Pound of Flesh (2015) Reviews

• Solid B-action movie

  Dr_Sagan2015-06-11

  The premise of "Pound of Flesh" is interesting to say the least. It's difficult to describe the plot without any spoilers. It unfolds in every scene. It's not a "mystery" per se, but if you think you have the usual revenge type b-seagal-movie you are mistaken. Overall it is good for what it is. I liked the pace (not too hasty or abrupt), I liked the direction and editing, and the plot/script is good enough. Van Damme got old, as it was expected. We see his trademark feet open 180 degrees as in many of his movies, but the stuntman was obvious in a few scenes. The green screen used in many scenes, including many scenes inside a van are distracting but I wouldn't insist on that as a serious flaw. The newcomer (her 1st movie) Charlotte Peters has an interesting look that maybe give her some good roles in the near future but she need lots of training in her acting (despite the fact that she went to Drama Studio London, a prestigious drama school based in England). The conclusion, that I won't spoil you, is satisfying, something that lack many movies nowadays. My recommendation: Check it out. Is better than the 5 average you see here. I gave it a 8 to boost it a little. Might not worth such a high score but I think is better than other recent movies of Jean-Claude.

• Watchable, but that's it!

  CousinBagunca2015-07-12

  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.

• Another light plotted Van Damme flick

  dimbost2015-06-07

  I don't usually write reviews for bad films. But being a huge Van Damme fan and loving his older movies, i thought that this would be a good film as Van Damme really hyped it up. Unfortunately the film falls apart very quickly. The most funny and annoying part of the story and most ironic i guess, is that they still use the Kick boxer line "Our parents got divorced i stayed with dad and my brother went with mom" to establish his thick french accent compared to the American accent that his brother has. The Acting was cheesy, mediocre at best. Van Damme probably was the best actor in the film. The story was a Van Damme story with a stupid twist, which would not have swayed the character in the end, but its the story tellers felt that Van Damme's character needed more drama and so we have the ending we get. The CGI was extremely bad. I couldn't understand why they had to use Green screen for the night club when in the next scene they are clearly standing in a similar if not the same actual night club that they just CGIéd before. Anyways, i hope that Van Damme fans can enjoy the film solely based on being JCVD fans

• Not one of the best Van Damme films, but it's not one of his worst either.

  Hellmant2015-05-08

  'POUND OF FLESH': Three Stars (Out of Five) Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in this martial arts action flick; about a man trying to get back his stolen kidney, in order to save his dying niece. It was directed by Ernie Barbarash (who also directed Van Damme in the B-action films '6 BULLETS' and 'ASSASSINATION GAMES') and it was written by Joshua James. The movie costars Darren Shahlavi (another martial arts B-action film star), John Ralston, Charlotte Peters and Akie Aleong. It does have some decent fight scenes but it tries to be a little too emotional, and overly dramatic, as well (which it doesn't quite have the resources for). Van Damme plays Deacon; a man who just arrived in China, in order to donate a kidney to his deathly ill niece (Adele Baughan). He rescues a woman (Peters) from her attacker (Shahlavi), nearby the hotel he's staying at. She asks to buy him a drink, as thanks, and he wakes up the next morning with a kidney missing. With the help of his extremely religious brother (Ralston), the father of the dying little girl, Deacon decides to track down the criminals that robbed him, and get his kidney back. It helps that Deacon is an expert martial artist and former black-ops agent, of course. I used to be a huge Van Damme fan (he was my favorite actor, briefly, as a kid) and I still enjoy watching his movies. He doesn't deliver a very good performance here though, because it seems like he really didn't want to be there (he can be a pretty good actor, when he's passionate about a role). Shahlavi, Ralston, Aleong, and a few others, do give decent performances though (on the other hand). The fight scenes are entertaining as well; and there's a decent story hidden in there too. The melodrama, and cheesy production values, do make the film a little hard to bear though, at times. It's not one of the best Van Damme films, but it's not one of his worst either. Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://youtu.be/Xo0uWhpX2pI

• Career worst?

  mikesblast2015-05-30

  First off, I am a HUGE Van Damme fan and I enjoyed the two other JCVD/Barbarash collaborations. That being said, this movie was absolutely AWFUL. Every bad element a movie can possess, this movie pretty much has. Bad green screen, bad script, horrible fight/action sequences, bad acting(somewhat excluding JCVD), doubling for every other punch thrown, hell even doubling for scenes of JC sitting on a couch!! This was such a waste of a fun premise. They tried to throw in WAY too much tacky drama instead of just going balls to the wall with action and violence. I guess though, since it wasn't Van Damme in most of the scenes, that wouldn't have made a difference. This may even give that cluster of turds he did in the early 2000's(Derailed, The Order, Second in Command, etc) a run for their money as worst Van Damme movie ever. Such a disappointment. Good luck viewers!