"Action star Jean Claude Van Damme plays a fashion designer who must join forces with a C.I.A. agent to combat terrorism." That is the plot outline from this movie's main page, and possibly the funniest sentence you will ever read. It's hard to believe that someone once sat down and said, "You know, I bet the counterfeit jeans industry would make a good action movie," but they did, and the resulting screenplay is a big, dumb mess. However, the movie redeems itself with some incredible action sequences. Tsui Hark's fast-paced direction is at a level of insanity comparable to, if not better than, the martial arts flicks of John Woo. In some of the later scenes, such as the wild chase through some sort of warehouse/factory place, I was wondering how on earth they managed to film something like that.
The movie also has some downright weird elements that make it very memorable. For instance, during the climax on the barge, Van Damme is taking out the bad guys while sliding down long, oil-slicked corriders. And no, I don't mean sliding a little bit on his feet, I mean he's ACTUALLY SLIDING AROUND ON HIS REAR. It's as if the director was watching his kid play on a Slip 'N' Slide and thought, "I wonder if I could incorporate this into the movie." Also, what was with all the green explosions? I thought there was something wrong with my TV set, but then I came here and read about it in the other user comments. I don't know what kind of pyrotechnics they were using (St. Patrick's Day fireworks, apparently), but it's pretty distracting.
It's a silly movie with some real oddities, but the frenetic action is very entertaining. If you're looking to just turn your brain off and enjoy some karate kicks and car chases, you can't beat a good Van Damme movie like "Knock Off." 7/10 stars.
The movie also has some downright weird elements that make it very memorable. For instance, during the climax on the barge, Van Damme is taking out the bad guys while sliding down long, oil-slicked corriders. And no, I don't mean sliding a little bit on his feet, I mean he's ACTUALLY SLIDING AROUND ON HIS REAR. It's as if the director was watching his kid play on a Slip 'N' Slide and thought, "I wonder if I could incorporate this into the movie." Also, what was with all the green explosions? I thought there was something wrong with my TV set, but then I came here and read about it in the other user comments. I don't know what kind of pyrotechnics they were using (St. Patrick's Day fireworks, apparently), but it's pretty distracting.
It's a silly movie with some real oddities, but the frenetic action is very entertaining. If you're looking to just turn your brain off and enjoy some karate kicks and car chases, you can't beat a good Van Damme movie like "Knock Off." 7/10 stars.