DOUBLE TEAM
A film review by Tim Voon
Copyright 1997 Tim Voon
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
Another day, another Van Damme action flick with the same recycled elements of mind numbing violence, gore and countless explosions.
With the exception of:
1. The use of innocent children in bullet riddled scenes to help heighten the lagging suspense. Rourke's child dies in the cross fire when an undercover operation to capture him, goes badly wrong, and Van Damme is to blame. Shortly after this horrendous event, the two of them tussle it out with fists and bombs in a post-natal ward where cots and babies are tossed, pushed about and used as shields in the ensuing battle.
Leave the kids alone!!! I cannot condone the manipulation of children as tools to create excitement for the sole enjoyment of overwhelming, senseless violence.
2. A brotherhood of 'cybermonks', and the use of a colourful basketball star who changes his hair colour more often than Van Damme changes his clothes.
3. The addition of a tiger to the final dual in the Colosseum; where ironically, Van Damme and Rourke play out the roles of gladiators who have done battle there two thousand years earlier.
4. And amusingly, the destruction of the Colosseum when there was nothing left to blow up. I wander how the Italians responded to this?
Strangely enough this movie was not as bad as I imagined it would be.
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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