In Hell (2003)

This movie struck me as strange. I am used to a Van Damme as in Kickboxer, Bloodsport and Universal Soldier. And now this. One hardly recognises Van Damme. Seems like he actually is becoming an actor. Though the story is anything but original, it is quite well executed. The acting is above average for a direct-to-video-production. Action scenes are good, quite brutal and graphic - but that's about what I expected - why else would one want to watch a Van Damme movie? Certainly not because of the story. In Van Damme movies the "storyline" so far always was a lame excuse for one good old fashioned action scene after the other.

And that is the strange thing: With this expectation you wont exactly be disappointed, but strangely surprised. This movie has more to offer, especially Van Damme. I'm going as far as to claim that this movie would get better critics and a better reception if it wasn't Van Damme playing the lead. You just aren't used to see Van Damme this way.

That isn't a bad thing, it's just so unfamiliar, unusual. But - Let's get used to it. If this is the direction van Damme is taking, I'm happy with it.

Fmovies: Post the release of Timecop in 1994, or arguably Sudden Death the year after, Jean Claude Van Damme has churned out sub-standard actioners that even his undemanding fans have struggled to praise. His career reaching a nadir with the quite dreadful Derailed in 2002. He was literally stuck in the kind of straight to DVD hell that Steven Seagal has been in for the last 15 years. So it was something of a surprise to find that this 2003 film bucked the trend considerably. Now this is no rocket science head scratcher for the action genre fan, it's riddled with prison movie clichés and is as unoriginal as it gets. But it finds Van Damme filling out a role with more depth than the standard beefcake hero roles he was doing in his sleep. If this was a shift that he personally chose to do after having enough of the "for the money only films?" I'm not quite sure, but the result is a brutalistic action piece that contains possibly his second best performance after the critically praised JCVD in 2008.

The plot is simplicity extreme, Van Damme stars as Kyle LeBlanc, who along with his wife is residing in Russia due to work commitments. His wife is raped and murdered and Kyle is aghast as the Russian courts free the culprit on technicalities and bribery sweeteners. He's not having that so promptly guns down the man and gets sent to a hell hole prison for life. Here violence and sexual assault are the order of the day, with the governor happy to put on brutal fights to the death purely for his, and his friends, entertainment. Kyle is not a violent man but he's forced to become violent just to survive.

Yes it's a pretty formulaic as it sounds, you could run thru about ten prison based movies and find the best bits of them used in here. But it does work because of Van Damme's character. He's a good man thrust into a violent world, he gets bullied, he gets desperate, he is out of his depth. It's here that the film differs in the Belgian's career, for he doesn't flex his martial arts muscles, there's no high kick, slow-mo set pieces here. This sees him fighting normal man style, and this only after going thru a Rocky Balboa type training regime. As expected, the fight scenes are violent and Van Damme is immensely competent executing them. Hell! There's even religious and spiritual metaphors in here! I kid you not. In Hell is a must for action film fans, and certainly a must for Van Damme fans who gave up on him by the late 1990s. You will not be surprised by how the plot unfolds, and a couple of corny scenes drop in to say hello (ghost visitations, dear me), but you hopefully will be surprised at Van Damme's performance. And of course there's always some serious buttock kicking action to chew on as well. 7/10

This movie is great. It has one of the darkest tones ive ever encountered in a film. Jean-Claude Van Damme gives an awesome performance..all of you who think he cant act..check this out. This isnt just another prison movie, its got lots more to it then that, its about pain, suffering, not knowing what to live for, self remorse..This really is an excellent piece of film making and Van Damme proves to me that he can act..and act well. The fight scenes are choreographed well, the acting is good, the music score is good an well..just the movie in general is great. This is not your average Van Damme flick, theres no comedy, not much martial arts, Its sad at times, its more of suspense drama..there is quite a lot of action and the action is very good. Please see this movie, it is great.

In Hell fmovies. In Hell isn't quite the Oscar winner, but compared to Van Damme's last couple movies (who are we kidding, almost all of his movies), it is a pot of gold.

Sent to life imprisionment for the murder of his wife's killer, he is thrown into the violent world of prision fighting run by the guards. What happens? Watch the movie.

In Hell is shockingly well made due to it not being the typical Van Damme-fare. He shows a wide range of emotion while holding back his martial arts and instead getting beat up in over half the movie. The main reason to see In Hell is to see a damn good Jean Claude Van Damme movie.

8 out of 10

I am a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme, and its more because I can see where he's come from than the repressiable 'Louisiana' accent he has the audiences endure. In every film, including this one, he's a hero, but in this piece, 'In Hell' he's more of a Snake-Plisken from 'Escape from New York', that being an anti-hero.

The film shows a different side of Eastern Europe, one of corruption and Anti-American sentiment which is all too true to be called dramatized in the film. Must of the tempo of this film is well planned, and the story progresses without a hitch. The choice to use this director was excellent, because he is a moody perfectionist. After viewing the featurette, I could see more clearly why I liked this piece so much. A lot of Hollywood fat has been trimmed off of this film in many scenes. The harsh realities of brutal homosexuality are put forth not to show gayness as the true villain, but power and the total abuse of it. Drag queens, jail cell rape scenes, and one scene stripping Van Damme of his wedding ring really strip the viewer of the safe non-incarcerated life.

The soundtrack is excellent, giving that 'Run Lola Run' techno-house feel, making the occasional use of an orchestra well placed. The sound effects in this piece are good to notice as well, because in some scenes sound plays more of a part of the film than the shots themselves. The shots are very tight, and are obscured at times because of the small studio space used but are perfect for the feeling of claustrophobia on so many levels. One scene even has a solitary confinement that Van Damme endures in where the floor has a release sewer flowing brown through his cell. This is contrasted by an excellent CGI element that makes the film probably work better than if it weren't included. A simple moth.

Aside from the moth, the film has a good cast of actors with well worked characters, which was my primary concern in renting this piece. I didn't want to be let down yet again by some poor action flick that had bad audio, video, and high school C movie acting. Some of the worst possible things that could happen do to everyone in this film, which is a constant reminder of why pain is entertainment, and why this film actually worked well.

At last he delivers, after such Bottom of the barrel movies, like Derailed, which must be one of the worst movies to date. In this one Van Damme makes one of is best roles, almost the best prison movie role since Brad Davis in Midnight express (1978) It´s so much fun, to see some new environments, a russian prison which looks so authentic, everyone plays well, standard ingredients is used very well, Strong brutal violence, sodomizing, no glory.

For the first time ever, Van Damme is beaten up during the whole movie, he tries to committ suicide he sleeps in shit. It´s so unusual to see these kind of scenes with Van Damme.

Ringo Lam´s direction is superb,this one and Maximum risk is the best one´s, both directed by Ringo Lam.

See it and really enjoy.

I gave it an 8 out of 10