THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 26, 1995 TAG: 9512270244
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
AMONG JEAN-CLAUDE Van Damme's 14 American films, ``Sudden Death'' ranks as one of the silliest and most far-fetched.
In a thwarted effort to mix the the humor-action formula of ``Die Hard'' and the ``disaster'' flicks of the 1970s, the movie asks us to get worked up over a sports arena being held hostage during a hockey game. The vice president is in attendance, and bombs, it seems, have been placed all over the building.
The bad guys are demanding that the Treasury Department transfer billions of bucks to foreign banks. (So much for balancing the budget!) Out in the parking lot, explosions go off regularly and the body count mounts. Inside, the 17,000 fans never suspect a thing. Are they locked in?
Even when the roof opens and Van Damme gets into a fight above the arena, no one notices. Talk about avid fans. These folks are focused, and it's not on the plot.
One can hardly blame them. For long stretches, the urge is strong to ignore the movie and watch the game, which pits the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals.
Van Damme, playing a firefighter who is taking care of his two kids, is actually asked to act. His marriage has broken up and the children don't think he's very exciting. Nonetheless, he kicks around a few terrorists with an ease that doesn't come from training to fight fires. The exception to the routine fight scenes is the finale. Photographed from atop the arena, the hero is seemingly hanging from an electric wire.
Powers Boothe snarls a bit but wears a stylish tux as the villian. He fares better in other theaters currently as Alexander Haig in ``Nixon.''
Directed by Peter Hyams, who once could claim to be a promising comer, the action scenes are so silly that no one could believe anyone is in danger. The only thing that finally distracts the fans is when the scoreboard explodes.
After John Woo's ``Hard Target'' put Van Damme into position to step up to the big leagues with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, ``Sudden Death'' is a regrettable step backward. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Sudden Death''
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Powers Boothe, Audra Lindley, Dorian
Harewood
Director: Peter Hyams
Screenplay: Gene Quintano
Music: John Debney
MPAA rating: R (cartoonish violence, some language)
Mal's rating: One star
Locations: Chesapeake Square, Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Janaf,
Main Gate in Norfolk; Kemps River, Lynnhaven 8, Surf-N-Sand in
Virginia Beach
by CNB