PLOT: An Interpol operative known as Russell Hatch takes on the sins of Jayden when Jayden’s father an informant who is killed during a simple raid gone wrong himself.
REVIEW: We have seen these types of low budget films throughout our lives with a craved legendary action star returning back to screen. Geezer Teasers have mostly been a wonderful opportunity for aging action cum movie stars looking just to earn some easy bucks. At best, they are glorified cameos only for the reason that a younger actor nearly does all the strenuous work. So I was quite glad to see Jean-Claude Van Damme together with nearly every frame of Darkness of Man but also the one who was in the center. He doesn’t seem to follow the trend that many others do which is the easier route, for which I respect him.
The Darkness of Man has the characteristics of a noir film and features important voiceover narration by Van Damme. The plot goes on to analyze Russell Hatch’s character more who seems to be disturbed after losing an informant who was also his love lover. After taking Jayden, the son of the informant, under his guardianship, he copes with the psychological consequences of the death of the informant. Since Korean and Russian organized crime groups are competing for the same area, he decides to act on his own to save Jayden. The narrative is quite cliché but there is still a lot of fun to be found. Heck, I will always cheer for JCVD going berserk as vengeance is his motive.
The latter half of the career of Van Damme has been quite fascinating. Most of the action superstars who joined him have had some sort of reliance on body doubles whenever the action scenes come about. But it is shocking that he does a lot of his own stunts. Apparently, he is already 64, so he isn’t young by any means, which makes his stunt work even more commendable. Now, it is fair to say that at his age, his stunts are not the same as from Bloodsport or Kickboxer, but he is still better than a lot of people including 33 year old me. The directors had the good sense to work around the latter day limitations of his physicality (so no, we’re not getting any trademark splits in this one, thanks god). At this point, don’t pretend anymore that you do not know what his line delivery is like. You either buy into it or you don’t.
Russell Hatch is played by Jean-Claude Van Damme in the action movie DARKNESS OF MAN, which was released by Saban Films. Author: Saban Films.
Because of the multilingual capabilities of many of the non-English speaking stars, the English language is clumsily employed in many of the leading roles. Because of this, some conversations are very clumsy. I am a mixed martial arts fan and was stunned to see Nick Diaz as a fighter, but he is sadly unlikely to win any performance accolades. Still quite disheartening that we did not get to see him and JCVD jak someone up. That is just so sad. Concerned mother is portrayed by Shannon Doherty in the movie. It’s comforting to know she’s still active after her health issues.
I liked the odd proximity of the people in the motel. Characters that do not appear to be of much significance come to the fore when Hatch gets stuck in trouble. Spencer Breslin is hardly recognizable as Hatch’s drug addict neighbor. And Kristanna Loken was not bad as Hatch’s one time love. It is a thankless role that she performs well in and enhances the performance. But the performance which touched me most was that of Zack Ward who has only a two scene role but makes strong impact. He is out of control and the look is great. If only he were to appear more in the movie it would have made greater sense. Because the villains do not really look to be a threat, despite their repeated attempts to try and terrorize.
Every time I watched this film, I felt torn since I understand how serious the theme is, yet the realization is poor. A great number of logic flaws are cut and dry distractions that take the viewer out of the sequence. A revolver that can only fire a few rounds before it is exhausted, or characters who have ridiculous levels of invincibility, only serve to undermine the reality even more. And some seizures, even kidnappings are there and I am not convinced that the characters realize these are the stakes of their conflict. The storyline is very intricate, with such straightforward weak points that I felt dizzy. It is a movie where you are told to ‘check your brain’ at the door, but it still tries to cater to the in-built human instinct of fixing ‘wrong’ in ‘the right’ way.
Andrey Ivchenko as “Lazar” and Jean-Claude Van Dammeas “Russell Hatch” in the actionfilm, DARKNESS OF MAN, a Saban Films release. Photo dealer: Saban Films.
Even with such a minimal budget, I have to give it to the Darkness of Man, it looks great. Setups are handled great and there are some slick shots. I liked how practical the action was, with a nice car flip and even some squibs. In this day and age of never ending CGI explosions, I will take practical anytime. Even if it’s not quite the case every time. The second part of the film does come across as different from the first part. JCVD as a helpless man in the first part becomes a total badass from the second half. That is not to say he does not show dispositions of skills in the first half, it is only towards the last half that it is so overboard. He goes from trying not to shoot his targets to shooting them point blank. The fact that his girlfriend is murdered does not put him in this mood but she is kidnapped? Seemed odd.
All in all, Darkness of Man did not quite work for me. I really enjoyed Van Damme and the more serious side that he took on. It is clear that this was more than a mere paycheck focus for him as he came up with the story along with director James Cullen Bressack. However, the plot itself is so weak that it sometimes gets overshadowed. There is a big twist at the end which does not feel like a point of the whole film as almost all signs have been pointing towards it throughout the film. It feels disrespectful to the audience to even purposely regard it as an “aha!” moment. There are some good scenes of violence and this is for sure better than some of the direct to DVD junk we would find in the bargain bin. JCVD devotees should be on the lookout as it is wonderful to see him actually lead again after such a long time.
For more movies like Darkness of Man visit 123Movies.