Purely Joyful Movie!

Better Late Then Never

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Anthony Stowe (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a bitter heroine addict. He's also a New Orleans police detective. His undercover sting to get his former partner turned drug lord Gabriel Callahan (Stephen Rea) goes terribly wrong. Two cops are killed. Back at the station, he turns in a fellow cop for trying to help his drug dealing nephew. His estranged wife tells him that she's pregnant by another man. His life is a mess. Callahan ambushes him leaving him in a coma.Van Damme is trying to do some deeper material. I like some of the first half even though it is still solidly a B-movie. The action directing is trying to be edgy but it's somewhat flailing around. The actors are mostly subpar. Van Damme does an admirable job but then the movie does an 180 in the middle. He goes into a coma and his character is swapped. The first half is a B-movie with potential. The second half turns it into a muddle.

It's rare to watch a direct-to-video action flick starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and come away impressed with the work of the director. I would've said it was rare to come away impressed with Van Damme's acting but I recently saw JCVD and combined with his strong work in the first 3/4th of this movie, I must acknowledge that Van Damme is a much better actor than I ever thought. Director Simon Fellows, however, manages to outshine his star with storytelling that's actually more effective when characters aren't talking, which makes it easy to credit Fellows over screenwriters Dan Harris and James Portolese. Frankly, it's the dialog and plotting that are the weakest parts of Until Death and even they aren't all that bad. The lack of martial arts action may disappoint the hardest core of Van Damme fans, but this film is good enough to entertain plenty of folks outside that demographic.Until Death is, essentially, Van Damme doing a more seriously dramatic version of Stephen Seagal's Hard to Kill. Now, admit it. That doesn't sound too promising, does it? Well, trust me that, outside of Timecop and Bloodsport, this thing is probably better than the Van Damme movies that made it into theaters. Anthony Stowe (JCVD) is a burned out narcotics cop in New Orleans who looks like death warmed over even when he's not strung out on heroin. He's estranged from his wife (Selina Giles) and his former partner has turned into a murderous drug dealer (Stephen Rea). When a sting operation against his former partner goes bad and Stowe then rats out a fellow cop, he slides into a spiral of booze, prostitutes and self-loathing until his ex-partner does Stowe a favor and has him shot in the head.That's not enough to kill him and after he opens his eyes in the hospital, Stowe is shipped to his wife's home to recover, something that doesn't thrill her new boyfriend (Mark Dymond). Stowe slowly recuperates and though he has a limp and nerve damage, he also emerges from his coma a better man who's more at peace with himself. That's something his old partner can't abide, so he kidnaps Stowe's now very pregnant wife and forces a showdown in an abandoned factory. That works out about as well as similar plans by every bad guy in a Van Damme movie.What makes director Fellows' efforts here so enjoyable is how well he gets his actors to express themselves without speaking. Selina Giles gives a fairly nuanced performance as a woman who's been exhausted by the man she loved and has moved on with her life. She's not simply angry with Stowe and her relationship with the other man isn't tawdry or shallow. The emotion you see in her eyes when she looks at her husband is resigned disgust and pity more than anything else. And Van Damme as the pre-brain injury Stowe is very impressive. He's a man at his wit's end, but not theatrically or cinematically so. There's a worn out, used up, wasted quality to Van Damme's expressions and inflection that is more powerful than any overt histrionics. Perhaps it's due to Van Damme drawing on his own personal and professional anguish more than acting but if so, Fellows disguises that by keeping the post-brain injury scenes with the well-adjusted Stowe free of any scenes where Van Damme has to emote a whole lot.Now, there is an excessive amount of oddly placed slo motion in the climatic battle and there's a whole "traitor in the police" subplot that is woefully underdeveloped. That's balanced out by Stephen Rea having a good time chewing up his melodramatic lines.Until Death is a good film. Not "good for a direct-to-video film" or "good for a Van Damme flick". It's just good. Give it a look.

I must admit, I only saw the last 30-45 minutes on Dubai TV or some other movie channel you can receive in the GULF. But I was taken a back on how good it was- For a Van Damme straight to video.I liked the story line, the atmosphere - and hey - Van Damme seems to have picked up a few acting lessons along the way. All the other actors do their best (or at least: not their worst!) I could not stay myself from watching the through!!! Maybe it's not a McTiernan film, and maybe not original, but somehow it seems to work! And we don't see van damme as a martial arts fighting machine, but as a normal cop with a (bad) history, walking around with melancholic guilt-ridden face. Hey - what a welcome change !! Honestly: definitely worth watching!!!

I am not afraid to admit I am a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme movies. As corny as most of them are, they are usually a pretty good example of the more showy aspects of martial arts. Most of them are simple revenge stories, with Jean losing a loved one (or several) and then relentlessly killing everybody until he gets to the big bad guy.This movie is a different kind of Van Damme vehicle. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, he gives a subtle performance here, even if it is yet another revenge movie. As a broken down cop, addicted to booze, heroin and sex, he's just not the hero. In real life Van Damme has had problems with drugs, and his face is now aged and somewhat tired-looking.There isn't as much physical action (martial arts) as you would expect, but there is significant gun play.While Until Death is a little too long (very common these days), it's a revelation to watch Van Damme actually act. At a few points you still get that feeling that he's overreaching his abilities as an actor, but for the most part his work in this movie is actually pretty impressive. I for one would love to see someone put him in a real A list movie, playing a character role, I really think he could pull it off after watching this one.New Orleans is practically a character itself in this one, with practically every cop corrupted in one way or another. On a side note, they should have gotten another actress to play his estranged wife, as the actress here has marginal talent at best. Recommended for Van Damme fans who want to see him grow up a little.