User reviews

I can't deny that I'm still a Van Damme fan after all these decades. I've accepted that he will never make another film like Bloodsport, Kickboxer or Time Cop as his age simply won't allow. However, he's proved in the past ten years with kickass films (like Expendables 2 and the two most recent Universal Soldiers) that he can still execute impressive fight scenes. And with his solid acting (shown most notably in the 2008 film JCVD) I think Van Damme still has some kicks, punches and performances left in him. For this reason I couldn't resist checking out Jean Claudes newest flick (that just released yesterday here in the U.S.), Kill Em' All.

The films director, Peter Malota, may be a first time director, but he's been working with Van Damme since 1990. I looked him up to discover that they met that year on the set of Double Impact. Malota was the martial arts action choreographer and an actor in the film. He and Van Damme then teamed up, and Malota continued to handle all martial arts fight coordinating on films such as Universal Soldier (the original and The Return), Nowhere to Run, The Quest, etc. All of the above gave me much confidence in this being a fun action packed B-movie with some (hopefully!) exciting fight scenes. Does Kill Em' All deliver is the question..?

Unfortunately, this isn't the "low-budget but super badass" Van Damme flick that I was hoping for, but it's worth rental if you still enjoy watching an older Van Damme kick dudes in the face. It's not particularly bad (for what it is), it's just not particularly good. This film doesn't really do anything we haven't seen before- it's fight scenes are pretty average and what you'd expect. Van Dammes stunt double is obviously younger (and has a slightly different haircut/fade) and pretty easy to notice. Van Damme still gets into the fight, but most of the high kicks are shot from behind and obviously a double (though not nearly as obvious as Steven Seagals have been for the past decade!). On top of all of this, the film doesn't have the budget to ever feel convincing- after the intro scene you never see a single doctor, nurse or patient in the 5 floors of hospital they are running and hiding through (not one!)?! Combined with a weak story and script, Kill Em' All doesn't have too much to praise.

On the upside, the action is consistent from start to finish, even if it's nothing spectacular. It was cool to see Van Damme fight his own son (Kris Van Damme) in this flick (though I was hoping for a more brutal or impressive fight scene between father and son) as well as 90's B-movie martial artist Daniel Bernhardt (star of Bloodsport 2-4). Peter Stormare (The Last Stand) and Maria Conceit Alonso (The Running Man) co-star as the two detectives trying to figure out where Van Dammes character has disappeared to and what exactly happened at the hospital.

Kill Em' All isn't particularly exciting or original, but it is a worthwhile rental if you (like me) enjoy low-budget action movies and still want to see Van Damme beat up the baddies. If you are a JCVD fan and haven't watched the Amazon pilot for Jean Claude Van Johnson (2016) then check that out immediately. If you're caught up with Van Dammes resume (or like low-budget 90's actioners) then it might be worth a rental (or watch on late-night cable TV) but otherwise you should probably look elsewhere.

Unfortunately, this has got to be one of Van Dammes worst films. It looks like after all those years of hard partying sure has caught up to him in 2017 as he looked pretty miserable in this. This makes Universal Soldier II look golden. The trailer looked like it would of been a cheesy, so bad it's good 90's throwback action film, but it was just plain bad. It did have a decent supporting cast and a couple of OK action scenes and it was a bit better than say Steven Seagal's stuff, but that isn't saying much. Overall, it's a shame this couldn't have been at least half decent considering Van Damme as of late seemed to have been doing better projects like his show - "Jean Claude Van Johnson". But with a movie like "Kill Em All" his action career doing movies like he used to are long and gone.

3/10

The worst JCVD movie I've seen and that's saying something. Most of his movies a poorly written and definitely not Oscar worthy but watchable because of the action he brings to the screen. Not this one, he looks old and miserable in this effort and I only gave it a 1 because its not possible to give any less.

This is unquestionably the worst JCVD movie of all time. Now I came into this with already lowish expectations but as a long time fan (although waning) I had to give it a go.

OMG I wish I hadn't. Apart from Peter Stormare (who was JUST ok) the acting, especially the second tier (JCVD, Stormare and Alonso being the first tier lol) was possibly the worst I have seen.

The plot lol is rubbish, the fights (the main reason to watch the movie) dull and lacking imagination. High on cliché, low on everything else.

You have been warned!!!

