Legionnaire

This has to be one of the oddest, yet best Van Damme films ever. It's not chop-socky martial arts kickboxing crud, and it isn't mindless sci-fi action... it's a war drama. And a surprisingly good one. Van Damme plays Alain, a boxer who is paid to take a dive, but who instead flees and joins the French Foreign Legion, where he learns about friendship, honor, and fighting to the last. Sound like a normal Van Damme movie? Far from it. Sheldon Lettich's script, while somewhat cliche, is very well put together. The acting is surprisingly top notch, with even Jean-Claude Van Damme himself turning in a good performance. What a shame this movie never made it to theaters. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys an exciting, epic war film. I give it 8/10.

And who says Jean-Claude Van Damme can't act? Huh? This excellent film of survival and friendship shows all the anti-Van Dammers where they stand. In my opinion, Jean-Claude deserves an OSCAR for this one. I rate this one a definite 10 on my KICK ASS SCALE!

I bought the DVD off the sales rack at Wal-Mart, thinking I could pawn it off after once viewing it. . . .not expecting much of it, even though I am a fan of Van Damme. BUT, it surprised me as Van Damme expresses his DRAMATIC skills! Not his usuall puncher-kicker film, he tells the story of how it is for a legionnaire watching people he knows being picked off one-by-one in the heated Hell of war! Although it's not a true story, it IS, however, true to the way it is with any heartfull man who joins the Foreign Legion and gets caught up in such Hellish realities of hatred in combat. Leaving behind all he's ever known & felt comfortable with and fighting for a whole different cause, and finding out later the trespasses that happen which can result in hatred. You can feel the loneliness he felt as the Arabs ride away & he's the only one left standing there in the death, rubble, and smoke of what was his fort in Northern Africa. Certainly a welcomed change from Van Damme's usuall martial arts mayhem. It's a keeper!

I found 'Legionnaire' for $10 on a rack labelled "Movies that should never have been made!". I had never seen 'Legionnaire', but on the same rack was the Arnie classic 'Conan the Barbarian'. I decided that whoever was running the store obviously didn't know what they were talking about - I'm sure Arnie will forgive them - and so I picked up 'Legionnaire'. If I had known it had a lot more of Jean-Claude Van Damme acting rather than Van Damme beating the **** out of bad guys, I probably would have avoided it. Good thing I gave it a go, as it was actually pretty good.

Van Damme plays Alain Lefevre, a boxer paid to take a dive by a mobster. Alain and his girl-friend have other ideas, and plan to flee France and go to America. After giving his opponent a good butt-kicking, and enraging the mobsters, Alain ends up being chased by police, and finds himself in the French Foreign Legion and deployed to Africa to crush an insurgency in a French colony.

Funnily enough, it is pretty much 'Lionheart' reversed. Other than that, 'Legionnaire' feels more like a war movie than a Van Damme movie. Then again, you can tell Van Damme co-wrote it: He gives himself a lot of acting time, and not much arse-kicking time, but then you have various action clichés popping up and the odd one-liner here and there.

Van Damme's martial-arts skills are not showcased here as much as in his other movies. There are a few boxing scenes, and maybe one kick in the entire movie. The rest of the action is standard war stuff: explosions and gun-play (circa 1924, to be precise).

'Legionnaire' is surprisingly good in the end. Van Damme gets to do something different for a change, and I'll give him credit for it. It is more dramatic than most of his other movies, but that should not stop Van Damme fans - and even non-fans of Van Damme - from seeing it - 7/10

This is better than most Van Damme films and it has a great score. The film is cliched, but it's a Van Damme picture. I don't think any Van Damme fan wold have it any other way. Some have said that Van Damme reminds them of Schwarzenegger, but I personally think the comparison runs closer along the lines of Charles Bronson. Jean-Claude Van Damme is the B-movie actor of our generation and to me that is a major compliment. Some might not like his accent or his fancy karate, but his films are usually entertaining and solid action pieces. I remember a long time ago somebody said to me that Steven Segal would outlast Van Damme, well all I have to say is "Has anybody really liked the last 4 or 5 Segal pictures?" People should appreciate Van Damme for the action star he is and not the actor he may or may never become.