Sudden Death (1995)

[Neville]

I saw this one a few days ago on TV, and surprisingly, I found it to be a quite enjoyable movie. For those who can't remember it, this is the second actioner (after "Timecop") that Jean Claude van Damme made at the peak of his career with the experienced director Peter Hyams ("End of days", "Outworld"). Van Damme plays (as far as he can act) a fire inspector in the stadium where the hockey finals are playing. The film follows the "Die hard" series framework, as a group of terrorists kidnaps the vicepresident of the USA. Van Damme is the only one in the stadium who takes notice, and he only has the remaining time of the game to deactivate the bombs the terrorists have installed and save the day.

Well, first the reasons why I liked it. Basically, and despite following the "Die hard" model, Peter Hyams manages to move the whole thing into suspense (rather than action) territory. The movie cleverly uses the time periods of the game to divide the action into three major blocks and a climax (the titular sudden death), and often intercuts the action with the game, looking for parallelisms on both actions. Van Damme's actions are shown almost in real time, and Hyams only intercuts with the exterior when extra information is needed. It is quite suspenseful to see Van Damme move in empty aisles or corridors while the editing or the background action shows crowds enjoying the game, ignorant of all what is really going on. Hyams' camerawork is extremely effective. Veteran director as he is, he directs action flawlessly, in a classic, transparent fashion, far far away of the MTV stylisms of newer directors. This, the prosaic setting and the real time narration give the film a rather realistic touch, specially when compared with other "Die hard" clones. He even does his best with Van Damme's acting. Not to beat a dead horse, but Van Damme can't act a chair. Problem is, he seems to think he can, and the result is pathetic, specially in the most emotial scenes he shares with his sons. Hyams manages to shot him in middle or distant shots most of the time, and this sort of atenuates his poor acting. And among the highlights of the film, I should also include the climatic ending, which I found rather satisfying, both at the cheese and the purely spectacular level. Enough said.

And now, of course, the problems. First of all, the screenplay is appalling. Dialogues, characters and situations are some of the worse you will ever see in a major studio film (yes, there was a time when Van Damme appeared in A movies). To start with, Van Damme's character brings his incredibly-annoying and poorly-acted son and daughter to the game, and the scenes involving both are beyond painful, specially the ones featuring his daughter-in-fiction, who, moreover, is suppossed to play a significant role in the plot. Then you have the villain. Look, I guess Powers Boothe has his fans, but I'm not one of them. His brutish, sullen looks could be a good reference for playing rough people, but to transform him into a "sophisticated villain", Hans Grüber style, is one of the worst casting decisions I have ever seen. His actions, which involve killing almost everybody in sight while praising a cup of wine or cracking jokes which would ashame Billy Crystal when talking to the authorities, don't help. With the absurd dialogue he is given, Boothe looks more annoying than sophisticated, more mindless brutal than diabolically clever. At the end end of the film, to make things even funnier, he decides to disguise, and he puts on a blond wig and moustache, making him look a travestite or even better, like Chuck Norris in his early 80's films. Hey, maybe it was an homage.

And then there is the violence. Look, I'll be the first in saying that most of the action films made this days are too aseptic, but this movie moves to the oppossite side. Here we have short but brutal fights involving Van Damme and the other goons which include from deep fried hands to grilled faces, people burned alive, strangulated via machinery, innocents slained whenever the script says it so, etc. I can't say if they were trying to made adult entertainment or if Hyams, a relatively novice when it comes to action films, misjudged the violence level.

Overall, I found "Sudden death" to be one of the best films Van Damme has ever been in. Some of his B titles are funnier, admitted, but he's never been in a more balanced and competently manufactured film than this one. If you can ignore some of its bigger flaws (the pathetic villain and the subplots involving Van Damme's sons) and you are looking for a more suspense-oriented actioner than usual, "Sudden death" is a perfect way to spend an evening.

[Neon Noodle]

Neville wrote:

> Not to beat a dead horse, but Van Damme can't act a
> chair. Problem is, he seems to think he can, and the result is
> pathetic, specially in the most emotial scenes he shares with
> his sons.

