Knock off and Double team are underrated films above-average Hong Kong action movies Hark Tsui has done better but he makes these movies better and they are action entertainment comedies action entertainment and they are alot better than the other action films due to the craftsmanship of Hark Tsui direction and van dammes martial arts skills and stunts.
shareBoth of these movies are often ignored when mentioning Van Damme's movies. Double Team, in particular is one of VD's better-made movies with great action and camera work. I just watched Knock Off today for only the second time in 15 yrs. I forgot how much action was in it bc at the time I was disappointed that there weren't more fight scenes and I pushed it aside and haven't seen it again until now. On second viewing, Im surprised at how much fighting VD actually did that I forgot about. Hark does a great job in this movie as well. Overall, as an amateur film maker, I've learned a lot watching Hark Tsui's movies.
Both movies get a bad rap because unlike VD's other movies but like most HK movies, they feature a lot of comic touches, especially in Knock Off.
Double Team cast Dennis Rodman in a co-starring role and Knock Off cast Rob Schneider. Both movies tried to make the co-stars look credible as action actors though one is just a an ex-pro athlete and public loon while the other is a barely-funny comic actor. Knock Off also featured a second tier actress Lela Rochon and gave her some good action scenes as well. Hark did an amazing job making all of the co-stars look like they fit right in with their action scenes. Taken in their own context without comparing them to VD's better movies, both of these are way better than most of his later straight-to-dvd releases.
These movie are dreadful they are part of the post Street fighter release that destroyed Van Damme's A-list career.
The jokes are not funny, ad Van Damme is obviously on the influence of cocaine.
[deleted]
Other than his cocaine use, VD career was not ruined by these movies. Martial arts action movies had been steadily declining in popularity for years. Both VD and Seagal's careers started to fall around the same time and Walker Texas Ranger had also been cancelled by the beginning of the millennium. Jet Li and Jackie Chan were the only martial arts stars who could still get a theatrical release and box office draw in the last 15 years and ever since it's only been asian stars who can do that (Ong Bak, The Raid Redemption).
No one pays to see US made martial arts movies with american action stars in US theaters anymore. As good as Scott Adkins is, his movies still only get released as dvds rather than theatrically in the US. Same with Michael Jai White.
Recent attempts at US made martial arts theatrical releases haven't fared well. Haywire was a fluke (because it featured a female martial artist, Gina Carano, with a UFC championship belt) but still couldn't break even with a mere $25k budget. Carano's next movie went straight to dvd. Never Back Down was a retelling of The Karate Kid. Also a bomb.
What keeps all of these action stars alive is having them appear in movies like The Expendables and Fast & Furious 6, where they are recognizable secondary characters who get to show off their moves without overshadowing the lead actors.
Double Team is good, but not this one. Suffers from too few fights and too many unnecessary explosions.
Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Criedshare