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Cast:
Jean
Claude Van Damme
Dennis
Rodman
Mickey
Rourke
Paul
Freeman
Natacha
Lindinger
Action:
Sammo
Hung
Hung
Yan Yan
Charlie
Picerni
Writer:
Don
Jakoby (story)
Paul
Mones (screenplay)
Producer:
Moshe
Diamant
Director:
Tsui
Hark
Score:
 
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DOUBLE
TEAM
AKA:
The Colony
Year:
1997 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
'Double
Team' represents the first collaboration between legendary Hong Kong director Tsui
Hark and the muscles from Brussels and was
originally rumoured to be a remake of the superb 1960s British
television show 'The Prisoner'. Presumably copyright
issues or just the inclusion of Van Damme in the leading role
forced the project to take a more action orientated approach
with basketball star Dennis Rodman bought on board for his
acting debut. With all these mixed elements in one
package though, does it combine to make anything worth
watching?
Jack
Quinn (Van Damme) was once a top anti-terrorist CIA agent but
he has since chosen to put his danger days behind him and is
retired to the south of France. Well that was until the
one criminal that eluded him, Stavros (Rourke), resurfaced and
Jack is offered the opportunity to have a final swipe at
him. The assignment leads him to Belgium where he teams
up with arms expert Yaz (Rodman) and a newly assembled strike
force to ambush Stavros during a deal. Things go
horribly wrong though when it turns out to be an innocent
meeting between Stavros and his family which explodes into a
flail of bullets and leads to the death of his son.
Unfortunately, Stavros also escapes unharmed whilst Jack finds
himself knocked unconcious only to awake in The Colony -
a hidden island where ex-agents who are too valuable to kill
and too dangerous to set free are assembled to use their
skills to fight global terrorism. With Stavros now
vowing revenge on Jack's family, he must find a way to escape
the confines of the island and return to protect those that he
loves the most.
Made
at a time when Van Damme's short spell in the A-list was rapidly on
the decline,
'Double Team' really needed to be something special if it was
to re-establish his leading man status. Sadly, despite it being a marked improvement over 1994's
abysmal 'Streetfighter' (although then again, what movie isn't?), it
is far from the rollercoaster ride
that it could and should have been with an acclaimed
director like Hark at the helm. The main reason for
this is the multitude of ideas contained within the film, some of which still borrow
loosely from the 'Prisoner' concept whilst others come straight
out of the book of action movie clichés. There's
definitely more than a hint of the James Bond element here,
even going so far as to have Dennis Rodman playing something
of a modern day Q and Mickey Rourke portraying the ruthless
mastermind. However, none of these elements ever seem to
gel properly and thanks to some pretty terrible acting on
Rodman's part and a waste of Rourke's talents, the film just
seems like one giant slice of cheese that is often laughable
in it's execution.
On
the plus side, the action created by the teaming of the masterful Sammo Hung
and often overlooked Hung Yan Yan does provide the film with a
much needed spark that allows it to emerge as a semi-watchable
effort. Although clearly nowhere near their past
glories, the choreography employed here is reminiscent of
Hark's 'Time And Tide' with some ludicrously enjoyable stunts and a couple of decent
hand to hand confrontations. Cleverly, they focus mainly
on Van Damme's
kicking ability and employ doubles for the more acrobatic
moves which allows the timing to become comparable to the Hong
Kong style of choreography and is far better shot than the
majority of American made Martial Arts movies. The one
oddity though is that Mickey Rourke reportedly put a lot of
effort into beefing up for this role and studied basic martial
arts for his participation in the fights but when he is
finally put into action it is quite short lived and
disappointing to say the least.
'Double
Team' remains entertaining fluff despite the obvious criticisms
and is certainly a film that will leave a more positive impression
than the other dire Hark/Van Damme collaboration of 'Knock
Off'. However, it is still far from what you would
expect from an established director like Tsui Hark who seems
determined to divide
his time between potential masterpieces and Power Rangers
Saturday morning specials.
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