I've always been a fan of Jean-Claude van Damme, so I've been mad that his recent movies haven't got theatrical releases, while the latest Adam Sandler and the current breed of gross-out teen movies have. I'd much rather see van Damme on the big screen than another teen movie. Although THE ORDER is far from his best or my favorite of his films (those would be HARD TARGET, SUDDEN DEATH, MAXIMUM RISK, and LEGIONNAIRE), it's still pretty good, even if it does drag in some places and has some hard-to-understand accents. But you can understand enough to know the basic idea of the movie, so it doesn't really matter. Written by van Damme, the story moves had a decent pacer, but the direction could have been a little tighter in some scenes. Van Damme is particularly good, and though it's not his best acting (that would be MAXIMUM RISK), it's better than some of his earlier ones.
The film makes good use of its Israeli locations, sexy newcomer Sofia Milos makes a feisty heroine, and co-stars Ben Cross and Brian Thompson offer good support in roles that are smaller than they should be. Unfortunately, however, Charlton Heston is wasted. I kept saying to myself, "Why go to all the trouble to get a famous big-name veteran screen star to play such a teeny, tiny little role?" His part would have been better suited for the unknown who played van Damme's father, with Heston playing the father. That would have been much better. As I said, some parts tend to drag a little bit, but the action scenes are well-done, my favorite being the entire climactic sequence in the underground tunnel system. There's even some funny bloopers that run before the end credits, though only a few; some more would have been nice.
All-in-all, one of van Damme's better movies storywise, and though I'm not sure if I would actually buy the DVD, I would probably make it an occasional rental. Then again, I'm a big van Damme fan, so I'll probably buy it next time I see it just to have it.
