CompleteMartialArts.com - Until Death
|
List Price: $19.94
Our Price: $14.99
Your Save: $ 4.95 ( 25% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Selina Giles, Mark Dymond, William Ash, Stephen Lord (II)
Directed By: Simon Fellows
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 0043396176997
Format: AC-3
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: 2007-04-24
Running Time: 101
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in this bone-chilling action-packed thriller as Anthony Lowe a down-and-out detective who is addicted to heroine and his day always seems to go from bad to worse. Lowe is coming off of a drug deal in which two officers were killed - the primary villain the drugs the money and the surveillance tapes are still at large. He is also dealing with his wife who has just informed him that she is pregnant - but the child is not his. Drowning in his sorrows Lowe finds himself in the company of a familiar hooker who orders a few drinks and disappears into the ladies room. After a gunfight Lowe comes very close to death falls into a coma and could likely be a vegetable for the rest of his life. While the police try to track down his assailant Lowe spends the next six months in a deep coma. His wife wants to move on but she can â„¢t manage to leave him given his current condition. After Lowe begins to recover he finds himself focused on just two things: making amends with his wife and taking down his shooter who has been on a recent crime spree. After he â„¢s back on his feet and his wife has left him Lowe tries to get her back only to find that she â„¢s been kidnapped. He sets out on a thrilling action-packed chase to win back his life and to avenge his shooter once and for all!System Requirements:Run Time: 113 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating:Â R UPC:Â 043396176997 Manufacturer No:Â 17699
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating: 
Summary: EXCITING CRIME DRAMA FOR VAN DAMME
Comment: Though an action icon for twenty-odd years now, it may be that the best is yet to come for Van Damme, whose acting skills have markedly improved in recent years even if the quality of his movies hasn't always kept up with him. But UNTIL DEATH is a very good all-round picture that showcases both Van Damme's acting and action skills, built on a sound script with good direction and production values as well. There's a seedy, noir-ish feel to UNTIL DEATH that is similar, but superior, to what the filmmaker's went for in Van Damme's previous effort WAKE OF DEATH, but this is a much better overall film. Van Damme stars as a crooked cop named Anthony Lowe, addicted to heroin and indiscriminately unfaithful to his wife, whose life is suddently changed by a near-assassination which leaves him in a coma. When he comes to, Lowe gradually realizes how far out of control his life had spun and he begins to put the pieces back together one by one. Unfortunately, his bloodthirsty underworld enemies don't like the reborn Lowe any better than the old one, and a final showdown is inevitable. Van Damme deserves a lot of credit for his performance in this picture, capturing both the unsympathetic hopelessness of the pre-coma Lowe and the uncertain but determined hero that comes out of that coma with equal dexterity. His supporting cast is also very good, and the story consistently involving. Things do get a little slow now and then, but the quality of the drama usually holds interest anyway and the final shootout is great catharsis for what really is a spellbinding character-driven tale of a fallen hero's vindication.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The new Van Damme
Comment: What makes this film comes down to one thing - Jean Claude Van Damme, both the actor, and the character he plays. Gone are the days of Van Damme old school kick butt action. The aging actor has substitued martial arts for improved acting. In Until Death, thats exactly what you get - very little action, limited to a couple of shootouts in exchange for a guy who can now finally act quite well and create a sturdy character.
Van Damme doesn't play your everyday good guy cop. He is messed up pretty much from the start. A drug heist goes bad in the beginning of the movie, and everyone wants to blame him for the mess. With consistent anger and depression, alcohol, drugs, and a wife pregnant by someone else, you have to wonder where this is all gonna turn around - if it even does. It finally does, on the deathbed. He gets a second chance, and begins to turn things back around. Though I will admit, I thought the first half of this movie was more interesting when his charcater was going downhill.
