Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Robert Guillaume,
Cynthia Gibb, Patrick Kilpatrick, Art LeFleur, George Dickerson, Jack Bannon
Director: Deran Sarafian
Action Director: Jeff Imada
Following the one-two punch of Bloodsport and Kickboxer, producer Mark DiSalle's next collaboration with the Muscles from Brussels was a slightly different project than before. Based on a script by a nobody named David S. Goyer, their new movie, Death Warrant, would take Van Damme out of full-contact sports in Asia and deposit him in the equally-brutal American prison system. The result would be more thriller and mystery than outright action, although Van Damme would still get a few moments here and there to display his fancy footwork.
We open with Detective Louis Burke (Van Damme) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police following the trail of a serial killer known only as the Sandman (Showdown's Patrick Kilpatrick) to his lair in an abandoned building. Although the Sandman gets the drop on Burke, the latter is able to unload his revolver into the towering madman until he's seemingly dead. More than a year later, Burke is invited back to the States to participate in a special mission: Harrison Penitentiary (located somewhere in California) has recently lost their assistant warden in suspicious circumstances. Moreover, that hellhole has been subject to a rash of unexplained killings among the inmate population. A guard has told authorities in the Department of Corrections that there is probably a link between the two. So they need someone who isn't a policeman or sheriff from California to go undercover and find out what's going on.
Burke ultimately accepts the mission, although he is initially skeptical about his liaison being a woman, and an inexperienced law school grad at that. That would be Amanda Beckett (Cynthia Gibb, of Jack's Back), assistant to Corrections head honcho Tom Vogler (George Dickerson, Death Wish 4 and Blue Velvet), and she'll be playing the role of Burke's wife during the investigation. As soon as Burke arrives at the prison, he immediately makes enemies with a Latino gangster (Paulo Tocha) and the warden himself, Sergeant LeGraf (Cobra's Art LaFleur, who passed away last month). However, Burke's refusal to accept the unwritten segregation rules of the American penal system eventually win him the respect of Hawkins (Benson himself, Robert Guillaume). With the help of his cellmate; Hawkins; and the prison kingpin, Priest (Abdul Salaam El Razzac, of Terminator 2: Judgment Day), Burke starts looking into the most recent murder. What he'll discover that there is not only a far-reaching conspiracy afoot, but that his own name is next on the list. I guess it doesn't pay to be healthy and drug-free in prison, does it?
I'm going to guess that this is the first Hollywood martial arts film--or action thriller with an established screen fighter--to be set almost entirely in a prison. There would be others down the road, like one of the Bloodfist movies and the Undisputed sequels. Even Van Damme would revisit that sub-genre over a decade later with In Hell (which I liked). This is interesting because it could have become an early contender in the "prison fighting circuit" sub-sub-genre, but writer David Goyer has other plans. The story functions more as a mystery, with Burke questioning the inmates and sneaking around the prison (at his own peril) in order to discover what exactly is happening. He throws in an extra element of suspense when the big house receives a suitably bigger-than-life transfer: the Sandman himself. I guess five shots to the torso is simply not enough to kill a psycho killer of that magnitude.
The acting is solid, if nothing remarkable. Van Damme plays his role fairly low key, only going into his usual hysterics at the finale when he throws down with the Sandman. There is one moment where the film descends into "straight-up cheesy" territory when Van Damme flexes his biceps and screams during the final fight. Otherwise, he plays the role straight. He also receives ample support from the rest of the cast, most of whom are strong character actors. Robert Guillaume plays a sympathetic inmate and his world-weary attitude helps give the film its heart. The only real obnoxious character is the teenage computer hacker, who is the embodiment of every Hollywood computer geek stereotype: unattractive, no social graces when it comes to the opposite sex, and is a Trekkie to boot!
Hollywood stuntman legend Jeff Imada gets credit for the action sequences. There are not many of those: Van Damme has a quick dust-up with Paulo Tocha in the mess hall, a second show-down with him and the legendary Al Leong in the laundry room, and then the big finale. Van Damme gets to show off his spin kicks and jumping spin kicks during those first two fights. The finale is more brutality than martial arts, as Van Damme and Kilpatrick just wail on each other until one is able to get the advantage. They also use a furnace and a wrench to their respective advantage, too. There are a few flying side kicks at the end of their scuffle, though. The choreography is typical 90s Van Damme: guy 1 punches and guy 2 takes it, guy 2 punches and guy 1 takes it, etc. Leong shows off some nice moves and I wish more had been done with his character.
Van Damme would follow this up with Lionheart, which had Van Damme back to "business as usual" in terms of MA movie plotting. But the writing here is strong enough. Coupled with some assured direction (courtesy of TV veteran Deran Sarafian) and strong photography, Death Warrant represents an interesting attempt for Van Damme to do something slightly different as his star was taking off.
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