Assassination Games (2011)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

A Brilliant Conflict

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

On paper there is a lot to like.Two assassins playing the same target, been done before, Stallone did it, sort of FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE "reimagined." There is a trope with the apartment that JCVD lives in. Also been done before. But it is fun for all of 60 seconds.Everyone is very macho. There is a switch-reversal where JCVD, asked to trade his life for a young girl's, lets them kill the girl. Strangely refreshing, at least if you watch a lot of films. Feminists won't be pleased But there is OH SO MUCH not to like: * terrible cinematography, seems like it was done on video, also seems the director felt that the best way to do a "film noire" in color was to darken everything and turn the contrast up til your brain screams * Adkins' career peaked playing a Russian pit fighter and has not found his inner Olivier since. JVCD peaked a long time ago but he can be fun if he wants to. In this film, he does not want to be.The payoff is terrible. Other than the dead girl mentioned above the whole film is full of ugly men in high contrast.Yuk.

When corrupt Interpol agents spring a powerful drug dealer from prison and put a hefty price on his head in hopes of luring out their former #1 contract hit-man that they want dead who has a dark history with said drug dealer and another elite assassin is in the mix, you know things are about to get … complicated.Jean Claude Van Damme, Scott Adkins in a film called Assassination Games and here's the rub. Its not the type of flick you're picturing in your head. Okay maybe that's a half truth. The prerequisite elements are within. Guns, death, fisticuffs, deception, etc and it gets off to a brief but predictable action start, but then slow city. Between Van Damme's detached, solitary arch of a (hit)man and Adkins broken past, there's a lot of drama and the pacing is monumentally slow. No wham, bam thank you ma'am. Its nearly two hours long.Shot down and out in Romania, much of the film's backdrop isn't visually intensive / interesting. That doesn't mean it isn't well shot however. Watched in SD, felt like HD. Acting wise, the two leads acquit themselves fine and some of the supporting cast actually stood out. The story could be more exciting and/or shorter, but as it is, Assassination Games finds itself not at the bottom of either stars resumes, but hardly at the top neither.

This is a rather boring action movie . Or action drama. It tries hard to make main heroes deep. One is a guy who lost all contact with humanity. Second wants revenge for his wife's fate. Unfortunately , the whole drama is never affecting the viewer in any way. Not to mention that for a Van Damme movie it makes a big mistake – Van Damme ends as a supporting character in his own movie. Audience cares much more for Scott Adkins . He's got more screen time , he acts better and his motivation is better. He also gets the best action scenes here. Van Damme gives a lifeless performance and ends as a rather unsympathetic character . Especially thanks to a certain twist in the movie . I've lost all my sympathy for him after that.The whole movie is yellow and looks rather ugly instead of stylish. The story is predictable with the exception of one twist that kills any sympathy from viewer left for Van Damme's character. It also tries hard to be a movie about pain , revenge and redemption , but never succeeds.I give it 1/10. Better watch "Assasins" with Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas.

Pairing Scott Adkins and van Damme seems to bring the best out of those two actors (other examples being Expandables 2 and of course the most recent Universal Soldier). Of course in those movies and in this the pairing has a different agenda and a different relationship to each other, so I won't go into what makes them tick in this movie, so it won't be spoiled.What I can say, is that the action in this movie is more than decent, which can also be said about the acting. It's not your run of the mil action movie with just some random action scenes in it. There has been put a lot of thought behind this and if you're not to concerned about the next big action scene coming up, you will be able to quite enjoy it