Coups pour coups

Jean-Claude Van Damme is definitely a guilty pleasure for me. I don't go looking for fine acting and a great script. I want action and lots of it! Van Damme is a Canadian cop who goes undercover in LA to find out what is going on in a prison. He is made for this type of role, as he will have plenty of opportunity to display his considerable martial arts skills.

He isn't in prison long before he ticks of the Hispanic gangs and has to continually fight to stay alive.

Cynthia Gibb provides the essential "babe" in these flicks, even if she wasn't completely satisfying. And, when does a prisoner in the hole get out for conjugal rights? I always enjoy Robert Guillaume, and he didn't disappoint. Patrick Kilpatrick made a formidable foe and the final bout was well worth the time spent getting there.

A guilty pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless.

The cunning detective named Louis Burke(Jean Claude Van Damme), a Royal Canadian police, fights in an abandoned location with a villain called Sandman. Later Burke is sent prison of Harrison to investigate assassination nine inmates mysteriously murdered. He poses as a prisoner and advocate Amanda(Cynthia Gibb) acts like his spouse. Burke befriends an one-eyed inmate(Robert Guillaume) and the Priest. The Harrison Penitentiary is ruled by a tough sergeant named De Graff (Art Le Flour) and attended by a doctor(Armin Shimerman). Burke must to confront brutal inmates(Al Leong) and his cruel enemy Sandman(Patrick Kilpatrick). Burke and Amanda are only helped by a teen hacker(Joshua Miller) until the stirring and strong final showdown.

This violent film contains suspense, action, tension and spectacular fights. Entertaining movie, thanks to tight pace, skillful edition and well mounted combats. It's tense and exciting , at time lackluster action movie , but the struggles and fighting are well done . Jean Claude is nice as two-fisted hero in this middling budget picture. Interesting screenplay by David S Goyer, today famous as producer and screenwriter of superheroes(Batman, Blade,Ghost Rider). Appropriate musical score fitting to action movie by Gary Chang. Colorful cinematography by Russell Carpenter, a future cameraman of blockbusters (Titanic, Charlie's Angels I and II, Monster in law). The motion picture is professionally directed by Deran Sarafian who achieved success with ¨Terminal velocity¨, though today exclusively directing for television (CSI: Miami, NY, Without trace, Lost). Pointlessly energetic and excessively violent, the film will like the true devotee of main actor. It's a must see for Van Damme fans.

"What is a death warrant?" you may ask. I'm not too sure myself. I assume it must like an arrest warrant, but instead of arresting the target of the warrant, Van Damme gets to kill them. Pretty simple really. I mean, if Jean-Claude was only intending to ARREST the antagonists, it would be a pretty boring movie, right?

Van Damme plays Louis Burke, a Canadian Mountie who never wears the proper Mountie uniform, which is a damn shame because those Mountie hats are cool. Burke is on assignment in Los Angeles, tracking down a villain known as the Sandman, bullet-proof serial-killer extraordinaire. After taking down The Sandman in the first few minutes, Burke is given another assignment: The inmates of the local maximum-security prison have developed a nasty habit of being killed by ice-pick to the head. Burke's assignment is to go undercover (naturally) and find out where all these ice-picks are coming from and who is behind it. Is it a prison-gang war, or a massive conspiracy involving corrupt officials and mad scientists? Have a guess.

Naturally, one would assume that a Van Damme movie - set in a prison - called 'Death Warrant' would be action packed. Unfortunately, 'Death Warrant', much like 'Legionnaire', proves that not all Van Damme movies are excuses for a showcase of spin-kicks. It is a shame that 'Death Warrant' is not as action packed as I would like it to be. There are some cool fights, but it is a fairly slow movie, and the less said about the scenes involving a character called Priest (Abdul Salaam El Razzac), the better. Priest is a weird, weird fellow. I'm pretty sure he is really some sort of alien replicon from the beyond the moon...

Now, I'm trying to judge 'Death Warrant' harshly, I really am. There just isn't enough action, but I just can't speak ill of any movie that was made in the 80s, is about the 80s, or features music and fashion from the 80s. In this case, 'Death Warrant' has 80s music AND a mad scientist. Both big bonuses in any movie's favour. Granted, the mad scientist's screen time is almost negligible, but the presence of a mad scientist makes the coolness metre of any movie shoot straight up.

Sure, 'Death Warrant' may be slow, lack action, and feature a lot of Van Damme acting rather than fighting, but it is entertaining enough (what with the 80s music and all), but it is only for Van Damme fans - 6/10

Dare I say that when this movie was made JCVD was at the peak of his physical shape ? He really looks awesome in this movie. He's a pretty good actor as well, which is evident when you compare Chuck Norris' movies from the same era.

Although the movie is more than 20 years old, it doesn't look dated. The movie is also not a mindless martial arts movie either. It has some good story behind it. Even compared to "Lionheart" made the same year, this movie is way ahead in terms of quality.

Amanda Gibbs is gorgeous in this movie. Too bad that we didn't get to see her during the '90s asides from this movie.

Seriously, this is one of the best JCVD movie made and is recommended for viewing even if you're NOT a JCVD fan.

This was an intense prison movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme as an undercover cop. "Louis Burke," trying to solve a crime inside a tough prison.

There is excellent suspense, some surprisingly-good photography with excellent closeups and slow-motion. Language-wise, I liked the fact there wasn't a lot of the usage of the Lord's name in vain. All of that help make this better than I anticipated.

The final fight scene is a little long and is Rocky-like ridiculous in that both combatants get viscously beaten to a pulp.....but keep coming back and not even having their hair messed up!! That notwithstanding, it was an entertaining movie and a cut above most martial arts fare.