Ah, Pound of Flesh. Such a criminally cheesy and over-the-top premise - Van Damme gets his kidney stolen and needs to get it back from the scumbag criminals that got in order to save his dying niece. It's a move that seems like it has the perfect foundations to create a JCVD B-movie classic. Unfortunately, the issue with Pound of Flesh is that it falls over itself trying to be more complicated than it needs to be and forgets the basics matter most.
The story is as the premise I previously stated - but there's massive deviation along the way, in the form of numerous silly unnecessary plot twists. Honestly, the premise is ridiculous enough on its own that you could just go with it and enjoy the crazy ride. But instead, the creators of this feel the need to convey some sort of depth that isn't done well and isn't even necessary in the first place - it's a DTV Van Damme flick! Keep it simple with Van Damme beating guys to bits in pursuit of his quest and you keep everyone happy. Instead, the film has half-cooked attempts at trying to touch on themes like religion, sacrifice and family loyalty. The "attempts" mainly consist of random plot twists involving these things, with the characters acting in completely unrealistic ways. There's suspension of disbelief and then there's just stupid, and this well crosses the line into stupid.
It feels like another one of these DTV action movies where there is no real plan and one scene is created after another - Seagal's poorer DTV material often had this issue, leaving glaring plot holes and characters behaving in irrational or idiotic ways just to further the story somehow. There wasn't many plot holes in this from what I could see, mainly because any attempt at a consistent plot was superseded by crazy twists.
It's sad, because for the first half hour or so, everything seems to be going well. An entertaining premise has been established and you're ready for JCVD to go out on the hunt. After that, it seemed the creators didn't know how to properly sustain interest in an action movie during the quieter midsection so plot twists and poor attempts at character development came flooding in.
As for the action itself, the best scene is probably the first one, as we see Van Damme performing his martial arts repertoire and beating guys to a pulp. Everything thereafter is never really interesting, with Van Damme doing a bit of gunplay and also MMA but it never really works compared to his classic martial arts routine.
Also, this seems to have strong use of green screen in completely unnecessary situations. The main culprit is when Van Damme and other characters are driving in the car - there's a pretty obviously visible green screen outline on the actors. It begs the question, why? You're already filming in the location on the green screen. Why not film them actually driving? It's just another bit of stupidity in a long list.
I believe I've said all that needs to be said about this. It's a shame, because the premise is so ridiculous in itself that it could potentially be really entertaining - then they messed up the plot, writing, and direction...this is one to miss.
The story is as the premise I previously stated - but there's massive deviation along the way, in the form of numerous silly unnecessary plot twists. Honestly, the premise is ridiculous enough on its own that you could just go with it and enjoy the crazy ride. But instead, the creators of this feel the need to convey some sort of depth that isn't done well and isn't even necessary in the first place - it's a DTV Van Damme flick! Keep it simple with Van Damme beating guys to bits in pursuit of his quest and you keep everyone happy. Instead, the film has half-cooked attempts at trying to touch on themes like religion, sacrifice and family loyalty. The "attempts" mainly consist of random plot twists involving these things, with the characters acting in completely unrealistic ways. There's suspension of disbelief and then there's just stupid, and this well crosses the line into stupid.
It feels like another one of these DTV action movies where there is no real plan and one scene is created after another - Seagal's poorer DTV material often had this issue, leaving glaring plot holes and characters behaving in irrational or idiotic ways just to further the story somehow. There wasn't many plot holes in this from what I could see, mainly because any attempt at a consistent plot was superseded by crazy twists.
It's sad, because for the first half hour or so, everything seems to be going well. An entertaining premise has been established and you're ready for JCVD to go out on the hunt. After that, it seemed the creators didn't know how to properly sustain interest in an action movie during the quieter midsection so plot twists and poor attempts at character development came flooding in.
As for the action itself, the best scene is probably the first one, as we see Van Damme performing his martial arts repertoire and beating guys to a pulp. Everything thereafter is never really interesting, with Van Damme doing a bit of gunplay and also MMA but it never really works compared to his classic martial arts routine.
Also, this seems to have strong use of green screen in completely unnecessary situations. The main culprit is when Van Damme and other characters are driving in the car - there's a pretty obviously visible green screen outline on the actors. It begs the question, why? You're already filming in the location on the green screen. Why not film them actually driving? It's just another bit of stupidity in a long list.
I believe I've said all that needs to be said about this. It's a shame, because the premise is so ridiculous in itself that it could potentially be really entertaining - then they messed up the plot, writing, and direction...this is one to miss.