El patrullero: Patrulla fronteriza

This is the best direct-to-DVD effort from Van Damme that I have seen yet. Van Damme plays a border patrol agent who is out to stop heroin smugglers trying to cross into the United States. The action in this movie is great and the fight scenes rank with Van Damme's best. Costar Scott Adkins shows why he should be the next big star in the martial arts genre. For further evidence check out "Undisputed 2". Adkins is so good in fact that before I watched "The Shepherd", I thought that Van Damme might not look very believable in defeating him on screen. Van Damme holds his own though and although he isn't quite as athletic as Adkins is, he can still kick with the best of them. All of the fight scenes in this film are very well done and the gun battles are above average for this type of film as well. The only negative thing I can say about this movie is that the story is a little underdeveloped. I think Van Damme's character's motives should have been presented earlier in the movie, especially in regard to why he carries around a rabbit. The reason he does is very cool but you don't find out until the very end. There are a couple of other things that are never really explained either but this is a Van Damme movie so you know where the priority lies in making this kind of movie and it ain't character development. Overall though, this is a solid action movie that I recommend. So run for the Damme border!

Unlike many of his action "contemporaries" (uh, you know who) Van Damme has at least been trying to improve himself as an actor with his direct to video films, while working with better directors. Many have been attempts at something different, like the somewhat surreal "in Hell". This is applaud able, but who really wants a Van Damme movie with little or no action? The Shepherd is a throwback to his 90's films where plot was minimal and fights and other action scenes took centre stage, where everyone knew they were making a pot boiler and had fun doing it. And thank God, because while no biggie plot wise, this movie delivers everything you'd want from a Van Damme movie. Great if happily familiar martial art fights (it even opens in that old action movie stand by, a diner)lots of guns and explosions, and even a torture scene for our boy. It's also well directed, starting with a great sense of humor then turning dead serious when it needs to. The last 15 minutes or so are wall to wall boom boom.

For pure action, for what Van Damme does best, this is absolutely his most entertaining film since he went DTV.

anybody that would come on here and check this page on "the shepherd: border patrol" is no doubt a van damme fan like me.....I have seen all of his movies (i own all of them) and love allot of them. I was so excited the other night when i got the link to "the shepherd" and was hoping for the best.... but unfortunately this one is weak...actually its budge! The action scenes are OK ... van damme does kick a chair at a guy in a restaurant and it looks wicked... but the gun fights are lame and so are the characters... it a very dark film... dark as in no budget for shooting at night kinda dark..lol I was hoping for a DTV movie like "wake of death".. which was frikin wicked for a direct to video..... But don't worry its still better than "second in command".. but how can it not be lol........ ( I have nutting against DTV movies ... (i love cheesy action movies) anyways they should have just called it border patrol.... because that is what the movie is about..(Why is it called "the Shepard?").. plus it sounds much better as a van damme movie title..(he has some hilarious titles) I really tried to find things about this movie that I liked but its below average unfortunately........... the town thats supposed to be some Texas town .. is jokes.. its a ghost town........ most likely in some country across the world.. and van damme might say a total of 50 WORDS in the entire movie........SERIOUSLY!!

And van damme's pet rabbit... and all of the flash back stuff is wack!! so is his partner........ the female boss was o.k what can i say about this movie...... its pretty bad.. it had no budget ( it looks cheap) ......... I thought it was gonna be a wicked movie man was i disappointed........................ I am as big a fan as anyone.

Jean claude van damme, scott adkins and director issac florentine-this had the chance to be better then undisputed 2 but for some reason they just don't get it right. Van damme's fight scenes are nothing more than a couple of front kicks and roundhouses, nothing spectacular-just average. The movie is low budget and the supporting actors aside from scott adkins all need acting classes but I could have looked way beyond that because all I wanted to see was jean-claude doing what he used to do best and MAN! was I let down. Maybe van damme should go to a couple of pilates classes to try and regain some flexability. I think he still has the makings to have a comeback, He just needs to find the right project.

Well it is a good movie. However, you have to admit that Van Dame's movies haven't been so great lately. On the other hand if you are a hardcore van Dame fan you should watch this as there is a huge improvement with fighting scenes. Also What i really liked is the music beautiful music. am sure this will kill time if you are action fan. As for Isaac Florentine the director of Undisputed 2, i don't think he did a good job as he did with Undisputed.I cant wait when one day Van Dame's movies hit the cinemas before the DVD. Maybe, one day:).

In the end it worth the watch if you got no other action movies to watch, this could make your hour and half fun.