Knock Off (1998)

I'm sorry, but 3.7, people? I own this movie and I just watched it the other night and I can't get over how good it was!!!! Okay, I'll admit, Van Damme can't even talk let alone act, but let's be honest, no one watches his movies for an oscar performance. The action sequences were great (I really like the race at the beginning), the plot was a little confusing, but still pretty good and Rob Schneider was hilarious!!!! I think this movie deserves ATLEAST a 6 or a 7. I think it's great that Van Damme did a movie where he didn't take himself so seriously and just had fun!!! That's one thing that Jackie Chan could always do that Jean Claude couldn't. I also thought it was a great idea to have the movie in Hong Kong, the background to every great martial arts action movie. Oh, and could Lela Rochon BE any hotter!?!?! I would highly recommend this movie to any fan of Van Damme or Rob Schneider. Great director and a great cast.

Fmovies: So it's not the best movie ever made. Knock Off at least accomplishes what too many movies these days fail to do--entertain. It made us laugh. The filming was unusual.

And Jean-Claude's departure from the usual character portrayal was refreshing. He should try losing the ego and do comedy more often.

I saw it with no prejudice, meaning i'd never heard off it before, seen no trailers or anything. I switched on the TV and saw Rob Schneider and Jean-Claude Van Damme in the same film. Interesting. Grant it there's not much in the storyline. But the cinematography especially and special effects were very good. There was comic relief from Rob and action from Jean-Claude Van Damme. And it had the beautiful Lela Rochon thrown in on top. Overall, I thouroughly enjoyed watching the film becasue of it's smooth and comical style!

Knock Off fmovies. American audiences failed to appreciate one of the first serious attempts to bring pioneering Hong Kong cinematic techniques to Hollywood standards. John Woo's complete selling-out of originality to the lowest common denominator of American action films has emphatically NOT been followed by Taiwanese genius Tsui Hark. Twenty years from now, critics will look back and wonder in dismay how they could have ignored the MOST cutting edge film to be released in the 90's. "Knock Off" is this decade's "Blade Runner."

Jean-Claude Van Damme shows amazing acting range and comedic talent-at times he is reminiscent of Stoney Face Buster Keaton himself. Hark clearly learned from his weaknesses in "Double Team," this time willingly emphasizing them to get a laugh and then showing Van Damme's strengths as we've never seen them before. Rob Schneider manages to get some real acting in, a much superior sidekick role to the similar one he played in "Judge Dredd." Paul Sorvino literally chews the scenery as the mastermind Johanssen.

The camera-work is incredible. Arthur Wong takes us inside of a doll's eye, allows us to see from two angles at once, shows us x-ray shots of a sneaker's soles and utilizes freeze-frames to maximize suspense. At one point a tiny doll on a desk seems to be holding the two principles by their necks. Later their boss seems to grow to a superhuman stature as she chews them out for wasting company money.

It may take a while for this movie to be appreciated in the States, but word has it it was better appreciated in Asia. It's little surprise, this is one of the most Asian films ever to star Western actors.

I don't mean to offend the few people out there who enjoyed this movie, but when I first saw this film, I didn't like it. But I was at my video store, and I was still attracted by the cover of the movie so I decided to rent it again. And this is after I read the positive comments. I felt so different from the last time I watched this movie. I was enjoying it. I thought "Man! I was stupid!" This movie was funny. I didn't like Rob Shnieder at the beginning, but I liked him this time. He was playing his role as the comic relief guy right this time. I like Jean-Claude Van-Damme. I think he's a cool actor. The only reason why the movie haters don't like him is because of his accent. I think his accent's cool, After this, I'm gonna start sending my comments to Van Damme movies. The action sequences were awesome. The chases, fight scenes, gun battles, all great. I loved the direction by Tsui Hark. His camera angles, the zoom-ins, the stobes, tracers, slow-motion, it was so cool. I was like: "Woa! That was cool that zoom in on the inside of electronics and stuff!" This movie was so much fun. This is the kind of action movie I wanted to see. I loved it. I've totally forgotten how I didn't like this movie in the past. I like a good movie. I like movies such as "Titanic," Schindler's List," L.A. Confidential," "Citizen Kane," and "The Godfather."

Sure it's bad. If you aren't expecting a bad film, then you really don't like HK action films, do you? Tsui Hark is the only HK action director I've seen to get a Hollywood cast to perform action sequences with a real HK sensibility! John Woo's Hollywood films are trying too hard to be good, and the action suffers. With Knock Off, Tsui Hark delivers just the sort of dizzying, senseless, impeccably-timed, and frenetically-paced action we've come to expect from Hong Kong directors.