Since I went into this movie knowing Van Damme couldn't act his way out of a paper bag, this was a minor gripe. The inevitable Hallmark jokes were far more irritating.

>
> Look,
> I guess Powers Boothe has his fans, but I'm not one of them.
> His brutish, sullen looks could be a good reference for playing
> rough people, but to transform him into a "sophisticated
> villain", Hans Grüber style, is one of the worst casting
> decisions I have ever seen.

Yet another valid point. I loved him in Tombstone, but he seemed so out of place in this movie!

> At the end end of the
> film, to make things even funnier, he decides to disguise, and
> he puts on a blond wig and moustache, making him look a
> travestite or even better, like Chuck Norris in his early 80's
> films. Hey, maybe it was an homage.

At least he didn't dress up like Keith Vitali....

> Overall, I found "Sudden death" to be one of the best films Van
> Damme has ever been in. Some of his B titles are funnier,
> admitted, but he's never been in a more balanced and
> competently manufactured film than this one. If you can ignore
> some of its bigger flaws (the pathetic villain and the subplots
> involving Van Damme's sons) and you are looking for a more
> suspense-oriented actioner than usual, "Sudden death" is a
> perfect way to spend an evening.
>

It was yet another "Die hard somewhere else than an office building" clone, and I will agree it is good for a rental. I don't know if I could say this was Van Damme's best film, but it was clearly one of his last good ones as an A-list actor. The Quest was a rip-off of Bloodsport - so much so, that Frank Dux sued him. His next movie was Maximum Risk, which seemed to be a leaping point for his fall from grace.

As far as his best movie? I would say that I prefer Hard Target above all of his other films, mainly because it was directed by John Woo.  For some reason, seeing Van Damme as a reclusive Cajun fit well with his real world personality, and sold me on the role. It's also one of the few early movies that Van Damme doesn't do his signature split move.

I must admit, when I saw "In Hell" on the racks at my local video store a few weeks ago, I bit the bullet and rented it. It's not Oscar worthy BY ANY MEANS, but it shows that Van Damme wants to make a comeback. I wish him the best of luck.



Post Edited (03-21-04 07:36)

[Ash]

I must admit that Van Damme is my favorite actor of all time.
No joke!
You all say that he "can't act his way out of a paper bag" but I disagree.
Laugh all you want but I think he's a very good actor.
So be it.
I can't explain why he's my favorite....he just is.
Come on let's face it...he was totally badass in "Lionheart ", "Double Impact" and many others he's been in.

I own almost every film he's starred in except a few and "Sudden Death" is one of them I don't own.
Gonna have to pick that one up sometime soon.
And Powers Booth was awesome as the bad guy in "Sudden Death".
I hated his character so badly throughout that entire film and that's just what he was going for and he succeded.
All I kept thinking about Booth's character was, "I WANT TO SEE THAT MAN DIE!"

I loved "Sudden Death" and I did catch "In Hell" a couple of months ago and enjoyed it as well.

Since he's my favorite I wish very much that he makes a strong comeback.



Post Edited (03-21-04 17:15)

[Steven Millan]

           "Sudden Death" was the beginning of the end of Van Damme,for starting with that film,every other Van Damme movie spiralled his career downward to where it is today.

          VD obviously needs to leave the action movies behind,and do some theatrical comedies(he would have made a very cool Bear in "American Wedding",I kid you all not),horror films,or at least dramas,for that would be the way for him to return to seeing him on-screen,and regularly in movies all of the time(and even guesting on TV sitcoms and series).

[Mr. Hockstatter]

I've always liked Van Damme too.  I got hooked on his stuff after seeing Cyborg - pure B movie goodness - and then rented everything he'd ever been in.  Double impact was another cool movie, along with Universal Soldier.  The guy just looks more like a Marine than your average drill sergeant.

[Lee]

I caught this one during it's theatrical run. I enjoyed it very much. I'm surprised noone's mentioned his fight against the mascot in the kitchen. Completely rediculous yet quite good.