a nutshell. It's too complicated for me to go into in great detail. But trust me you'll enjoy it. I resisted renting this film for a long time, but once I sat down to watch it, I found that I loved it. Great plot, great story and great acting. It also showed me a great view of Israel. There's also a lot of great humour in this. One thing I like about Van Damme (he partly wrote the script) is that he always makes sure his characters are more fleshed out less one dimensional.

It really is too bad that Jean-Claude's career took such a turn for the worse. How someone like him is stuck doing video now. And other less talented "stars" are still on the big screen is beyond me. I guess some people have all the luck.

Van Damme is growing older while his movie budget continues to shrink. The fake CGI fire scenes are hysterical, as are the dark action sequences where nothing is visible except a few punches and the sound of several groans.

I'm surprised at the decline, and always remain hopeful Van Damme can make a comeback and convince a studio to finance a theatrical release. Until that time, the direct to video ... stream remains steady and constant....

IN this movie Jean-Claude seems to have taken a different approach,which is a good thing and he needed to do it really.Instead of the usual moody same moves different haircut and cheesey dialog ,he has attempted to play a slightly comic character,who is a bit of a rogue and a bit of joker.Ok so he is no comedy genius,but the change works.He also meets up with a sexy feisty female cop who proves to be engaging and i thought looked slighly like madonna(a good thing).The plot revolves around his father's involvement with ancient artifacts and a mysterious cult etc but the locations look good and the action and fight sequences are nice and fast moving and energetic.Also,brilliantly there seems to be no sign of slow-motion repeating spinning kicks to the head that Jean-claude's previous movies seemed to make a cliche.So he needed to do something different.Legionnare didn't work,i would say this does.But bear in mind this reviewer is an on/off Van Damme fan.

Let me begin by saying that this disc is all out, one-hundred percent, action from beginning to end. If you like Kickboxing, car chases, motorcycles sequences, witty-comedy, and mischief, than this movie is definitely for you. Jean-Cluade is back, from the thrilling "Replicant" to bring us this energetic, adventure that takes place around Jerusaleum. This movie is entertaining and exciting! I was in disbelief at how good this actually was. The director did a great job filming the movie. There were instances that were just magnificiently shot, with great visual that allow the environment to come through. It's definitely stylishly done. 2 thumbs up for the director. Also it has some very nice production values. Even with the 25 million dollar budget, there was enough collective data to make you believe this film had a bigger budget. Like the Ferrari at the beginning of the movie, and the great orchestrated chasing sequences. I really believe Van Damme is coming into form. The DVD has a beautiful transfer and a solid 5.1 mix. It's not a collector's nor a ultimate edition, however, it delivers a good print and an enjoyable audio track. Your going to hear those explosions in your woofer, as well as those punches and kicks! And come on, isn't that what a Van Damme flick is all about? It's nicely put together little disc by Columbia--visually and audio wise. It's a must-have for Van Damme fans and action buffs! If your a true fan you owe it to yourself to pick it up. It's got non-stop action, and I do mean lots of it, and a fast-paced, high style form that makes this a winner. Explosively good! Recommended to all the Van Damme fans! If you want to have a good time, pop in "The Order", sit back and enjoy the ride!

You know, it irks me when Jean-Claude Van Damme goes on nowadays about how dissatisfied he's been with his career. Can't he see how fun his direct-to-video stuff like "The Order" was? Maybe Van Damme's just eager for something straight and serious at this point in his life, but I really appreciate the creativity the low-budget realm afforded his movies. Coupled with his relative luck at snagging directors capable enough to make the most of limited resources, he has had more to celebrate for this stage of his career than Seagal or Lundgren, and while "The Order" is not a flawless movie, it has the energy and originality to make for a worthwhile 90-minute time-waster, definitely worth owning.

The story: Rudy Cafmeyer (Van Damme) is a successful international thief whose father (Vernon Dobtcheff, Undisputed III: Redemption) goes missing while studying an ancient Templar sect in Jerusalem. In pursuit, Rudy will need to engage a religious fanatic determined to initiate an act of international terrorism (Brian Thompson, Cobra).

Director Sheldon Lettich had done consistently good work with Van Damme throughout his mainstream career, and his generally good quality of production carries over to this feature: with the exception of a couple inauspicious transitions and unnecessary jump cuts, along with a particularly fake-looking CGI explosion, "The Order" looks way more professional than a lot of other DTV flicks from the same period. It also packs a lot more action than is the norm for movies shot for $12 million: six hand-to-hand fights, three car chases, and one surprisingly good on-foot chase. It's clearly a stunt double riding the motorcycle during the middle chase, but for the rest of the action, Van Damme seems to be supplying his own moves or is disguising a stunt double particularly well. His fistfights are all pretty good, but I wish his showdown with fellow action guy Brian Thompson was a bit more satisfying: though it's one of the rare instances wherein Van Damme prominently fights with a weapon (i.e. a sword), the fight's not quite as long or climatic as the film warranted.

