Death Warrant (1990)

Wonderful character development!

Captivating movie !

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Blistering performances.

Louis Burke (Jean Claude-Van Damme) is a cop who is assigned with the task of going undercover in a violent prison whereby inmates and guards are being killed. Burke must try to find out who is being killed, why they are being killed and ultimately who is behind the killings. Things go from bad to worse for Burke when he learns that someone on the outside is assisting the guards and inmates in carrying out these crimes.Like I said in my summary the story here is OK and serviceable, but it's still rather run-of-the-mill and whilst Death Warrant never does anything truly bad it's also a film that it's really hard to care about whilst watching it. Perhaps part of the problem is the approach that has been used here; a lot of JCVD films are done in a more tongue-in-cheek manner which, more often than not, make some of the weaker stories that little bit more digestible. In Death Warrant, the director has used a more deadpan and serious approach to the material making the whole film feel rather dour and dull. As a result of this the film lacks any real tension or excitement - the only time the film gets close to either of these things are the scenes involving The Sandman - this is largely thanks to a wonderful performance by Patrick Kilpatrick. In fact if the Sandman had a larger role in the film then I'm sure I would have enjoyed this more than I did. The only other person to make any sort of impression on the picture was Abdul Salaam El Razzac as The Priest - at least he tried to bring some fun to the picture.The rest of the acting is so-so at best; Van Damme isn't a great actor, but in this film he was really poor and looked as though he was reading his lines from an autocue. I would like to say that he made up for this in the action scenes, but even they aren't up to the same standard as those from films such as Bloodsport or Kickboxer. Cynthia Gibb is also bland and adds next to nothing to the picture. The supporting cast mostly play ridiculous clichés, but I suppose that was all that was asked of them.All in all, Death Warrant is a pretty poor offering, but with little tweaks here and there it could have been a pretty good film. If we'd have had more of the Sandman and a bit more humour then I think that these things would have been the difference between this film being a good film as opposed to a below average film. Sadly, for me, Death Warrant is definitely the latter of the two.

"Death Warrant" should do just fine when film fans need their action fix. It's a pretty entertaining Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle with a solid pace, assorted brutality, and enjoyably heinous villains. Written by David S. Goyer, and directed by Deran Sarafian, it stars JCVD as Louis Burke, a Royal Canadian Mountie from Quebec (thus explaining his accent this time around) who is recruited to work undercover in the L.A. prison system. Posing as a prisoner, his job is to find out who has been offing various inmates. The real trouble begins when an old nemesis of his, a serial killer dubbed The Sandman (Patrick Kilpatrick) is transferred to the same prison as Louis. All in all, this movie is a good deal of fun; even if forgettable in the end, it's slickly made, with JCVD in fine form and kicking lots of ass as per usual. It benefits from a strong supporting cast beginning with Robert "Benson" Guillaume as Hawkins, a one-eyed veteran prisoner who provides Burke with valuable assistance. The bad guys are an entertaining bunch, from brutal head guard DeGraf (Art LaFleur) to the hilarious Sandman, a swaggering psycho often to be seen with a smile on his face. He also proves to be very hard to kill! Joshua Miller ("Near Dark") is a geeky genius computer hacker, Armin Shimerman ('Star Trek: Deep Space Nine') a nefarious prison doctor, Conrad Dunn (Psycho from "Stripes") the solicitous Konefke, and the extremely striking Abdul Salaam El Razzac plays enigmatic prisoner Priest. The pretty Cynthia Gibb is adequate as the major female presence and requisite love interest. The instantly recognizable Al Leong has one of his standard henchmen parts and Larry Hankin, himself no stranger to prison pictures having done "Escape from Alcatraz", appears unbilled as Myerson. Russell Carpenter does the frequently moody cinematography and plenty of atmosphere is guaranteed due to the prison setting; the opening sequence with Burke searching for The Sandman is likewise full of menace. The final quarter hour or so with Burke and The Sandman facing off is exciting and a total hoot as The Sandman keeps coming back for more. Fans of the star and the genre should be quite amused, overall, and at just under an hour and a half, the movie does not overstay its welcome. Seven out of 10.

It seems that Double Impact was the movie that made Van-Damme a star, while the martial arts-based B-movies that preceded it merely built his fame ever-so-gradually. Death Warrant is the odd-one-out in that regard as it is neither a Kickboxing tournament flick nor laughably awful. It seems to be set in some semblance of reality though the story never seems to be quite sure of what it wants to be or where to go.Lewis Burke is a kickboxing Canadian Mountie (there's a sequence of words you never thought you'd read) who, in the opening moments of the film, guns down and kills demented serial killer The Sandman at point blank range with a .357 Magnum. Some time later he is sent undercover in an extremely corrupt prison to find out who has been serial-killing the inmates. Helping him out is Amanda Beckett (Cynthia Gibb, looking exactly like Emma Watson...only prettier) a lawyer who poses as his wife and feeds him information from the outside. Meanwhile, it turns out that The Sandman ain't quite dead (despite being shot many times with a .357 Magnum) and is seeking revenge. There goes Burke's cover.Death Warrant (meaningless title, btw) was the first screenplay by acclaimed writer David S. Goyer (The Invisible, The Dark Knight trilogy) and you can identify his surreal trademark even at this early stage. However, the film builds and develops like a supernatural horror, yet is firmly grounded in the 'prison thriller' genre. The eventual revelation is very weak, and belongs in a totally different movie. If it had the nerve go all the way with the supernatural element it would have been much better. I would rather a movie aim for something higher, and fail, that aim for something low-wattage and dull (which Death Warrant unfortunately does) and 'succeed'. Patrick Kilpatrick (an edgy, nervous actor who you might recognize as Finn in Last Man Standing, or as the mercenary who unwisely challenges Penn's authority in Under Siege 2) is brilliant as the Sandman but he's given little to do. His presence in the movie feels out of place.Deran Sarafian's slick direction makes a lot of use of light, shadow, and creepy cinematography, but with such a schizo script there's only so much he can do with it. A disappointment, but decent entertainment nonetheless.

Dare I say that when this movie was made JCVD was at the peak of his physical shape ? He really looks awesome in this movie. He's a pretty good actor as well, which is evident when you compare Chuck Norris' movies from the same era.Although the movie is more than 20 years old, it doesn't look dated. The movie is also not a mindless martial arts movie either. It has some good story behind it. Even compared to "Lionheart" made the same year, this movie is way ahead in terms of quality.Amanda Gibbs is gorgeous in this movie. Too bad that we didn't get to see her during the '90s asides from this movie.Seriously, this is one of the best JCVD movie made and is recommended for viewing even if you're NOT a JCVD fan.