Review of The Hard Corps (2005) by Jason A — 28 Feb 2009

Unless a JCVD movie is REALLY shitty, I give it two stars by default just by virtue of the fact that it's my favorite kickboxing, split-doing belgian- just letting you know that, my reviews may be a little biased.

However, this offering from da man and Sheldon Lettich (writer of Bloodsport, and director of Lionheart, Only the Strong, and Double Impact) is just tired and mediocre. Van Damme is out of place here, and you can sense he's just not comfortable in the role.

I guess this was their attempt @ putting Van Damme in an urban Steven Seagal setting. The problem is, those movies only really work when the lead actor is a sweaty, out-of-shape, dubbed guy from michigan wearing long leather trench-coats to cover up his gut, and with two hundred stunt doubles doing his fighting for him.

It doesn't work for JCVD. The gangster rapper baddie is funny- he's obviously based on Suge Knight and DMX, with all the pit bulls and stuff, but he's not enough to elevate this to "so-bad-it's good," as it is, it's just mostly boring.

Vivica A. Fox does well with her role, but it's not like she's a Glenn Close acting-wise to begin with. There is one stand-out fight scene, between Van Damme and the boxer he's protecting; it comes off as very Lionheart-esque (if I may coin a phrase), but it's not like it's the brightest spot in JCVD's DTV career in years.

Overall, unless you're a Van Damme completist like me (this is the only movie of his I hadn't seen), skip it and rent 'Universal Soldier' or 'Sudden Death' instead.