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From Amazon.co.uk
Exiled to a video-only release when its distributor balked after the flop of Jean-Claude Van Damme's previous film Knock Off, this lavish adventure deserved a chance at theatrical success. Action icon Van Damme recasts himself as a tragic romantic hero in this entertaining old-fashioned adventure with a modern sensibility. "The Muscles from Brussels" is no Brando, but he acquits himself nicely as a cocky boxer who double-crosses a Marseilles mobster and joins the French Foreign Legion when his half-baked plan backfires with tragic consequences. Surrounded by a better than usual cast (including Steven Berkoff as a Teutonic drill sergeant, Jim Carter as the ruthless ganglord, and Nicholas Farrell as a gentleman soldier with a taste for gambling and a dark past), Van Damme's dour performance sometimes gets lost in the colourful characters around him. But that's okay--there's adventure enough to go around and he's willing to share it. The Marseilles scenes evoke a quaint movie past with their smoky bars and shadowy streets, but the film is reborn as an ambitious, stoic platoon drama in the sands of French Morocco. Legionnaire alludes to classic films from Beau Geste to Casablanca to Lawrence of Arabia, but ultimately marches its own macho course, revelling in testosterone-driven heroics and bonding-under-fire while acknowledging the irony of its colonial mission ("We're the intruders", realises one soldier). It's a calculated risk for Van Damme (who also co-wrote and co-produced), but if Legionnaire never quite grasps the epic scope it's reaching for, it remains one of his best films, an handsome, exciting and surprisingly grim desert adventure. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com
Product Description
A 1920s playboy falls in love with the mistress of a mob boss then has to flee by joining the French Foreign Legion when the mobster finds out about the affair. Years and many fighting techniques later he decides he must return to fight to the death for his lady.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
At a glance at this film, you may be led to believe it is going to be a martial arts film, but you couldn't be any more wrong, there is only one kick Van Damme does in the film and it is to the shin, while Van Damme is lying down, but this is a very different, yet good Van Damme movie. With a good story and plot, and strong acting, yes acting, Van Damme proves what people have been saying all along, he can actually act! and the supporting cast do a great job as well.
The scenario backgrounds are pleasing to the eye, and good directing on the battle scene's. It's just a shame it didn't get released into the theaters.
The only reason this DVD doesn't get 5 stars, is because of the extra's, because there are no extra's, which is something you would expect in most DVD's now. But as for the film it's top notch!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
i loved this film when it came out - funny when it did i did not see it. bought the dvd after watching it on Channel 5. damn i knew i must have it. i have seen other legionnaire based films. they are all good and have a great hardened cast but none surpass this one. i wish it had more to offer on dvd and i wish there was more about the lead character and his failed attempt to save the woman he loves from the gangster - spoiler alert! - the attempt was a disaster that cost him his love and sacrificed the people who cared for him most. now he is nothing but a grunt fighting in a land that hates him and in a war that benefits French colonialism.
he meets great characters and the bonds that grow amongst the men along with their hard-nosed Commander (Steven Berkoff) creates empathy for a doomed trek across the sahara. alliances made and betrayals with surprising twists will shock you at unexpected turns of the last Act.
watch it and hopefully you love it as much for its action as there are no silly spinning kicks but hardcore punch-ups and brutal close quarters sword fights. there are dramatic tales with interesting main plot character background refrences that come out in the calm before the inevitable doom. you feel for every man even the bad guys (gangster assassins) - they're all in for one hell of a merciless final battle against the freedom fighters. the freedom fighters dont say much but their defiance is admirable with wide angle shots of their ambush attacks; well directed and choreographed battle scenes like a docu-film.
the version i bought has no special features or subtitles - an early dvd release but hopefully a new release with blu-ray will do some justice.
one of Van Dame's best movies. love it!
he meets great characters and the bonds that grow amongst the men along with their hard-nosed Commander (Steven Berkoff) creates empathy for a doomed trek across the sahara. alliances made and betrayals with surprising twists will shock you at unexpected turns of the last Act.
watch it and hopefully you love it as much for its action as there are no silly spinning kicks but hardcore punch-ups and brutal close quarters sword fights. there are dramatic tales with interesting main plot character background refrences that come out in the calm before the inevitable doom. you feel for every man even the bad guys (gangster assassins) - they're all in for one hell of a merciless final battle against the freedom fighters. the freedom fighters dont say much but their defiance is admirable with wide angle shots of their ambush attacks; well directed and choreographed battle scenes like a docu-film.
