Review of Sudden Death (1995) by Fred T — 01 Dec 2009

Peter Hyams and Jean-Claude Van Damme team up again, after the inferior Timecop, to deliver a 'Die Hard' modeled action film.

The stories are very similar; Van Damme, a man with a very useful skill set and an ability to kill efficiently, finds himself in a hostage situation... a hostage situation which only he can resolve. The villains are led by a despicable, but enigmatic leader (played with considerable aplomb by Powers Boothe) motivated solely by money, and, of course, he quickly ascertains that Van Damme is a threat and threatens his loved ones, who are, naturally, in the immediate vicinity. Formulaic perhaps?

However 'Sudden Death' has some nice original touches. The stadium setting, with the ice hockey game acting as a count-down to the conclusion, offering a large crowd for Boothe to murder and Van Damme's profession as a fireman; acting as a useful explanation for his knowledge of structure and explosives, as well as his physical fitness.

There are some particularly corny moments 'Die Hard' lacked; Van Damme's cracked relationship with his son and its resolution as he takes to the ice-hockey pitch, proves particularly painful to watch.

Luckily this is counterbalanced with some good solid-action. The choreography is pretty sound. Gun's run out of ammunition. There are weighty old-fashioned explosions, no light CGI here, plenty of model shots full of pyrotechnics. Van Damme swings on rope through glass. Helicopters burst into flame. Van Damme uses a lamb bone as you'd never imagined. Cars blow up. Van Damme kills a lot of people. Bad people, who we want dead... You get the picture.

Though it failed to perform at the U.S box-office, not recouping its $35 million (supposed) budget, 'Sudden Death' is far more entertaining than most action blockbusters. I'm not saying it has any value aside from mindless entertainment and I'm not putting it in the 'Die Hard' action league, but it does what it does pretty well, with excellent production values and an enigmatic star.