Justa venganza

I am a huge movie buff, and have enjoyed IMDb.com for years. This is the first time i have bothered to register to voice my opinions- and it is with good reason. I am a huge Van Damme fan, but i am also a realist. His last few films have not been great - particularly Derailed & Knock Off. However credit to Jean Claude for TRYING to do other things such as IN HELL and WAKE OF DEATH. Unlike his co-action hero's Steven Seagal who can't even be bothered hanging around to loop his on voice on his movies- VAN DAMME is making a comeback.

This film marks a great, stylish, action movie- driven by revenge in a yakuza environment. It reminded me of early John Woo movies, Seagal's Hard to Kill and early dirty harry films. JCVD's acting is only getting better with age, the action is short,sharp & powerful. Bloodsoaked action scenes & being hardcore (women shot in the head/guy is shot in head by shotgun) shows this is ANYTHING but "standard/watered down/pg action" that is all to common today. Do yourself a favour and SEE IT THEN OWN IT! If you are a JCVD fan & have been disappointed by his recent films, give this one a go- you will enjoy. Cheers, Dan

In China, the girl Kim (Valerie Tian) witnesses the murder of her mother by her mobster father Sun Quan (Simon Wan) and escapes to Los Angeles in a vessel with other illegal immigrants. The ship is intercepted by the US Immigration Department, and the social worker Cynthia Archer (Lisa King) decides to host Kim at her home with her husband, the bouncer Ben Archer (Jean-Claude Van Damme), and their son Nicholas. Sun Quan comes to USA, and with the support of the dirty chief of Lisa, he gets the information where his daughter is and uses the Chinese triad to kill Cynthia and her Chinese stepparents in their restaurant in Chinatown. However, Nicholas and Kim escape from the killers, and Ben calls his friend to revenge the death of his beloved wife.

"Wake of Death" is not a totally bad Van Damme's movie. The predictable and violent screenplay uses a silly and absurd argument, the free execution of Cynthia and the stepparents in a restaurant, to trigger the character of Van Damme, who is worse than the bad guys, to revenge the death of his wife. But although using the traditional clichés of the action movies, the production of "Wake of Death" is very reasonable; the cinematography has a good quality; and if the viewer shuts-down the brain, this movie entertains. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Vingança" ("Revenge")

JCVD has never really thought of his movies as anything more than entertainment, he was once asked which of his movies was good, he replied "have I ever made any good movies?" He really makes an effort in this one, and to be honest he generally makes better movies than Steven Seagal, who always has to make a point of letting everyone know he speaks Japanese etc. Bit lame now Steven! The movie is a excellent effort, but lacks good supporting actors. JCVD isn't Sean Penn, but then again we all know that Sean isn't that good a fighter (although he does try, well used to anyway). So, JCVD really needs excellent support actors to raise his game, and sadly there aren't any here. Everyone is over serious. But hey, it's only entertainment you say. But I can't help thinking that with a few seriously good support male actors like Biehn or Madsen, the whole thing would have gone down much better. On the whole though if you like action, this is defo for you.

"Jean-Claude Van Damme is back", we all have probably heard this statement about hundred times ever since his career took a turn for the worst. Ever since then Jean has been trying to resurrect a career that saw him at the top of Hollywood's revenge, action films of the 80's and early 90's. Trying to win back fans Jean has been going the straight to video route hoping that one of the films will strike gold. And I believe Jean has just found that with Wake of Death. Van Damme IS back and this time he has the acting chops to go along with the cool action. Why this film is rated so low in this site I will never know. This has to be one of the best straight to video releases of last year. The action is great, Van Damme is in it, and the story is pretty good. It's not just your run of the mill revenge movie, it has a great story to it and the film is a success when it comes to the revenge plot. It did it better then some of the big budget Hollywood movies that came out this year, one that totally comes to mind is The Punisher. If your looking for a great action film with Van Damme and this movie is not at your local Blockbuster I suggest you spend a few extra bucks a purchase the film, you will not be let down.

I have read that some people were let down by the films climax stating that it's far too quick for some. What I like to tell those people is that they need more of an imagination. This film is great because of factors like that, the film doesn't sit back and explain every little thing like most movies do now a days. This movie leaves you do use some imagination and that's what made the movie so good. It made the viewer feel more apart of the film and not like a complete idiot that needs everything explained and told to them.

Well, what can I say? Straight to video releases are always looked at strangely. I myself are guilty of thinking "The movie cant be that good if it didn't get shown at the Cinema!". I was totally Wrong with Wake Of Death...

This is a great Movie! Van Damme is basically "EXCELLENT". Lisa King who plays Cynthia Archer, Van Damme's wife is quite poor and the Cheapo acting kind of shines in her scenes. She is very basic and really, isn't very good.

Your Probably thinking "This don't sound too good from what I've said but wait, let me continue!".

The Action is excellently balanced in the Movie. The Story is constantly moving in the right direction and you never really lose feel of where things are going! Also, the camera work reminds me of some great flicks like "Face Off" and the Driving scenes could be mistaken for clips from "Fast and the Furious". I ain't kidding, they are really good! This Movie is on par with some films that have been on at the Cinemas! However, if you cant stand rubbish acting, bare with it until his Wife gets killed as the quality shown in her scenes does sound cheap (like TV Soap acting). After that, its all revenge and thats entertaining! Lastly, with Films like "The Punisher" not living up to my Expectations, I rated Wake Of Death better than Punisher! Thats how good I thought it was...