the version i bought has no special features or subtitles - an early dvd release but hopefully a new release with blu-ray will do some justice.
one of Van Dame's best movies. love it!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Pete Murphy
Format:DVD
This period action/adventure piece is, for me, the pinacle of Jean-Claudes career. Although it steers clear of his usual high kicking festival-of-violence slapdowns, Legionnaire supplies some big action set-pieces and has it's sights set on something a bit grander and more dramatic than the usual van Damme fayre. It's a story of betrayal, love, honour and comradeship in an unforgiving Morrocan desert between the two World Wars. When he double crosses a gangster, van Damme's left no option but to do a runner and join the Foreign Legion. It's here he meets up with a host of outcasts from society and once their initial training's out the way it's action ahoy as they have scrap after scrap with the local Morrocans that aren't exactly thrilled to have their country invaded by Westerners. Of course, no self respecting gangster's going to let anyone get away with ripping them off, so the goons aren't too far behind our hero as he ships out to Africa.
The big plusses here are that Jean-Claude gets to stretch himself with a bit of acting (for a change), granted it's fairly basic stuff, but he's better than Stallone, Seagal or Arnie have been when the same's been asked of them. He's got able support from the likes of Steven Berkoff and Colin Farrell who both do what's expected of them in their roles of the tough Legionnaire sergeant and the disgraced Brit officer respectively. Aswell as that, director Peter MacDonald (Rambo 3) deserves some credit for putting something together that looks as good as this does. He proved with Rambo 3 that he can make a desert look good, and Legionnaire is equally blessed with some stunning cinematography. The action set-pieces are well handled, and although the script may well be littered with the usual barrackroom situations and characters, it's all done surprisingly well - more like March Or Die than Kickboxer and all the better for it.
The disc is a decent enough affair - it's been cropped down from its original 2.35:1 to 1.78:1 although it's still nicely framed and the cinematography doesn't suffer too badly. The 5.1 audio kicks some life into the onscreen action with some quite thunderous cannonfire from time to time, but the only extra here is a trailer. Compare that to the R1 special edition that comes with 2 commentaries, a couple of featurettes and other related bonus material (although admittedly the 2.35:1 transfer's non-anamorphic and the audio's 2.0 surround) or the French SE that's got a 40 minute "making of..." and an anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer aswell as the 5.1 audio, and you start to feel that despite it's fairly inexpensive pricetag the UK disc could have gone the extra mile.
The film's a corker though, and once you get past the lack of bonus material it's still good value for the money.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
legionaire
Really good old kick boxing film that I hasn't seen for years so thought at the price I paid why not..really enjoyed watching it again..thank you
Published 2 months ago by bumper
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Enjoyable Underrated Film
Really enjoyed it, apart from a few cheesy scenes and historical errors, it was a genuinely good film. It had some very good action scenes, acting and some amusing scenes.
Published on 1 April 2011 by Matthew Lofthouse
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pas de boudin!
Several things wrong with this film: The soldiers march to the theme Voila du boudin - traditionally played at the raising lowering of the colours - there are many other legion... Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2011 by General Rollin
4.0 out of 5 stars
good film, bad ending
van damme,this time a rogue boxer offered a deal to go down in the 2nd round for some monies,at first he agrees but then he refuses and tries to flee with the boxing promoters... Read more
Published on 11 July 2007 by CJ Howdle
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just for fun
I watched the film only because I would like to know Paris in the 1920's and the life as a legionaire. The film is mediocre in plot, also in role playing. Read more
Published on 15 May 2007 by Ogun Eratalay
3.0 out of 5 stars
A DETOUR FROM NORMAL VAN DAMME EFFORTS
It's 1924 in Marseilles, France and a boxer Alain Lefevre goes on to win a fight that he was supposed to take a dive in. Read more
Published on 26 April 2007 by Bringer Of Funerals
4.0 out of 5 stars
Actually it's not all that bad
I think the television listing description I read on this movie was misleading - actually no, it was wrong. Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2004 by Darren Harrison
3.0 out of 5 stars
A change in direction gives Van Damme a chance to shine
With a strong cast and story "Legionnaire" is a refreshing change in direction for the fading martial arts superstar. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
ITS VAN DAMME
Look van damme movies arnt always the best scripted but if you enjoy watching this man do what he does best then this movies should be in with a shout. Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2000 by tarzan781@hotmail.com
2.0 out of 5 stars
Beau Geste remade
An excellent lesson in how not to wage war: Do not use foot-slogging infantry against light cavalry. Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2000 by Jan Mattson
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