Sudden Death
1995 Directed by Peter Hyams
Synopsis
International action superstar Jean Claude Van Damme teams with Powers Boothe in a Tension-packed, suspense thriller, set against the back-drop of a Stanley Cup game.Van Damme portrays a father whose daughter is suddenly taken during a championship hockey game. With the captors demanding a billion dollars by game's end, Van Damme frantically sets a plan in motion to rescue his daughter and abort an impending explosion before the final buzzer...
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Sudden Death is Die Hard 1 if Die Hard 1 was Die Hard 2.
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Apparently the only redemption for not saving a little girl's life is brutally murdering a bunch of terrorists. Though at least its rather straight-faced but ridiculous embrace of the team/arena's features (he fights the mascot!) in such violence are given somewhat of an Anthony Mann-esque relationship through the cuts back to Van Damme's inherently pained expressions.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Five stars may seem a bit much for a Van Damme film, and this isn't the most cerebral flick out there, but this is truly a ton of fun, with a surprisingly great performance from Mister Van Varenberg himself and Powers Boothe delivering his best Hans Gruber impersonation as a disillusioned CIA agent who takes the VP of USA hostage in a hockey arena, where Van Damme works. Peter Hyams' direction is stilted in parts, but completely competent, with a script full of humor and grandstanding moments. A truly great action film.
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There's so many kitchen related deaths in this that even Casey Ryback would be proud.
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This was horrible. Plotwise, Sudden Death has been compared to Die Hard in a lot of reviews, but I wouldn't even mention them in the same sentence.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Apparently the only redemption for not saving a little girl's life is brutally murdering a bunch of terrorists. Though at least its rather straight-faced but ridiculous embrace of the team/arena's features (he fights the mascot!) in such violence are given somewhat of an Anthony Mann-esque relationship through the cuts back to Van Damme's inherently pained expressions.
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How fucking bad is this movie, man?
It's so fucking bad, the power of Powers Boothe can't save it, though he tries like a motherfucker.
Quick question: who would win in a fight? Powers Booth or JT Walsh?
There's one point where The Boothe is wearing a wig and a moustache and it's like what he would look like if someone gave you a drawing of what they think someone named Powers Boothe would look like.
And then helicopters? They don't work like that, man.
A shitty ice hockey Die Hard directed by Renny Harlin....'s brother's cousin's next door neighbor. Boo.
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While I LOVE me some JCVD, this is a really rough re-visit. Van Damme is at his best when he plays a martial artist or a fighter (or himself). Playing the John Maclane role in this "DIE HARD at a hockey game" film just doesn't play to my man's strengths. Not to mention that he plays a FIRE INSPECTOR. The dude is building MacGyver-style weapons, homemade explosives, and defusing bombs like no big deal. Kind of hilarious. William Goss tells me that this script was originally written as a parody, but then played straight in the end. As a comedy, this movie would have been kind of brilliant. Maybe if I had watched it immediately after a viewing of HOT…
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Great Die Hard clone! It's a lot darker than I remembered, I was disturbed by the numerous point blank executions. I can't really buy JCVD as an "unlikely hero", but the movie is successful in creating the constant feeling that the odds are not in his favor, and there's a sense of despair all the way through.
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Above average, brutal DIE HARD clone. JCVD fights a penguin. Powers fucking Boothe. Annoying kids.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Shove every penguin you find into a dishwasher.
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Sudden Death is Die Hard 1 if Die Hard 1 was Die Hard 2.