It's a good day my friends because we have a new Van Damme to work our way through with his latest action opus, 'Pound of Flesh', with this film reuniting JCVD with director Ernie Barbarash for the third time, with the other two films being the completely presentable action epics 'Assassin Games' and 'Six Bullets'. Unfortunately for us, of these three films, 'Pound of Flesh' is the weakest. Not terrible, but not nearly as thrilling as we would've liked.
Deacon (Van Damme) has arrived at nice hotel in Manila, but it looks like as he enters this hotel certain people were expecting his visit. Strange. First thing Deacon does, and it looks like he does this before even checking into the hotel, is hit the Red Light District for some fun. What he finds is the pretty girl named Ana (Charlotte Peters) getting harassed by some dude named Drake (the late Darren Shahlavi). Ana is very pleased with Deacon's help, and rewards him suitably. Yay! I mean NOOOO! Leave your pants on Deacon because there's a darn good chance when you wake up in the morning you will be in a tub of ice and you will be missing one of your kidneys. Don't do it!
Oh well. You see Deacon really needed this kidney as he was only in Manila to gift this kidney of his to the daughter of his estranged brother George (John Ralston). Now George is super sad because his daughter will die without this transplant, and Deacon is super pissed and he's going to get his kidney back. First thing Deacon needs is help, so he dials up his main man Kung (Aki Aleong). About Kung… he is a real downer in this movie. First of all, he's kind of useless as an Inside Man because everything Deacon asks for, he can't get. Always whining about how things have changed and he doesn't have any more connections. And the few things he can get, he whines about how much money it costs and how he doesn't have any loot. Worst Inside Man Ever. And whatever Kung isn't whining about, Deacon's brother picks up the slack. Even though my man had his kidney ripped out just a few hours ago, Deacon looks like he'd much better off without the dead weight of his help holding him down.
Deacon's plan is to find the girl he sexed, she being the one that set him up, who invariably will be MORE dead weight we will be dragging around in this movie, find the person that has that kidney, flat rip it out of their body, and then give it to his niece who is a perfect match for this kidney. Not her dad mind you, who seems to be the most obvious choice, but her uncle. That Deacon, I tell you. And while I'm pretty sure Deacon is going to find this missing kidney of his, and mow down plenty of people in the process, ripping it out of the new recipient might be a little complicated.
One thing we have to mention in regards to 'Pound of Flesh' is that it feels a little rushed. Many have mentioned this, but it is nonetheless true, but there is some seriously shoddy greenscreen work going in this one, which is almost inexcusable in modern cinema nowadays, and I'm sure this is something that could've been ironed out with a little more time. And I guess a couple of extra bucks given to the effects guy.
But the effects weren't the only thing that felt somewhat off in this film as the action sequences, from the fight scenes, to the suspect car chase, to the final shoot out, all felt undercooked and weren't nearly as tight or as crisp as we are used to in recent JCVD joints. And considering this is an action film, this is a problem.
Van Damme's performance was solid, though we must say he is looking a little haggard. I mean the man still has the physique of a super fit twenty five year old, but homeboy looks like he really needs to get some sleep. On one hand it worked since they did just yank out his kidney, but he was looking wore out even before that happened. Most of his supporting cast just served the purpose to annoy. As we mentioned, Aki Aleong's Kung just rained on our parade for his entire time in the movie, John Ralston's George whined incessantly, Charlotte Peters is plenty beautiful, reminding me of a young, fresher version of Asia Argento, but her character served almost no purpose after that opening scene. Darren Shalahvi did well, as he usually does, getting beat up as he has gotten his ass kicked so many times in so many action movies before this one… I've seen Darren get wore out by Seagal, Dolph, Stone Cold, Michael Jai White, Donnie Yen, Dacoscos… the list goes on and on… and we will miss him as truly his life ended far too soon.
Ultimately we were a little disappointed with what we got from 'Pound of Flesh', if only because of the last few films from Van Damme and company have been pretty darned entertaining. This isn't terrible, say like those joints from the mid 2000's that JCVD was sleep walking through, and we hope to never return to those days, but still a bit of a disappointment.