This is basically a thriller with some small character twists throughout the story, but nothing more. The bad guy in the film did not impress me at all, and as mentioned earlier, forget any hopes of fights - just guns in this film. Most of the characters can act well, but no one surprised me with more than required. Again, its all Van Damme who steals the show.
If you are a fan of the old school Van Damme, you may just hate this. If you want to see how much this guy has changed, this is worth checking out. Van Damme looks to be in a transitional period here, and if he continues to perform as well as he has here, he may still have plenty of years ahead of him in the industry.
Acting - 4
Action - 2
Characters - 3.5
Story - 4
Overall - 4
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Cut Above the Rest
Comment: The movie itself was an average crime drama, somewhat formulaic, and yet fairly entertaining. What was suprising was Van Damme's performance to give this average film a cut above the rest. I've seen several Van Damme movies, and while I'm an action junkie, I could never say any previous Van Damme movies were ever exceptionally good. This time around he plays the part of a person we can all relate to, a hero with his own flaws, and though there is plenty of action, there is a lot of drama and suspense to build up to the action. My wife and I first saw some of this on television, and since we missed most of it decided we had to go and rent this. What was suprising was that parts that were on the DVD were left off from the bit we saw on television (not suprisingly, since some of these parts were too graphic for television), but there were some parts that were included on television that were never included on the DVD. Had the airing on television used some of the deleted scenes to accomodate for removing other parts? Not sure, since the DVD really didn't have much in the way of features, which was somewhat of a disappointment. Still, the movie itself was worth the watch.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Acting From Van Damme!
Comment: First, Until Death is not a martial arts film. It is a suspense-thriller.
Second, the focus is on Van-Damn's acting ablilities, not his looks, physique, or martial arts talents. Having said that, this film is a very nice alternative to Van Damn's usual martial arts films which focus on image (good looks) and not much on the substance (acting ability) of Van Damme and his fellow actors. What I especially enjoyed about Until Death is that Van Damn actually changed his appearance multiple times throughout the film, which added a true sense of realism to the movie. When he was using Heroine, I believed him. When he (Van Damme) was learning to speak again after being shot in the face, I believed him. Unlike Steven Seagal whose characters are alweays "born perfect", Van Damn shows human flaws and weaknesses that many people have in real life. His hair was messy. His face was not clean shaven or even entirely clean for the first hour of the movie.
Van Damme did an amazing job with his character in this video. I must disagree with a few of the other reviewers who stated that Van Damme's acting still wasn't good enough to win an academy award. I actually feel that he is much better of an actor than half of the A list Hollywood stars who play in boring movies and over-act their roles, yet, they win awards.
With Van Damme, we have a true acting genius that simply needs the right director and producer to develop not only his already very entertaining acting skills, but to also develop a film where all of the cast is believable. The story line for Until Death is well developed and important details are included to make it easy for the movie's audience to understand the plot.
Amazing acting, powerful screen prescence, and very believable character development on the part of Van Damme. His real life ordeal with drug addiction in the 90's definetely translates in an emotional way to the screen. One of my favorites from Van Damme-a five star film (based on Van Damme's acting and screen prescence).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Van Damme the actor, not the martial artist.
Comment: Van Damme gets better with each movie he does. During the first half of the film he looks like death warmed over and is very convincing as a hopeless addict. When he comes out of his coma he looks so much better. It's almost as if he lost weight to make his face look gaunt and stressed. The before and after is striking and he plays his character to the fullest. Nothing to complain here about Van Damme, he's definitely the star of the movie and outshines all of the other actors. Speaking of the other actors, many of them forced their lines out. You can just tell when people can't act. The only other complaint I have is the gun scenes. Most of the thugs looked like they had never held a gun before. Timing on some of the people getting shot was off, the stuntmen fell a fraction of a secont too late, or too early. The gun fight scenes showed how low budget this film really is. Shoddiness aside, Van Damme fans will find much to like about this film. The mere fact that he's grown so much as an actor warrants five stars in my opinion.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
