cityonfire.com | Double Team

	Double Team "...Dennis Rodman complete with neon hair and really, really dumb dialogue." - S!DM Double Team (1997) AKA: Colony, The Director: Tsui Hark Producer: Moshe Diamant, Don Jakoby (executive), Richard G. Murphy (associate), Rick Nathanson (co-producer), David Rodgers (executive), Nansun Shi (co-producer) Writer: Don Jakoby Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dennis Rodman, Mickey Rourke, Paul Freeman (I), Natacha Lindinger, Valeria Cavalli, Jay Benedict, Joelle Devaux-Vullion Running Time: 91 min. Plot: Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman team up as a world-class counter-terrorist and Rodman as his flamboyant but deadly weapons dealer. Reviews RYAN LUNDGREN'S REVIEW: This is Van Damme's second worst film to date. Although Mickey Rourke is an excellent villain, Van Damme is a 'Ho Hum' and Rodman is too wild. The team-up of the two bring zero chemistry to the screen and the only modestly entertaining scenes are The Colony scenes. Just when things can't get any worse a man with a knife between his toes fights Van Damme.The plot is dumb and tired and doesn't make any sense. The one who should be the most embarrassed is Tsui Hark who is usually an awesome director. Double Team is too tedious to be taken seriously. RYAN LUNDGREN'S RATING: 1.5/10 MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S REVIEW: Before Tsui Hark stepped in, every Van Damme movie was just a "Van Damme" movie. Yes, including that redneck one he did with John Woo. The thing is, when people watch this and "Knock Off", they only look at the bad things. What about the good things? What other Van Damme movie has stylized shots, pans, and camera zooms while someone's ass is being kicked? The fight scenes are as Hong Kong as Van Damme will ever get, especially the superb one with Hung Yan Yan! On top of this, the plot is not a bad one. I like the idea of this "colony" thing and the way Van Damme escapes is smart. Oh yeah, and all you fools who keep on bitching about Van Damme's bodydoubles...I got five words for you: Sly, Arnold, Bruce, Jet, and uh oh.....JACKIE! MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S RATING: 7.5/10 (minus .5 because of Rodman) S!DM'S REVIEW: Utterly moronic Van Damme flick that suffers from not one bad actor, but two! Yes, that's right, we also have Dennis Rodman complete with neon hair and really, really dumb dialogue. To put it this way, the film falls apart after the opening sequence, which looks almost made-for-TV in that the huge truck seems very fake. Since when does armor-plated steel bounce up and down like plastic? Aside from those minor and not so minor plot holes throughout the film, we do have some good visuals from Tsui Hark, but even that cannot save this film. The one redeeming factor is that Van Damme squares off with Xiong Xin Xin (Hung Yan Yan), Jet Li's stunt double, in a very good looking and well staged fight, with Xiong using a blade between his toes (!) to try and slice Van Damme. Van Damme unfortunately wins in the end and we have nothing else to look forward to except the screen fading to black and the credits rolling. On a side note, Xiong accidentally cut Van Damme, resulting in a trip to the hospital and some stitches. Boo-hoo. S!DM'S RATING: 4/10

Double Team

"...Dennis Rodman complete with neon hair and really, really dumb dialogue."

- S!DM

Double Team (1997)

AKA: Colony, The

Director: Tsui Hark

Producer: Moshe Diamant, Don Jakoby (executive), Richard G. Murphy (associate), Rick Nathanson (co-producer), David Rodgers (executive), Nansun Shi (co-producer)

Writer: Don Jakoby

Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dennis Rodman, Mickey Rourke, Paul Freeman (I), Natacha Lindinger, Valeria Cavalli, Jay Benedict, Joelle Devaux-Vullion

Running Time: 91 min.

Plot: Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman team up as a world-class counter-terrorist and Rodman as his flamboyant but deadly weapons dealer.

Reviews

RYAN LUNDGREN'S REVIEW: This is Van Damme's second worst film to date. Although Mickey Rourke is an excellent villain, Van Damme is a 'Ho Hum' and Rodman is too wild. The team-up of the two bring zero chemistry to the screen and the only modestly entertaining scenes are The Colony scenes. Just when things can't get any worse a man with a knife between his toes fights Van Damme.The plot is dumb and tired and doesn't make any sense. The one who should be the most embarrassed is Tsui Hark who is usually an awesome director. Double Team is too tedious to be taken seriously.

RYAN LUNDGREN'S RATING: 1.5/10

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S REVIEW: Before Tsui Hark stepped in, every Van Damme movie was just a "Van Damme" movie. Yes, including that redneck one he did with John Woo. The thing is, when people watch this and "Knock Off", they only look at the bad things. What about the good things? What other Van Damme movie has stylized shots, pans, and camera zooms while someone's ass is being kicked? The fight scenes are as Hong Kong as Van Damme will ever get, especially the superb one with Hung Yan Yan! On top of this, the plot is not a bad one. I like the idea of this "colony" thing and the way Van Damme escapes is smart. Oh yeah, and all you fools who keep on bitching about Van Damme's bodydoubles...I got five words for you: Sly, Arnold, Bruce, Jet, and uh oh.....JACKIE!

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S RATING: 7.5/10 (minus .5 because of Rodman)

S!DM'S REVIEW: Utterly moronic Van Damme flick that suffers from not one bad actor, but two! Yes, that's right, we also have Dennis Rodman complete with neon hair and really, really dumb dialogue. To put it this way, the film falls apart after the opening sequence, which looks almost made-for-TV in that the huge truck seems very fake. Since when does armor-plated steel bounce up and down like plastic? Aside from those minor and not so minor plot holes throughout the film, we do have some good visuals from Tsui Hark, but even that cannot save this film. The one redeeming factor is that Van Damme squares off with Xiong Xin Xin (Hung Yan Yan), Jet Li's stunt double, in a very good looking and well staged fight, with Xiong using a blade between his toes (!) to try and slice Van Damme. Van Damme unfortunately wins in the end and we have nothing else to look forward to except the screen fading to black and the credits rolling. On a side note, Xiong accidentally cut Van Damme, resulting in a trip to the hospital and some stitches. Boo-hoo.

S!DM'S RATING: 4/10