Chop chop, punch kick, repeat. Tumble, roll bang bang. Bad guys with bad aim. Plot summary: Revenge killing....bad guys deserved it. Nudity: None Violence: Oh yeah Love scene: could have used one Body count: 22 counting the guy in ER from a heart attack unrelated to the blood bath. Shots fired from same pistol without reloading: 54 Moral of the story: Kill them all

I may not a hardcore fan of JCVD that follow him from the early day of Bloodsport but i still acknowledge him as a great martial art artist and a fine action hero in his own right.Nowadays with the booming of CGI action movie people tend to forgot how awesome trashy over the top action movie staring him look like and with this movie Kill'em All i dare to say yes that man can still kick ass.The plot of this movie is very Die Hard like but it have a very good twist but sadly been dumb down by a horrible script.JCVD charm is still there and despite his age his spinning kick is as strong as ever but for the rest of the cast......not so much.The only one tried to put out a solid action scene beside JCVD is not his son Kris but a actress i never heard before named Autumn Reeser which surprise me a lot.Please don't go to this movie with a mindset of a critic but a young 90s teen you will have a good time

I really like Jean-Claude Van Damme and I like all his movies! And I liked this one. JCVD is still the Best Karate action star there is. You think you could do any of this stuff. Especially when your in your 50s. The actors are good and all of the production of the movie is good. Jean-Claude is Great at Killing Em All! All right I will try and make more characters so I have at lest 600. Autumn Reeser is very Beautiful and a good actress and the younger black haired chick is really Hot. And like most of JCVD movies don't trust anyone especially if you are in the FBI. Like in real life now. And all Bad guys deserve to die.

JC Van Damme single handedly created the action genre with his flashy ways. Not surprisingly, he gets older and others take over. On his way down, he cought us by surprise with his JCVD movie, in which he showed more emotion and acting skills than ever before.

Maybe there was hope, but alas, in all movies since, his acting is gone, but also his willingness. He looks and feels unmotivated. All that could be forgiven, if only the action would make up for it. Since this movie has JCVD and Daniel Bernhardt, I was waiting for one final battle, with all the flashy kicks you could ask for.

And than............nothing. Van Damme lost his will to act, but also the will to fight. To be fair, Van Damme did one nice spin kick. But that was so obviously a stunt double, that it was shameful. After movies such as this one and Black Water, for me the Van Damme era is over.

The premise of this movie could have been good but the supporting characters Stormare and Alonzo as agents were just horrible. Their acting was just phoned in and unbelievable. What a shame. It got so bad I wanted to fast forward through their parts. Just get to the good stuff please! The editing in this flick left much to be desired as well. I just hope they had fun making it because it can't have made any money.

Usually Van Damme is decent in most of these low-budget Direct-to-dvd flicks & I've said before that he puts in the most effort with acting wise with his films even if they are cheap productions but here Van Damme is half-assed & who could blame him? Still Van Damme often makes better action B-movies than Willis, Seagal, Snipes & Lundgren.

Van Damme is an action legend i grew up watching & loving & even those he's now basically a B-movie star, i still watch his new films because i like the dude & consider him an actor that meant alot to me growing up.

"Kill 'Em All" is another cheap flick but for a low-budget B-movie it's totally overstuffed with story. Usually people complain about B-movies not really caring about the story as long as it delivers on all the other stuff but here it would've been better to have concentrated on the other stuff. We get an action thriller type about an injured security specialist named Philip (an exhausted Van Damme) who turns up at a quiet hospital on a lovely Sunday morning & he's very injured with slices & a head wound & a nurse starts to help him when a bunch of black suited, foreign bad guys show up to finish off Van Damme. Now this part is ok but then we get constant flash backs to what happened at the hospital by an interview with the survivor nurse & two F. B. I agents interrogating her but which gets very annoying very quickly & on top of the interrogating scenes we lots of flashbacks for each of the villains & for Van Damme's Philip character & all of this while still trying to show the action in the hospital!!! It's trying to be too smart but doesn't have the budget to do it properly or the scale to tell it all. We get really cheap scenes from Philips childhood in the early 80's but no production design or detail put into it because they didn't have the money to do it so why bother? The flick is way overstuffed with origin stories & flashbacks for it to even be slightly fun at all. Kill 'Em All should've been a fun Action Thriller with a game of cat & mouse throughout the hospital like Wesley Snipes Direct-to-dvd flick GAME OF DEATH, which i really enjoyed but no here it's trying to be a long dramatic movie with big origin stories & events of political wars & ethnic cleansing & Assassin's & it's a huge dull & boring mess. Also Van Damme cannot be bothered here.