Speaking of swords, the movie's notable for featuring a few things you can't see in any of Jean-Claude's other features. Religious-themed pictures in general were a first for Van Damme - lagging behind Schwarzenegger but beating out Lundgrenby eight years - but it's remarkable/disappointing that he goes all the way to Jerusalem without really addressing the real-life events of the area. The movie opens with a dramatic narrative and historical flashback (ever wanna see Van Damme playing a Crusader? Here's your chance!) and closes with a Jackie Chan-esque highlight/blooper reel, neither of which are quite as entertaining as they ought to be but I appreciate the novelty. At one point, Van Damme's character goes incognito as a Haredi Jew, complete with beard. Most significantly, however, is the casting of Charlton Heston (Ben-Hur) in this movie. With the possible exception of Forest Whittaker in Bloodsport, Heston is the single most acclaimed actor to appear in a Van Damme film, with the added gravity of this being his last live-action feature to see wide release prior to his death. (SPOILER) His scenes are isolated to the first half of the film and his character's death is abrupt and disappointing, but it's still oddly satisfying to see him and Van Damme interact with such apparent ease. There's a bit of Heston's characteristic fire in his delivery, but the only action he gets in on is smacking a thug in the back with his cane.

Brian Thompson's character could have definitely used a bit more screentime and development, but at least he made room for the good-looking Sofia Milos (CSI: Miami) to hound Jean-Claude for the majority of the movie, which ended up persevering beyond its faults and being pretty darn fun. Serious cinema snobs needn't bother, but Van Damme fans should welcome this one's uniqueness among the man's filmography. Get it, action fans.

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

1. Who is he? He's Charles Le Vaillant, a medieval knight who, in his later years where he resembles Moses, creates a Middle Eastern religious order comprised of Christians, Jews, and Muslims; and eventually, he becomes Rudy Cafmeyer, an amateur Indiana Jones, a smuggler whose father is an archaeologist.
2. Which family member/friend must be avenged? After that intro, I'm not quite sure.
3. Does he take his shirt off? With only a few seconds to spare
4. Does he have sex with a C-List actress? Nope, but there is tension
5. Is there a tournament? No tournament
6. Is training needed for this tournament? Just a viewing of the Indiana Jones series (excluding the travesty with Shia LaBeouf) and a King Arthur movie oughta do it.
7. Does he do the splits in training or in the tournament? There are several kicks of the upside-down T variety.
8. Does he punch someone in the balls? A short jab ends one man's family tree.
9. Does he do a series of flying or 360 kicks? The man's still got it! He even unleashes a new flying split kick that dispatches to enemies
10. Is his enemy unbeatable? Dan Brown would be a better person to ask, because I'm sure the Illuminati is involved in this somehow
11. Does he overcome an injury or other hindrance? Just the script and the music
12. Does he win? I think so.

Instead of "The Order," this movie should have been titled "The Ordeal," because that's what it is. With JCVD as co-writer, cohesion is thrown completely out the window. Religion and Ramadan, a prophecy from Cobra's Night Slasher and a cameo from Sean Connery, a treasure hunt and JCVD as a Hasidic Jew, secret caves and stolen artifacts - this movie is all over the treasure map, and I'm not sure anyone gets richer as a result. Exacerbating the problem is one of the worst musical scores I have ever heard. Only a tone deaf moron with no concept of cinematic timing could have contrived this complete distraction. Add in some very bad gun-fights and poorly framed car chases, and the world is on JCVD's shoulders and his fight sequences; they're good, but even Atlas shrugs.

The religious overtones are tolerable at best, and nauseatingly moronic at worst. There was an attempt to build some "Da Vinci Code"-esque background, but it the mystery unravels before it begins. The rest of the religion and meshing of cultures is understandably inserted, but nearly inconsequential to the plotline, and serve no other purpose than allow everyone a view of significant landmarks.

This goes down as one of the five least enjoyable JCVD flicks, but it's still the only one in which Van Damme has a Excalibur style sword-fight, sees Temple Mount and the Western Wall, kisses Sofia Milos, and engages in chase scenes so campy that I started humming Yakety Sax.