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IMDbPro

L'empreinte de la mort

Original title: Wake of Death
  • 2004
  • 12
  • 1h 31m
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
11K
YOUR RATING
Jean-Claude Van Damme in L'empreinte de la mort (2004)
One-Person Army ActionTragedyUrban AdventureActionAdventureDrama

After his wife is brutally murdered, club enforcer Ben Archer wages war against the Chinese triads.After his wife is brutally murdered, club enforcer Ben Archer wages war against the Chinese triads.After his wife is brutally murdered, club enforcer Ben Archer wages war against the Chinese triads.

  • Director
    • Philippe Martinez
  • Writers
    • Mick Davis
    • Laurent Fellous
    • Kristina Hamilton-Grobler
  • Stars
    • Jean-Claude Van Damme
    • Simon Yam
    • Philip Tan
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.5/10
    11K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Philippe Martinez
    • Writers
      • Mick Davis
      • Laurent Fellous
      • Kristina Hamilton-Grobler
    • Stars
      • Jean-Claude Van Damme
      • Simon Yam
      • Philip Tan
    • 108User reviews
    • 46Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Wake of Death
    Trailer 0:55
    Wake of Death

    Photos19

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    Top cast32

    Edit
    Jean-Claude Van Damme
    Jean-Claude Van Damme
    • Ben Archer
    Simon Yam
    Simon Yam
    • Sun Quan
    Philip Tan
    Philip Tan
    • Han
    Valerie Tian
    Valerie Tian
    • Kim
    Tony Schiena
    • Tony
    Claude Hernandez
    • Raymond
    Lisa King
    Lisa King
    • Cynthia Archer
    Anthony Fridjhon
    • Max
    Danny Keogh
    Danny Keogh
    • Mac Hoggins
    Pierre Marais
    Pierre Marais
    • Nicholas Archer
    Warrick Grier
    • Da Costa
    Tom Wu
    Tom Wu
    • Andy Wang
    Jacqueline Chan
    Jacqueline Chan
    • Mamma Li
    • (as Jacqui Chan)
    Burt Kwouk
    Burt Kwouk
    • Tommy Li
    Joon Chong
    • Kim's Mother
    Andre Jacobs
    Andre Jacobs
    • Doctor Walker
    Bo Petersen
    Bo Petersen
    • Judge Brown
    • (as Bo Peterson)
    Tarryn Meaker
    Tarryn Meaker
    • Babysitter
    • (as Tarryn Downes)
    • Director
      • Philippe Martinez
    • Writers
      • Mick Davis
      • Laurent Fellous
      • Kristina Hamilton-Grobler
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews108

    5.510.5K
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    Featured reviews

    9KEELING1985

    Very Good Action Movie... **Rent It**

    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...
    6ma-cortes

    Thriller, tension, plenty of frenetic action and lots of violence

    The movie begins when a Chinese little girl witnesses the killing her mother by her gangster father named Sun Quan(Simon Yam) and she flees to Los Angels aboard a ship with other abducted immigrants. An ex-gangster named Ben(Jean Claude Van Damme) is ready to retire himself; his wife(Lisa King)is a social worker, taking the refugee little girl to their house. Then, she 's cruelly killed and his son along with the Chinese girl are kidnapped. Our revenger hero wages war against the criminals .The sad Van Damme must rescue the kids and revenge his spouse, meanwhile he's attacked and pursued from all sides by Chinese triads, being only helped by a French gangster's trio.

