Crappy film

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

RCMP Louis Burke (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is in L.A. and brings down madman Christian 'The Sandman' Naylor. Sixteen months later, he returns to investigate Harrison penitentiary where the assistant warden as well as some prisoners have been killed. He goes undercover as a convict with lawyer Amanda Beckett (Cynthia Gibb) posing as his wife. Sergeant DeGraf (Art LaFleur) runs the prison with an iron fist. Hawkins (Robert Guillaume) is the one-eyed elder statesman prisoner. Louis runs into gang trouble but the prison holds darker secrets.There are a lot of cheesy B-movie aspect to the prison. Most notable is the basement brothel. The production is second rate. The good part is that Van Damme gets to do some butt kicking. There's nothing wrong with that. If anything, it needs more Van Damme butt kicking. The investigation is lackluster. There isn't much tension. Van Damme fans may like this but nobody else will.

Let me cut right to the chase here: the only reason to watch this movie is The Sandman. The poor guy barely gets to be in this, but when he gets his moment of glory he totally delivers. The Sandman is one of the most ridiculous villains I've ever seen, and therefor also one of the most entertaining. When he shows up the movie immediately looks better, because up until then there really isn't much going on. Van Damme investigates some mysterious murders in a prison, but it's pretty obvious what's going on so the moment where you're supposed to gasp at who's behind everything doesn't work. Also, while it's a good thing Van Damme is less of an egomaniac than Steven Seagal and actually lets himself get hit once in a while, this movie pushes it too far to the other side. Van Damme takes about a thousand punches throughout this movie and is on the ground for most of the running time, in fact he only wins the end fight (talk about a spoiler!) by dumb luck/opponent. Obviously this makes more sense than a fighting machine taking down dozens of prisoners at a time, but who the hell wants a Van Damme movie to make sense? "Death Warrant" gets a pass because again, The Sandman is great, but it definitely isn't Van Damme's best.

"Death Warrant" should do just fine when film fans need their action fix. It's a pretty entertaining Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle with a solid pace, assorted brutality, and enjoyably heinous villains. Written by David S. Goyer, and directed by Deran Sarafian, it stars JCVD as Louis Burke, a Royal Canadian Mountie from Quebec (thus explaining his accent this time around) who is recruited to work undercover in the L.A. prison system. Posing as a prisoner, his job is to find out who has been offing various inmates. The real trouble begins when an old nemesis of his, a serial killer dubbed The Sandman (Patrick Kilpatrick) is transferred to the same prison as Louis. All in all, this movie is a good deal of fun; even if forgettable in the end, it's slickly made, with JCVD in fine form and kicking lots of ass as per usual. It benefits from a strong supporting cast beginning with Robert "Benson" Guillaume as Hawkins, a one-eyed veteran prisoner who provides Burke with valuable assistance. The bad guys are an entertaining bunch, from brutal head guard DeGraf (Art LaFleur) to the hilarious Sandman, a swaggering psycho often to be seen with a smile on his face. He also proves to be very hard to kill! Joshua Miller ("Near Dark") is a geeky genius computer hacker, Armin Shimerman ('Star Trek: Deep Space Nine') a nefarious prison doctor, Conrad Dunn (Psycho from "Stripes") the solicitous Konefke, and the extremely striking Abdul Salaam El Razzac plays enigmatic prisoner Priest. The pretty Cynthia Gibb is adequate as the major female presence and requisite love interest. The instantly recognizable Al Leong has one of his standard henchmen parts and Larry Hankin, himself no stranger to prison pictures having done "Escape from Alcatraz", appears unbilled as Myerson. Russell Carpenter does the frequently moody cinematography and plenty of atmosphere is guaranteed due to the prison setting; the opening sequence with Burke searching for The Sandman is likewise full of menace. The final quarter hour or so with Burke and The Sandman facing off is exciting and a total hoot as The Sandman keeps coming back for more. Fans of the star and the genre should be quite amused, overall, and at just under an hour and a half, the movie does not overstay its welcome. Seven out of 10.

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.