Nexus Engel Sheesh... this was not one of Van Damme's better films...David S. Goyer has always been a hit-or-miss from the start, but I still can't believe he wrote this crap for one of his first-ever movie industry projects. I guess you had to start somewhere.Burke is a cop who goes to prison as an undercover inmate to investigate a series of inmate murders. His cover is threatened when one of his old busts is taken to the same jail. Throw Van Damme and a hot supervising officer into the mix, and you should have an undeniably fun action gem chock full of helicopter kicks and Van Damage.But it isn't.So what went wrong?The plot twist was a bit clever. That's probably the best thing I can say about this movie. Van Damme at least has some kind of charm about him in most of his movies--that kind of charm that makes you want to see more of an actor, even if his or her acting is terrible at the time (Schwarzenegger is another good example).One of the most annoying things about this movie was the dialogue. It obviously wasn't Goyer's strong suit back then, because in the opening scene, we find out who Van Damme's character is, where he came from, why he's there, and that he isn't a guy who plays by the rules--in three lines of some of the most forced dialogue I've heard in quite a while. Expository dialogue is everywhere in this movie. They even explain the twist and the motivations behind it.The generic music sucks at setting the right tone, sucks at building suspense, and even sucks at being generic. Van Damme's acting is Oscar-worthy, as usual. Then again, his hilariously poor acting skills are not why I watch Van Damme movies. But the reason I watch his movies wasn't present in this one: he's usually fun to watch. Unfortunately, here, he was a bore.

Sandcooler Let me cut right to the chase here: the only reason to watch this movie is The Sandman. The poor guy barely gets to be in this, but when he gets his moment of glory he totally delivers. The Sandman is one of the most ridiculous villains I've ever seen, and therefor also one of the most entertaining. When he shows up the movie immediately looks better, because up until then there really isn't much going on. Van Damme investigates some mysterious murders in a prison, but it's pretty obvious what's going on so the moment where you're supposed to gasp at who's behind everything doesn't work. Also, while it's a good thing Van Damme is less of an egomaniac than Steven Seagal and actually lets himself get hit once in a while, this movie pushes it too far to the other side. Van Damme takes about a thousand punches throughout this movie and is on the ground for most of the running time, in fact he only wins the end fight (talk about a spoiler!) by dumb luck/opponent. Obviously this makes more sense than a fighting machine taking down dozens of prisoners at a time, but who the hell wants a Van Damme movie to make sense? "Death Warrant" gets a pass because again, The Sandman is great, but it definitely isn't Van Damme's best.

Shawn Watson It seems that Double Impact was the movie that made Van-Damme a star, while the martial arts-based B-movies that preceded it merely built his fame ever-so-gradually. Death Warrant is the odd-one-out in that regard as it is neither a Kickboxing tournament flick nor laughably awful. It seems to be set in some semblance of reality though the story never seems to be quite sure of what it wants to be or where to go.Lewis Burke is a kickboxing Canadian Mountie (there's a sequence of words you never thought you'd read) who, in the opening moments of the film, guns down and kills demented serial killer The Sandman at point blank range with a .357 Magnum. Some time later he is sent undercover in an extremely corrupt prison to find out who has been serial-killing the inmates. Helping him out is Amanda Beckett (Cynthia Gibb, looking exactly like Emma Watson...only prettier) a lawyer who poses as his wife and feeds him information from the outside. Meanwhile, it turns out that The Sandman ain't quite dead (despite being shot many times with a .357 Magnum) and is seeking revenge. There goes Burke's cover.Death Warrant (meaningless title, btw) was the first screenplay by acclaimed writer David S. Goyer (The Invisible, The Dark Knight trilogy) and you can identify his surreal trademark even at this early stage. However, the film builds and develops like a supernatural horror, yet is firmly grounded in the 'prison thriller' genre. The eventual revelation is very weak, and belongs in a totally different movie. If it had the nerve go all the way with the supernatural element it would have been much better. I would rather a movie aim for something higher, and fail, that aim for something low-wattage and dull (which Death Warrant unfortunately does) and 'succeed'. Patrick Kilpatrick (an edgy, nervous actor who you might recognize as Finn in Last Man Standing, or as the mercenary who unwisely challenges Penn's authority in Under Siege 2) is brilliant as the Sandman but he's given little to do. His presence in the movie feels out of place.Deran Sarafian's slick direction makes a lot of use of light, shadow, and creepy cinematography, but with such a schizo script there's only so much he can do with it. A disappointment, but decent entertainment nonetheless.

lost-in-limbo A husky sounding Jean-Claude Van Damme is a typical Canadian mounted maverick cop who goes undercover in a maximum security prison to investigate the random deaths of certain prisoners. Surprisingly "Death Warrant" seemed to focus on Van Damme actually acting than more so on just busting body parts. The sadistic violence (and its good to see Van Damme is only human copping a battering or two) plays second fiddle to the brooding dramatics of this undercover investigation. Still the over-the-top, knuckle cracking sequences were excitingly well-done, especially when Van Damme goes up against his nemesis a maniac performance by Robert Kilpatrick as the dangerous Christian "The Sandman" Taylor. When the two come to blows (after the first being landed by a large spanner), hell erupts. Kilpatrick's character might no have much to do with the central plot, but his rousing inclusion (the atmospheric first encounter in the prison) was a memorable one. Van Damme goes about trying to make friends with the inmates, but instead sticks out like a sore thumb by finding himself in glaring competitions, asking numerous questions, using his mopping skills on unexpected victims and he can't seem to hang around with his own kind. From this he catches the eyes of the prison guards. Art LaFleur stands out as the rock-hard prison Sergeant. Robert Guillaume is good as a grizzled inmate and Cynthia Gibb as an outside contact. Also showing up in smaller parts are George Dickerson, Abdul Salaam El Razzac, Joshua John Miller and Armen Shimerman. The simplistic plot is a routine genre piece, which opens up a can of worms involving a secret conspiracy… although a predictable structural development unfolds with some uncanny acts. While it might be clichéd with its characters, circumstances and anxiety (things not entirely going to plan), director Deran Sarafian's tidy handling crafted some tough suspense and simmering visuals from its sordidly dark and testosterone laced surroundings. Sarafian has gone on to much bigger things. A commendably taut Van Damme action drama vehicle blast."Here no evil, see no evil".