Golpe Fulminante

Wow ! What a movie! Van Damme is at his utmost best and gives one of the finest performances of his career playing a down and out "knock off" jeans designer. This film has it all: action, danger, intrigue, comedy etc. The best of it's kind. It ranks up there with Cyborg and Street Fighter ! The Triple Crown of Van Damme films. IT's a must see !!

Most importantly, Knock Off is unlike any other Van Damme movie. It is much more like your Hong Kong action movie, and is actually quite better in the action respect than any of his other movies. Rob Schneider is really funny, and the acting (even from Van Damme) is pretty good. Probably the best thing about this movie is it's cinematography, which has such great shots as the foot-cam, the shoe-cam, and the box-cam, in which a little window opens up so you can see Jean-Claude's hand as it's reaches into a box! This movie is great for one goofy laugh after another, while not beeing too bad to watch. If you see it, rent it! If you like it, buy it!

I don't mean to offend the few people out there who enjoyed this movie, but when I first saw this film, I didn't like it. But I was at my video store, and I was still attracted by the cover of the movie so I decided to rent it again. And this is after I read the positive comments. I felt so different from the last time I watched this movie. I was enjoying it. I thought "Man! I was stupid!" This movie was funny. I didn't like Rob Shnieder at the beginning, but I liked him this time. He was playing his role as the comic relief guy right this time. I like Jean-Claude Van-Damme. I think he's a cool actor. The only reason why the movie haters don't like him is because of his accent. I think his accent's cool, After this, I'm gonna start sending my comments to Van Damme movies. The action sequences were awesome. The chases, fight scenes, gun battles, all great. I loved the direction by Tsui Hark. His camera angles, the zoom-ins, the stobes, tracers, slow-motion, it was so cool. I was like: "Woa! That was cool that zoom in on the inside of electronics and stuff!" This movie was so much fun. This is the kind of action movie I wanted to see. I loved it. I've totally forgotten how I didn't like this movie in the past. I like a good movie. I like movies such as "Titanic," Schindler's List," L.A. Confidential," "Citizen Kane," and "The Godfather."

So it's not the best movie ever made. Knock Off at least accomplishes what too many movies these days fail to do--entertain. It made us laugh. The filming was unusual.

And Jean-Claude's departure from the usual character portrayal was refreshing. He should try losing the ego and do comedy more often.

How can anyone hate such a beautiful film? The combination of poor dubbing, Van Damme's "acting" and "grasp of English", Schneider's queer-ass jokes, and Lela Rochon's breasts, I thought, would make Knock Off an Oscar contender for sure. In addition, it is a valuable tool for young amateur cameramen. They clearly just bought a new camera before they started filming, and were trying out all the new gadgets (when Van Damme reaches into the box of watches, or when they go into the barrel of the gun, or when they pan up from everyone's feet, or use multiple exposures to create the illusion of a quality film).

As for the soundtrack, Ron and Russell Mael deserve a Grammy, or, at eh very least, a Source Award. I mean, "It's a Knock Off" emerges as the single that will truly be the soundtrack for the lives of teens in the new milennium. All-Star Sam Hui also contributes to the album. His ground-breaking "Ten Girls" ,which goes a little sumthin' like this:

"Sal pon ass hi cow go yang si ming ming hi lo how wow bom hi sam chung gay yeah chop hay bing si ching chun may li chow mo so pli" ...is sung by Van Damme. It speaks to you. It tells you to leave the theater.

Another interesting aspect of this film is that it was the only Western film allowed to be in production in Hong Kong during the handover to China. They try to work this into the first action sequence (which is 90 minutes long and followed by the credits)by making sporadic, frenzied, obscure references to the ceremony that don't make sense or have any effect on the outcome of Van Damme's struggle against the Russian mafia.

Ultimately, if you want to see green explosions, Paul Sorvino returning from the dead, Rob Schneider and Van Damme engage in S&M during a rickshaw race, Lela Rochon's breasts, and a Russian with bronchitis chop people up with his eyeglasses, Knock Off is the movie for you.