| The Order (2001) Cast:Jean-Claude Van Damme,Charlton Heston,Ben Cross,Sophia Milos,Brian Thompson Van Damme stars as a smuggler who travels to Israel to save his father who has been kidnapped by a group of religious monks who want to provoke "World War III" Pretty awful Van Damme vehicle while not his worst is one of his lower points in his less than stellar career. Of course Jean-Claude Van Damme is not just believable in these type of Raiders Of The Lost Ark style movies, he's a belgian kickboxer who should be kickboxing. The Adventure movie works with someone who doesn't come off as invincible and while Jean-Claude can indeed headline a reasonably fun actioner, everytime you see him you know it isn't going to be long before wastes the hordes of bad guys. Adventure movies need someone who seems more vulnerable. The Order is indeed an improvement over Van Damme's other adventure movie The Quest, in fact The Order is also better than other action-star's jaunts into the adventure genre (Firewalker, River Of Death and The Minion) but that's the nicest thing one can say, plus the movie has an irritating sect of villains who seem like they were bought at K-mart. Plus Heston is completely wasted in his minor role, who was shoehorned it seems to raise the class level. The Order doesn't work simply because we just don't buy Van Damme in the role, as well as the fact that the villains fail to back-up their threats. It's just a dull and laughably inept attempt at imitating a Jackie Chan movie. . D.Sheldon Lettich *1/2 |