Paul Andrews Inferno starts out in the Californian desert where Eddie Lomax (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is on his way to see his native Indian friend Johnny Six Toes (Danny Trejo) when some local thugs from a nearby town stop & take a fancy to Lomax's motorbike, they beat Lomax up & steal his bike leaving him for dead in the middle of the desert but is saved by his mate Johnny Six Toes who takes him home & nurses him back to health. Lomax is annoyed, not only was he left for dead but they stole his motorbike & he intends to get it back. Lomax travels to the town where his attackers live & soon discovers that no-one likes them & the town would be grateful if Lomax would get rid of them which gives him all the more reason to sort them out...Also known under the title Desrt Heat & originally had the working title Coyote Moon this was directed by John G. Avildsen & is yet another weak JCVD action thriller with an unnecessary comedic side that just feels out of place. The various genres don't sit well with one another & Inferno is yet another loose remake of the classic Japanese film Yojimbo (1961) in which a stranger rides into a small town & plays two criminal gangs off each other in order to wipe them both out & there's even a not so subtle mention of Yojimbo at the end. Here the Lomax character played by JCVD is surrounded by silly eccentric comedy relief character's that just end up annoying & at times feel like they belong in a different film. The action scenes are quite weak with little imagination & as soon as any of that clichéd ancient Native American Indian superstition, mysticism, chanting & nonsense started my eyes just glazed over & I lost all interest. The pace is alright but it's just predictable, a little oddball & there's not enough action here either.I will say that Inferno does look quite nice at times with some striking cinematography of the vast desert & some nice sunset shots but it's hardly worth watching for that. The action is tame with JCVD getting two or three fight scenes with the rest of the action consisting of a few explosions & some standard shoot-outs. The town in the film seems very underpopulated, we only ever see five people yet it has a motel & a diner which manage to stay open despite the obvious lack of customers.The IMDb says this had a budget of about $22,000,000 which i find hard to believe since not that much happens here. Director Avildsen cast his son Jonathan as one of the bad guy's, JCVD doesn't seem that interested while Larry Drake is wasted in a bit part.Inferno has a fairly predictable plot, weak action scenes & awkward comedic moments that just don't work. One of JCVD's worst films from the 90's.

karastjepan Yes, it's a cheesy film, but it's marvelous and mysterious in its own way. Toward the end when Pat Morita is whistling a tune, the melody is THE INTERNATIONALE, anthem of international Communism. No explanation for this is offered, nor does one seem obvious. It's hard to imagine adding much new to the remaking of YOJIMBO with Van Damme in place of Eastwood or Mifune, though motorcycles and exploding fuel tanks can't hurt. Not every action film can match the classics. But this one beats the pants off ROADHOUSE with Patrick Swayze, with a similar landscape. Such is, at least, my own opinion. And it's better than AVENGER with Sam Elliott, who was also in ROADHOUSE. But I digress...

Bogmeister One of the later samples in the Van Damme repertoire of mindless mayhem, this one probably went direct-to-video, which is where Van Damme's career seems to be going, going...gone. Old Jean-Claude had been an action star for 10 years at this point and was in a curiously pathetic position - not as muscular as Ahnuld, not as mean as Seagal, not as seasoned as Willis or Chuck Norris. He was in some odd fading action star zone from which there seems no escape - no way to avert a downward slide. I've heard advice about getting rid of that bump on his forehead - maybe that's a start. Anyway, this flic finds Van D. in the middle of a desert, getting his motorcycle stolen by a trio of yahoo bros who are the sons of the local kingpin (Drake). They leave him for dead - an error, of course, and, with the help of some mystical Indian mumbo-jumbo about a coyote spirit, Van D. gets back on his feet. It's only after this that the knowledgeable film viewer realizes this is a slipshod remake of "Yojimbo"(61), which had already been remade as "A Fistful of Dollars"(64), and, more recently, as "Last Man Standing"(96), starring Bruce Willis. It's that old plot: stranger comes to town and sets the two local gangs against each other. I never really absorbed just who Van D. is supposed to be (a war vet?) and I guess it don't matter. Once one gets past the meaningless sex scene (which is there just to prove what a stud Van D. is) and his kicky fight scenes, you have to admire the audacity of average filmmakers attempting the re-telling of a classic. Even if it's a lame attempt. When I saw this, it was called "Desert Heat."

jiggsmcgretzky I think this was a pretty good movie for Van Damme to make his come back from drugs in. It was the same formula as every single other Van Damme movie, but it was pretty entertaining, and Danny Trejelo (sp.?) was very good as his faithful friend Johnny Six-toes. I've certainly seen worse (the matrix, for example)! It's too bad that Van Damme has gone to straight-to-video movies now, since he is STILL a better action actor than a clown like Matt Damon in the "Bourne Mistake" or whatever! Damon is a puss, a bad actor, and a complete wienie! I had a hard time not LAUGHING at the thought of him as an action figure! Oh well.. I hope Jean-Claude Van Damme starts making better action movies again very soon, and gets one in the theater.