| Wake Of Death (2004) Cast:Jean-Claude Van Damme, Simon Yam,Phillip Tan Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as an ex-mobster who takes vengeance on the triads who killed his wife, however along the way he finds he must also rescue his son and new daughter from the clutches of the triads led by Simon Yam in this admittedly well made actioner. For a Van Damme movie, this is very familar stuff in terms of plot and story but where as in the past this has dealt with how many fightscenes can be jammed into the movie, this one deals with the character development involved and well shows Van Damme in a much darker light. Van Damme is a mobster with family connections, he's never motivated by goodness or anything but vengeance, I myself have seen this type of movie done plenty of times so I can't really say how much I admired it, other then I found it more interesting than usual. It's well acted, I was rarely bored and it was well directed, indeed Martinez looks like he has a career ahead of him as he establishes an excellent atmosphere which alone makes this worth seeing. Still giving credit where it's due, . It's nice to see Van Damme trying to tackle harder stuff than usual and although Wake Of Death has few surprises, I myself was pleased with what I saw. D.Phillipe Martinez*** |