Knock Off

In an ideal world,  Double Team  would have been practice for Tsui Hark and Jean-Claude Van Damme; they would have taken what worked from their previous collaboration, refined it, and presented more of it en masse for their next cinematic team-up, "Knock Off". However, most disappointingly, this one counts as a step back for these two action icons in terms of cohesiveness and fulfilling their potential. This movie just isn't as fun as it ought to be. Apparently, part of the film's lesser quality can be attributed to studio meddling, but that doesn't change the fact that you're setting yourself up for a lesser Van Damme adventure when you watch this one.The story: when knock-off artist-turned fashion designer Marcus Ray (Van Damme) and his partner Tommy Hendricks (Rob Schneider,  Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo ) find themselves unsuspecting players in a terror scheme between Hong Kong counterfeiters and the Russian mafia, they will need to choose their allies wisely to come out of the situation alive.Immediately, the film's stylistic Hong Kong-influence is evident: its pacing and mode of cinematography feels a lot less mainstream American than even the previous Hark/Van Damme adventure and more like a genuine Asian feature. This is followed up by some refreshingly weird scenes and storyline twists, such as Van Damme carting Schneider around in a rickshaw race ("Move that big, beautiful [butt] of yours!" says Rob, whipping Jean-Claude with an eel) and the revelation involving exploding jeans rivets. However, these instances eventually take a backseat to the film's focus on the more convoluted portions of the story, told through a cast of characters so overabundant that some of them (e.g.  Lifeline 's Carman Lee as a Hong Kong detective) are severely limited in their screentime. Frequent offscreen voiceovers continue to confuse the viewer, further overcomplicating a plot that should have been straight-arrow."Knock Off" isn't a martial arts movie as much as it is a general action film; there are some decent chases and shootouts and plenty of green-tinged explosions, all of which take precedence over Van Damme's three hand-to-hand fights (not including the studio-sabotaged finale on the boat). Among these is a surprisingly awesome scene wherein Marcus defends himself from about two dozen knife-wielding attackers in an enclosed warehouse, the choreography of which easily reminds me of something Jackie Chan might do. His next couple fights are watchable, though plagued with too many close-ups and cheat editing to hide obvious stunt doubles, and he lacks any real opponents. Jeff Wolfe ( Once Upon a Time in China and America ) and Michael Miller ( The Defender ) were obviously meant to fill these roles and appear competent, but their fights near the end of the film - supposedly cut considerably - are short and pass without much excitement. Kim Penn ( Armageddon ) stalks Van Damme but is knocked out before she gets to fight. Shame.Next to no characters in the film are likeable. Surprisingly, the loud-mouthed Rob Schneider feels like he belongs in an over-the-top Hong Kong feature more than Van Damme does, but he gets annoying before long and contributes very little to the story. A repetitive musical track lifted from  Tiger Claws 2  plays during several action scenes until it really gets on your nerves. On top of everything else, these things build up and continue to bring down my rating. On a good day, "Knock-Off" isn't *that* much worse than "Double Team" and could manage three stars, but considering its potential to crush expectations like mine, I consider it the bigger gamble and all-around less sound of Van Damme's quasi-Hong Kong offerings. With material like this, it's no wonder his career was on uneven footing at this point.

I like this Van Damme movie because it's a little different than the usual martial arts that he does. This is an action movie and Rob Schneider is real good in this movie along with Paul Sorvino from Goodfellas. But i love Van Damme, me and my cousins looked up to him when we were kids starting with Bloodsport and then kickboxer, Lionheart, death warrant, Sudden Death, on and on, the guy is a cool looking dude, kind of wish i had his looks, and he can kick ass!. Don't know anyone besides him except for Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris who kicks asses like he does.

First saw this movie on HBO in the late '90's and as a connoisseur of "le bad cinema" I knew I'd found something special. My theory is that when a film is made there are roughly 3 million decision points, encompassing everything like dialog, blocking, acting, lighting, editing, make-up, etc.A near perfect film (like 'Saving Private Ryan') has made roughly 2.85 million of these decisions correctly, but if you look at this from the other side, then a wonderfully awful film like 'Knock Off' got about 2.85 million of these decisions wrong.That's what makes truly horrible films so good, you can't intentionally make a film like this (you couldn't consciously make that many decisions incorrect).So if you appreciate a movie with bad special effects, nonsensical plotting, a character who seems to die 3 different times but keeps coming back with no explanation at all, random zooms that convey no information or emotion...oh and a rickshaw race featuring a pair of imploding shoes, and of course the Laurence Olivier like acting of Jean-Claude Van Damme (he's just too van-damme good) then this is a movie for you.

