van damme be back . do more of the same . it seem that whenever van damme and seagal or any of the straight to video culprit release a new movie and some fan boy always have to claim it some kind of return to some glorious era . this fail to take into account and first and foremost and that there never be such a period . and in the case of wake of death and this be not a return to form to the mediocre bloodsport or the mildly entertaining universal soldier . what we have here be a very typical and b grade action movie and reminiscent of what we have see a thousand time in the 80 and from the sub par hong kong trend . the ( relatively ) goodvan damme ( who play ben archer ) have improve a an actor . although the performance be very uneven and there be glimpse of real and actual acting here . the support cast be mostly adequate consider the b nature of the flick . simon yam screen presence be good and although he fail to impress . the young actor portray archer son be weak but valerie tian a a young refugee do an ok job . archer misfits friend be probably the weak link . finally and there a lot of action go on . doesn not look like a movie where they cut cost . car chase and gun fight and explosion and stunt and martial art fight . you get the whole nine yard . the badthe plot be ultra typical . the movie also have a somewhat schizophrenic vibe to it and possibly due to have have three different director attach to it and or just be plain bad . the five writer credit for this story do not help either . some of the scene be far too serious and contemplative one minute and only for dramatic consideration to be throw out the window the next . the movie start decently but lose steam and so do van damme . although the action flow nicely and there also nothing memorable here for action fanatic . no particular stunt you will talk about for month or year . heck and you will be lucky if you remember this stuff minute after be do . the movie conclusion felt particularly flat to me . all in all and this movie be forgettable and unoriginal and not very exciting . this be recommend only if you really feel like watch a bad old school movie . something john mctiernan and george p. cosmatos and john woo or john irvin might have do on a very bad day in the 80 . for a movie with a somewhat similar premise but sublime execution and a main character that be ten time more menacing and check out man on fire star a very convincing denzel washington .