Sudden Death

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	1995
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Peter Hyams
Genre:	Hostage actioner / Die Hard clone
Starring:	Jean-Claude Van Damme, Powers Boothe
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114576/
Tagline:	Terror goes into over-time.
Favourite line:	"Don't fuck with me, I'm about to have a very bad day."

Way above average Van Damme actioner, this time the Belgian Berserker is in full on Die Hard mode as he seeks to avert a hostage situation that threatens the US Vice President and, more importantly to him, his own young daughter.
He's an ex firefighter, traumatised by an incident in which he was unable to save - you guessed it - a young girl, to the point that he was forced to leave the service.
Now he works as a security guard at The Pittsburgh Civic Arena.
He's on duty the evening of a major ice hockey game (don't ask me which one, I know nothing of these ridiculous American sports! I prefer boules...) and takes his kids along to watch the game. Unfortunately, a group of ravenously greedy terrorist types take over the VIP suite, taking the V.P hostage and killing several Secret Service men.
Can anyone stop him?
And was it really necessary to swing in like Tarzan at the end Monsieur Damme?

Action-packed, exciting from start to finish, with a very effective, cold calculating villain in the form of Powers Boothe.
Yes, it's nonsensical, yes the stunts are way OTT, yes it couldn't possibly happen, yes Van Damme still can't act, yes it's ripping off another movie, yes the script is ropey in places, yes, yes, yes.
But it's massively entertaining and, after all, at times it's good just to put your feet up and watch something retarded yet adrenaline fuelled.
I really enjoyed it.
No, really.