Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering one of two films this month, both of which star Jean-Claude Van Damme. And this first came out in 1990. That movie is "Death Warrant".
Now the reason why I say that I'm covering two films with Van Damme in them is because I found a DVD combo pack that has two of his films together, and I found it for pretty cheap, so why the hell not? And also, I don't believe I've covered any other film with Mr. Van Damme in it since I reviewed "Bloodsport", which was a long time ago. I believe it might've been either my 4th or 5th episode back then. Not totally sure which to be exact. But yeah, I figured that if I gave Chuck Norris two chances for this series, I don't see why I can't give Van Damme here some spotlight also.
Now I'd love to tell you guys everything I know about this movie, but unfortunately, I don't really know much. I know it stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, and from what little I skimmed on the back here, it mentions something about him posing as a prisoner in order to investigate some killings that have been going on inside the prison. Which could be interesting, although considering that Van Damme is flying solo here, it could go either way. I'm saying this mainly because I've only seen two films starring the guy. One of which is "Bloodsport", which I really enjoyed. The other film was "Double Team", and that film really sucked. So I'm not expecting anything amazing here.
Still though, I am curious to see if this movie is actually any good. I'm not totally sure if it will be, but it does have a chance here. So the only way I'm gonna know if this movie is any good at all is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Death Warrant".
5 minutes later
Wait, so this Sandman guy says to Van Damme that he can't kill him. Van Damme shoots him four times and Sandman crumples to the ground, presumably already dead. And then Van Damme finishes it off by saying that he's "under arrest". Um...I think he's already dead, dude. Unless he's wearing some kind of body armor, then I don't think arresting him is gonna do much for you in the end. Just saying.
9 minutes later
OK, I have a dumb question here that's probably not gonna get answered, but I still want to ask this. So, as I mentioned earlier, Burke is being sent to this prison to pose as a prisoner and get information about what the hell's been going on there. Isn't it possible some of the people running the prison might recognize Burke and the position that he's been handed to? I'm only asking because it's possible that if anyone of them recognizes him, then they could use that information to send someone to kill him and cover it up as a prisoner's own doing and leaving the officials clean as a whistle. I'm just saying that you gotta know the risks of what you're getting yourself into is all.
10 minutes later
OK, so Burke had just finished talking with Beckett in the visitor's room, and he says to her that he needs cash to do stuff inside the prison, even though she tells him it's illegal to do a thing like that during visits. And as he's leaving, there's a security camera watching the whole thing. Wouldn't they be able to pick up what they were talking about through the security camera's footage? I'm just saying that maybe it wouldn't be the best idea to talk about it, even if you are trying to be secretive about it. But maybe that's just me.
8 minutes later
So the priest here actually has a decent-looking cell. Granted, I could ask where the hell all these women came from, unless they are also in prison too for whatever reasoning. Which that raises a whole mountain of questions in itself, but you know what? I'm not going to question it because I feel I won't get the answers if even I did attempt to ask them.
16 minutes later
So, even though Burke now knows there's someone from outside the prison who's out to kill him, he still couldn't stop two people in time from killing his cellmate. I would've thought he might have a plan to trap his two assassins, but no, he instead gets his friend killed by them, even if it was by accident. So...great job, Burke, I'm sure your prison mate is happy to know that he's dead. But yeah, that scene was a little bit stupid.
4 minutes later
O...K, well, the guy that Burke was secretly talking to is also dead. And holy shit, that actually was pretty hardcore. Incredibly fucked up, mind you, but still, that was definitely a brutal way to die.
6 minutes later
All right, well, I guess was wrong into thinking that Sandman was dead from way early on. I guess, maybe, he *was* wearing some type of body armor that I wasn't made aware of. I'm curious to know what the hell he's been doing for the last 16 months since he was shot "dead" by Burke. I'm hoping, maybe, the film will explain that bit at some point before it ends.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Death Warrant". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, where to begin with this one? Well, I will say that, despite me sorta nitpicking this movie to pieces, I actually did rather enjoy this one. Mind you, it's not a film that's going to set the world on fire, but it is pretty much what you would come to expect when it comes to an action thriller starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Let's start this review off here by first talking about the writing. Now, a couple of years ago, I reviewed a movie that had a similar setting like this one did. The movie was called "Lock Up", in which Sylvester Stallone was in prison and had to deal with corrupt guards and certain prison inmates that are secretly working together. This movie is almost similar to that, with the only difference in it's plot. With "Lock Up", Sylvester Stallone was transferred over to the prison by the warden, who personally despises him and wants to see him fight back so that he can keep him in prison forever before Stallone got out. In this film, Van Damme is sent there as an undercover prisoner to find out the secret behind all the murders that have been going on at the prison while also dealing with the same thing Stallone did in "Lock Up". At least, on the surface anyway. You find out later that someone on the outside is intentionally trying to keep Burke, Van Damme's character, in prison. I won't say who exactly, but let's just say that it's not a real big surprise.
