"Au revoir, fucker!"

A pretty underrated
Van Damme actioner.

Breaking news: Van Damme in being pretty good in a decent early 90s actioner shocker.

It's not his best performance, and it's not his best film. Not the most intelligent script, not the most daring stunts nor the coolest bad guys.

It has some good scenes, though. The opening break out from the prison truck is great, plus a few of the fight scenes are entertaining. It's just that, well, it's sandwiched between 4 excellent Van Damme films (probably 4 of his best) in Double Impact (1991) and Universal Soldier (1992), and then Hard Target (1993) and Timecop (1994).

It's the odd one out. It's good, but it's not as good as those in most respects. Probably the best "romantic" one, but who watches The Muscles for his romancing of women? Nobody.

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Extremely underrated movie.

"Au revoir, fucker!"

A pretty underrated
Van Damme actioner.

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Breaking news: Van Damme in being pretty good in a decent early 90s actioner shocker.

It's not his best performance, and it's not his best film. Not the most intelligent script, not the most daring stunts nor the coolest bad guys.

It has some good scenes, though. The opening break out from the prison truck is great, plus a few of the fight scenes are entertaining. It's just that, well, it's sandwiched between 4 excellent Van Damme films (probably 4 of his best) in Double Impact (1991) and Universal Soldier (1992), and then Hard Target (1993) and Timecop (1994).

It's the odd one out. It's good, but it's not as good as those in most respects. Probably the best "romantic" one, but who watches The Muscles for his romancing of women? Nobody.

This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Extremely underrated movie.

A pretty solid action flick from Van Damme. Not the least bit original ... in fact, it's extremely derivative of "Shane", but it delivers exactly what's expected and delivers it well. Van Damme was clearly trying to move into more mainstream fare here. Although he plays a kick ass hero in this one, there's really no sign of kickboxing in this one. It has his most accomplished supporting cast to date, with Ted Levine standing out as a nicely understated villain.

Van Damme at his acting best here, with a story that is more developed than your usual Van Damme fare and a fine supporting cast, with Ted Levine underplaying the villian role perfectly.

This is much less action oriented and more emotionally engaging than the usual Van Damme fare. It doesn't have any spectacular action sequences or grandstanding villains, it instead tries to develop its characters and build upon their relationships. I've never had any doubt that Van Damme could bring it when required, acting wise, but here he's much more restrained than his usual cheesy style. Plus, in it's portrayal of small town America, it doesn't have the standard stereotypes and cardboard characters, which is a welcome change of pace.

If there was ever a film that deserved to be called underrated, this one is probably it.

fun if a little short, miss casting of Rosanna Arquette but some neat action.