DOUBLE TEAM
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 5.5 Alternative Scale: ** out of ****
United States, 1997 U.S. Release Date: 4/4/97 (wide) Running Length: 1:38 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mickey Rourke, Dennis Rodman, Natacha Lindinger, Paul Freeman Director: Tsui Hark Producer: Moshe Diamant Screenplay: Dan Jakoby and Paul Mones based on a story by Dan Jakoby Cinematography: Peter Pau Music: Gary Chang U.S. Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Jean-Claude Van Damme must have an affinity for working with Hong Kong directors (or maybe it's the other way around). DOUBLE TEAM, directed by Tsui Hark (the ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA series, THE CHINESE FEAST), is his third such collaboration, following efforts with John Woo (HARD TARGET) and Ringo Lam (MAXIMUM RISK). While Van Damme's physicality is an asset in such straight action pictures, his complete lack of acting range assures that lapses into drama, no matter how brief, will fail, and, as a result, there's a well-defined ceiling for how good a Van Damme vehicle can be. DOUBLE TEAM approaches that ceiling.
Fortunately, DOUBLE TEAM proceeds with tongue in cheek. There are the requisite shoot-outs, fights, explosions, and chases to keep Van Damme die-hards happy, but there's also an impossible-to-miss sense of self-mocking. Although DOUBLE TEAM is neither a straight satire nor as infectiously fun as a Jackie Chan flick, its lighter tone is refreshing in comparison with many of the too-serious action films that glut the market these days.
Then, of course, there's basketball bad boy Dennis Rodman, who's making his big league "acting" debut here. After DOUBLE TEAM, the jury is still out on whether Rodman has a future in movies. His screen presence is undeniable, but all that's really required of him in this film is to change hairstyles every other scene, utter a few quips, and punch or kick just about everyone with whom he comes into contact. Like Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan, who paved the recent path from the court to the screen, Rodman has the personality to develop a motion picture career, but he'll have to do more than play sidekick to the likes of Van Damme.
The story isn't as much of a throwaway as we have come to expect from Van Damme films. In fact, it's so convoluted that at times it borders on being unintelligible. Jack Quinn (Van Damme) is a retired counter-terrorism expert who was once regarded as the best in the business. When his arch-nemesis, Stavros (a beefed-up Mickey Rourke), re-surfaces after three years of invisibility, Quinn leaves his pregnant wife, Katherine (Natacha Lindinger), to rejoin the service. After stopping by a shop in Antwerp to buy specialty weapons from Yaz (Dennis Rodman), an eccentric arms dealer, Quinn heads into an amusement park confrontation with Stavros. The operation turns into a bloodbath, with nearly all of Quinn's associates, along with Stavros' young son, dead. Quinn is seriously injured.
He awakens from unconsciousness to find himself as a member of "The Colony", an ultra-secret anti-terrorism society comprised of agents who have screwed up, but are "too valuable to kill, but too dangerous to set free." The Colony is a think-tank, the "last line of defense against global terrorism." Since all of its members have been declared dead and its island location is escape-proof, no one knows about the Colony except those at the highest levels of various governments. No one, that is, except Stavros. And, while Quinn's experience and knowledge prove to be valuable assets to the Colony, he devotes much of his time and effort to devising a means of escape.
Despite being financed with American money, not one scene of DOUBLE TEAM takes place in the United States. The locations include the South of France, Rome, and Antwerp. The director, who, like many of his Hong Kong contemporaries, is known for his visual flair, brings that aspect of his bag of tricks to this effort. In fact, there are times when DOUBLE TEAM's polished look successfully distracts us from the preposterous plot.
As I indicated earlier, the film never takes itself too seriously. For example, while running around Rome, Quinn is aided in his attempt to track down Stavros by a group of "cybermonks" -- cloistered friars who spend their time surfing the Internet. On another occasion, our hero pauses in the middle of a fight on an airplane to ascertain that his opponent is wearing a parachute. There's also a unique product placement for Coke near the end of the film -- rarely has a "free" advertisement been so crucial to the outcome of a motion picture. Last, but not least, is the climactic confrontation in the Coliseum which features Quinn kick-boxing a tiger (don't try that at home).
Your reaction to DOUBLE TEAM will probably depend largely on how you feel about concussive action films. While this one is better than most, it still falls considerably short of what I consider to be a "good" movie. One thing's for sure, though: like most flicks that boast more stuntmen than cast members, DOUBLE TEAM is unlikely to function as a Sominex. You may not enjoy it, but you won't fall asleep. And that's the best thing I can say about this loud, brash, ultimately pointless morsel of eye candy.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews