An action movie being a serious DIE HARD rip-off isn't necessarily a bad thing. It certainly didn't stop Andrew Davis' UNDER SIEGE from being very good or SPEED becoming great popcorn, if of course you want to argue that the later is an actual HARD clone.
Certainly its difficult to make something remarkable out of the same basic premise of said geographic location taken over by armed terrorists who are out for a major payday by taking people hostage. Like Zombie movies, one can only do so much with the story limits. Certainly I can compare it to fashion designers who still trying to make creative new uses of the same silk and cotton we've had for centuries. Some succede, most don't.
Director Peter Hyams reteamed with action star Jean Claude Van Damme after their career-best financial hit TIMECOP and maybe this movie should have worked, but it just doesn't really for me.
I mean certainly you have Van Damme killing alot of bad guys and causing many explosions. There are a couple of fun, entertaining fight sequences involving of all things a murdering mascot and a meat-slicer. The plot of terrorists taking over a hockey arena during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals is gimmicky, but in a good way. The awesome Powers Boothe hams it up as the villain. There are death-defying thrilling stunts, you name it.
The ingredients are there, but instead of scrambled eggs I get yellow goop.
Maybe the problem is in the little details. For everything that I enjoyed, something comes along that I didn't.
Ok, Van Damme is a fireman. Maybe I would let go the question of why he would know how to use firearms, but bombs? Sure why not. But did we really need that prologue about how he's haunted by the fact that he couldn't save a girl's life in a fire?
I mean, SUDDEN DEATH alone is pretty damn dramatic with the American Vice-President and Van Damme's kids held at gunpoint. That and thousands of spectators threatened with a fireball of death, did Van Damme need anymore motivation in saving the day?
Plus, as much as Boothe tries, his part sucks because its scripted like the poor man Yankee clone Hans Gruber. Hell, they even share the same haircut. At least UNDER SIEGE had the knack of having Tommy Lee Jones be a different sort of terrorist villain.
That movie, along with DIE HARD, some of its sequels, and SPEED all benefitted greatly from a baddie that would entertain us when the movie cuts away from the hero killing people.
That said, the movie's highlight is when Van Damme suits up as a goalie and gets into the hockey game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks in order to force Sudden Death and prevent the arena-bombs from detonating.
Several have criticized it as utterly ridiculous, but considering how awful the Blackhawks have been for the last many many years, a crippled kid would have denied them a few goals.
