Assassination Games (2011) Reviews

• Proof that one can be redeemed

  Heislegend2011-08-18

  I full admit I watched this movie for two reasons. First of all, the last thing I saw Van Damme in was JCVD, and I have to say that I was more than a bit surprised by the weight and depth of his performance. Second, I'm a fan of Scott Adkins ever since the last two Undisputed and Ninja films where he showed that westerners could screen fight just as well as anyone in martial arts flicks. How does all of that translate to this movie? Read on. Assassination Games probably isn't what you expect. It's not a knock down, drag out action movie. In fact the action sequences, while well done, aren't very plentiful. I actually think this may be a good thing. I'm starting to think that if Van Damme would take himself more seriously and stop doing all of the hacky crap he did in the 80s and 90s that he could very well be a well respected actor who just happens to know action movies. While I grew up with movies like Bloodsport and Kickboxer, watching someone mature and actually convey an actual sense of a character is quite rewarding. Here's to hoping that the man can stick with movies that have substance rather than just being some guy who can kick stuff and do the splits.

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• Jean-Claude Van Damme's good vehicle as a hit man who finds redemption

  ma-cortes2012-06-22

  This Van Damme action picture displays lots of violence, action filled, thrills and fierce combats . It is entertaining , well paced and including interesting characters . It's thrilling and tense , at time suspenseful movie and the firepower, explosion, struggles, shootouts are very well done . It deals with two assassins agree to work together as one named Roland Flint (Scott Adkins who replaced Vinnie Jones) attempts to revenge his wife (Bianca Bree , also producer) and the other named Vincent Brazil (Jean Claude Van Damme) collect a reward for a job to kill a mobster (Ivan Kaye) which is backed by dirty Interpol Agents . Meanwhile , Vincent helps a prostitute (Marija Karan) but the events go wrong . ¨Assassination games¨ is one of Van Damme's better films . It packs violent action, suspense, shoot-outs, and martial arts fighting and results to be quite amusing . Entertaining movie , thanks to tight pace, skillful edition and well mounted combats . It's tense and exciting , at time lackluster action movie , but the struggles and fighting are well done . During the scene where Flint visits Polo's 'hardware guy', he utilizes a laser-guided gun to target him , the effects used for the mechanical movement is taken from Robocop (1987) . Suffering Van Damme plays finely an affected killer , acting similarly to 'Hard cops' . Enjoyable relationship among two rival assassins , nicely played by Van Damme and Adkins ; both of them form an uneasy alliance to take down a deadly target . Van Damme is good as action hero in this middling budget filmed in Bucharest, Romania and New Orleans, Louisiana ; here Jean Claude plays a hit man , confronting nasties and using his martial-arts skills . Long time ago he played big budget movies (¨Time cop¨, ¨Universal soldier¨ ,¨Double team¨, ¨Hard target¨), nowadays he makes low-medium budget and directly to video (¨Derailed¨ , ¨Wake of death¨ , ¨In hell¨) like in his first films (¨Black eagle¨, ¨Cyborg¨, ¨Bloodsport¨). Remaining cast though unknown make nice acting as Kevin Chapman , Ivan Kaye and special mention to Marija Karan as a beautiful whore mistreated by her pimp . This movie film results to be a standard actioner , but packs interesting main roles , atmospheric action set pieces and is fast movement . It's produced with middling budget by Van Damme and Paul Leonard ; being professionally directed by Bernie Barbarash (¨Ticking clock¨ , ¨Hardwired¨ and ¨Six bullets¨ , again with Van Damme) , though Russell Mulcahy was originally set to shoot . The picture is extremely energetic and to be liked for real devotees of main actor . It's a must see for Van Damme fans.

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• Enjoyable Movie!

  cB3912011-08-08

  The two major roles, played by Scott Adkins, and Jean-Claude Van Damme are something that you can relate too. One is fighting to assassinate his target because of love, fighting to try and bring justice for his wife. The second is the opposite. Everything thing is about work, and he is just doing a job. Vincent becomes more open to love throughout the film, as you see the change from the start to the end, and that was a good believable story. The writing for this movie was great, good action sequences, though at times there was a little too much dialogue, they did make the movie worth watching, but also something that you won't regret having watched later.

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• The Best Film That You Probably Won't See This Summer

  hijklmno452011-07-29

  Wow! I really got lucky with this one! A Jean Claude Van Damme film released in theaters for the first time in the United States since 1998 if memory serves right! A very limited release mind you, but he's finally made it back to the big screen! It hasn't been advertised here at all which is a shame because Assassination Games is an excellent film! So where do I begin? Well, the film was shot for $4,000,000 dollars in some Eastern Block country which would normally scare me, but it actually ends up looking a lot better than the above stated price tag. Say around the 15 to 20,000,000 dollar range. The camera and editing work was very well done and the musical score is excellent, non pervasive and flows with the movie in a non intrusive way that adds to the dramatic effect instead of taking away from it. The story is pretty well done. I'd give the dialog a solid B for an action movie and there were no detectable plot holes that I could find. The best actor in the film in my opinion was probably Andrew French who plays Nalbandian who plays Devil's Advocate to Van Damme fallowed by Maria Kaijan, Jean Claude, Scott Adkins and Ivan Kaye. In fact, the acting was pretty much all the way around solid except for the interpol agents who's dialog and delivery was extremely weak. The film goes about 50/ 50 on the action to drama ratio. It drags a bit after the first 5 minutes or so but the fight scenes are interspersed throughout the film well and are also followable which is more than I could say for some larger budget films like the Transformers franchise and I would definitely have to say that Jean and Scott make an excellent action duo as they have the whole fire and ice thing going. If you happen to be within an hours drive of any of the theaters listed on the movie website, go and check the film out. It isn't as good as JCVD or the new Universal Soldier, but it's a very close third. So go check it out or just wait for the DVD. It'll be worth it! Thank you Jean Claude! I never thought I'd see you on the big screen again!

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• a solid action thriller, van damme's best movie since wake of death

  daworldismine2012-05-14

  this slick action pic stars van damme and scott adkins as assassins, one killing for money, the other revenge, when they are both after the same target, they have to work together. although on paper the story don't sound too original, but believe me this is a smart script with a few good surprises you don't see coming. and the action, well the movie is voilent and the action is fast, hard and brutal, if you ever wanted to see van damme chop of a guys head with a sword this movie is for you. in the early 90's it was seagal who was on top, but ever sice 2003, van damme has been the king, his movies a lot better, and van damme has actually turned in to something of a good actor. scott adkins, is also great here, although not as good an actor, he is brilliant at fighting, and handles his action stuff with ease, maybe even a bit better than van damme himself. all in all, i liked this film very much, and is further proof that van damme is still on top, i recommend

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