Review: Legionnaire

Starting in 1920s France, Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a boxer and playboy who screws over a gangster (Jim Carter) who wanted him to throw a fight. He’s also sleeping with the gangster’s moll, so obviously the guy’s a bit pissed with him now. His life now in danger, Van Damme flees and joins the French Foreign Legion, carted off to North Africa under the command of the harsh Steinkampf (Steven Berkoff). Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays African-American legionnaire Luther, whilst Nicholas Farrell is a Brit named Mackintosh.

Back when I first saw it in 1998, I had absolutely no interest in this Peter MacDonald (“Rambo III”, “Mo Money”), Foreign Legion tale, which seemed to continue Belgian spin-kicker Van Damme’s slide into bad movie hell (or from cinema release to straight-to-video/DVD). Whether I was misguided back in 98, or whether it was too far removed from Van Damme’s usual butt-kickers, or simply the fact that Van Damme has made far worse, my opinion of this film is different in 2018. Not greatly different, but nonetheless different on second viewing. It’s not a good film, and is quite boring at times, but it is more ambitious than most JCVD films and fairly competently made. Watch “Knock Off” and “Derailed”, then tell me this film belongs in the same league of garbage.

Certainly in terms of scope and dramatics, this is far more ambitious than anything Van Damme had tried before. It’s just that this kind of tale has been done ad nauseum (There has been two versions of the Foreign Legion tale “Beau Geste” on screen, for starters), and no one here brings anything terribly new to the table. For a Van Damme film, it’s an interesting departure but frankly, not much fun. Most of the characters are stock and are played largely by no-name actors in an uninspired fashion. I mean, you have an eye-talian, an Aristocratic Brit, an Afro-American, and an assortment of other lazy stereotypes. With no characters of interest, it becomes hard to care, even with all the plot twists and turns. Able genre hand Berkoff isn’t bad in the sort of characterisation Harry Andrews would’ve given back in the 50s and 60s. Hell, he even looks a little like Andrews, and is definitely the right guy for the role (the late Andrews is still preferable, though). His character goes under a change that I found reasonable and realistic, turning into one of the most sympathetic characters the all-purpose villain (and Shakespearean veteran) has ever played. I’m not sure what accent Mr. Berkoff is aiming for though, and something tells me he never quite figured it out, either. That’s the future Mr. Echo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as the token African-American. The British-raised actor does an impeccable American accent to the point where I was convinced he was (brilliantly) dubbed. Nope, it’s actually him. Sadly, he doesn’t get much to do of interest, though. Carter’s pretty damn good as the gangster in the early scenes of the film, and should’ve been in more of it. Nice cameo by David Hayman as a scar-faced legionnaire recruiter, too. I could’ve done without Van Damme’s flashbacks to his lady love, which do seem rather pointless and a bit muddled to me. And if you’re looking for JCVD’s kicking skills, this is not the film for you. In fact, it’s other problem is that it lacks any real energy, though when the action does come, Mr. MacDonald shows some flair for large-scale action/war scenes. Credit where it’s due, the big battle is good, especially if you like explosions and gun/cannon fire, especially since the budget probably wasn’t as big as MacDonald would’ve liked. There’s just not enough of this stuff, and the story and characters just aren’t enough to compensate. But with hindsight, this is still classier than many other JCVD films I could name.

With a stronger director, a better cast, and more effort on the characters, this might’ve been something. As is, well, it’s not one of Van Damme’s worst, and I’ll no longer refer to it as such. Maybe when I first saw this, I was just tiring of JCVD’s good guy act on screen, hence why films like “Replicant” and “Wake of Death” appealed to me, in the decade following this film. Scripted by Sheldon Lettich (Director of “Wrong Bet” and “Double Impact”, writer-director of “The Hard Corps”, all with JCVD), Rebecca Morrison (the cheesy “Scorcher”, with Mark Dacascos and Rutger Hauer”), and Van Damme himself, it fares best in the early going, with the 1920s France gangster/boxing stuff. The worst moment would be Van Damme’s eventual showdown with the Middle Eastern baddie, that is so silly and improbable that it ends the film on a bum note. The score by John Altman (“Beautiful Joe”, “Funny Bones”) proves he’s clearly been watching “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Last of the Mohicans” a few too many times.

Rating: C+