Terrible acting from a poor cast following possibly the worst script of any action film (and that's saying a lot). It's just a really bad film. The acting is genuinely awful but that is largely down to cringeworthy writing. The plot has a deep background and it seems to have twists and monumental moments in parts, but these are unrecognisable as you're too far gone to even consider trying to follow what on earth is going on.

The sad thing is JCVD does nothing wrong, plus it seems that this film at least had a half decent budget. Even the choreography for the fights are bad, if you're hiring JCVD the least you need to do is utilise his martial arts abilities. Instead there's nothing special as he fights naff characters.

The reason I give this 3 is because it is actually a film, there is a (poor) beginning, leading to (an even worse) middle, and (equally terrible) ending (complete with someone taking off a wig (that looks like real hair) to reveal her natural hair (which is quite clearly a wig)). There is some semblance of a plot there, and really I feel bad for JCVD for being associated with this when he was given no chance of improving it.

Palm trees in Bosnia in 1999, using Glocks, arhitecture is more Mexican than Bosnian or Yugoslavian?!?!? Come on is there anyone with a little bit of brain?

Opponents speak bad Croatish language, and a little bit of Russian? Do you know to show ex Yugoslav countries on the map? I don't think so.

I love JCVD, and his old movies, but as he gets old, he dont pick his rols or what? This is small budget movie. American cinematography is one of the top in the world, but after this trash movie, i definitly change my mind, it goes downhill.

I am deeply disapointed with choise wich JCVD took with this movie.

My Ratings: Story 1.00 : Direction 1.00 : Pace 1.25 : Acting 1.25 : Entertaining 1.25 Total 5.75 out of 10

So here we go... a leave your brain at the door extravaganza. This is what the Kickboxer King does best. Though, this is not his best film by a longshot. It is, as always, a thoroughly enjoyable waste of time. Who doesn't enjoy watching the bad guys getting their arses well and truly... and literally... kicked.

This isn't your basic revenge story, it has a little backstory to it that differs a tad from the usual fodder. Maybe this is why it needed three writers. Philip's dad is killed by the bad men, and Phil, quite rightly, wants revenge. So he trains, gets into shape, learns to kill, and then... well, he joins the bad men. Wait a minute, doesn't this mean he has to be like them, thus in effect, becoming them? Oh sorry, forgot to take my brain out. That's better. Now don't think about it, just admire and enjoy the kick-arsery. YEAH.

However, when Phil makes his move, he messes up and gets shot. After arriving at the hospital via an ambulance - why didn't the bad men finish him off... oops, thinking again. His gang mates turn up to finish the job. Not at all concerned about it being a public hospital.

Luckily for Phil, there's nurse Suzy to tend to his boo-boos and fix him up enough to kick arse. There's even a female bad guy so Nurse Suzy can flex her muscles and not feel too left out in the foot-to-arse stakes.

Mostly, the direction is average, though Director Peter Malota does a nice job with the pacing. This slow to begin with but speeds up nicely when the action starts. There are a couple of sections where he slows it down to help the story and to give the viewers a breather.

The shame about the whole affair though is the acting. Now I have, nothing but respect for Peter Stormare, he is a great actor (can you sense a but coming (?)), but (yeah, there it is) he feels as though he's not too fussed to be there. Maybe he needed to pay the utility bills that month and was running short. Just wish he'd put more heart into it. Truthfully, most of the cast seems nonplussed and lacking in the characterisations department. Good job they make up for it in the punching, kicking, and gouging division. Though I will say, Daniel Bernhardt does a great job and both Autumn Reeser and Maria Conchita Alonso have their moments.

That said, the most entertaining scene of the whole film is the father and son fight between Mr and Master Van-Damme. They ought to thank god their family isn't a dysfunctional one. I would hate to see their drunken Friday night slugfest after an argument... I take that back, I would love to see it, and in this movie you do.

This isn't a masterpiece of filmmaking or storytelling, but it is so enjoyable that I would happily recommend this to all the fans of Martial Arts Action Films and to those wondering what the fuss is about. Grab a beer, disengage the brain, sit back, and enjoy. Cheers.

Please kick arse over to my The Game Is Afoot and Holding Out For A Hero lists to see where this slice of Van-Damage ranks. Hopefully, you may find your next viewing pleasure too.

Take Care & Stay Well,

I do hope the TEN producers , executive producers, associate producers etc got a few cents back for their "investment" !!

