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Bloodsport (1988)
As many of you would know, lately, I've become a bit of a Steven Seagal fan. His early work, especially. But I've never seen a Van Damme film. Ever. And my friend is a big Van Damme fan. So I exchanged my Seagal boxset with him for his Van Damme boxset, which contained Bloodsport, Cyborg, Death Warrant and Double Impact. I've only watched Bloodsport so far, and here are my thoughts.
Its bad. And not even the good kind of bad. I'm one of the first to admit that Seagal films aren't flawless masterpieces, but compared to this, it resembles something close to that. For one thing, the acting is rubbish. Van Damme is likeable enough, but he delivers his dialogue like a robot and is nowhere near as convincing as he should be in a role based on a real life person.
The directing and writing seem like a checklist of rehashed '80's cliches. Ridiculously cheesy montage sequences? Check. Thoughtful sequence where the lead character thinks about crap that happened five minutes before? Check. Really bad soundtrack? Check.
I usually like '80's action flicks. And this film has the vibe and look of one, but lacks an interesting storyline and characters who you can give a damn about. A painful experience (and my friend told me this was the best Van Damme film!).
(and that might be a little too generous)
As many of you would know, lately, I've become a bit of a Steven Seagal fan. His early work, especially. But I've never seen a Van Damme film. Ever. And my friend is a big Van Damme fan. So I exchanged my Seagal boxset with him for his Van Damme boxset, which contained Bloodsport, Cyborg, Death Warrant and Double Impact. I've only watched Bloodsport so far, and here are my thoughts.
Its bad. And not even the good kind of bad. I'm one of the first to admit that Seagal films aren't flawless masterpieces, but compared to this, it resembles something close to that. For one thing, the acting is rubbish. Van Damme is likeable enough, but he delivers his dialogue like a robot and is nowhere near as convincing as he should be in a role based on a real life person.
The directing and writing seem like a checklist of rehashed '80's cliches. Ridiculously cheesy montage sequences? Check. Thoughtful sequence where the lead character thinks about crap that happened five minutes before? Check. Really bad soundtrack? Check.
I usually like '80's action flicks. And this film has the vibe and look of one, but lacks an interesting storyline and characters who you can give a damn about. A painful experience (and my friend told me this was the best Van Damme film!).
(and that might be a little too generous)