Product Details

• Actors: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins (II), Stephen Lord
• Directors: Isaac Florentine
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Unknown), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: March 4, 2008
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0011VIO46
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,659 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  #27 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Martial Arts > Damme, Jean Claude Van
  #41 in	Movies & TV > Action & Adventure > Action Stars > Jean-Claude Van Damme

• For more information about "The Shepherd: Border Patrol" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in this hard-hitting action thriller about a border patrol agent who attempts to take down a rogue American Special Forces unit that's smuggling Afghan heroin into the United States.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A step up, April 10, 2008

By	Leo Navarr "the center does not hold" (Donner Pass, California) - See all my reviews

There are several reasons to enjoy Van Damme's recent film "The Shepherd", and I'll list them here.

1) A lot more emphasis is put into the story, with emphasis on an interesting plot and serious script. This is a good thing, considering that depending on who is at the reigns of a film starring Van Damme, a viewer is sometimes subject to more slow motion kick scenes than overall substance.

2) Don't run away...it still has plenty of action, but it is layered sparingly throughout the film, allowing a viewer to actually get to understand the characters and the positions they hold within the story, therefore making the outcome something to actually look forward to. Even the villains in the film are interesting, making them less cardboard and cliché' and instead, more sinister, with their overall purpose fitting well into the realm of danger that a border patrol agent might face.

3) Production for this film is very well done, so many times in a lower budget type of action film, you get a dull, almost soap opera stare from a bunch of sub-par actors, as well as "would be" emotional moments that never come across as believable. With this film, the main character played by Van Damme even has an interesting back story that is not fully revealed early on, adding a little bit of mystery to his character's personality and overall purpose.

Okay, a few things that I thought were not so likeable, but easy enough to accept because overall they still added more to the story than taking away from it...

In this film, Van Damme is a United States Border Patrol Agent that is up against an above average gang of drug smugglers. Why above average? Because these guys are members of a Special Forces Unit that uses their training to help them have a big edge on competition as well as the Border Patrol agents who try to stop them. Early on it was a little tough to swallow...but the fact it is just a Van Damme action film makes that okay. Sometimes it does take a military background, like in this case, to up the anty against the forces that are trying to stop them, making it a much more heated battle and adding a large problem for the good guys to try and overcome.

Of course, last but not least, there is the bar scene. You know, you just can't have a film like this without a little brawl. Van Damme is the new guy in town and he just wants to mind his own business and not bother anyone, and of course an "average Joe" decides to start hassling him and provoke him into a fight. Seriously, if you really saw a guy of Van Damme's stature just sitting there by himself, do you really think average Joe and all his pals could even put a mark on him? Well, you can't have an action film like this one without it I guess.

The Shepherd is a very well rounded film, taking time to set up the story and introduce all the characters and their role in things with great patience. The action is excellent, and as I stated before, is intricately weaved throughout the film so that you actually feel like it is a scene that addes to the value of the story instead of a documentary on how it looks to leap, twist, and kick someone in the head with slow motion filming. Directory Isaac Florentine should be commended, and as far as Van Damme films go, it would be great to see more of them with him at the helm.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shepherd Herds in Rogue Special Forces, January 28, 2008

By	Robert Witmer (Sebring, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In "The Shepherd" (2008), Van Damme plays a Texas border cop battling former member from an elite U.S. military force who now turned their past expertise into running a proficient drug smuggling trade from Mexico into the US. The movie breaks new grounds for Van Damme as he moves in to a more mature role with stronger acting. Van Damme's trademark fight scenes highlights an upcoming martial artiste, Scott Adkins whose zeal nearly turns the staged studio fights into a legitimate match between the two with a visual delight jammed with innovative techniques and true-to-life kicks. Reality slips into the fights forcing and inspired and newly invigorated Van Damme to truly draw on his own genuine fighting history to legitimately weather his younger rival. By way of irony, Adkins in real life while growing up was inspired by Van Damme.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Shepherd to watch over your Damme desires, March 6, 2008

By	Christopher Heintz "Kazick" (Azusa, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I must say, I was really looking forward to this movie. And I was probably looking forward to Scott Adkins as much as I was to Van Damme. My expectations were high (even for a ridiculous b-movie, action/martial art flick) after what Issac Florentine and J.J. Perry did with Undisputed II. The movie wasn't spectacular and didn't quite reach my highest hopes, but I wasn't disappointed. Van Damme played his usual laconic self - with a bunny this time. Scott Adkins' character wasn't very interesting (and the main villain was a bit annoying) either, but you can't be too picky with these kinds of movies.

The fight scenes were very well choreographed and very satisfying. J.J. Perry (the fight choreographer) did a really good job with Van Damme's abilities but still gave him room to exhibit his Van Damme style. Scott Adkins was excellent while fighting, but it doesn't seem that Florentine gave much attention to Adkins' character. You can't have it all. My chief complaint is about the poor editing and screen effects used in the last fight scene between Damme and Adkins. It would have been an excellent fight if the editors had just left the fight alone and not tried to enhance. And so the last fight was disappointing because of the editing.

On a five point scale, I'd give it a 3.5, but amazon doesn't give you half points to work with so I decided to give it a 4. For the kind of movie this is, it was really good. It's certainly the best Van Damme movie of his direct-to-dvd career that I've seen.