So, premise wise, the films are almost identical in that regard. However, in terms of characters, that's where we start to get another big difference. See, whenever you're watching an action film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, 9 times out of 10, you're not going to get a character piece out of him whatsoever. The closest you might get that is in "Bloodsport", where he was trying to win the Kumite in honor of his teacher. But even that's kinda stretching it since he doesn't go through a whole lot of changes there. This movie, in terms of character development, has almost nothing going for him. The only thing you know about Burke is that he's a cop who's trying to figure out, not only the killings of inside the prison, but also how and why his partner was killed at the beginning of the movie. You know who it is, since this movie is not trying to be subtle about it, but still, beyond his motivations, you get absolutely nothing in terms of character development. You're here to watch Van Damme kick tons of ass and also get out of prison in the end.
As for the other characters that are present here, you got Beckett, who's the chick who's been assigned to work with Burke to try and get information about the killings while he's in prison. She really doesn't have much of a character to her, and considering that she's the only female lead in this movie, there's a big chance that she and Burke will hook up in the end, which they obviously do. You have our villain, Sandman, who's barely in the movie at all, and he's evil because, well, he's evil. There's not much of a reason why he is. He's just out of his fucking mind. You also don't learn about anything about what happened between the 16 months after he was supposedly "killed". I think they mentioned a little after the prologue that he was already in another prison while before and after Burke gets infiltrated inside the prison to investigate. But I'm not sure if that's truly the case or not.
The only two other characters I can mention real quick are Hawkins and Priest. Which, neither one of them have much development either. You learn that Hawkins has a glass eye, which is clearly visible, and he says that he's in prison for murder. And as for Priest...well, I really can't tell you much about him other than that he has a decent-looking cell that apparently none of the guards know about. Also, he has women joining him in his cell. So either they're prisoners as well and they're the only ones that exist in the prison, or there actually is a prison for women somewhere that the movie never makes aware of and they just want you to kinda roll along with it. I'm guessing it's a little bit of both, since it's neither really important to the overall story. Well, except for one who gets offed by the assassins, though I won't say who here.
But overall, guys, the story here, while ultimately nothing special, is still sorta decent for what it is. It might not make a whole lot of sense at times, but what is here is still fine for what they had to work with. Now as for the acting, most of it is actually pretty good with the one lone exception being Jean-Claude Van Damme. His acting is horrible here. Which probably isn't too surprising considering the man has limited acting skills to begin with, but it's very clear in this movie that he didn't really have very much to work with in terms of acting. And just to compare with somebody like Sylvester Stallone from earlier, Stallone might have a bit of a deep voice at times, but with him, he can pull off a decent range of acting skills thanks to movies like the Rambo series and even "Lock Up". But with Van Damme, he doesn't have that sort of luxury. And unlike his performances in "Street Fighter" and "Bloodsport", where he had more material to work with, this one doesn't give him much to do and he sounds completely flat in almost all of his delivery, save for one time however when he has to yell and it sounded unintentionally hilarious. Aside from that, however, his acting here is terrible. But thankfully, most of the other cast is able to carry the movie even though he's suppose to be the star of it. So it's just something you have to take for what it's worth when it comes to Van Damme in this movie.
There really isn't a whole lot here in terms of special effects. There are some practical effects, which look decent. There's also quite a bit of pyrotechnics and fire going in this movie, and it is easily the best part of the special effects. It isn't saying much, and it's certainly not on the level of Michael Bay for better or worse, but at least it's still pretty good here. Our sets and costuming is also pretty good, too, as most of the costuming comes from the prisoner outfits or even the guard uniforms. Again, it might not be saying very much, but at least it's still good enough considering the setting and all.
Camerawork here is pretty good. Lighting here is lit very well. Sound-mixing here is good. The music here is completely forgettable. I don't remember a single piece of music that was memorable in any way, but what is here is still competent enough all things considered.
So, with all that being said, guys, when it comes down to it, am I able to recommend "Death Warrant"? If you're a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme and you want to see every movie that he's ever been in, then sure, I could probably say this is worth checking out, if at least just once. If you're someone who's into these sorts of movies where there's a prison setting and you're a fan of movies like "Lock Up", then sure, I could probably recommend it on that end as well. Just don't expect anything amazing here, as the plot is ultimately nothing special. As for me, well, I still did enjoy it, despite its flaws. And I still have the other movie on this 2 pack that I'll cover later this month and see if it's just as decent as this movie was. But in the meantime, I'm gonna go and watch another movie with Van Damme in it. I'm gonna go and watch "Bloodsport" again because I really enjoy that film a lot. So I'm gonna go and do that next once I get done with this review.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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