Sur les traces de la mort

It was great to finally see the new Van Damme movie. I enjoyed this better than his previosu 1 - IN HELL.

Acting by VD was very good, along with everyone else. Though, the editing was choppy in some places, everything else abiut the movie was fine with me. Despite the fact that 'The End' shows up, when I thought it was pointless to put that up. It could have gone straight to the credits.

This is still 1 of Van Damme's best movies in a while.

This is the best action movie of 2004. This really should have gone to theatres here, considering how much crap that Hollywood releases now.

This is a must see, for Van Damme fans & action fans.

I am a huge movie buff, and have enjoyed IMDb.com for years. This is the first time i have bothered to register to voice my opinions- and it is with good reason. I am a huge Van Damme fan, but i am also a realist. His last few films have not been great - particularly Derailed & Knock Off. However credit to Jean Claude for TRYING to do other things such as IN HELL and WAKE OF DEATH. Unlike his co-action hero's Steven Seagal who can't even be bothered hanging around to loop his on voice on his movies- VAN DAMME is making a comeback.

This film marks a great, stylish, action movie- driven by revenge in a yakuza environment. It reminded me of early John Woo movies, Seagal's Hard to Kill and early dirty harry films. JCVD's acting is only getting better with age, the action is short,sharp & powerful. Bloodsoaked action scenes & being hardcore (women shot in the head/guy is shot in head by shotgun) shows this is ANYTHING but "standard/watered down/pg action" that is all to common today. Do yourself a favour and SEE IT THEN OWN IT! If you are a JCVD fan & have been disappointed by his recent films, give this one a go- you will enjoy. Cheers, Dan

The movie begins when a Chinese little girl witnesses the killing her mother by her gangster father named Sun Quan(Simon Yam) and she flees to Los Angels aboard a ship with other abducted immigrants. An ex-gangster named Ben(Jean Claude Van Damme) is ready to retire himself; his wife(Lisa King)is a social worker, taking the refugee little girl to their house. Then, she 's cruelly killed and his son along with the Chinese girl are kidnapped. Our revenger hero wages war against the criminals .The sad Van Damme must rescue the kids and revenge his spouse, meanwhile he's attacked and pursued from all sides by Chinese triads, being only helped by a French gangster's trio.

This film direct to video-rentals, displays action-packed, extreme violence, pursuit cars, thrills and is quite entertaining. It's thrilling and tense , at time suspenseful movie and the firepower, explosion, struggles, motorbikes races are very well done. Suffering Van Damme plays finely an affected gangster, acting similarly to 'Hard cops'. Van Damme confronting nasties, using his martial-arts skills, furthermore some chase cars are pretty exciting. Remaining cast though unknown make nice acting, besides appears uncredited Burt Kwouk ,the famous Chinese fighter against Inspector Clouseau-Peter Sellers. This interesting film results to be a standard actioner, but packs atmospheric action set pieces and is fast movement . The motion picture is well produced, though with middling budget, and directed by Philippe Martinez. He's a prestigious producer, such as 'Harsh times, Modigliani, The piano player, Van Wilder 2'. This is the second and best film as director , along with 'Citizen verdict'. The picture is extremely energetic and be liked for true devotees of main actor. It's a must see for Van Damme fans.

"Jean-Claude Van Damme is back", we all have probably heard this statement about hundred times ever since his career took a turn for the worst. Ever since then Jean has been trying to resurrect a career that saw him at the top of Hollywood's revenge, action films of the 80's and early 90's. Trying to win back fans Jean has been going the straight to video route hoping that one of the films will strike gold. And I believe Jean has just found that with Wake of Death. Van Damme IS back and this time he has the acting chops to go along with the cool action. Why this film is rated so low in this site I will never know. This has to be one of the best straight to video releases of last year. The action is great, Van Damme is in it, and the story is pretty good. It's not just your run of the mill revenge movie, it has a great story to it and the film is a success when it comes to the revenge plot. It did it better then some of the big budget Hollywood movies that came out this year, one that totally comes to mind is The Punisher. If your looking for a great action film with Van Damme and this movie is not at your local Blockbuster I suggest you spend a few extra bucks a purchase the film, you will not be let down.

I have read that some people were let down by the films climax stating that it's far too quick for some. What I like to tell those people is that they need more of an imagination. This film is great because of factors like that, the film doesn't sit back and explain every little thing like most movies do now a days. This movie leaves you do use some imagination and that's what made the movie so good. It made the viewer feel more apart of the film and not like a complete idiot that needs everything explained and told to them.

I'll be the first to admit that the super butt kicking action was not the only thing I appreciated in Jean-Claude Van Damme's films back in the day. His own butt was an excellent plus. Timecop and Cyborg? I was there. I tried to hang on after that but... JCVD twins, Dennis Rodman, science gone bad? It was all too cartoony and the action wasn't enough to hold my interest. I turned my attention East and... Salvation! The wonders of Hong Kong film.

Looking to pack a recent weekend with as much action and gunplay possible, I found "Wake of Death" and decided to give JCVD another try. I'm glad I did as I found it to be a fine film. It doesn't have the American film clichés - a hero with a heart of gold, selflessly protecting orphans and widows, while throwing off quippy one-liners and never sustaining anything more than a few strategically placed scratches.

This is a man with a questionable and likely criminal past, but we're not back storied into seeing how he is really just a misunderstood hero. It is up to the viewer to make their own judgment about this man and his actions. This film is not for those who like their action mindless.

I agree with all the comments about Jean-Claude's acting skills – he has definitely earned to communicate emotion and real character depth. He is a long way from the stone-faced Muscles from Brussels.

This woman gives the film 2 thumbs up! Now go kick some ass!