Review of Sudden Death (1995) by Stuart K — 23 Apr 2012
Directed by Peter Hyams, (Capricorn One (1977), Outland (1981) and 2010 (1984)), this is a very silly action thriller made around the time it's star was once a bankable name, and before he slipped into straight to video hell.
It has it's moments, and it has it's moments of unintentional comic moments, or maybe they are intentional, you just don't know with this film. Darren McCord (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a fire marshall for the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, once a fireman but he suffered a personal crisis after being unable to save a little girl during a house fire.
It's a big night at the arena, as it's the Ice Hockey finals between the Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks, and U.S. Vice President Daniel Binder (Raymond J.
Barry) is in attendance. However things go wrong when the Vice President and his entourage are taken hostage by former government Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe), and he's had the arena packed with explosives which are primed to blow up unless the Vice President wires millions of dollars into a secret account.
Guess who gets wind of his evil scheme, and becomes action hero to help out?? :P It's a very silly action film, it started out as an action spoof, but it went serious when Van Damme came involved, big mistake.
It's impossible to take Van Damme seriously, but it does make for a cheesy, entertaining film while it lasts, but it's a shame you don't get action films like this now.
This review of Sudden Death (1995) was written by Stuart K on 23 Apr 2012.
Sudden Death has generally received mixed reviews.
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