It's rare that Rob Schneider isn't the worst thing in a movie with Rob Schneider in it, because it means there's something in the movie even worse than Rob Schneider. In this case, it's the direction. That overly artsy, self-consciously cool direction you often see in action movies from the late '90s, where the camera goes down the barrels of guns, or along telephone lines, or into people's bloodstreams, or something like that. It's stupid, it's unnecessary, and it's annoying. It's the director saying, "Look how cool I am! I can do THIS! Isn't that cool? Aren't you impressed?" No. No, I'm not. Not in the least. It's the epitome of style over substance. It's no substitute for a good story and interesting characters, neither of which this movie has.

The DVD's case and the disc within it were in ideal condition with what appeared to be the original plastic wrapper intact.

Tsai Harks 2nd outing with Van Damme is insane! The visual style on display is staggering. Sure it's super silly but it's really fun to watch a coked out Van Damme bulldozing his way through this action exstravangza.

Was gonna give it a 2, but changed to a 3 after reading the comments on here. Yeah it was fun.....ish. But mostly because of Rob. I'm gonna go look for Rickshaw races on youtube now.

Its van damme and Rob Schneider, need I say more. Its a good movie.

Limited to 3000 buy it while you can before the price goes up to silly money.Another fantastic release by 88 films. Comes with a numbered sleeve, poster, reverseable cover.Really good quality you can expect from 88 films.The film itself is the standard van damme affair, lots of explosions and martial arts. This one is great!

Another brilliant Van Damme release by 88 films with an informed commentary track and nice postcard set.The film itself looks stunning and complements some highly stylised action sequence that showcase some jaw dropping moments including the rickshaw street race. Sure, there is an element of slapstick to the film but at the same time there is a level of intensity to it that allows it to sit with some of Van Damme’s best work.

Marcus Ray and Tommy Hendricks are sales reps for V SIX Jeans, and they are enjoying life in Hong Kong.While Tommy busily prepares for the latest fashion show, Marcus is off looking at knock off goods: imitation watches, jewellery, and baby dolls, in which his longtime friend Eddie Wang is involved.When Marcus and Tommy's supervisor arrives and informs them that much of their last shipment of jeans was filled with knock off imitations, the two can't believe her, but they agree to help in raiding a warehouse to prove their innocence.After a violent encounter, Marcus eventually learns that Tommy is an undercover CIA agent, and so is Karen.Meeting with their boss, Johansson, Marcus learns of a conspiracy involving the Russian mafia and their attempts to smuggle tiny, but highly explosive "microbombs" to the black market.Any film that features Van Damme in a movie about exploding designer jeans, has to be seen to be believed.Is it plausible? anything is really, but is it any good? Well it's so absurd and silly, it's very very enjoyable and furthermore, a lot of fun.This was Van Dammes last proper big screen outing that wasn't a sequel, or docu-drama, and it feels like the studio has given up on him, which is a shame.Harks direction and camera-work is frenetic and downright bizarre and you can see where Neveldine and Taylor get some of their ideas from.The action is well paced and there is obvious wire work involved, but it's all comic book in tone, and it's tongue in cheek throughout.With a great supporting cast, this film is unfairly despised, thanks to movie snobs who just dismiss the actors work.A great piece to watch with Double Team..

bit cheesy acting but still great van Damme movie i ant watched this in years even thoe I owned the regular DVD,the transfer to blueray however poor looks like taped off tv or sumet, nice case thoe and I think book or sumet in case dint look just put it in an watched it

my girlfriend doesn't like van damme or his films, so i showed her this film. she still doesnt like van damme or his films but dont let that deter you. this film is excellent. its not directed by john woo but there is this incredible fight/chase scene, in this chinese fruit warehouse. the stunt actor for most of the scene clearly isnt van damme but its still worth a watch, and if you watch this type of film with a few beers with your mates looking for a laugh, then this is the film for you. ive advocated van dammes acting in other reviews but in this one its deplorable, maybe he was too busy doing coke in between takes or something, but again, it doesnt spoil the film because if youre watching a van damme film for good acting youre watching the wrong film.