Double Team (1997) A movie review by Serdar Yegulalp (C) 1997 by Serdar Yegulalp
CAPSULE: Trippy, hyperspeed action machine from Hong Kong's accomplished Tsui Hark. Van Damme and Rodman have nice chemistry, the stunts are eyepopping, and stuff gets blowed up real good; what more do you want?
I admit I was all set to loathe DOUBLE TEAM; it reeked of cheapjack timing-oriented marketing (stick Dennis Rodman in a movie, quick, while he's hot, and do something about Jean-Claude Van Damme's flagging career while we're at it!). Surprise -- DOUBLE TEAM transcends its dumb roots and turns out to be a mess of fun. Bring some friends, get some pretzels, and have a blast.
Van Damme is Jack Quinn, an ex-agent who is brought back in for "one last mission" -- you'd think any spy worth his shoe phone would run like hell when he hears those words. But Van Damme's character has a pregnant wife who's also a sculptor, and some unpleasant pressure gets used to get him to come through on this mission. He's been assigned to take down an old enemy, a terrorist named Stavros (Mickey Rourke, looking oddly subdued), who may be back up to his old tricks.
In the first showdown between Quinn and Stavros, the movie wears its ambitions proudly on its sleeve: nonstop action. An amusement park, a hospital, a private "retired spy"'s retreat, most of Rome, various houses, planes, cars and other modes of transport, and the Coliseum (!) all become arenas for some of the most bone-rattling shoot-outs and punch-outs filmed. They are better seen than described and are reason enough to see the film: one jaw-dropping scene has Van Damme taking on a man who uses a switchblade with his *feet*. (Van Damme is a good, dextrous athlete and fighter, but he is often upstaged.)
There are other nice touches. Stavros and Quinn both want the same thing: to retire in peace with their families. That ambition ties them together in various ways, and also humanizes them a bit. One of the things about HK action movies is that there's always some form of human element, and that's carried over into this movie as well. It gives weight to scenes that would otherwise be forgettable. Also good is Dennis Rodman, playing a weapons dealer named Yaz -- a character who sticks out like a fistful of broken fingers and who is funny just standing there. Rodman is natural on screen; he's fun to watch, especially when slinging bad guys like basketballs, and deserves to get a movie of his own, based on what's seen here: a lightweight, fast-moving entertainment that showcases all of its pieces excellently.
Three out of four man-eating tigers.
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