The Order (2001) starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Charlton Heston, Sofia Milos, Brian Thompson, Ben Cross, Vernon Dobtcheff, Sasson Gabai directed by Sheldon Lettich Movie Review

The Order (2001)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Jean-Claude Van Damme in The Order (2001)

Van Damme and a Side Order of Cheese

You have to applaud Jean-Claude Van Damme for embracing the career that he has ended up with, some action stars who end up knocking out direct to DVD movies do so with no passion at all, sleep walking through their parts but Van Damme always tries to entertain. It is for that reason why even though Van Damme has starred in some truly terrible movies the fact that he never stops trying, he still does the action and drops those corny one liners that even those bad movies often end up entertaining. That brings me to "The Order" which technically isn't a good movie but is still a lot of fun thanks to Van Damme embracing the cheesy side of the movie whilst supported by some recognizable faces which briefly includes Charlton Heston.

Claiming that he is purely a wealthy importer and exporter the truth is Rudy Cafmeyer (Jean-Claude Van Damme - Replicant) is a thief, stealing rare collectables to sell too dodgy businessmen. But when Rudy receives a call from his archaeologist father to say the he is in trouble in Tel Aviv Rudy jumps on the first plane out there. There he discovers that his father was looking for an ancient scroll belonging to a religious sect which is very important to a crazed cult planning a terrorist attack in order to start a religious war. With the aid of a cop he must not just save his dad but save the day as well.

Jean-Claude Van Damme and Sofia Milos in The Order (2001)

I almost want to say that "The Order" is Van Damme doing Indiana Jones but it isn't yet with his archaeologist father going missing still reminds me of "The Last Crusade". But the opening, well after we get through some historical guff about the crusades and a Knight forming a new religious sect, reminds me of "Entrapment" with Rudy stealing a jewelled egg from the Russian Mafia. Anyway what follows from there can be described as action, action, a bit of story and repeat. So whilst we have Rudy trying to locate his dad and ending up trying to stop terrorists "The Order" is predominantly all about the action which lets be honest is what you expect.

As for the action, well none of it is that spectacular or out of the ordinary as we have the obligatory car chases and numerous fight scenes. But despite being hacked up so that none of it flows Van Damme embraces the cheesiness of it all and it is because of this, because he drops in those one liners or has the comical look of horror when he fights someone much bigger that it ends up entertaining.

What this all boils down to is that "The Order" is not classic Van Damme or at least Van Damme at his best but it is Van Damme being entertaining and as such "The Order" is fun.


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