The Super Network

4/5

I know that the films of Jean-Claude Van Damme aren’t for everyone, but they are for me! I am a huge fan of JCVD, and I was pleasantly surprised with Wake Of Death, not only is it above average for direct to DVD but Van Damme puts on one of his best performances. Wake Of Death isn’t your typical direct to DVD action-esque film, this actually has more to it and Van Damme is just fantastic.

Simple story to follow, an ex-cop seeks revenge on the Chinese triads after his wife and her family are murdered. It starts off setting up this premise, and we slowly get introduced to the characters and the players and then it is on. You can sit back, and enjoy the show, it isn’t complicated. Van Damme actually gives a rather grounded performance, there is nothing bad here at all. I really enjoyed this film and it was good to see a director actually give him a chance to act in a film rather then just be the muscle man. The revenge genre has been done so many times, but I felt this one was of the better ones and would certainly recommend it.

The visuals are pretty good, the film is good to look at and you get a feel for the locations. The cinematography is quite impressive and it certainly feels too good for a direct to DVD effort, you could tell a lot of work went into this film to try make it stand out amongst the rest out there. I understand the film went through a few different director’s but it looks like it ended up with the right one as he did a great job. Certainly check this out if you want something more out of your typical direct to DVD films, and if you want to be surprised by Van Damme, because yes he can act. And he was acting before he made JCVD, also check Until Death another great performance there.