Review of The Shepherd: Border Patrol (2008) by Patrick E — 09 Jun 2010

Jean Claude Van-Damme was one of the biggest action stars of the early 90â??s, starring in entertaining action films such as Universal Soldier and Hard Target, but somewhere down the line it all went wrong. He was been stuck in direct to DVD hell for the last ten years with The Shepherd: Border Patrol his latest effort to escape. Sadly, if he continues to star in films as exciting as this snore fest we may never see him on the big screen again. The so-called plot consists of JCVD transferring from the New Orleans Police Homicide Division to the US Border Patrol where he must take down a group of ex-Navy Seals who are trafficking drugs across the border from Mexico.

Straight from the start the plot makes little to no sense, we jump from scene to scene with little explanation as to why. This is usually forgivable when it comes to a JCVD film when all the viewer expects is some good action and martial arts sequences, but surprisingly The Shepherd is sorely lacking in both. Director Isaac Florentine gave us arguably the best western martial arts film of the decade with last years Undisputed 2, so how he managed to mess this film up so much is anybodies guess. Rumours suggest that JCVD had far too much creative control over the films fight scenes, which were heavily cut down from their original scripted lengths. Florentine has stated that the final cut of the film is not the one he intended to release so maybe he can be forgiven for this turkey. JCVD, however, cannot, especially considering it seems as though he was the leading creative influence on the films action sequences. To have a martial arts actor with the ability of Scott Adkins at your disposal and to cut the showdown fight down to a mere 3 minutes is unforgivable for a film of this type. Amazingly Adkins was not even cast as the films main villain, instead we are treated to a bland run of mill villain in Stephen Lords Benjamin Mills, who was about as imposing a presence as Barney the Dinosaur.

The film does have some redeeming features, one stand out scene being a fight in a diner near the start of the film and Scott Adkins does get a couple of scenes to show us what he is capable of. Sadly this just makes us think what the film could have been if Florentine had got his way. JCVD needs to trust his director more and not try impose his â??creativityâ??, so much otherwise he may never grace the big screen again. At 47 years old, itâ??s looking less and less likely he ever will.

4/10.