Until Death

First, Until Death is not a martial arts film. It is a suspense-thriller.Second, the focus is on Van-Damn's acting ablilities, not his looks, physique, or martial arts talents. Having said that, this film is a very nice alternative to Van Damn's usual martial arts films which focus on image (good looks) and not much on the substance (acting ability) of Van Damme and his fellow actors. What I especially enjoyed about Until Death is that Van Damn actually changed his appearance multiple times throughout the film, which added a true sense of realism to the movie. When he was using Heroine, I believed him. When he (Van Damme) was learning to speak again after being shot in the face, I believed him. Unlike Steven Seagal whose characters are alweays "born perfect", Van Damn shows human flaws and weaknesses that many people have in real life. His hair was messy. His face was not clean shaven or even entirely clean for the first hour of the movie.Van Damme did an amazing job with his character in this video. I must disagree with a few of the other reviewers who stated that Van Damme's acting still wasn't good enough to win an academy award. I actually feel that he is much better of an actor than half of the A list Hollywood stars who play in boring movies and over-act their roles, yet, they win awards.With Van Damme, we have a true acting genius that simply needs the right director and producer to develop not only his already very entertaining acting skills, but to also develop a film where all of the cast is believable. The story line for Until Death is well developed and important details are included to make it easy for the movie's audience to understand the plot.Amazing acting, powerful screen prescence, and very believable character development on the part of Van Damme. His real life ordeal with drug addiction in the 90's definetely translates in an emotional way to the screen. One of my favorites from Van Damme-a five star film (based on Van Damme's acting and screen prescence).

Though an action icon for twenty-odd years now, it may be that the best is yet to come for Van Damme, whose acting skills have markedly improved in recent years even if the quality of his movies hasn't always kept up with him. But UNTIL DEATH is a very good all-round picture that showcases both Van Damme's acting and action skills, built on a sound script with good direction and production values as well. There's a seedy, noir-ish feel to UNTIL DEATH that is similar, but superior, to what the filmmaker's went for in Van Damme's previous effort WAKE OF DEATH, but this is a much better overall film. Van Damme stars as a crooked cop named Anthony Lowe, addicted to heroin and indiscriminately unfaithful to his wife, whose life is suddently changed by a near-assassination which leaves him in a coma. When he comes to, Lowe gradually realizes how far out of control his life had spun and he begins to put the pieces back together one by one. Unfortunately, his bloodthirsty underworld enemies don't like the reborn Lowe any better than the old one, and a final showdown is inevitable. Van Damme deserves a lot of credit for his performance in this picture, capturing both the unsympathetic hopelessness of the pre-coma Lowe and the uncertain but determined hero that comes out of that coma with equal dexterity. His supporting cast is also very good, and the story consistently involving. Things do get a little slow now and then, but the quality of the drama usually holds interest anyway and the final shootout is great catharsis for what really is a spellbinding character-driven tale of a fallen hero's vindication.

Bias Alert! I never liked Van Damme's acting but I love action films. Before now his only acting performance that I found to be decent was Nowhere To Run 2003. David Sheehan of NBC-TV called it the best Van Damme movie ever. I agreed until right now. I am watching for the second time as I write this review to make sure my eyes did not deceive me. The storyline was very well written with a few side stories going on and a surprise twist also. The acting will not win anyone an Oscar Nomination but it was believable. Van Damme has left his martial arts behind but this still has plenty of action and it will hold your attention from start to finish. This is not a family movie due to sex, violence and dirty language, but none of that is overwhelming and will not distract from the film. There is one quick sex scene, one short cursing scene and one or two possible gory violence scenes depending on your taste.

Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in this bone-chilling, action picked thriller as Anthony Lowe, a down-and-out detective addicted to heroin whose days always seem to go from bad to worse. Lowe is coming out of a drug deal in which two officers were killed and the primary villain, the drugs, the money and the surveillance tapes are still at large. Lowe is also dealing with his wife, who has just informed him that she is pregnant-but the child is not his. After a gunfight in which Lowe comes very close to death, he falls into a coma. Whilst on the road to recovery, Lowe finds himself in a very personal battle to make amends with his kidnapped wife and to take revenge on his assailant once and for all. His boss formerly refused to employ Lowe as a detective again, but, the teenager Lowe paid to research for information comes out with nuggets of gold which would stop the criminal activities for a long time to come. This brings Lowe back his credentials and his old job.

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I was expecting a typical JCVD vehicle, and this was not. That's a good thing, by the way. This is a gritty, well-written and well-acted movie that gives Van Damme a chance to actually act, and not walk through a role. I won't waste your time running through the plot, because other reviewers have covered it fairly well. Let's just say if you're a fan of JCVD and ever wanted to see him pushed as an actor, this is the movie to watch. It's definitely a step up in quality, from the writing through the acting. Nicely done all around.

Hey come on, I can't believe some of the negative reviews given for this film, 'Until Death' is Van Damme's best movie for a very long time, certainly better than his previous effort 'The Hard Corps' which was shockingly bad. Despite the cynics out there Van Damme likes to bring something different to each movie, unlike say Seagal who plays exactly the same character in every film, usually a cop, wears the same clothes and hairstyle, with exactly the same storyline! Van Damme at least has tried a bit of diversity, from historical (Legionnaire, The Quest) to sci-fi (Timecop, Replicant), even a bit of comedy (Desert Heat, Knock Off). 'Until death' has Van Damme flexing his acting muscles with more of an emphasis on drama with only two major action sequences to speak of. It's a rather different character for Van Damme which is good to see, there are no martial arts in this one, just some very good shoot-outs and the whole film has a very gritty realistic feel and look to it, making it look like it has a bigger budget than it actually has - there are some movies out there with a huge budget that come across like b-movies!!! Overall a very impressive outing for Van Damme and let's hope that he can continue this trend.

A good performance by JCVD as a beaten down, drug addled cop on the edge, but the film is slightly let down by poor pacing and DTV frailties, which make it feel like a long episode of NCIS, rather than something more cinematic. The always reliable Stephen Rea plays the bad guy, but gets little in the way of decent screentime and decent dialogue to chew on.Not terrible by any means but Van Dammage has dome better DTV effortsThe blu ray quality is pretty patchy to say the least. Looked more like an upscaled DVD than a true HD print, but for such a low price, you can't really complain too much.

One of Van Damme s very best acting performances and action from beginning to end. He plays a dirty narc cop Anthony Stowe, who likes drink, and drugs, which is ultimately responsible for his downfall with gangster Callahan played by Stephen Rea, who he really worked for. Stowe pretends to be a good cop but seeks redemption after being left in a coma, and in the end sacrifices his life to save his wife who he decides he loves after all. Overall a very good and entertaining film with moments of humour as he dobs in another cop to look honest. There is also a good deal of violent moments for the action fan and this complements the plot with Stowe s wife who didn t really want to leave him but she was neglected. Van Damme looked wasted in the first part of the film but came to life after being left for dead for 6 months and this added to the film s authenticity. Well done Van Damme and also a good performance from the excellent Rea.

This is the best film JC has done - the next best being Second In Command. Also the VFX are outstanding in both. Brilliant director.

One of jcvds best although the US version may have an alternate ending this still ranks up there with on of jcvds best acting performances. No high kicks just drama and shoot em ups and he shows a side to him u won't have seen before.Enjoy