Runtime: 93 minutes
Directed by: Tsui Hark
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dennis Rodman, Mickey Rourke, Paul Freeman, Natacha Lindinger
From: Columbia
It felt like the time to have a silly Friday night, and this certainly was silly. It’s also been awhile since experiencing any Van Damme. As this will be leaving Prime at the end of the year, no better time to see the first Tsui Hark film in English. As others have noted before, JCVD deserves credit for working w/ the likes of Hark, Woo, and Ringo Lam, not to mention some interesting American directors. I don’t know if anyone deserves credit for casting Dennis Rodman in a movie but at least he wasn’t terrible.
The film… what a gigantic mess. The original script was called The Colony; by the time filming completed, Double Team was quite different. To be frank, the Colony elements that were shown in the film were my least-favorite aspect, or at least the least-entertaining. Van Damme plays a “counter-terror agent” who goes after terrorist Mickey Rourke. It goes awry, Jean-Claude ends up in the Colony (long story that’s honestly not worth elaborating on; those that have seen the 60’s show The Prisoner will find it awfully familiar) before escaping and looking for revenge, w/ the aid of arms dealer Rodman.
The plot borders on incoherent at times; in general, it’s the wacky, inexplicable moments that kept me invested. Rodman’s scenes revolve around references to basketball, even though his character Yaz has nothing to do w/ the sport. The scenes set at the Belgian amusement park at least were different. Some moments were hysterical rather than the “inspiring” the filmmakers presumed said moments to be. It was noticeable that Coca-Cola engaged in product placement.
If there’s any Rodman fans reading this, don’t expect to see much of him until the back half of the picture. All I’ll say about him as a person is that he’s rather, well, “complicated”. His hair and outfit game at least were on-point. Both changed frequently. The action setpieces tended to be fun, at times as wacky as you’d want from a Hong Kong director. They were also credible, featuring the contributions of both Sammo Hung & Remy Julienne. The scene “heavily inspired” by Hard Boiled, on the other hand… talk about writing a check your body can’t cash.
As stated several times in 2024, the practical effects are appreciated in this modern time; they looked stellar compared to the dreadful late 90’s CG. That doesn’t excuse how absurd the finale here was, admittedly… to its credit, they filmed in several European locations, which offered some local flavor. The interesting musical score added a flavor of its own. As flawed as this movie is, at least Double Team and its many idiosyncratic moments I haven’t spoiled is preferable to too many modern Hollywood genre examples. Plus, the movie broke even more glass than Another 48 Hrs., which is quite the triumph.
In the future I’ll review Knock Off, another Van Damme-Hark collaboration said to be even more off-the-wall.
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