L'ultimo mercenario

This is a very funny and entertaining movie that not only nods to Van Damme's old movies, but it is also in the good tradition of french comedies of the mid 20th century.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a good laugh and a nod and a wink at spy and action movies.

This is a very goofy, lighthearted, 90's action comedy throwback that mostly fizzles horribly and is destined to be watched by men in their late 30's and early 40's, as we desperately reach for the warm, careless glow of our long gone adolescence.

Even though Van Damme is in on the joke and a couple of the character actors turn in amusing performances, it is almost impossible to watch in its entirety. Ultimately, it just reminds you why you can never really go back home again.

This film was way too long. The 110 runtime felt endless with too many long and unnecessary scenes. You could easily trim off 20 mins, and the slow pacing wouldn't feel as obvious, and you'd still get the gist of the story, and probably in a more enjoyable way.

Novice writer and director David Charhon's directing wasn't bad for a newb, but he certainly needed to tweak his screenplay. It was convoluted, and there were just too many plot and technical issues, and was also riddled with pretty much every cheesy cliche of this genre. The best part of this entire film were the last 15 min or so, where you'll find the most action and laughs. Everything prior is mainly useless filler.

The "comedy" was pretty stale, goofy and cliched - I may have laughed a few times, and the cartoonish cast didn't make the comedy any funnier, or the story any better. Most of their characters were annoying and some even cringeworthy. JCVD of course delivered, especially during the fight scenes, and he was even surprisingly hilarious.

Nevertheless, it's much better than the Bruce Willis and Steven Seagal garbage that's come out in the last few years. If you're a JCVD fan, this is a must see... his performance (and flexibility) is awesome.

There are a lot of reviews denigrating this film, but I suspect that a lot of of this is down to cultural differences. This is typical French humour and it's refreshing to see van Damme play to it, which I think he is pretty good at.

Jackie Chan employs a lot of humour (and stunt doubles) in his films and gets away with it - and I think van Damme manages the same.

All in all, an amusing film and very French.

I'm happy for Van Damme that he finally managed to do a French comedy, but it's sadly rather average. And for those expecting an action-packed comedy change your expectations to a comedy film with a handful of action scenes.

The story setup was fun but quickly fades out and this leaves the side characters rather uninteresting and underdeveloped. The comedy, with exception of a few fun references and disguises, didn't amuse me but hey, it might amuse you ;). But of course, the main reason you'd watch this is for Van Damme and as per usual he delivers a solid performance with some fun action scenes (that sadly did get a little over-edited). It's all right for what it is but I think it's one of his lesser films and would recommend watching Jean-Claude Van Johnson (2016) instead.

5.5/10.