Pound of Flesh (2015)

Ah, Pound of Flesh. Such a criminally cheesy and over-the-top premise - Van Damme gets his kidney stolen and needs to get it back from the scumbag criminals that got in order to save his dying niece. It's a move that seems like it has the perfect foundations to create a JCVD B-movie classic. Unfortunately, the issue with Pound of Flesh is that it falls over itself trying to be more complicated than it needs to be and forgets the basics matter most.The story is as the premise I previously stated - but there's massive deviation along the way, in the form of numerous silly unnecessary plot twists. Honestly, the premise is ridiculous enough on its own that you could just go with it and enjoy the crazy ride. But instead, the creators of this feel the need to convey some sort of depth that isn't done well and isn't even necessary in the first place - it's a DTV Van Damme flick! Keep it simple with Van Damme beating guys to bits in pursuit of his quest and you keep everyone happy. Instead, the film has half-cooked attempts at trying to touch on themes like religion, sacrifice and family loyalty. The "attempts" mainly consist of random plot twists involving these things, with the characters acting in completely unrealistic ways. There's suspension of disbelief and then there's just stupid, and this well crosses the line into stupid.It feels like another one of these DTV action movies where there is no real plan and one scene is created after another - Seagal's poorer DTV material often had this issue, leaving glaring plot holes and characters behaving in irrational or idiotic ways just to further the story somehow. There wasn't many plot holes in this from what I could see, mainly because any attempt at a consistent plot was superseded by crazy twists.It's sad, because for the first half hour or so, everything seems to be going well. An entertaining premise has been established and you're ready for JCVD to go out on the hunt. After that, it seemed the creators didn't know how to properly sustain interest in an action movie during the quieter midsection so plot twists and poor attempts at character development came flooding in.As for the action itself, the best scene is probably the first one, as we see Van Damme performing his martial arts repertoire and beating guys to a pulp. Everything thereafter is never really interesting, with Van Damme doing a bit of gunplay and also MMA but it never really works compared to his classic martial arts routine.Also, this seems to have strong use of green screen in completely unnecessary situations. The main culprit is when Van Damme and other characters are driving in the car - there's a pretty obviously visible green screen outline on the actors. It begs the question, why? You're already filming in the location on the green screen. Why not film them actually driving? It's just another bit of stupidity in a long list.I believe I've said all that needs to be said about this. It's a shame, because the premise is so ridiculous in itself that it could potentially be really entertaining - then they messed up the plot, writing, and direction...this is one to miss.

POUND OF FLESH is Van Damme's newest thriller, set in the Philippines and with a great premise: the story starts as a confused Van Damme wakes up, groggy from being drugged, in a hotel room and makes a horrifying discovery: his kidney's been trafficked while he was unconscious. The stakes are raised with an additional sub-plot which sees Van Damme's niece on the brink of death, requiring the very kidney that's been snatched. So we have our ageing action star on a quest as he hunts for the organ traffickers responsible and kicks plenty of ass along the way.The set-up is great but sadly POUND OF FLESH lacks when it comes to the execution. Director Ernie Barbarash does a very poor job when it comes to the filming style, choosing an over-edited mess which makes the film look choppy and somehow dull. The fight choreography is poor too, hiding some decent martial arts fighters in too-dark backdrops and over editing the fights so that they're generic and predictable. I still like Van Damme, and the supporting cast are okay here, but the film as a whole is just about passable rather than being the exciting thrill-ride it should be.

I was very interested in this film because the premise was a little wacky but I thought it would be an over-the-top silly action film that followed Jean-Claude Van Damme on a path of destruction to get to the one who stole his kidney. I was a little disappointed when I finished it.The movie isn't terrible and has a couple minor issues that are easy to ignore. Heck, the feature even has some decent fight scenes and JCVD is not too bad in it. The real killer for this film for me, however, was how seriously it took itself. The film tried to be real emotional and dramatic and it didn't fit with the premise of JCVD fighting to get back his organ. The need to be overly dramatic and some fight scenes that were a bit lethargic ended up making the film a bit boring. I thought it was going to be fun but the movie just ended up being a tad tedious to sit through.

PLOT: 5/10 - The movie plot was fine. Nothing special at all. It's pretty straight forward, though that's not a bad thing at all if done right. And this movie doesn't do it that wrong.SOUNDTRACK 5/10 - To be honest, nothing to see here, folks.SPECIAL EFFECTS 4/10 - I debated with myself if I should give it a 5, but the green screen effects in this movie is used way too often on scenes that didn't need it. I know, it's a B movie, but there're plenty of them who does it right.ACTING 5/10 Though some acting can seem shallow, most of it is fine and, sometimes, believable. Nothing new on Van Damme's acting (comparing it to most recent movies he's made); John Ralston does a nice job on acting here too. Some fight scenes aren't that good, as the moves are really badly done.OVERALL 4/10 - Though the movie may look kinda cliché, it's a nice action flick, that's pretty straight forward in general. Some scenes might have some bad visual effect but, overall, it's a movie that's OK to watch, considering you know you're in for a B-action movie.