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Frank Senger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jean-Hugues Anglade

When a kickboxing police inspector is murdered, his kickboxing twin brother infiltrates the Russian mob in order to see justice meted out--as painfully as possible. A slimmed-down Jean-Claude Van Damm...( read more  read more... )e is surprisingly effective as the lead(s), but the real star here is gritty Hong Kong director Ringo Lam (probably best known for City on Fire, the film that inspired Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs), who makes a lethal American debut with this hard-edged, convoluted film, which uses the identical-sibling gimmick to considerably darker effect than the goofball Double Impact. Some incredible stunt work and a terrifically ruthless final reel make this underrated action film a winner, although fans of Species may be somewhat disappointed that costar Natasha Henstridge never fully displays the assets that made her famous. --Andrew Wright

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40% liked it

9,415 ratings

R, 101 min.

Directed by: Ringo Lam

Release Date: September 13, 1996

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DVD Release Date: October 30, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (264)

  • phubbs1
    July 18, 2009
    phubbs1
    Typical Van Damme plot line envolving murder and revenge but in the hands of Lam its is just about ok. There are some really nice action sequences here that really look good and slick involving cars and leaping about in front of trains hehe the stunts make the film really as the ...( read more)cast are kinda lame in their acting.
    Better than the usual stuff Van Damme produces these days and probably one of his last good films.
  • cartersimo
    January 8, 2007
    cartersimo
    another Van Damme movie some good fight scenes but acting not so hot except for Natasha.
  • TheSuccessfulHobo
    March 31, 2006
    TheSuccessfulHobo
    Twice the kickboxing!
  • cancercapricorn2002
    July 10, 2009
    cancercapricorn2002
    Alain Moreau is a cop in France who cannot believe his eyes when a murder victim is the spitting image of him. He confronts his mother and learns that she had had twins but had to give one of them up. Wanting to solve the murder of his estranged twin, Alain follows a trail that l...( read more)eads him to a New York that is cold and full of snow and finds himself sucked into his brother's world where he finds himself with his brother's beautiful girlfriend all over him. However Alain also inherits his brother's problems some of which include Russian gangsters who want to kill him.

    This film wastes no time in getting the plot established and flying Alain into his first fight as quickly as possible and I can understand why this was the case. The plot is thin to say the least and it is best not to apply too much logic to any of it because the whole thing is an excuse for Van Damme to just do the things in this film that he does in all his films. This includes speaking in a strange accent, being naked with a beautiful female co-star and kicking people in lots of exciting ways. All these boxes are ticked here and as such it does what you would expect from a Van Damme film and it will depend on the individual viewer whether or not that gets you interested or sees you running the opposite direction. For me it is somewhere in the middle because I accept the bad and in return veg out in front of a dumb action movie. The plot gets no better and every time it needs to add story to create more action you can almost see it straining with the effort.

    The action is mostly pretty good although it was a bit disappointing to see how Ringo Lam had toned down the style for his first American film; only here and there did the film get close to the mayhem in the action that he is known for. Van Damme is quite good though, for course he is a clunky actor and here he seems to have had his charisma filtered out but in the action sequences he is a marvel ? very athletic and impressive and his physical presence helps a lot. Henstridge takes care of the "co-star who will get her tits out" requirement of the film but other than that she could have been anyone. The Wire's Ben Victor is so-so and yet I found it ironic that he had his last big scene in a cooler full of dead pigs because he had spent so much of the rest of the film surrounded by big hams too ? Grenier in particular comes to mind.

    Overall then this is a solid Van Damme film with all the plusses and minuses that one would expect. The plot is poor and the acting leaves a lot to desire but the action is fun even if I was hoping for more from Lam.
  • WORNGBIT
    June 20, 2009
    WORNGBIT
    good movie to see 10 out of 10
  • Joecuffaro
    June 14, 2009
    Joecuffaro
    an average van damme outing, not a bad plot considering some of his past films and the action is as you would expect. Worth a watch for some brainless action fun
  • SNOWMAN145
    January 27, 2009
    SNOWMAN145
    NATASHA HENSTRIDGE MADE IT WORTH WATCHING. HE'S GOT TOO MANY DOUBLE ROLES OUT. ENOUGHS ENOUGH.
  • MochaLissa
    January 8, 2009
    MochaLissa
    It has an interesting plot...there is more to this movie than meets the eye, but there could be more...either way I still liked it.
  • jrmyblk
    October 8, 2008
    jrmyblk
    put it on here to watch
  • Wedgy1975
    September 17, 2008
    Wedgy1975
    Plot 2
    Production 3
    Entertainment 3
    Characters 2
    Originality 2

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  • in what movie does jean claude van damme appear with natasha henstridge   Answer »
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