Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than STREET FIGHTER and DERAILED combined!, July 25, 2005
I like this new mature Van Damme. First IN HELL and now WAKE OF DEATH they're the best films of his career and he's actually starting to show some genuine acting talent. I hope this trend continues.
Wife/family murdered and son kidnapped Van Damme (or V.D. as I like to call him) is out for revenge. He shoots up a bunch of stuff, runs a drill through a guy's kneecaps, wrecks some cars, cries a few times, drives a motorcycle through a mall, hugs some people, electrocutes a cop and shoots a triad who's tied up point blank in the face with a shotgun.
Honestly I liked this movie quite a bit, the ending was a little anti-climatic, but the cinematography was cool. I'd watch it again which is more than I could say for DOUBLE TEAM.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Van Damme comes back on top with this one., September 20, 2005
After nearly 7 years of straight to DVD Releases Van Damme finally makes a film thats up there with his old ones. Much like Desert Heat which ressurected his film making he makes another good one.
This movie is about a little girl who witnesses her father kill her mother. She is poorly cared for as are others in her countries when a woman takes her in as her own (Jean Claudes wife) for fear that she may be murdered herself. But when her father realizes what happens he takes action.
He has Jean Claude Van Dammes wife killed and is about to have his son killed when he escapes. When Van Damme gets back he finds his wife dead and he has his brother go searching for the kiler. Van Damme goes on a killing spree killing anyone who was in connection to his wifes death. And finally gets to the big man himself, the one who has his wife killed. In the end he kills him and gets wounded himself.
The main thing that sticks out in this film is Van Dammes acting, not his fighting. It seems like a blah blah story but if you would see his acting its magnificant. He really looks sad when he finds his wife dead, when he kills the people who killed his wife he has tears in his eyes why hes doing it. Like in one scene he beats a man over and over with a pistol and starts to cry why he does it, like getting all the anger out.
This has to be his best acting peroformance of his career. And anyone, and i mean anyone who likes action films needs to see this. Also this movie isnt directed by Jean Claude and it gets with the program for modern movies (it feels like it could of went to theaters) this movie gets a 10/10
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deathwish - Van Damme style!, October 4, 2008
The Jean Claude Van Damme Review Matrix (JCVD-RM)
1. Who is he? Ben Archer, a worn down bouncer with weatherbeaten features who's ready to quit his rugged life at high-profile clubs (think Swayze from Road House, but with an accent)
2. Which family member/friend must be avenged? His wife Cynthia (Lisa King) gets her throat slit (gruesome close-up afterwards), his father-in-law gets blasted, and his mother-in-law gets an explosive head-shot from close range (like popping a water balloon with a pin).
3. Does he take his shirt off? Because it's such an essential plot device, there is an early shower scene, a sex scene, and a bath scene in which JCVD is shirtless.
4. Does he have sex with a C-List actress? He gets to "say goodbye" to Cynthia very early in Cinemax-quality bawdy tryst.
5. Is there a tournament? This is a grisly, evil, realistic battle to the death. It's JCVD at his skull-crushing darkest. There is no time for a stupid tournament with rules.
6. Is training needed for this tournament? Didn't you hear me!? JCVD has people to maim, kill, and torture!
7. Does he do the splits in training or in the tournament? This is serious! Borderline psychotic executioners do not do the splits.
8. Does he punch someone in the balls? No, but his brother punches someone in the balls, and performs a free castration later.
9. Does he do a series of flying or 360 kicks? He's fighting the Chinese Triad. What do you think?
10. Is his enemy unbeatable? No. In fact, JCVD kills about 50 guys who previously thought they were unbeatable.
11. Does he overcome an injury or other hindrance? No hindrance, this is all about the revenge killing.
12. Does he win? JCVD does everything but cure cancer in this one. You're damn right he wins.
I think the message in this one is that JCVD is against human trafficking, drugs, and the Chinese Triad. Basically, a Chinese girl named Kim runs away after her mother is murdered, becomes an import into America, gets pseudo-adopted by an INS agent, Cynthia Archer, and is tracked down by her Chinese Triad father named Sun Quan - the same guy who killed Kim's mother. During the hunt for his daughter, Sun Quan's people kill everyone Archer knows, and in doing so, they unleash the Charles Bronson within JCVD.
The action rivals the blockbuster movies spewed forth by the biggest budget of Hollywood movies. Awesome fights and action, a motorcycle chase that could be in the X-Games, a few graphic, gruesome deaths, superb acting (JCVD's best acting to date), great cinematography, and one of the top five car chases in cinema history, there really isn't anything missing. A few of the deaths are stunning, and along with the ominous music, are almost Tarantinoesque. One particularly gory moment involves some angry associates of JCVD, a power-drill, and an unfortunate enemy with information.
I can't give this movie enough credit. It should have made it to theatres. It's better than the majority of action movies that have been produced in the last ten years. In my opinion, this could easily be considered the best of all JCVD movies. Wake of Death is highly recommended for not just JCVD-aholics, but action fans as well.
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