Enemies Closer – Movie Review
Jean-Claude Van Damme is back, but not really in the way we’re used to him. The action hero veteran will play a convincing villain in this movie, as opposed to his normal heroic roles. This convincing change of heart might prove he still has a few tricks up his sleeves.
Enemies Closer revolves around Henry, a man that leads his live as a forest ranger to get rid of the life that once haunted him. Henry used to be an officer in the military, but because of certain events, namely the death of one of his underlings, he quit his job because he could not stand the thought of losing more of his men. The extra conflicting feeling that inflicted grave wounds for our hero of the movie, was the fact he had to choose to leave his underling behind, to save the rest of his men.
This is where Clay comes in to play. Clay happens to be the brother of the perished soldier, that Henry could not save. Sadly, Clay does not see it the same way as other people would and thus he is out for revenge. After watching Henry for a decent amount of time, he tricks Henry, when acting as a lot hiker. Soon both will be entangled in combat but it seems not all will go according to Clay’s original plan.
In the meanwhile, our douchebag-supreme-villain Xander (Van Damme) has plans of his own. Earlier during the day Clay decided to make his move a plane crashed close to the park Henry watches over. The crashed plane contained a big shipment of heroine, which Xander is hoping to recover. To do so, he will need to get rid of Henry, one way or another. Xander, however, was not expecting Clay to be there, but then again – one body more or less does not matter.
Clay and Henry will need to work together to make it out alive, or at least stand a fighting chance.
Enemies Closer follows a fairly typical storyline for an action movie. Unexpected alliances as well as a villain that has a few loose screws make for a simple, yet entertaining plot to build a decent movie around. Of course, this already decent mix would not be complete without the necessary cheesy one liners and conversations.
The overall flow of the movie is a tad slower than most action movies. You’ll get a decent amount of information about the leading characters, except for the villain. The first portion of the movie serves as a decent build up, to be followed by great action sequences as well as a few twists and turns along the way.
Action scenes in the movie provide to be a lot more realistic than in a lot of other ‘typical action movies’. Whilst realistic can be seen as a fairly wide term when it comes to action movies, it’s fair to say that none of the characters came across as omnipotent when it came to power.
Even with all the cheesiness in place, the acting performances of the leading characters are still very enjoyable. Henry (Tom Everett Scott), the man that does not give the impression he has ever had any military background still proves to be a decent leading character. Clay (Orlando Jones) proves to be a likeable character, even after the rough start. But in the end in all honesty, the reigning star of this movie is and will always be Xander (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Xander proves to be an unpredictable but deranged ‘loose cannon’. Whilst it is clear he is still up to the task of doing a lot of action scenes, his personality is what will come across as the most convincing. Having a lot of in common with a deranged clown, instead of an actual drug dealer, you’ll be curious to see what he will do next.
Acting performances of the side characters were not always equal compared to the leading roles, as well as the conversations in the movie were not always of such high quality. Even though the plot is enough to keep you entertained, some of the conversations came across as very ‘cheap’ and actually dragged down the quality of an otherwise outstanding movie. That being said, in some kind of weird way, some of these conversations also made the movie lighter or even enforced Xander’s personality.
Conclusion
Enemies Closer is one of those movies that shows us that typical action movies still have a place amongst all of the blockbuster movies we are offered nowadays. Be prepared to watch a fairly short, but action packed movie in which Jean-Claude Van Damme shows us his darker side, that should not be taken lightly.
Enemies Closer - Movie Review,
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