Until Death

 

 

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Until Death(released Jan/07) takes JCVD back to the Crescent City as a backdrop;his other being Hard Target in /93.Until Death has alot of good moments and it allows us to see an actor who has matured and improved his acting skills considerably over the years.
The story revolves around a police detective named Anthony Stowe.As the film opens he is heading up a major take down of a local gangster by the name of Callahan.Stowe has dogged Callahan for years and in fact has done some shady things in trying to get him but has failed.The sting almost goes off until the end when Callahan asks the female undercover cop to undress.Both her and her male cohort are killed and Callahan once more slips through Stowe's fingers.
Stowe seems to be on everyone's dislike list and when a fellow officer(Walter Curry-played by Trevor Cooper) asks Stowe to help out his nephew up on pot charges because he kept Stowe's name off the blotter awhile back,Stowe strangely tells the police chief about it and the officer is fired;losing his valuable pension.As I said Stowe is not popular.In fact Stowe is so messed up he has been addicted to heroin for years and is a walking,talking human mess;physically and psychologically.
One night Stowe goes to a restaurant for a quiet drink with a female local.She excuses herself to go to the powder room but leaves the building completely.Enter Callahan's thugs loaded for bear.A close fire fight ensues and just as Stowe leaves out the back door he is caught in a head lock by another of Callahan's thugs and confronted by Callahan himself.While in the headlock Stowe is shot up through the chin with the bullet lodging just behind his skull.One thinks he is dead but he miraculously survives the ordeal and has to undergo months of therapy to come back to near normal.
An insurance check for 3/4 of a million dollars is given to him and his estranged wife,now pregnant(we're never sure by whom),comes back to look after him with her current boyfriend,who is clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing.When Stowe gets back on his feet,now clean and sober,he starts to right some wrongs.The first thing he does is write a cheque for some $450,000 to Curry,the cop he turned in.He arrives unwelcome at the doorstep but leaves a gob smacked Curry and his wife on their doorstep.His next wrong to right is his wife.That day she decides to leave his home and finally move away for good but he goes after her.She at almost the same time has had second thoughts and she returns to get captured by Callahan's thugs who take her as a hostage to lure Stowe to a warehouse.
This is where the final confrontation takes place and Stowe finds he actually does have some friends after all.A dirty cop who was Callahan's inside man for years on the NOPD is there with gun trained on Stowe,ready to kill him.He decides however to turn and points it at Callahan.Then Curry shows up guns in hand ready to help out.A good old Mexican stand off occurs then a prolonged pitched gun battle begins.Stowe fights his way through it all and finally he and Callahan are locked head to head,each with a gun pointed at the other.They both go off and the scene shifts to the future as Stowe's wife and he are reconciled and they have a three year old daughter who he happily lifts up.
The plot is a winding one no doubt,but the continuity seems to flow rather well all the way through.As I said Van Damme has certainly matured as an actor and he makes this hollow shell of a cop character come alive.He is ably supported by a troupe of lesser known actors but they give solid performances in his aid.Honourable mention goes to Stephen Rea who plays the cool but cold blooded antagonist Callahan.The movie,as you can guess,is quite violent at times and I wouldn't recommend this for the kiddies.
Technically the movie has been transferred quite well and it is in its' widescreen a/r of 2:35:1.It has been mastered in Hi-Def,is available in both English and French with Dolby 5:1 sound and the 101 minute film is crisp and clean throughout.This is a DVD with no extras;the film is it.
All in all an entertaining entry in the cannon that is Jean Claude Van Damme.Until Death will certainly please his fans and Van Damme shows he has matured and has a firm grasp of his craft.A solid 3 1/2 stars.

