Legionnaire (1998)

Disclaimer: If you are a viewer that mainly prefers art-house-type movies, then you might as well ignore this review. In addition, if you're not able to take an Van Damme underrated, epic war, drama film, ignore this review, as well. We'll both be better off.Legionnaire (1998) in my opinion it is a solid good war drama movie. I like this movie a lot since I was a kid, I rent the VHS tape and I like it, I watch it on TV and I like it. This is different solid performance from Van Damme, who actually went making a different movie, from his action movies by showing that he can act! This movie did worked perfectly for me. Is not one of my Van Damme favorite films, but it is still entertaining solid enjoyable Van Damme movie. The film is about courage, loyalty, love and true friendship. That is what I like about this movie. It is hell a lot of better than stupid The Quest (1996) I hated that movie from Van Damme, that was one of his worst movies ever! Legionnaire is the opposite about that bombed film. Van Damme did a solid acting performance for me.However this film has a major problems and a flaws that are really not explained at all. The acting in this movie was good but the film is a "whole" pretty slow paced & boring at times, plus the film needed better ending, that explained what happened to his women? I think I do remember hearing that this film was suppose to hit big screen, but since his recent films wasn't making the big money like his early 90's flicks ,it went to VHS. Van Damme was trying his acting out without any of his famous kicks and head butts which feel flat. Still I think this movie is hell out better than Street Fighter (1995) that I also really hated.This was the second time Van Damme played a Legionnaire, the first time he played a Legionnaire was in Lionheart (1990) my favorite Van Damme film! But this time Van Damme play's a boxer who suppose to lose a fight in the second round and he should went on a dive, but he won the fight instead, on the run from the mobsters, they tried to killed Van Damme, in self defense Van Damme kills one of the mobsters brother and than flees to the Legion. I liked about this movie that it was set in the earliest 20th century, I like it that is was historical event and I like it the acting in this movie, the true friendship and loyalty in the war in the film. I had no idea Steven Berkoff was in this movie, I mostly remember him from my favorite action movie Beverly Hills Cop (1984) which he did an awesome villain, but this time he is a commanding officer of the legionnaires. Peter MacDonald did a great job directing this war movie. He gave us Rambo III (1988), so I don't think this movie is awful bad or terrible, it is pretty good War drama film. I like the theme score which, is a good score for this film, the similar score was used in Lionheart (1990), just it was different score from John Altman. In Lionheart John Scott made the music for the film, in here it was John Altman who made a score for this film.Legionnaire is a 1998 war film set in the year 1925 and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Alain Lefevre, a French boxer on the run from the Marseilles Mafia for refusing to fix a fight. Lefevre then joins the French Foreign Legion to escape the assassins who are trying to kill him. The decision puts Alain into the middle of the Rif War in French Morocco. The battles shown in the film are based upon real events. Abd-El Krim (Kamel Krifa) was a real life leader of the Rif/Berber rebels who were trying to force the French out of North Africa. Though the film ends with Abd-El Krim victorious, in real life, after early defeats, the French and Spanish ultimately threw a quarter of a million troops at him and his rebels, and Abd-El Krim was defeated and exiled after a bloody 10 month campaign.I am giving this movie a 7, because the movie deserves it, it is not my favorite Van Damme movie, but it is still a good one. If there where not have been a slow paces and boring scenes sometimes, I would gave this movie a 10. But it is a 7, good movie.7/10 Grade: B Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Steven Berkoff, Nicholas Farrell, Nicholas Farrell, Jim Carter, Ana Sofrenović,Daniel Caltagirone, Joseph Long Director: Peter MacDonald Producers: Christian Halsey Solomon, Kamel Krifa, Sheldon Lettich, Peter MacDonald, Roberto Malerba, Richard G. Murphy, Edward R. Pressman, Jean-Claude Van Damme Screenplay: Sheldon Lettich, Rebecca Morrison, Jean-Claude Van Damme Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 39 Mins. Budget: $20.000.000 Box Office: $8,162,450

Legionnaire was an action drama which did not showcase Jean Claude Van Damme's trademark 360 kicks and instead tried to show that Van Damme can actually act. This movie had the potential to take off and be a decent movie, instead the end result just fell flat. It was hard to get interested with Legionnaire. This was one of a few movies that perhaps was a sign that this would be the beginning of Van Damme's career, which was also marred by drug and alcohol abuse as well as being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.Jean Claude Van Damme plays boxer Alain Lefevre who refuses to take a dive during a match and attempts to flee Marseilles, France for America. His plan to flee goes seriously awry and he ends up joining the French Foreign Legion to escape from his troubles. Alain finds that the only way to survive his time in the Foreign Legion is to make it out alive. And to make matters worse, hired thugs have been sent to join the Legion to seek revenge on Alain.Jean Claude Van Damme in his halcyon days was a thrill to watch. Bloodsport (1988), Kickboxer (1989), Double Impact (1991), Universal Soldier (1992), Hard Target (1993), and Timecop (1994) are several of the many movies that I enjoyed watching Van Damme in. The late 1990's and throughout the millennium have not been kind to Van Damme. With the exception of The Expendables 2 (2012), his career has been stuck in direct-to-DVD doldrums and his career does not show any signs of being resurrected anytime soon.On paper producer Edward R. Pressman, famous for movies such as Wall Street (1987) and The Crow (1994), and director Peter MacDonald, well known for Rambo III (1988), you would expect that this would be an action packed spectacle. Instead, this was just a boring fizzer with an uninteresting story and you are wondering when will Van Damme kick some butt.Unfortunately Legionnaire is a very unmemorable movie and amongst all the many dismal movies of the past 15 years, you find yourself reminiscing the glory days of Jean Claude Van Damme.1/10.

First of all, we got to know this is a Van Damme movie. Taking that into consideration, it is a very good movie. I've watched it several times now, and it really has something special, at least for me. I watch those ratings, like everybody do, when I'm searching for films to watch. But, the ratings are often very misleading, in both ways. So, I'm watching really bad and boring films with ratings 8, and I get turned off of perfectly good films with ratings from 4.5 to 6. Unfortunately, we can't watch all the films, and there will be missed good films, and a lot of bad films watched, but if you want an interesting story, not expecting too much, and have a lot of nice scenes, then don't miss this one. Give it a chance, it's a good film.

From the moment you look at the cover and back you think to yourself, well it's Van Damme, probably not going to be that great but whatever i'll watch it. And then wow. What a movie. From the very beginning of the film it has a historical feel with the intro, and then musical score kicks in (which is awesome by the way) and you knew you were in for a treat. Van Damme's character has depth but what makes the movie unique is that Van Damme may be the main actor but doesn't need to go over the top to achieve this. He didn't play the "bad ass guy" from Universal Soldier or the "world's greatest fighter" from bloodsport. He played a hero with flaws, which made him so much more real. Secondly, the supporting cast was great, all with their own back stories to how they ended up in the legion. It was different to see how each character came from a different part of the world, had their own struggles, yet found a way to look past those differences to survive. Again just by Van Damme listening to their stories and getting to know them personally made his character shine. Overall this is a great flick that many people overlook just because Van Damme is in it. If it had been Orlando bloom, Brad Pitt etc. as the lead actor everyone would have rated this movie higher. Don't judge this movie by it's cover.