One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Nice effects though.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

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.

Hong Kong director Tsui Hark (Once Upon A Time In China 1, II, III and V) first worked with Jean-Claude Van Damme on the incredibly daft Dennis Rodman vehicle Double Team, which was about as insane as action cinema gets. Knock Off sees the director and martial arts star once again teaming up to deliver a movie that simply has to be seen to be believed.Van Damme plays 'King of the Knock Offs' Marcus Ray, a shady businessman based in Hong Kong. When he and his partner Tommy (Rob Schneider) accept an order of counterfeit jeans to be shipped to the U.S., they become unwittingly involved in a plot by evil Russians to hold America to ransom, each pair of trousers containing a tiny micro-bomb that can be detonated by remote control.Knock Off rattles along at breakneck speed, the daft plot becoming more and more ridiculous with each and every scene, and with numerous characters switching sides throughout, the film can be a little hard to follow at times; thankfully, Tsui Hark compensates for his unnecessarily convoluted narrative by ensuring that the action is as exhilarating as possible, with brilliantly choreographed fight scenes and death defying stunts galore, including a wonderful rickshaw race through the streets of Kowloon and a breath-taking battle on board a freight ship where the massive metal containers prove to be just as dangerous as the enemy.Hark enhances his already bonkers action further with highly innovative visuals, the viewer presented with a dizzying array of impressive sweeping camera-work, inventive POV shots and creative camera angles that ensure maximum excitement. As far as the acting goes (as if that really matters), performances range from the good (Lela Rochon as sexy, sassy CIA agent Karen Lee), to the irritating (Rob Schneider doing his obnoxious comedic sidekick schtick), to the forgettable (Paul Sorvino phoning it in as CIA boss Harry Johanson), to the wooden (JCVD displaying his usual limited range).Sadly, Knock Off wasn't too well received at the box office, fans of the Muscles from Brussels obviously struggling with the film's crazy Asian style—a shame, because I would have loved to have seen Hark and Van Damme work together at least one more time.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Though the jokey lines seem out of place, the somber tone of this 1998 action movie makes the political subtext more sincere and less grandiose than usual , One of Van Damme's best movies ever..Action-packed , cheesy , Whatever you think of Jean-Claude Van Damme's acting skills, there is no denying his acumen when it comes to career-development choices. Graduating swiftly from his early, funnier films (Black Eagle) to martial-arts contest movies (Kickboxer), there was even a brief moment following Universal Soldier when stardom beckoned. But then he chose to anchor his place in the mainstream by turning to Hong Kong action flicks, a sub-genre which largely supplanted the Schwarzenegger-Stallone heroics of the 80s. Knock Off is the fourth movie in six years in which Van Damme has teamed up with cult eastern directors, and his second outing for Tsui Hark after Double Team. It is of interest only in that this is far more the director's picture than his own.Tsui's imprimatur is apparent in both the convoluted plot (involving nano bombs and Russian gangsters) and the staging of the fight sequences. It has long been accepted that Van Damme's fans don't come to his films wanting the labyrinthine complexities of The Big Sleep, but they do expect plenty of roundhouse kicks, splits and at least one 'butt shot'. Knock Off has none of these, Tsui seemingly preferring to show off his own techniques rather than his star's. The fight sequences are often filmed in disorienting close-ups, while slow and fast motion, freeze frames and Evil Dead-style crash zooms whip up plenty of sound and fury to camouflage the central emptiness.

