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Double
Team |
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Year: |
1998 |
Dennis Rodman and Jean-Claude Van Damme |
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Director: |
Tsui
Hark |
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Action: |
Sammo
Hung Kam-Bo, Xiong
Xin-Xin |
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Cine: |
Peter
Pau Tak-Hei |
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Cast: |
Jean-Claude Van Damme,
Dennis Rodman, Mickey Rourke, Paul Freeman, Xiong
Xin-Xin |
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The
Skinny: |
So awful that it qualifies as some sort of a camp classic.
Tsui Hark's first American film was surprisingly not
his last. Jean-Claude Van Damme continues his attempt
to destroy the careers of previously good directors. |
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Review
by Kozo: |
Yikes! Following in the
footsteps of John Woo and Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark makes
a move to Hollywood. Sadly, he does it exactly the same
way those two guys did: working with Jean-Claude Van
Damme. The latest Muscles from Brussels epic features
Van Damage as Jack Quinn, a counter-terrorist agent
on the trail of evil bastard Stavros (Mickey Rourke).
To take on this truly heinous arch-villain, Jack joins
forces with flamboyant arms dealer Yaz (Dennis Rodman).
Through keen teamwork and bad acting, our two heroes
save the world and exchange largely crappy buddy banter.
A swift kick to the head
might be more enjoyable than this extravagantly silly
exercise in inconsequence. Tsui Hark loads the film
with silly visuals and a healthy dose of manic energy.
The result: mind-numblingly weird. Double Team
gets credit for a couple of cool concepts, but the overall
script is just terrible. Van Damme possesses the acting
ability of gnarled driftwood, but his performance is
raised to Olivier-like levels thanks to the presence
of Dennis Rodman, who should be snaring more rebounds
instead of attempting to branch out. This film is illogical,
nonsensical, and incredibly cloying at times. Only the
action proves somewhat digestible, though it's sometimes
too ridiculous to be involving.
Things of note: Tsui Hark's
usual action director Xiong Xin-Xin has a nifty cameo
as a guy who takes on Van Damme, and Mickey Rourke surprises
with his bizarre buff physique. Rourke is amazingly
in shape for his villain role, but the muscles look
weird on him; he almost looks like a super-deformed
Japanimation character. At the very least, the action
will satisfy Van Damme's fanbase, though it's doubtful
that this film will earn him any newer fans. Tsui Hark
probably won't gain any new fans either. In fact, I
wouldn't be surprised if Tsui lost some fans thanks
to Double Team. (Kozo 1997) |
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Availability: |
DVD (USA)
Region 1 NTSC
Columbia/Tri-Star Home Video
16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Language Track
Dolby Digital 5.1 |
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image
courtesy of Columbia/Tri-Star Home Video
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| LoveHKFilm.com
Copyright ©2002-2017 Ross Chen
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