The heaven-made or at least computer-made match of martial-arts star Jean-Claude van Damme and Hong Kong action director John Woo (The Killer, Hard-Boiled, et al.) seemed as if it would have been beneficial to both parties -- higher production values for Woo, higher style for van Damme -- but it is difficult here to pinpoint any benefits to anyone. Woo is allowed wide latitude to distribute his calling cards: the slow-motion for emphasis and exaltation, the sequential dissolves, the mid-scene freeze-frames, more slow-motion, the wide-angle tracking shots that make the world appear visibly round and about the circumference of a hot-air balloon, more slow-motion, still more slow-motion, the fluttering doves (in slow-motion), and yet more slow-motion. All of these stylistic contortions, like those in the novels of Nabokov, tend to get in the way of what's being told. A slow-starting script, squeezing out a crocodile tear or two over homeless Vietnam vets, doesn't help matters. Perhaps the primary point of interest, slightly nosing out van Damme's modified (i.e., greasier, kinkier) Billy Ray Cyrus haircut, is the display of fireworks (sparks, flames, explosions) whenever a bullet makes impact with anything other than human flesh. Perhaps interest is not the right word. Yancy Butler, Wilford Brimley. (1993) — Duncan Shepherd
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