Assassination Games

I full admit I watched this movie for two reasons. First of all, the last thing I saw Van Damme in was JCVD, and I have to say that I was more than a bit surprised by the weight and depth of his performance. Second, I'm a fan of Scott Adkins ever since the last two Undisputed and Ninja films where he showed that westerners could screen fight just as well as anyone in martial arts flicks. How does all of that translate to this movie? Read on.

Assassination Games probably isn't what you expect. It's not a knock down, drag out action movie. In fact the action sequences, while well done, aren't very plentiful. I actually think this may be a good thing. I'm starting to think that if Van Damme would take himself more seriously and stop doing all of the hacky crap he did in the 80s and 90s that he could very well be a well respected actor who just happens to know action movies. While I grew up with movies like Bloodsport and Kickboxer, watching someone mature and actually convey an actual sense of a character is quite rewarding. Here's to hoping that the man can stick with movies that have substance rather than just being some guy who can kick stuff and do the splits.

"This is what he does best, and he is the best." A corrupt Interpol officer makes that observation about Roland Flint, the character played by Scott Adkins in the riveting "Assassination Games." It's an accolade that truly applies to the film's star, Jean-Claude Van Damme, who has translated his experience as a global superstar into becoming one of the globe's best actors. JCVD is Vincent Brazil, a professional assassin and loner whose profession has intensified his self-isolation. Flint and Brazil become reluctant partners in a cat-and-mouse game against both Interpol and the European mob. Along the way, an unlikely girl next door named October invades Brazil's carefully protected personal space and forces him to provide her refuge from a vengeful pimp (depicted with effective menace by actor Attila Arpa). When October thanks Vincent with a kiss to the cheek, Van Damme displays the hit-man's resistance to affection with an emotion that is both telling and heartbreaking. It is a rare moment for an action film and a testament to the brilliance of Van Damme the actor. The relationship of October and Vincent becomes an effective dramatic anchor for the movie's unrelenting mix of tragedy and revenge. Increasingly, as his films showcase his dramatic talents, Van Damme creates movies that are both character driven and visually stylish without resorting to CGI tricks or action clichés. Experience and talent have enabled the original "Muscles from Brussels" to evolve into one of the most creative and uniquely effective forces in film making today. "Assassination Games" is another great chapter in the career of a triumphant and supremely talented Jean-Claude Van Damme.

This Van Damme action picture displays lots of violence, action filled, thrills and fierce combats . It is entertaining , well paced and including interesting characters . It's thrilling and tense , at time suspenseful movie and the firepower, explosion, struggles, shootouts are very well done . It deals with two assassins agree to work together as one named Roland Flint (Scott Adkins who replaced Vinnie Jones) attempts to revenge his wife (Bianca Bree , also producer) and the other named Vincent Brazil (Jean Claude Van Damme) collect a reward for a job to kill a mobster (Ivan Kaye) which is backed by dirty Interpol Agents . Meanwhile , Vincent helps a prostitute (Marija Karan) but the events go wrong .

¨Assassination games¨ is one of Van Damme's better films . It packs violent action, suspense, shoot-outs, and martial arts fighting and results to be quite amusing . Entertaining movie , thanks to tight pace, skillful edition and well mounted combats . It's tense and exciting , at time lackluster action movie , but the struggles and fighting are well done . During the scene where Flint visits Polo's 'hardware guy', he utilizes a laser-guided gun to target him , the effects used for the mechanical movement is taken from Robocop (1987) . Suffering Van Damme plays finely an affected killer , acting similarly to 'Hard cops' . Enjoyable relationship among two rival assassins , nicely played by Van Damme and Adkins ; both of them form an uneasy alliance to take down a deadly target . Van Damme is good as action hero in this middling budget filmed in Bucharest, Romania and New Orleans, Louisiana ; here Jean Claude plays a hit man , confronting nasties and using his martial-arts skills . Long time ago he played big budget movies (¨Time cop¨, ¨Universal soldier¨ ,¨Double team¨, ¨Hard target¨), nowadays he makes low-medium budget and directly to video (¨Derailed¨ , ¨Wake of death¨ , ¨In hell¨) like in his first films (¨Black eagle¨, ¨Cyborg¨, ¨Bloodsport¨). Remaining cast though unknown make nice acting as Kevin Chapman , Ivan Kaye and special mention to Marija Karan as a beautiful whore mistreated by her pimp . This movie film results to be a standard actioner , but packs interesting main roles , atmospheric action set pieces and is fast movement . It's produced with middling budget by Van Damme and Paul Leonard ; being professionally directed by Bernie Barbarash (¨Ticking clock¨ , ¨Hardwired¨ and ¨Six bullets¨ , again with Van Damme) , though Russell Mulcahy was originally set to shoot . The picture is extremely energetic and to be liked for real devotees of main actor . It's a must see for Van Damme fans.

A small handful of better than average action sequences highlight an otherwise generic and trite tale of two assassins with different tactics and end goals searching for whomever set them up. Van Damme fans would be much better off watching JCVD for a good latter- day Damme flick. As he performance in here is good, but the movie is mundanely average at best. There's also a prostitute sub-plot that's admittedly pretty awful. As the movie wore on I found myself less and less interested in a film hat I couldn't help but believe I saw before in minor variations in the past. And better, in all honesty.

My Grade: C-

Caught this at a theater near by and I have to say that I did enjoy this. It wasn't great or even "really good" but it was better than most of JCVD's other dtv movies(excluding US3 and Replicant)...and better than some of his later theatrical movies(Street Fighter,Double Team,Knock Off, Unisol:The Return). I think putting it on the same level as Wake of Death is pretty fair. I actually may have liked this a little more since it didn't feature the dopey MTV edits that WOD had. The acting was pretty solid all around for the most part. JC's son, Kris' character(Schell) was extremely pointless in my opinion...not to mention he sucked in it. Felt like he was reading his lines the entire movie. I really liked JC and Adkin's chemistry together. They played off each other really well but I was left wanting to see more of them sharing the screen. There were a few aspects I didn't care for but I don't want to spoil anything. Production wise, the movie looks pretty good considering the budget. It's well directed and shot. Good music score too. However, I actually feel like it would have made for a better at home experience than a theatrical one. The sepia tone actually looked a little blurred on the big screen during some of the wide shots...and I did find myself craving a little color. Close ups looked good though. All in all, it was a pretty good movie. This gives me hope for The Butcher. If Ernie Barbarash had a little more money to work with, he'd do a hell of a job. 3/5