Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as Ben Archer, a mob enforcer who declares war on the Hong Kong triad(Simon Yam) who murdered his wife. Of course we all know that revenge is a dish best served cold and suffice to say this is clearly what's on the menu here. Jean-Claude Van Damme's last two clunkers Derailed and In Hell were deadly serious and I for one was afraid that this one would fall into the same category as those two movies. However I was impressed with Wake Of Death. This is a well written, well acted and well made film which finds Van Damme in good form. One of the intriguing elements here is that Jean-Claude Van Damme is a not so good guy. For instance Van Damme's Uncle in the film seems like a nice guy until you see what he can do with a drill. Likewise Jean-Claude Van Damme abandons his split kicks(Made famous in Kickboxer and Bloodsport) for guns and unstylish punches which somehow add to the realism here. While some claim this to be Jean-Claude's best work, I can't quite agree. Yes this was good but it wasn't as fun as say Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Universal Soldier, Hard Target and Timecop. Still for a post-Sudden Death Van Damme effort, Wake Of Death emerges as the best.
* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty good)
* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty good)