Until Death

Van Damme hits form again, big time! Until Death is a dark, dirty, damn nasty and repugnant film, but in a good way. In a Get Carter, Death Wish, Marathon Man kinda way. It's a 70's style thriller with all the grimy darkness, pessimism and degeneracy of so many great flicks of that time. Sure Wake Of Death had that feel, but somewhere along the way with director Phillipe Martinez's unsure hand, it attempted artiness, and relied far too heavily on the editing room, while also playing and drawing out needless scenes. Until Death is honed, grounded and above all consistent. All those who doubted Simon Fellow's because of his previous two films, should note that both were filmed in Romania and that the notoriously iffy company Castel were responsible. Here however, under the guidance of Moshe Diamont, Fellows is given more freedom to express himself, and he keeps things simple, grounded, allowing scenes to play out. He's far more sure of what he wants here, and delivers. He adds in a few touches that feel experimental, and a bit dangerous, and that only adds to the 70's vibe. A 70's vibe does not a good movie make, but it's a welcome part of an overall good movie.

Now in my honest opinion, I found this to be Van Damme's best film overall, period! At the same time it's hard to even call this a Van Damme movie. It's like a lost movie from Bronson or Eastwood, circa 70's. It's like Siegal and Peckinpah joined forces and took on the reckless abandon and excessiveness of Michael Winner. Those who want the new Bloodsport will not take this to their hearts as Van Damme's pinnacle, but still, they should enjoy Van Damme in a film with genuine atmosphere, in a role he stamps real authority on. Van Damme, minus the flashy kicks, plays a walking turd! He's a degenerate drug addled morally abstruse cop, and a borderline maniac. Van Damme has a role split into two halves if you like, pre-coma, post-coma. Pre coma is the dirty cop Stowe who's lost all regard for the people close to him, and his co-workers. He lives only for himself, and only to bring down ex-partner Callaghan (Rea). He'd sell his own mother to get the collar. Van Damme gives his best performance. He's really playing an unlikeable character whose judgement has become clouded. He thinks he's doing right, trying to do right, but loses track of the right and wrong ways to get what he wants. Van Damme is just a mean, badass machine in the first half of the film, not a man to be crossed at all. When Stowe wakes from his coma, having been left for dead by Callaghan, he wants to turn his life around, while he has to fully recover from his injuries. Here Van Damme is equally good. The film is a real departure for him. He really immerses himself in the role and vanity is so far from his mind here. Van Damme looks outta shape (and should do), and early on is really made to look dishevelled. Elsewhere Stephen Rea kind of flitters in and out in an extended cameo, but he gets to really chew scenery in a great scene at the end, when he and Stowe come face to face for the first time since Stowe's resurrection. Rea is simply picking up his paycheque, but he gets the one scene to let loose and deliver, and he leaves a lasting impression. Selina Giles as Stowe's wife enters the film with a bang! It's not a good one either, cause she's not delivering a good performance. However no sooner than Van Damme gets shot in the head, she begins delivering a fine performance. It's quite strange in that respect. There's also decent support from Adam Leese and Gary Beadle.

The action is short and swift. It's supposed to hit hard, and hit fast. They're simple scenes but they pack a punch, in a way that The Hard Corps and Second In Command were lacking. Ditto Wake Of Death, while supremely violent was a letdown in the action. Here though it's all about the violence. It's efficiently choreographed and edited and it has impact. When people die, you know they're dead. Those eagerly awaiting plenty of hand-to hand will be disappointed it, there's only a few quick little flourishes, but for this film Van Damme is far better armed with a shotgun than unleashing his kicks. The action isn't meant to be over the top, drawn out and excessive. It's about the forceful violence dished out. To see what I mean simply check the end action sequence in Straw Dogs.

Simon Fellows does well here as I mentioned, and he keeps the film ticking over nicely. Doug Milsome's cinematography is the best in a Van Damme movie for a while now. It looks great, and really keeps that dank 70's vibe going. There's also great sound design and Matthew Booth does a good job piecing everything together in the editing suite. A real standout though is the score from Mark Sayfritz, a blend of orchestra and synth effortlessly combining. Occasionally there's a real Massive Attack vibe in the music. It's arguably the best score in a Van Damme film, and Sayfritz will be a welcome returnee for Van Damme's next film, The Shepard. All in all, those who like a good gritty action thriller with some vicious violence, need look no further than Until Death. Those who saw Wake Of Death as a turning point were seeing a false dawn, cause this is Van Damme's career defining moment. It proves he's now an actor, and that WOD wasn't a flash in the pan. This is the best DTV film I've seen, and as those who know my love of Lundgren's Mechanik, will realise that means a lot. ****

