Sudden Death

Jean-Claude Van Damme does "Die Hard" at a Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game. Interestingly, co-writer Randy Feldman said he wrote the first draft of the screenplay as a comedy/action movie parody. The only scene that remained in the finished film was the scene where Van Damme fights the penguin mascot. The now serious version of the screenplay co-written by Gene Quintano (writer of Police Academy 3, 4 & 5) is a highly derivative action film about a group of terrorists holding the Vice President and Stanley Cup fans hostage. Despite a weak script, the film does deliver some solid fight scenes from JCVD, features a good villain with Powers Boothe as the lead terrorist, and well directed action from Peter Hyams ("Capricorn One" "Outland" "Timecop"), who is also the cinematographer on most of his films and was doing it long before it was the cool thing to do, as is done by Robert Rodriguez, Doug Liman, Gaspar Noé, and Steven Soderbergh. So overall, this is a dull script that's executed by it's actors and director much better than it deserves. Worth watching for JCVD fan only.

Darren(Jean Claude Van Damme) is a firemen, he carries his sons to a Pittsburgh Penguin national Hockey play-off where is taking place the final.But the arena has been taken by a terrorists led by a cruel villain(Powers Boothe). The bad guys are holding the Vice President(Raymond J. Barry), as well as another authorities taken as hostages in a private box. The chief villain demanding a few billion dollars or he'll blow up the stadium because is wired with enough explosives for killing all around. Meanwhile an Inspector(Dorian Harewood) is also investigating the events and is captured our hero's daughter .

This film is plenty of action and explosions and is quite amusing. Displays suspense, thriller, violence, great action scenes and stunts with sensational scenes. Jean Claude Van Damme gets a perfect part who plays cat-and-mouse- with a sardonic nasty, well played by Powers Boothe.The highlights film are the impressive fighting on the stadium's ceiling. The blowing up ,pyrotechnics,struggles are breathtaking but the picture is just another usual Hollywood product in the wake of ¨Die hard¨.Married only by lack credulity for feats of Van Damme and too many needlessly scenes. It packs a high budget and lavishly produced ,however, nowadays Van Damme performs a middling and low budget movies. Spectacular music score fitting to action film by John Debney(Sin city,Passion of Christ).The motion picture is professionally directed by Peter Hyams who repeats with Jean Claude in ¨Timecop¨ . He's an irregular director with hits(Relic,Outland,Capricorn one) and flops(Sound and thunder,End of days).

I found this to be a very interesting action with with Powers Boothe fun to watch as the main villain, thanks to his dialog and no-nonsense approach. At least he wasn't one of those talk-first, shoot-maybe-later clichés from the world of film. The hockey scenes in here are realistic, too. However, the rest of the film doesn't exactly exhibit realism: lots of hokey stuff in here, too. At the end, the action really gets carried away and brings the rating down on this to a manageable "7." Otherwise, it would be a minimum of "8" just for the entertainment value alone.

After a slow start, it picks up when Boothe enters the movie. Then it never lets up. If you want a pure hour of action, this is it. There is no female lead in this movie, so you get no romance nor gratuitous sex scenes, which is a bit unusual. It's a straight crime story.

One note: unless things have been changed, I was disappointed my DVD did not offer a widescreen version.

Darren McCord, a fire safety officer at a hockey stadium, takes his two kids to a major Pittsburgh Penguins game. It just so happens to be the day that extortionist/thieves kidnap the vice president and hold him hostage at the stadium, thus putting himself and his children in mortal danger.

Lets cut to the chase here, Sudden Death is a clone rip off of Die Hard, the action template movie that shines as bright as a newly formed bruise, but as copycats go {and there have been reams}, Peter Hyams' beefcake blunderbuss movie is an action junkie's delight. Jean Claude Van Damme {McCord obviously} flexes his muscles and not only beats seven bells of tar out of Powers Booth's criminal minions, he also proves to be a hero and loving father to his oblivious children. It's contrived for sure, I mean we get Jean sneaking on to the ice and taking up net minding duties, and it's certainly a script devoid of imagination. But it's got Van Damme fighting a hot kick ass babe in a penguin suit and a last fifteen minutes of high roof/dangling/swinging/exploding mayhem that does the action genre proud.

It's no Die Hard, but what genre films are? Sudden Death in spite of its contrivances, is a film that is impossible not to enjoy if you are a like minded adult. 7/10

It seems that every Hollywood action heavyweight has to have their "Die Hard" moment, and 1995's "Sudden Death" was Belgian martial arts sensation Jean-Claude Van Damme's contribution. Basically "Die Hard on Ice," "Sudden Death" is slickly polished and photographed nicely & directed by Van Damme's "Timecop" (1994) director Peter Hyams, but that's about it - despite a few well-executed action sequences and special effects.

During Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, fire marshal Darren McCord (Van Damme), a former Pittsburgh firefighter traumatized by his inability to save a young girl from a deadly house fire two years earlier, takes his two children to watch the hockey game. Also in attendance, is the vice president of the United States (Raymond J. Barry); and a crack team of terrorists led by Joshua Foss (the late Powers Boothe), a disgruntled former Secret Service operative who has taken the VP and 10 others hostage in the owner's box and wants two billion dollars in frozen funds from enemy nations to be wired to 13 bank accounts of his choice.

The gist of it is, is that the government has until the end of each inning to transfer one-third of the money, or else Foss will execute a hostage. If at the end of the game his demands still are not met, he will blow up the Civic Arena with strategically placed explosives and kill everyone inside it. Only a one-man army, Darren McCord, can stop them.

"Sudden Death" has the usual shoot-outs, explosions, martial arts showdowns (including Van Damme's hilarious fight with Foss's henchwoman, disguised as the Pittsburgh Penguins' mascot, in the Arena's kitchen) and thrilling foot-chases, but that's about it. It's pretty typical and by-the-numbers stuff that doesn't offer anything new to a tired and worn-out premise.

On the plus side, Powers Boothe makes for a truly memorable bad guy with a cold and efficient manner and a no-nonsense approach, as well as a black-hearted sense of humor. Boothe provides some of the film's best lines and gets some of the most memorable moments, too. He is really what keeps the movie going.

All in all, "Sudden Death" is a good way to kill 111 minutes of your Saturday afternoon.

6/10