Review of The Shepherd: Border Patrol (2008) by Jochen W — 15 Sep 2008

Since he started reflecting his own aging process in his work, van damme has created some remarkable movies: from the flashy revenge action of WAKE OF DEATH to the offensive artificiality of SECOND IN COMMAND, from the gritty melodrama of UNTIL DEATH to the self-referentiality of the fabulous JCVD.

THE SHEPHERD is his long-awaited collaboration with dtv messiah isaac florentine, and it delivers. sure, it could have been so much better if the producers hadn't taken the postproduction process out of florentine's hands and given it some crude overtones.

had it lived up to all its potential, this modern western could have been, on par with dolph lundgren's brillant MISSIONARY MAN, an essential work of contemporary dtv art. now it's only a very, very good movie.