adonis98-743-186503 After his wife is brutally murdered, an ex-cop wages war against the Chinese triads. Wake of Death is one of my favorite Van Damme films alongside Until Death that came out 3 years after this movie and those 2 films showed that Jean Claude Van Damme can act because he gave a pretty good performance in here plus the film had some pretty good dramatic parts delivered by Van Damme and the rest of the cast gave some pretty good and solid performances, of course the action is non stop hardcore and thrilling and the Mall chase scene with the motorcycles was actually handled really well done. Also the movie has a pretty great soundtrack and the main theme was a mix of drama and western so i liked that as well. Overall Wake of Death (2004) is a great action film and for a straight to DVD movie it does have some pretty quality, acting and fight scenes and even if you're not a big fan of JCVD i think you are going to enjoy the hell out of this film.

Dark Jedi When I sat down to watch this movie last evening I expected a fairly ordinary direct-to-video (actually it was released to cinema in France) action movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme that would, at best, be somewhat entertaining. Well I was wrong. After having watched the movie I had to say: Wow that was a good movie! Now the threshold for that wow was of course a bit lower than usual since I was not expecting that much from the movie but still, this is a surprisingly good movie.Sure it has its silly moves and plot holes like most movies of this kind but it is miles away from the usual brain-dead run-of-the-mill action movie.First of all, Jean-Claude Van Dame makes a quite decent, even good, performance. Personally I am not much for these sentimental cry-scenes but Jean-Claude manages to make these parts well and at the same time he is brutally cool when he is out seeking his revenge.The action in the movie is also very enjoyable whether it is car chases, motorcycle chases or martial art displays. When it comes to the latter Jean-Claude proves that he is still good at making these scenes unlike for instance Steven Seagal who mostly stands in one spot waving his hands while trying to hide his beer belly. At times the movie is quite cruel. There is a torture scene which is really good without being unnecessarily graphic. Speaking of graphics, the entire movie is well shot. The cinematography is simply very good. I would even say that for this kind of movie it is great. At times this is a very dark movie and those parts of the movie are really the best.For me this was a very positive surprise and I found this movie very well worth watching

Michel Linschoten First of all I've been reading the bad comments to. Peeps, don't even bother to read those the contain so many typos, that it does not take a genius to figure out its been written by complete children. That have no taste for cinema or what so ever.Jean Claude, not my favorite why? Very simple, because call me a old movie lover. His best still for me was Bloodsport. The rest of his "euvre" was just popcorn entertaining. You don't watch a jean Claude movie for the great plots, or amazing acting. But for the fun of it, This movie however, stunned me pretty much.It showed, that Jean was capable of real acting. When he morns over his wife's death. One of the best pieces of acting I've seen a actor do in a long longtime. I think Gladiator, Russel crow did it amazing, but in this movie. The music is from Kruder and Dorfmeister. Plus points to because i LOVE that music. And so i recognized it at the first tone.Anyways in this movie, Jean shows for once that he is HUMAN. And not a guy that kicks 30 mens asses in the movie. To get to the big cheese and kick his ass to..the end.I think most people who see this movie. Will be surprised in a good way. If Jean did this acting 10years ago he would be a very respected actor by now! 8 points.The story OK given, no need to be a genius. But the acting, who ever says "crappy acting". Did not see much of Jean Claude, older movies, and properly never seen a good actor on the white screen at all. OK given its still not like a Brad Pit, or Edward Norton, or Robert De Niro, or Al Pacino.But Jean...good work and certainly a worthy DVD in my *big* collection!

ma-cortes The movie begins when a Chinese little girl witnesses the killing her mother by her gangster father named Sun Quan(Simon Yam) and she flees to Los Angels aboard a ship with other abducted immigrants. An ex-gangster named Ben(Jean Claude Van Damme) is ready to retire himself; his wife(Lisa King)is a social worker, taking the refugee little girl to their house. Then, she 's cruelly killed and his son along with the Chinese girl are kidnapped. Our revenger hero wages war against the criminals .The sad Van Damme must rescue the kids and revenge his spouse, meanwhile he's attacked and pursued from all sides by Chinese triads, being only helped by a French gangster's trio.This film direct to video-rentals, displays action-packed, extreme violence, pursuit cars, thrills and is quite entertaining. It's thrilling and tense , at time suspenseful movie and the firepower, explosion, struggles, motorbikes races are very well done. Suffering Van Damme plays finely an affected gangster, acting similarly to 'Hard cops'. Van Damme confronting nasties, using his martial-arts skills, furthermore some chase cars are pretty exciting. Remaining cast though unknown make nice acting, besides appears uncredited Burt Kwouk ,the famous Chinese fighter against Inspector Clouseau-Peter Sellers. This interesting film results to be a standard actioner, but packs atmospheric action set pieces and is fast movement . The motion picture is well produced, though with middling budget, and directed by Philippe Martinez. He's a prestigious producer, such as 'Harsh times, Modigliani, The piano player, Van Wilder 2'. This is the second and best film as director , along with 'Citizen verdict'. The picture is extremely energetic and be liked for true devotees of main actor. It's a must see for Van Damme fans.