In New Orleans, the abusive narcotic detective Anthony Stowe (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a dirty cop, addicted in heroin and booze, hated by his colleagues and divorcing from his wife Valerie (Selina Giles). While trying to arrest his former partner and drug lord Gabriel Callaghan (Stephen Rea), the mission fails, two undercover officers are killed and the drug, the money and the monitoring tapes vanish. Later, Tony is shot by a criminal in the head and miraculously does not die. After months in coma, he wakes up trying to fix the errors of his past life.

After many bad movies, Jean Claude Van-Damme finally makes a very good film. His character is very well developed in a story that uses clichés, but is also interesting, full of action and without a final redemption with a happy end. When the viewer sees this movie, wait for the credits because there is an important footage of the missing surveillance tapes, disclosing what happened in the house and how the officers were killed. I hope this movie be a milestone and a second chance in the career of Van Damme, and like his character and Phoenix, he raises from the ashes to please his fans. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Até a Morte" ("Until the Death")

This was a dramatic and interesting film. It has its usual Jean Claude standards though such as Graphic Violence, Language, Sex, and Drugs. But hey, that's why I and a lot of other fans watch these movies. I thought Van Damme was a vigilante on the loose in this, especially when he came out of that coma. Stephen Rea is also playing his usual confusing and mean character who likes to screw up people's lives just like in Fear Dot Com, which was a stupid movie unlike this one. I had hight hopes for this movie and it came through well. Since I was little I have always loved watching Van Damme and Steven Seagal movies, I just hope that they keep up the good work! 8 out of 10

OK, before I saw the movie I had no idea it would be so different from what Van Damme has done in the past. Guys, this movie is completely different from anything he has ever done. The movie is 90 – 95% drama and 5-10% action, yup, it's more of a drama than an action movie and it has a great story.

The movie's main character is Anthony Stowe, a Narcotics cop who was once partnered with Callahan, a man who has since become one of the most important drug dealers in New Orleans and who began his involvement in the drug business during his time as a cop. Stowe, still a cop is now after Callahan, his former partner. The great thing about this story that is similar to others that we've seen in the past is the fact that we don't get the whole story, only parts and pieces of it while the main story of the movie deals with the final part of the cat and mouse game between Stowe and Callahan. The movie looks great, in fact with just 3 exceptions, BUT, these 3 scenes amount to only 15 seconds, or around that, so they can be easily overlooked.

Simon Fellows is clearly a beginner at directing. In Second in Command he tried to create a feeling of revolution/war/chaos through the camera movement, but he failed because he overdid it, he tried too hard and in the end he made some viewers hate the camera movement and the overall style. Rest assured that he has improved tremendously with Until Death. He does some interesting camera moves that actually improve scenes and which ARE METAPHORS FOR THE STORY. YES people, FELLOWS IMPROVES some scenes WITH THE WAY HE DIRECTS. The way the camera is placed or the way the camera moves makes some scenes feel more important, bigger and BETTER than they are and enhances their emotional impact. If only Fellows would learn how to do the same for action, he would then be a much better director.

Van Damme has drastically improved as an actor in a very short time. And with Until Death he hits another one right out of the park, he gives a great performance, at a level at which others have won Oscars at and I am not joking. Unfortunately this is both good and bad. It's good because he can impress the audience and easily carry the movie and it's bad because EVERYONE else looks like an amateur when compared to him. Stephen Rea is GOOD, but he clearly did this movie for the money so does not try very hard. The actress portraying the wife is awful; she couldn't deliver any EMOTION, any impact along with her lines. Her role was VERY IMPORTANT in the movie and her acting was terrible, you can tell she either is an amateur (which is not the case) or not at all interested in the movie, which is what really happened since actress Selina Giles has a long list of acting jobs on her resume. Unfortunately her performance is the weakest of them all and she brings the movie down by quite a lot. It is interesting to see the best actor in the movie (Van Damme) and the worst actor (Selina Giles) at the same time on screen.

Had UNTIL DEATH had a better actress in the role of THE WIFE, a good soundtrack and a more emotional style of direction it could have been a 10/10 movie, as it is at the moment it's at 8.5/10.

