Darkness of Man – A Disappointing Return from JCVD (Early Review)

After a near 3-year hiatus, action legend Jean-Claude Van Damme, the Muscles from Brussels himself, is back with Darkness of Man, a neo-noir action thriller throwback that sees Van Damme in a decidedly more serious mood than usual, allowing him to flex his acting skills more than his body. Van Damme stars as Russell Hatch, a former Interpol operator haunted by the death of his ex-informant turned lover and vowing to protect her only son, Jayden (Min). Amidst an escalating gang war in Koreatown, Jayden gets taken by his uncle who wants him to join the family drug empire, forcing Russell to descend into the criminal underbelly to save him.

Van Damme’s late period career has been very interesting to follow. As an actor, he’s only become stronger with age, opening himself up and expressing more vulnerability than his other action peers (as evidenced by his terrific work in JCVD or John Hyams’ Universal Soldier sequels). His big expressive Buster Keaton-esque eyes conveying such sadness beneath his visage that he’s successfully been able to shed his former heightened action star persona into something more dramatically interesting. It’s unfortunate then that the material this time around, while giving him plenty to do as a performer, is so rote, dull and uninspired. Taking nearly half of the runtime before the narrative thrust kicks in, much of this film is a slow burn neo noir immersing audiences in this web of corrupt cops, gangsters, and men with dark pasts. An approach like this displays some level of ambition for a landscape (DTV action) often marked by phoned in, rushed productions with zero care behind it.

Intent and execution are two very different beasts however and what should be a moody atmospheric character piece that erupts into violence is an endless procession of Van Damme’s endless “stock noir dialogue” narration, one dimensional characters and a very thin script. Character relationships are sketched out early and re-iterated upon throughout, the central intensity and desperation that should drive the emotional thrust of Russell’s mission is never felt and the interconnected gang politics is confusing at best and muddled at worst. Darkness of Man struggles to maintain interest after an intriguing setup with his tragic past and the death of his lover, soon devolving into a repetitive cycle through the same locations and characters.

The action is sparser than one might expect and sluggishly shot aside from one POV sequence where a car follows the action happening outside its windows. While not quite one would call an inspired set piece, in a film offering this little variety, it’s a necessary boost in the moment. Van Damme is older and understandably one should not expect him to be quite as fast or agile but even taking that into account, every fight scene is rinse and repeat with Van Damme either standing in place and firing his pistol or slowly punching out one henchman at a time. This might be the only Van Damme where he doesn’t throw a single kick. Meanwhile, action fans should keep an eye out for a blink and you’ll miss it cameo from action legend Cynthia Rothrock!

Darkness of Man displays some admirable ambition in spurts and it’s always welcome to see the chance for Van Damme to stretch his acting muscles. However, the end result is one of JCVD’s weakest films, marked by a poor script and sparse action. At the end of the day, it is a film only worth recommending to the most avid JCVD completionists.

To pre-order a digital copy of Darkness of Man, click here.

still courtesy of Saban Films

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Alex Josevski

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