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THE
ORDER (2001)
A.K.A.
- Jihad Warrior
Reviewed
by Phil Mills
With
'The Order' it would appear that Jean Claude Van Damme has at
last reached the conclusion that his success did not spawn
from his thespian abilities and finally gets back to what he
does best; punching and kicking the stuffing out of bad guys!
This is to take nothing away from recent outings like 'Replicant'
that offered an alternative perspective on the action genre
but being a child of the 80s, I have missed the bygone days of
invincible heroes of which Van Damme was a product so I am
more than happy to see him return to his roots.
It
is said that during the Crusades a single knight grew weary of
the violence that plagued his lifestyle and chose to create
his own Order of peace loving individuals that could live
alongside each other in harmony. As the generations
passed, "The Order" (as it became known) remained
and to this day a sect lies deep in the heart of Israel with
hundreds of followers to it's name. When an ancient map
indicating the whereabouts of the treasure of the Order falls
into the hands of a Professor he suddenly becomes an extremely
sort after man. So sort after in fact that he disappears
completely whilst in Israel, much to the dismay of his son
Rudy (Van Damme). Arriving in Israel, Rudy receives a
hostile welcome as his questions seem to be upsetting a few
ominous looking locals but he will stop at nothing to get his
father back even if it means letting his fists and feet do the
talking.
Firstly,
I must emphasise that 'The Order' is certainly nothing
groundbreaking and the main criticism is that it is routine
action-fodder but it does utilise enough ideas and elements
from various other films to make it a successful mix.
This is particularly visible within the plot which borrows
heavily from Jackie Chan's 'Armour
Of God' and the Indiana Jones series to provide an
entertaining if predictable story. It's also interesting
to note just how much the filmmakers have examined Jackie
Chan's back catalogue to create 'The Order' as the
similarities are evident right from the action style and fight
locales down to the outtakes before the end credits.
Sadly though, it is not quite up to Chan standards but does
prove far more enjoyable than the majority of Van Damme's
other Hong Kong connections, mainly because of the inclusion
of several more action sequences.
The
action suffers from the faults we have come to expect from
American martial arts movies (i.e. - choppy editing and a star
with a limited vocabulary of moves) but we can be thankful
that Sheldon Lettich has been reinstated to the director's
chair as he seems capable of acquiring the best from Van Damme
as we've seen in 'Double Impact' and 'Lionheart' (AKA 'A.W.O.L.').
Lettich and Peter Malata provide some entertaining action that
varies the combat nicely. Each move is presented crisply
and cleanly with a limit placed on Van Damme's trademark manoeuvres
which thankfully prevents overkill on his flying kicks or
splits. The finale in particular shows Van Damme in fine
form as we see him battle it out with his opponent using only
his feet with some good combinations that are filmed in a
pleasing manner. The 80s influence is also evident
throughout as Van Damme fails to lose a single fight and
storms his way through each combatant with ease which is
always quite a laughable feat.
'The
Order' is a welcome step backwards for Van Damme and will
undoubtedly prove popular with those of you that have felt he
has fallen off the rails in recent outings. At the same
time though, it is still far from the quality which launched
his career but we can surely be thankful he has taken recent
criticism on board and is back to making the kind of films
that suit his on-screen persona.
Rating:
 
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