Pound of Flesh (2015) Review!!

Synopsis – A man’s heroic attempt to help a woman in distress ends up with him waking up the next day without a kidney and plotting his revenge.

My Take – While growing up in the 90s, I was a huge fan of mindless action flicks especially the ones starring Steven Seagal, Jackie Chan, Jet li & of course Jean-Claude Van Damme. After running his career down with some really cringe worthy films, his comeback film JCVD (2008) was everything his fan could ask for! He followed it up with an equally enjoyable Universal Soldier sequel Regeneration (2009). And yet again he continued his repetitive act with half a dozen film with his antagonist turn in the Expendables 2 (2012) being probably his most redeemable character. While I have enjoyed watching films like Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Lionheart, Replicant and Universal Soldier, I have always appreciated his amazing stunt works and despite his age he continues to be in great physical form. Probably the only reason I decided to check this film out, considering it has been an eternity since I’ve seen him in a starring role despite its negative reviews, is to support one of my favorite distributors of the region (Front Row Filmed Entertainment). And as the opening credits rolled in, the nostalgia factor kicked in, well not exactly in the good sense. The story follows Deacon (Van Damme) who wakes up in a hotel room in Philippines, naked in a bathtub full of ice. He recalls spending the night with a woman named Anna (Charlotte Peters), whom he had saved in an alley near his hotel from an attacker (Darren Shahlavi). Upon discovering that his kidney has been removed, Deacon calls his old friend Kung (Aki Aleong), who immediately shows up to offer his assistance. Deacon, an ex special force is in the country to visit his brother George (John Ralston), a college professor in order to donate his kidney to his dying niece. So the quest for his missing kidney begins as he decides to return to the bar where he met the woman and try to connect things from there on.

Here’s the thing: there are quite a few twists in here and some may surprise you and they don’t stop until the very end. When you think you know something up comes something else to consider. Action movie collaboration between west and east has produced mixed results in recent year, even the ones with high production. The film with its modest budget is actually a welcomed change of pace as Van Damme delivers a different kind of action flick. It makes do with the quirky antic, decent plot and the tendency for humor on its own expense. Unfortunately, there are also few jarring basic errors which might decrease the entertainment value and the moral message isn’t appealing enough. This movie was somewhat hyped as the “Van Damme is back in full action force” or something like that. I was expecting an action showcase, with spin kicks and fights all the way true. Instead the movie seem to focus a lot on story. Don’t get me wrong, the story is not bad, its not stellar either but this is more what would i expect from a Pierce Brosnan movie in 2015 (like the very enjoyable November Man, not Survivor), not a Van Damme one. The first fight of the movie despite being very short is actually one of the best, it shows kicking and what we are use to see from Van Damme. The rest seem to mainly focus on MMA type of ground and grappling attacks, which if done right can be fun on screen, but here i tough it didn’t suit Van Damme at all. There’s a club scene early on, part of which is in the trailer, where Deacon (Van Damme) literally beats up some people with a Bible. This is probably the best fight in the movie, and Van Damme doesn’t really get another good one until the end when he faces off against Darren Shahlavi‘s villainous Drake (for the second time, actually). Between then, it’s just a lot of exposition interrupted by some relatively uninteresting gun play. Generally speaking, the action was well-filmed and choreographed, but there wasn’t enough of it, in my opinion. The fights just appear to be slow, clunky and lack luster in general. Even though he proves he can still split his legs! Unfortunately, the film is very front-loaded in this respect. The film is basically a conventional revenge film with a low production value and some absurd revelations. The pacing of the film dragged whenever they tried to force the relationship between the two brothers which wasn’t interesting despite the fact that the story depended on it to build the tension. Say what you will about the quality of films that go direct-to-DVD, but it should be commended that they manage to sneak in social issue commentary from time to time. The premise for this film is actually an intriguing one, but to my disappointment the execution of said premise was trite at best, ludicrous at worst. It should also be said that one doesn’t usually go into Van Damme films expecting great acting, but aside from Van Damme, who has actually gotten better with age, the entire cast was actually not bad.

Despite this type of film usually being an excuse to string together a bunch of fight scenes, they actually tried to make a story that you would care about. I mean, who wouldn’t root for a guy to reclaim his kidney so that his young niece would survive? Its like Crank mixed with Taken! Seeing as how they expected you to take this story seriously, one would expect some logic in the plot, but alas there was little to be found. Characters weave in and out of the story as needed, basically showing up to say their lines and deliver some piece of information that the main cast needs. I could go on, but I’d be here all day. I also found the film lacking from a technical standpoint. Since it was probably filmed on digital video, every scene that isn’t stock/time-lapse footage had this cheap, soap opera look. The only time that this really worked was in some early flashback scenes that were desaturated to the point of being black and white. With some selective color flourishes, it had a “Sin City” vibe that I kind of liked. Re-teaming with his Assassination Games & 6 bullets (none of which I have seen) director Ernie Barbarash has tried something else with Van Damme, meaning the film is just not focused on the action, violence and fighting but tries to tell an emotional tale as well, even though it doesn’t work I shall give him points for that. Van Damme proves that he is that rare breed of muscular action hero that can not only fight but can perform as well. He more than proved his acting abilities with his amazing turn in the 2008 film simply titled “JCVD” and personally, out of the three “Expendables” movies to date, his bad guy role in Part 2 was by far the very best out of the three. He has always been an exceptional martial artist but with a missing kidney in this film’s story, naturally, his fighting abilities are severely impaired. On the whole, ‘Pound of Flesh‘, is a run off the mill action flick which tries to be more than its supposed to be, but even with an aging action star at its helm, the poor production values & the impaired screenplay brings the film down. If you are huge Van Damme fan & don’t mind watching 90s style action flick, this is the film for you, while rest can avoid.