Wake of Death

We were pleasantly surprised by this movie. It was an epic battle to find a JCVD film in the Blockbuster to begin our quest, but as we sorted through the thrift-store like pile of movies in the action section I felt a tickle in my awareness pulling me to a previously missed movie, alone, out of place on top of the stack. I pulled the movie off the shelf and discovered: Wake of Death! There was JCVD staring at us from the cover.

Thrilled with our find we rushed home to begin our viewing extravaganza. From the beginning we knew we hadn’t stumbled across a typical action film. The cinematography and attention to detail (sometimes too much attention as an unfortunate montage showed the street name “Hope St.” following his decision to get his life in order) demonstrated a thoughtfulness and artistry unexpected from the JCVD action set.

We consider it a reasonably fearless movie; before the credits roll you are shown a tastefully shot sex scene followed by the brutal murder of the woman. As the camera pulls back there is a quick, but powerful shot of her fully naked body lying on bed splattered by the blood pouring out of her neck. Despite what might herald a pension for nudity, however, a later scene in a whorehouse showed a surprising lack of nudity, while still demonstrating the intense sexual environment therein.

This movie was a revenge tragedy. What the packaging promised to be a bad action movie, Chinese mafia, dead wife, kidnapped child, “ties to the underworld” turned out to be surprisingly and refreshingly artistic. You were left unsure of your feelings at the end as revenge leaves everyone dead or bleeding and there is no satisfactory punishment or victory. The only ones left unharmed are the children, but even they show signs of loss after losing their parents. No amount of killing brings back those we love, and this movie doesn’t hesitate to make that clear. Unlike its predecessors of the 80’s and 90’s Wake of Death does not offer satisfaction in the bloody ending, but only disquiet and uncertainty.

Overall VD Rating: 7 (+1 bonus point artistry and plot)

JCVD Exposure: 10
In the first twenty minutes of the movie he has showered (in slow motion) and had sex. We thank you. He is also incredibly emotive when he discovered his wife’s dead body and the emotional fall out directly after. Unlike other action heroes he was surprisingly reserved which made his character both more moving and more heartbreaking.

JCVD Boot to Face Action: 4
There was, altogether, too much gun play. The first gun fight was exciting, but the brother provided significantly better hand to hand action than JCVD. That makes us sad.

The Effect of Supporting Roles on JCVD’s Awesomeness: 7
The villain was very impressive, and one of his henchmen was named “Andy Wang.” As the name might suggest Mr. Wang pursued a game of S&M in the whorehouse where his pursuit of domination led to his head being blown all over the wall. The villain dominated every scene he appeared in with powerful charisma and sheer evil. His penchant for slicing open the necks of women was counterbalanced by his obsessed search for his missing daughter and this made him more interesting as a whole. Of the kids, the small Chinese girl Kim was superb, but the little boy playing his son was painful on in the awfulness of his acting. The mother also brought down the score (thankfully she dies). Of the sidekicks his brother was both good looking and believable and a seemingly unimportant character named Ramone stole our hearts when he proceeded to drill into a bad guy, torturing him for information. The piece of flesh hanging off the drill and the sound of the bones crunching added a special flavor. Both of us felt the need to plug our ears and look away.

JCVD cuts a fine figure in his film and it is his acting, not his signature moves that make it worth watching. (You only think we’re joking.)