Despite all the gunfire at this studio / hospital, not a single patrol car arrives ... nor is there anyone who can press an alarm button ! Strangely, the hand guns used seem to have unlimited bullets ... The place (hospital) looks deserted of doctors, nurses, patients or ambulance & ER staff etc. What is more laughable though is that no police or security guards can be seen anywhere !

It must have been a very tight budget indeed, and at 57 van Dam should really retire and hand the reins to his clumsy son or whoever instead !!

The weird bearded FBI actor takes the biscuit for me though !

Don't waste your time with this one ...

So a Marine takes a job as as paramedic. He and his partner encounter problems with a gang. The acting wasn't big screen but it was close enough! I enjoyed it. The plot was good. I would say hell yeah, watch it! Good movie!

I tried so hard to review this movie already. Made some reviews, saved them, erased them, started over. Its really complicated as part of me liked it while the other part really tough it was lacking so much to be a good movie. The cast is genuinely good, not only Van Damme but Daniel Bernhardt which, funny enough, was Van Damme replacement in the Bloodsport Franchise back in the days, but also played villains opposite the like of Keanu Reeves in John Wick or Chuck Norris in The Cuttter. Kris Van Damme, JC's son finally get some action role and even have a fight scene with his father.

But despite all of this... the movie failed to keep me interest at times. First of all the cinematography. I don't know if its to hide JCVD's old age or the lack of talents on some of the villains, but the movie suffer from a bunch of jump cuts and camera angle changes during fight scenes. Its not as bad as some of Steven Seagal movies of recent years but its still hurting the movie. The movie also include a lot of "signature spin kicks" which seem not so convincing in this day and age. Maybe Van Damme lost some speed too.

As for the story and characters... i think this is where the movie hurt the most for me. JCVD play once again a sad depressing character. On top of this the movie start with this character injured so he look even more tired and depress than other movies. Van Damme proved many times he is good in roles that involve lots of personality and cheesy dialogue. I enjoyed so much his performances in Ennemies Closer and Welcome to the Jungle. He need to cut from the blank and depress characters, as he has not aged too well facially and look even worst when playing those roles.

Honestly he look 15 years older than the age of the character he is supposed to play in this movie.

Despite all of this, its not a bad movie. Its very basic low budget action flick, but surprisingly it revolve much more on martial arts than you would expect from JCVD in the current years which i appreciated. Sure there not the best fights filmed on screen, but its decent enough to keep you entertained. There is a few gun fights but there kept to a minimal.

Autumn Reeser is pretty decent and the other "big names" are mostly extended glorified cameos.

I would say its the kind of movie which is nice to watch once, as a rental or cable TV watch, but it won't leave a mark or anything on you and you won't remember it in T-Minus 2 days... as Jeremy would say.

Jean Claude Van Damme is getting old, so he needs to take it easy these days with the action scenes. Here he shares the action with Autumn Reeser.

Van Damme plays Philip who ends up wounded at a hospital in America. Reeser plays Suzanne, an ER nurse who is patching him up when a bunch of European bad guys arrive and cause mayhem. Philip ends up saving Suzannne's life instead.

The film is told in flashback as Suzanne is being interrogated by two FBI agents. You will quickly gather that the film has an unreliable narrator and you can kind of guess the twist in The Usual Suspects kind of way.

The film wants to make some kind of statement about the break up of the former Yugoslavia, I thought the time span was all over the place.

When I stumbled upon the 2017 crime action movie "Kill 'Em All" here in 2022, it was by sheer random chance. I had never heard about the movie, but seeing that it was a movie that had Jean-Claude Van Damme on the cast list, of course I opted to watch it. Sure, I wasn't harboring much of any high hopes for the movie, as most of his movies since the 2000s have been mediocre at best.

But hey, as I hadn't seen the movie, of course I opted to give writers Jesse Cilio, Brian Smolensky and Craig Stewart's movie a chance.

"Kill 'Em All" was sort of a swing and a miss of a movie. The movie was driven by an insanely boring, slow paced and downright pointless storyline. I really tried to get into the narrative here, but it was just impossible.

And the fact that the character gallery had the appeal of wet paint didn't exactly help to sell the narrative.

I was a little bit disappointed in "Kill 'Em All", given the fact that it had both Jean-Claude Van Damme, Peter Stormare and Daniel Bernhardt on the cast list.

I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as "Kill 'Em All", but it was just not a movie that entertained me. And this is by no means a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.

My rating of "Kill 'Em All" lands on a three out of ten stars.