The Lusty Review Thread

Joe (Daniel Craig) and his lady friend (Samantha Morton) have just hunkered down in the middle of a beautiful field to treat themselves to a pleasant picnic complete with "the poshest of the posh" liquor. Before their outing can really gets rolling, a runaway hot air balloon bounces across the field carrying two unwilling passengers, a boy in the carriage and a man hanging onto a connected rope. Joe springs into action chasing after the balloon along with a few other men in the vicinity. The men bravely jump onto the carriage of the balloon, using their bodies to weigh it down. They've managed to settle the contraption down somewhat and as they are about to pull the boy free-- *WHOOSH* A strong gust of wind thwarts the rescue, killing a man in the process.

In the weeks following the incident, Joe can't help but feel he could've done more that afternoon. He obsesses to the point it seems mad. Now, this alone would've been suffice for some good dramatic cinema. Run-of-the-mill, for sure, but good nonetheless. I'll credit Ian McEwan, the author of the original novel, with the outstanding idea of turning the story into a darker, more dangerous neck of the woods. In terms of the movie itself, the effect is undeniably Hitchcockian.

I won't even spoil exactly what ingredient is introduced that makes the overall concoction so toxic. I'll talk about other, less spoiler-ific stuff. The pacing seems "slow" at first, but the movie reveals itself to be purposefully patient with its revelations and progressions. A defining trait in more than a few of my favorite "thrillers". The visuals compliment the restrained storytelling by only mildly upping the urgency through images. The tension does grow thick in some of the shots though. And by thick, I mean you can reach out and touch it. Things get pretty intense. It doesn't hurt that someone on the team had some Bernard Herrmann-esque music to drop in.

Daniel Craig is given a slew of different elements to deal with as the main lead. Throughout the film the Joe character gives us different glimpses at his own psyche, almost as if they were punching it out to see who was stronger. Fairly complex stuff, and Craig handles it like a pro. I don't recall many other flicks I've seen him in where wasn't playing action hero, but he shows off some "for real" dramatic chops here. Samantha Morton is, unfortunately, not given enough time as Joe's love interest, Claire. She's usually excellent, but her character is a bit two-dimensional. Rhys Ifans (the horny flat-mate from Notting Hill) is effective as one of the would-be rescuers from that fateful afternoon that gets a bit too clingy with Joe. Overall, an outstanding cast, and I'm not even mentioning everyone.

Enduring Love may not have been what I was expecting but it's a rewarding watch. Not quite a touchy-feely drama, not quite a generic thriller. Just right.

I had a lot of heroes growing up; the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Batman, and other great people along those lines. At one point of my childhood, Jean-Claude Van Damme sat at the top of that stack. Aside from the accent, he was everything a boy could ever dream to be. He beat the crap out of the man-monster from Enter the Dragon. My love for him and his movies fell by the wayside as I grew older though. It came down to the fact that he was never in any real blockbusters and his few noteworthy pictures were successful in spite of themselves. I moved on, but he didn't. He couldn't. And that's what this movie is about.

"B" action movie star, Jean-Claude Van Damme, has fallen on hard times. Or rather, he's stuck in hard times. He can't find a way out of the "straight-to-video" realm of cinema that has defined him. His greedy agent isn't helping matters. He's fighting a losing battle for custody of his daughter and is hemmorhaging his limited funds in the process. And last but not least, he has just been caught up in the mayhem of a post office robbery in his homecountry.

The chronology of the story is fragmented for dramatic effect but as one may expect, it overly complicates matters at times. We are given snippets of Van Damme's "life" difficulties as we also see him try to deal with the unique circumstance he has been thrown into as an international superstar being held hostage by softcore hoodlums. These flashbacks are not just used as storytelling devices though; they also serve as a means of stripping away the mystique that enshrouds our idea of Jean-Claude Van Damme. The people he meets on the street during the film are immediately overwhelmed by his presence. They only know him as seen on tv, but the movie fights hard to make sure we know him better.

In focusing so intently on the main character, the filmmakers let certain details of the picture wander off-course. Most apparent of these issues is the pacing, which drags its feet on a regular occasion. This has less to do with the manner of storytelling and more to do with the lackluster dialogue. Worth mentioning though, some of the conversations brought about by Jean-Claude's starstruck fans are just too funny for words. The world class tactlessness it must take to request someone to kick a cigarette out of another person's mouth...

There are a lot of adjectives you could use to describe most Jean-Claude Van Damme movies. One word you won't find on that list is "touching", but I'll be damned if a monologue delivered by JCVD, himself, in the film's closing chapter doesn't tug at the heartstrings. Now, I am not totally blinded by the man's awesomeness. JCVD, the movie, is far from perfect, but I think enough goodness is salvaged here for a recommendation.