Darkness of Man

I know JCVD isn't exactly young anymore and i am not expecting a full blown action movie, but somehow he manage to often book himself in roles where he is meant to appear discouraged with life, depressed and bored. His best roles in his second half of his career in my opinion are the likes of Welcome to the Jungle and Enemies Closer. Movies where he plays a full of energy over the top excentric character. The depress schtick has really gotten old for me.

Now if this was the movie only low point, but its actually one of the lesser problem. This script is dull... and barely has any action. A few sluggish boring hand to hand fights, altough one ill admit use an original perspective but it looks like its made to cover up for Van Damme lack of mobibility. Then a few very uninspired and boring gun fights.

Most of the movie's tough is Van Damme monologing, drinking, and i was just so bored. I litterally watched the movie in 3 shots. I watched 40 minutes and took a break to play some online games as i was too bored, then i came back and watched another 30-40 minutes, and when i realize it would basically be more of the same til the end i just turn it off and watch the remaining part a day later.

This movie looks basically like one of those scripts in the 2010s that Nicolas Cage would say yes just because he needed the money. The kind of script that was stockpile in the "bottom DTV" pile and that just needed a recognized lead to somehow draw a few fans to it. But no... JCVD actually co-wrote it, so he really wanted to make it.

In term of esthetic the movie does not look bad or "fake" but for the minimal action there is in, i think most of the budget got into the actors and cameos.

For some reasons you have Shannen Doherty and Cynthia Rothrock showing up in some of the most pointless cameos ever, and apparently Eric Roberts was in it, but i didn't even noticed him. Kristanna Loken wich still look fantastic plays his love interest and she's actually in the movie for a decent lengh, but the character's highlight remain an underwear scene...

Its true that we will always associate Van Damme with action and spinkicks, but there is ways to make movies in an older age and remain interesting without a need for big crazy action scenes. Sylvester Stallone did it brilliantly in Tulsa King and to an extent Arnold also made something fun and with decent action in Fubar. They are older than Van Damme as well.

Honestly for me this movie was like some of the last Steven Seagal movies he made before retiring (or being forced to maybe). A recycled predictable script, rather boring, and not even really entertaining as a disposable movie.

I will be generous and give it a 4 out of 10 because the movie was "competent" in some aspects, but its definately below average. Even for 1$ i wouldn't buy it on DVD to put it beside my other Van Damme movies. Its in the same category as other slugfests he did (We Die Young, Lukas and a few more...) that i would never watch again.

I wonder what all the negative voices expected. The film has a good atmosphere, it doesn't look cheap and Van-Damme shows again that he can act. The rest of the cast acts solidly and there is no disruptive factor. The action scenes are also impressive and are staged subtly but crisply. A particular highlight is a fight scene from the perspective of a van. Very creative and the force is literally noticeable. The days of helicopter kicks and splits are over. And somehow I'm even happy about it. Van-Damme is 63 and his roles should also be tailored to his age. For me, it's the perfect midnight film because of its neo-noir atmosphere.

(2024) Darkness of Man ACTION THRILLER DRAMA

Co-written and directed by James Cullen Bressack that has cop and narrator, Russell Hatch (Jean-Claude Van Damme also credited as co-story) recalling an incident that happened two years earlier remembering how he failed to protect his love interest, Sue Min Kim aka Esther Martin (Chika Kanamoto) to which when two attackers broke into her apartment, she tried to call him while she manage to lock herself inside in her bathroom, it was at that point he was in the middle of a gun battle himself and was shot on the shoulder before he was able to answer his phone. But before she was murdered one of the last requests after handing him a worthy tip was to look after her 13 year old son, Jayden (Emerson Min). The movie then jumps 2 year later and Russell is now drinking more and living in a two bit sleazy motel, he basically acts like his guardian/ godfather to Jayden which the only interaction he has with him is to be his personal driver to and from school. Jayden is now being looked after by his grandfather, Mr. Kim (Ji Yong Lee) who owns a small convenience store, Russell sometimes does food deliveries for him while his actual, adult and only son, Dae Hyun (Peter Jae) happens to be a leader of his own Korean gang mixing himself and clashing with Russian mobsters led by Lazar (Andrey Ivchenko).

Although, the overall experience is watchable I was able to predict the course of events, with the action scenes was bad as the last few Van Damme movies. What can also make this a little watchable are some of the guest appearances such as actress Kristanna Loken who was synonymous from playing the killing machine from Terminator 3 she was also credited as co-executive producer she plays Russell's new girlfriend and animal veterinarian; Shannon Doherty that was said to be her last film appearance, she has a small scene as the school instructor, Vivian; and martial arts kick boxer, Cynthia Rothrock playing as the nurse from the hospital. I had no idea MMA fighter, Nate Diaz is dipping his foot into acting- when I saw him, I recognized him in the back of my mind, but as soon as I looked at the credits his name came up. I also have a problem with the fact, as soon as Russell takes down Lazar's right hand man, Alexei (Zack Ward) he does not even grab the money, it may have been better tactic for him to use to draw his boss out as opposed to posing as another one of his goons.

And to those who presumed the movie was over when the credits were running afterward, of Jean Claude Van Damme as Russell while Jayden (Emerson Min) was eating an ice cream, until actress Kristanna Loken who plays JCVD's new girlfriend, Claire came inside the diner to join them. She would then help herself with his ice cream before Van Damme joined them and ate some as well.

International police Russell Hatch (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is almost killed during a raid. Masked gunmen attack his confidential informant and faked her suicide. He promised to care for her son Jayden. It's two years later in L. A. Jayden is caught up in a Korean gang and Russell intervenes.

This is a crime drama B-movie trying to inject some neo-noir style. JCVD has been around for forty years and his acting has barely improved. This has a lot of narration from him and his accent is still the same. The filmmaking is mostly uninspired and the story is blandly derivative. There is one action scene where they try to make it interesting. The camera is stationed inside a van as the fight goes around the van outside. It would have been nice to have it a long uncut scene. JCVD is an older gentleman now and that may be asking too much from him.

First off, if you are going into this film expecting your normal JCVD action film with high flying kicks and straight up action then stop right now because you will be disappointed, but that doesn't mean that the film wasn't enjoyable. Darkness of Man may not be a straight up action vehicle that Van Damme has released before but this film does offer entertainment and I enjoyed Van Damme a lot in this film, but the real Suprise for me was Spencer Breslin (Santa Clause, The Kid, Cat in the hat, Zoom) as his character was definitely not what I was expecting, their are also a slew of cameos, like 90210's Shannon Doughtery who had a small part in the film, legendary actor Eric Roberts actually had a blink of an eye cameo in the film and then martial arts dragon Queen Cynthia Rothrock as a Nurse in the film. The tone of this film gave a noir film feeling with a little gritty tone, the acting was good, the story was good and overall Darkness of man was a entertaining and great film. You can definitely tell that JC has more focus on acting now then anything and it shows ..