Thread: Rate the last movie that you saw for the first time.
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Old 01-28-2020, 01:36 PM   #11906
Seanny One Ball
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Enemies Closer - 2.5/4

"Jean Claude Van Damme goes mad in the woods" would be a fine alternative title for this bafflingly put together but fun and enjoyable action film. It's also a pretty spot on synopsis of the film itself.
Okay, lets count the ways in which this film turned my expectations on their head and surprised me with some genuinely ballsy decisions even for a B Movie:
-Tom Everett Scott plays a Park Ranger that is secretly a badass former soldier or marine or something. If you know Tom Everett Scott then this is the ultimate in playing against established type. Well, at least until...
-Orlando Jones appears as an antagonist then turns into a protagonist and doesn't supply one laugh in the entire film. Again playing a secret badass but this time not an army one, because he's a black comedian he gets to be an ex convict who isn't funny. He appears to be even better than Tom Everett Scott's guy is at fighting, so that's good because they end up fighting against a whole gang!
-Jean Claude Van Damme takes a sharp heel turn very early into the film and immediately begins destroying people and things then hitting some surprisingly classic one-liners. This wouldn't be unusual for James Bond but Jean Claude Van Damme is traditionally lacking in charisma despite his hick kicks. However the unhinged mania in his face when he does it is just magic and I can't stress that enough. Jean Claude Van Damme can be hilarious now that he's older and wiser, especially when he gets the right material and direction. In this fairly violent film he is put to good use doing lots of action spots and firing off zingers and insanity like he's been coked up and hasn't been to bed for a week. Of course they surround him with a gang of incompetents which makes his ability much more obvious and gives his personality a chance to pop out for a change.
-There's some pretty hilarious stuff involving a traitorous woman and the way it is dealt with cracked me up, especially given the current social climate and opinions with regards to beating women rounds the face(as equals).

I can't say it's a groundbreaking film, nor can I say that it's as much fun as that dancing scene in Kickboxer but it has it's charm and it made 80 minutes disappear from my lifetime with the greatest of ease. It appears that this film was one of the few involved in the Van Damme renaissance from a few years ago so I will have to get involved in the Kickboxer sequels and that film he made about being himself in Belgium because I can dig it when he's actually acting.
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