It is a completely new and different role for Van Damme, it has small amounts of action compared to his older movies and it is a DRAMA, a type of movie that people might not want to see Van Damme in Until Death told me a great story, a great dramatic story, it showed to me that Van Damme can carry this type of movie and it also gave me a lot of hope for THE SHEPERD (provisional title), Van Damme's next movie which will be filled with action and which is directed by Isaac Florentine (Undisputed 2) and produced by the same people with most of the same important crew behind it.

This is why I respect Van Damme, he has grown as an actor and has created and put in place all the necessary elements to make quality movies. He has improved himself even if he is a DTV star, he keeps in great shape, has become a great actor and can still do some cool action, although he has evolved away from the action filled extravaganzas of the past (which is a good thing). Any new Van Damme movie is guaranteed to be good and interesting and the very nice fact is that his fans are disappointed when his movies fail to be GREAT and are JUST GOOD (as was the case with Second In Command).

Also keep in mind that I saw an edited version so the DVD might have more scenes, more action (a tiny little bit more), a better soundtrack and an even better visual quality as I saw the movie on TV in a TV format and aspect ratio. The DVD version could be drastically better, but even if it isn't this is still a movie I would recommend to anyone who loves a great drama, a great COP drama and some cool action from a classic star of the genre who has reinvented himself and who gave his best acting performance, a performance that I dare say is great by ANY standards.

8.5/10 on any scale

The picture packs noisy action , shoot-outs , twisted intrigues and characterization enough . It's exciting and tense , at time lackluster action film , but the violent confrontations, struggles , gun-play are well done in this routine actioner , being better than Jean-Claude flicks . The story is plenty of firepower , action packed , fights though is added an interesting suspense with attractive roles . Anthony Stowe (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a dirty cop, he's separated his pregnant wife Valerie Stowe (Selina Giles) and fighting to capture his ex-partner. His ex-colleague named Gabriel Callaghan (Stephen Rea) is working to become the new leader of the gangsters in local organized crime in Nueva Orleans and he will stop at nothing to get his purports and at whatever cost. Callaghan sends his henchmen after Anthony, who's shot in the head and comes very close to death, falling into a coma. Months later, he wakes up wanting to put things alright and becoming a better person, and better husband , while taking on the nasty goons . It's not the plan, it's the execution !. They put him in a coma, now he's going to put them out of their misery !. Vengeance Is His !.

This movie direct to video packs violent action , suspense , shoot-outs , and struggles , resulting to be quite entertaining. The main issue of the film is Van Damme himself , a very interesting role playing as a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin , and everyone dislikes him; because of a deadly set-up he is put into a coma, and comes out of it a better person , equally he awakens from the coma with the idea of finishing off his former partner . Suffering Van Damme plays finely a sad and affected cop called Anthony Stowe, a narcotics lieutenant addicted to heroin, he has a bad attitude, and everyone hates him, including his soon-to-be-ex wife, but later he changes the mind . Jean Claude Van Damme is stunning as action hero become a good man in this middling budget film . Long time ago he played big budget movies (Time cop, Universal soldier, Double team , Hard target) , he nowadays makes low budget and directly to video (Derailed, Wake of death, In hell) like in his first films (Black eagle, Cyborg , Bloodsport). Being accompanied by a nice cast , such as : Stephen Rea, William Ash , Mark Dymond , Adam Leese ,Stephen Lord ,Wes Robinson, Alana Maria , Fiona O'Shaughnessy, among others.

Financed in medium budget by the prolific producers Avi Lerner , Danny lerner , Boaz Davidson , Illana Diamant , Moshe Diamant, Danny Dimbort , Trevor Short who have produced other vehicles for two-fisted and violent heroes , such as : Steven Seagal , Chuck Norris , Jason Statham and Silvester Stallone himself . The film was well photographed by Douglas Milsone (Dungeons and dragons, Sunchaser, Body of evidence) in natural scenarios of Nueva Orleans , Louisiana, US and Sofia , Bulgaria . The movie is pointlessly energetic , occasionally intense and enjoyable enough and that's why it will appeal to real devotee Van Damme . The motion picture was professionally directed by Simon Fellows who made a Wesley Snipes vehicle (7 seconds) and he recently shot this ¨Until death¨and ¨Second in Command¨ again with Jean Claude Van Damme . The film will appeal to action genre enthusiasts . It is a decent film but only for the true devotee of the main actor . It's a must see for Van Damme fans . Rating : 6/10. Acceptable and passable.