Set in Hong Kong, Knock Off is the tale of how the fashion industry intersects with the Russian mafia and the CIA. As if you didn't already know. Tommy Hendricks (Schneider) is a fashion designer and his pal Marcus Ray (Van Damme) is shocked when he discovers "knock off" goods on the streets of Hong Kong, such as "Pumma" sneakers. But it's all just a ruse to smuggle high-tech weaponry such as extremely dangerous and destructive bombs that explode with green flames. When the marketing manager for V-Six jeans, Karen Lee (Rochon), gets involved - as anyone might if they were somehow embroiled in a scenario that involved Exploding Counterfeit Jeans (or ECJ's, as we like to call them) - they meet the mysterious Harry Johanson (Sorvino) and the stage is set for a lot of high-octane fights, stunts, chases and battles. Will these knock off products finally get our heroes...knocked off? Find out today! The purpose of movies, especially movies like this, is to entertain. And Knock Off certainly does. It seems to work overtime to please the viewer with all sorts of fast-paced and off-kilter scenarios, and the vibe becomes infectious. Just as director Tsui Hark did the previous year with JCVD in Double Team (1997), he teams him up with a wacky American sidekick. With Double Team, unforgettably, it was the one and only Dennis Rodman. Here, it's with unlikely action star Rob Schneider. We even get some brief Schneider-Fu, and, unfortunately, he also appears shirtless. Both Rodman and Schneider were hot in the 90's - which is easy to forget these days - which just adds even more to the nutty feel of these movies.If it's one thing Knock Off has, it's style, and we're not just talking about fashion. Hark's direction is filled with energy and overflowing with unusual camera angles (such as "shoe vision") to the point where it can be described as cartoonish. Far from a bad thing, the whole venture seems very "Hong Kong" and he probably figured, after Double Team, 'to hell with the American market, I'm doing this my way.' What reinforces that are the fun, Jackie Chan-style stunts and fights. Sammo Hung is credited as Second Unit Director, and this may seem insane, but you can actually tell. It's his action style all the way. JCVD gets a great intro to his character in the film, and both he and Rob Schneider both wear zany Hawaiian shirts for most of the movie's running time. Clearly they are the height of fashion. JCVD also has his typical funny faces on display, adding to the charm of the movie.While it was nice to see Paul Sorvino on board, though he seemed a tad bit confused (though wouldn't you be?) - especially in the scenes where he, Rochon, Schneider and Van Damme are all together (talk about powerful casting) - truly the biggest coup were getting the Mael brothers of Sparks fame to do the music. Their closing credits title song is very slick, clever and catchy, like most of their other work. You'll be singing "It's a knock off..." for weeks. Yes, weeks. Varouje Hagopian did additional music, and we've seen that name before (he seems to do the music for a lot of Billy Blanks movies). In the end, if it's zany, colorful, well-choreographed action you seek, Knock Off is a great choice.

Knock Off is set in Hong Kong during June 1997 as it is returned to Chinese rule after over a century of British rule, as the festivities are about to start V-Six Jeans executives Marcus Ray (Jean-Claude Van Damme) & Tommy Hendricks (Rob Schneider) are paid a visit by V-Six Jeans American corporate executive Karen Lee (Lela Rochon) who says that half of their last shipment they sent to the States were knock off's. They get the local police involved & decide to raid a factory belonging to Eddie Wang (Wyman Wong) who was storing the consignment before shipment, it turns out that the Russian mafia have counterfeited V-Six Jeans with small bomb devices in the buttons which can be detonated at any time by remote control & intend to black mail the Government with the threat of blowing millions of innocent jean wearing Americans up after flooding the States with the knock off's...This Aruban, Hong Kong & American co-production was directed by Hark Tsui who had made the awful Double Team (1997) with JCVD but one year earlier & I have to say that I quite liked Knock Off, it's no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it's fun if nothing else & much, much better than the aforementioned Double Team. The script by Steven E. de Souza definitely doesn't take itself too seriously with many comical & light hearted moments, both during the action scenes & the dialogue. There are some neat one-liners as various character's trade insults, argue with each other & try to be sarcastic, Knock Off might make you smile on a few occasions which is probably a good thing since you can't take it seriously at all. There's plenty of action although it's rather silly at times but one could say that's more down to director Tsui than Souza's script, it moves along at a nice enough pace but it can also be a frustrating film. The storyline is weak & the disjointed plot is a pretty poorly strung together excuse for various oddball action set-pieces. Most of the character's are very underdeveloped, the Russian mafia angle in particular seems almost like an afterthought, the various twists are a bit underwhelming too & the main bad guy at the end just comes from nowhere & has little or no motivation. Having said that JCVD & Schneider's character's are likable & Rochon's feisty CIA agent with attitude is memorable.Director Tsui does a decent job here, he certainly injects the films action scenes with a degree of energy & visual flair. From high camera angles he has the camera spiral towards the ground to focus on JCVD, from placing a camera actually inside knock off trainers to see the glue & steams tear apart to various other cool little tricks & camera positions Knock Off looks pretty good & has had a fair amount of imagination put into it's visuals. The action scenes are undoubtedly silly, from JCVD holding off an entire mob of machete wielding thugs to a scene when he drives a car out of a second storey car park window which then hits a metal container, flips over & JCVD them drives off! The fights are OK but maybe not violent or bloody enough, all this comedy stuff is fine but when it comes down to it I'd have liked to have seen some proper action violence. There are many scenes which don't really work, many scenes which look silly, in reality wouldn't be possible & really do stretch the films already very thin credibility.With a supposed budget of about $35,000,000 Knock Off is well made & has good production values & stunts although the green CGI computer explosions look awful. Mostly shot on location in Hong Kong while the 2nd unit stuff was shot in the Philippines. The acting is alright, JCVD is up to his usual standards, Schneider is OK as the comic relief while Lela Rochon steals every scene she's in.Knock Off is a decent & fun action flick from JCVD, it's better than a lot of his recent output & much better than Double Team but it's maybe a bit too silly & the story is rather weak for it to become any sort of classic. Good harmless if forgettable & very far fetched fun.