Until Death(released Jan/07) takes JCVD back to the Crescent City as a backdrop;his other being Hard Target in /93.Until Death has alot of good moments and it allows us to see an actor who has matured and improved his acting skills considerably over the years.
The story revolves around a police detective named Anthony Stowe.As the film opens he is heading up a major take down of a local gangster by the name of Callahan.Stowe has dogged Callahan for years and in fact has done some shady things in trying to get him but has failed.The sting almost goes off until the end when Callahan asks the female undercover cop to undress.Both her and her male cohort are killed and Callahan once more slips through Stowe's fingers.
Stowe seems to be on everyone's dislike list and when a fellow officer(Walter Curry-played by Trevor Cooper) asks Stowe to help out his nephew up on pot charges because he kept Stowe's name off the blotter awhile back,Stowe strangely tells the police chief about it and the officer is fired;losing his valuable pension.As I said Stowe is not popular.In fact Stowe is so messed up he has been addicted to heroin for years and is a walking,talking human mess;physically and psychologically.
One night Stowe goes to a restaurant for a quiet drink with a female local.She excuses herself to go to the powder room but leaves the building completely.Enter Callahan's thugs loaded for bear.A close fire fight ensues and just as Stowe leaves out the back door he is caught in a head lock by another of Callahan's thugs and confronted by Callahan himself.While in the headlock Stowe is shot up through the chin with the bullet lodging just behind his skull.One thinks he is dead but he miraculously survives the ordeal and has to undergo months of therapy to come back to near normal.
An insurance check for 3/4 of a million dollars is given to him and his estranged wife,now pregnant(we're never sure by whom),comes back to look after him with her current boyfriend,who is clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing.When Stowe gets back on his feet,now clean and sober,he starts to right some wrongs.The first thing he does is write a cheque for some $450,000 to Curry,the cop he turned in.He arrives unwelcome at the doorstep but leaves a gob smacked Curry and his wife on their doorstep.His next wrong to right is his wife.That day she decides to leave his home and finally move away for good but he goes after her.She at almost the same time has had second thoughts and she returns to get captured by Callahan's thugs who take her as a hostage to lure Stowe to a warehouse.
This is where the final confrontation takes place and Stowe finds he actually does have some friends after all.A dirty cop who was Callahan's inside man for years on the NOPD is there with gun trained on Stowe,ready to kill him.He decides however to turn and points it at Callahan.Then Curry shows up guns in hand ready to help out.A good old Mexican stand off occurs then a prolonged pitched gun battle begins.Stowe fights his way through it all and finally he and Callahan are locked head to head,each with a gun pointed at the other.They both go off and the scene shifts to the future as Stowe's wife and he are reconciled and they have a three year old daughter who he happily lifts up.
The plot is a winding one no doubt,but the continuity seems to flow rather well all the way through.As I said Van Damme has certainly matured as an actor and he makes this hollow shell of a cop character come alive.He is ably supported by a troupe of lesser known actors but they give solid performances in his aid.Honourable mention goes to Stephen Rea who plays the cool but cold blooded antagonist Callahan.The movie,as you can guess,is quite violent at times and I wouldn't recommend this for the kiddies.
Technically the movie has been transferred quite well and it is in its' widescreen a/r of 2:35:1.It has been mastered in Hi-Def,is available in both English and French with Dolby 5:1 sound and the 101 minute film is crisp and clean throughout.This is a DVD with no extras;the film is it.
All in all an entertaining entry in the cannon that is Jean Claude Van Damme.Until Death will certainly please his fans and Van Damme shows he has matured and has a firm grasp of his craft.A solid 3 1/2 stars.

I haven't seen all that many Van Damme movies, but the ones I have seen have all been pretty good (I'm one of the few people that actually liked Second in Command). I had my doubts early on this time around, though, as Van Damme looked like death warmed over, and his character was pretty hard to sympathize with, even for an anti-hero. But you know what? Van Damme himself may be showing some age now, but he is far from washed up. I see Until Death as a transition film of sorts for him; he shows that he can still be a tough guy without relying on elaborate martial arts displays and, more importantly, that he has developed into a decent actor. Anthony Stowe isn't your stereotypical, one-dimensional cop; there's a lot going on with this guy, and Van Damme does a really nice job of revealing both the bad and the good in the character.

Stowe is a NARC on the New Orleans police force, and he's carrying two huge monkeys on his back: a seemingly personal mission to bring down the city's most notorious gangster and a secret addiction to heroin. Obviously, he does not fit the description of a good cop. Watching fellow cops die as a result of his continually futile efforts to catch Callahan (Stephen Rea) doesn't do much for his already abrasive attitude, he has no qualms about roughing up potential criminals, innocents, or fellow cops, he doesn't work well (if at all) with a partner, and the heroin isn't helping his job performance. His personal life is in even more of a shambles, as he has just learned that the wife he has been neglecting is pregnant -- with someone else's child. Yep, you'd think life couldn't get much worse than it already is for old Anthony -- until the guy he's hunting finds him and leaves him lying in an alley with a bullet in his skull.

Miraculously, Stowe survives the shooting, but it is several months before he emerges from a coma. As his physical rehabilitation progresses, he starts taking steps to rehabilitate his life as well, apologizing and making amends to those he has hurt along the way. Unfortunately, though, the people he cares about the most remain in harm's way as long as Callahan is still out there -- and he's really out there, having wiped out any and all criminal competitors and solidified his position as king of the criminal dung heap during Stowe's absence. You know an ultimate showdown between Stowe and Callahan is coming, and the movie does not disappoint, serving up an exciting, action-packed ending.

Van Damme isn't going to win any best actor awards, but he actually does quite a commendable job bringing out the nuances of his character, as Stowe tries to put his life back together again following his grievous injury. Until Death isn't focused entirely on action and more action; there's a really human element here that I wasn't expecting to find. If this film is any indication, Van Damme isn't going to disappear from the cinematic radar any time soon.

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