    This film direct to video-rentals, displays action-packed, extreme violence, pursuit cars, thrills and is quite entertaining. It's thrilling and tense , at time suspenseful movie and the firepower, explosion, struggles, motorbikes races are very well done. Suffering Van Damme plays finely an affected gangster, acting similarly to 'Hard cops'. Van Damme confronting nasties, using his martial-arts skills, furthermore some chase cars are pretty exciting. Remaining cast though unknown make nice acting, besides appears uncredited Burt Kwouk ,the famous Chinese fighter against Inspector Clouseau-Peter Sellers. This interesting film results to be a standard actioner, but packs atmospheric action set pieces and is fast movement . The motion picture is well produced, though with middling budget, and directed by Philippe Martinez. He's a prestigious producer, such as 'Harsh times, Modigliani, The piano player, Van Wilder 2'. This is the second and best film as director , along with 'Citizen verdict'. The picture is extremely energetic and be liked for true devotees of main actor. It's a must see for Van Damme fans.
    7exntrc1

    A mature action film from a maturing actor

    I'll be the first to admit that the super butt kicking action was not the only thing I appreciated in Jean-Claude Van Damme's films back in the day. His own butt was an excellent plus. Timecop and Cyborg? I was there. I tried to hang on after that but... JCVD twins, Dennis Rodman, science gone bad? It was all too cartoony and the action wasn't enough to hold my interest. I turned my attention East and... Salvation! The wonders of Hong Kong film.

    Looking to pack a recent weekend with as much action and gunplay possible, I found "Wake of Death" and decided to give JCVD another try. I'm glad I did as I found it to be a fine film. It doesn't have the American film clichés - a hero with a heart of gold, selflessly protecting orphans and widows, while throwing off quippy one-liners and never sustaining anything more than a few strategically placed scratches.

    This is a man with a questionable and likely criminal past, but we're not back storied into seeing how he is really just a misunderstood hero. It is up to the viewer to make their own judgment about this man and his actions. This film is not for those who like their action mindless.

    I agree with all the comments about Jean-Claude's acting skills – he has definitely earned to communicate emotion and real character depth. He is a long way from the stone-faced Muscles from Brussels.

    This woman gives the film 2 thumbs up! Now go kick some ass!
    7moviecollector

    Van Damme is back!

    It was great to finally see the new Van Damme movie. I enjoyed this better than his previosu 1 - IN HELL.

    Acting by VD was very good, along with everyone else. Though, the editing was choppy in some places, everything else abiut the movie was fine with me. Despite the fact that 'The End' shows up, when I thought it was pointless to put that up. It could have gone straight to the credits.

    This is still 1 of Van Damme's best movies in a while.

    This is the best action movie of 2004. This really should have gone to theatres here, considering how much crap that Hollywood releases now.

    This is a must see, for Van Damme fans & action fans.
    5claudio_carvalho

    He Is Worse Than the Bad Guys

    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")

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Ringo Lam was the original director but he left the project after a few weeks of filming in Canada.
    • Goofs
      In the final confrontation Ben's son is being held directly to the chest of the villian. In one shot though he is gone to show the damgage, in the next shot he is back where he was before and it becomes appearent that Ben would have had to shoot his son in the head to hit the villian where he did.
    • Quotes

      Sun Quan: The only thing you postpone in life... is death.

    • Alternate versions
      In Germany, the uncut version didn't get a rating/approval at all (both FSK and SPIO/JK boards thought the film might violate §131, glorification of violence). Therefore the rental version is cut by 81 sec. with SPIO/JK approval, while the retail version is cut even more (ca. 4 minutes) with a "Not under 18" rating from the FSK. The Dutch DVD also features this same cut version. In 2017 however, the uncut version was granted a "Not under 16" rating from the FSK, making previous cut versions completely obsolete.
    • Connections
      Referenced in Making of 'Wake of Death' (2004)
    • Soundtracks
      Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen
      (uncredited)

      from DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE

      Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

      Lyrics by Emanuel Schikaneder

      Heard during the massacre in a Chinese restaurant

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    FAQ

    • How long is Wake of Death?Powered by Alexa
    • What has been cut from the Dutch Blu-ray of the film?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 19, 2005 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • Germany
      • France
      • South Africa
      • United States
    • Languages
      • Cantonese
      • French
      • English
    • Also known as
      • After Death
    • Filming locations
      • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
    • Production companies
      • Bauer Martinez Studios
      • UKFS
      • Frame Werk Produktion GmbH & Co. KG
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $14,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross worldwide
      • $521,918
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 31 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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