This is without a doubt one of the better Van Damme movies in the entire course of his career. Why? Well because it is not the average generic movie that he usually makes, where he is sort of a lone underdog hero who is fighting an uphill battle against overwhelming odds, and with some miraculous force he manages to singlehandedly emerge victorious at the end, even after having received a beating that would normally drop dead a prize-winning bull.
"6 Bullets" is a great story-driven movie, in which Van Damme plays Samson Gaul, a mercenary who is working in Eastern Europe to infiltrate human trafficking rings and rescue underage boys and girls, and bring them home to be reunited with their families after these horrible ordeals. However, during one such a mission, something goes horribly awry and two innocent young girls end up dead. Haunted by the apparitions of these dead girls, Gaul ends up seeking solitude and salvation at the mercy of alcohol while trying to make a living as a butcher. A young American girl is kidnapped from her hotel and the parents seek out Gaul for help. But can Gaul redeem himself of the past and step up to the task at hand? The storyline in "6 Bullets" was really interesting and captivating, as human trafficking is, sadly, every day events in parts of the world. So with that in mind, then this story really takes on a personal approach and becomes more than just mindless martial arts entertainment.
Plus, the storyline is really helped along by some powerful performances, not only by Van Damme, who really stepped into character and showed a great acting side, but also by Joe Flanigan (playing Andrew Fayden).
The movie was nicely shot, the dialogue was good and it moved at a great pace. There was a fair amount of drama in the movie, spiced up with martial arts, of course, and also gun fights. This is really one of the better Van Damme movies that I have seen in a long, long time, and it is good to see that he is back in the game.
There were just a couple of things in the movie that I didn't really understand. In the opening sequence, how did Gaul manage to plant all that explosive in the cars parked outside the building when there was all that much security personnel around? And also when he wanted a phone number traced, it started with 555, which is a number associated with Hollywood movies, so we must assume that it is an alleged American fake-movie phone number, so why was it showing up on an Eastern Europe phone? And finally, why would most people in Eastern Europe opt to speak English first whenever addressing strangers? Wouldn't it make more sense to speak in their native language? Anyway, these touches are just small flaws that don't really have much impact on the movie. I just happened to notice this and wonder about it.
"6 Bullets" is a great addition to movie collection for fans of Van Damme. And it is also good entertainment, even if you are not particular a fan of him.
