Legionnaire

The best Van Damme movie, for me.

I picked up this movie by chance, right at the beginning, and I watched it. I liked the style, the atmosphere, and the fact is that the film turned out to be very good. The film begins when a boxer, who should have lost a fight, decides not to comply with the agreement, harming some mobsters, who go after him to kill him. In order to escape and hide, he enlists in the Foreign Legion and goes to Morocco, where he will have to survive a commission in times of war.

Jean Claude Van Damme really surprised me with his work, completely outside of what he has accustomed us to. I don't even like this actor very much, and I really enjoyed watching him work in this film! It is, for me, the best film of Van Damme's career to date, and excellent proof that he can do better, and differently, when he wants to. I also enjoyed seeing Nicholas Farrell, Steven Berkoff, Jim Carter and Daniel Caltagirone.

The script is not complicated and also not original, but it works very well and gives us a good story, which never feels like a mere excuse to send the character to fight in Morocco. It's a good action movie, a movie that takes itself seriously and does its best to be taken seriously by the public. There is a good set of sets, excellent costumes, a legitimate and serious effort to recreate the historical period with some accuracy. The filming locations were also meticulously selected and are magnificent, something cinematography is no stranger to. Indeed, the film has magnificent colors and was well shot. In addition to all this, it is worth listening to the soundtrack, where the melody “Mon Legionaire” stands out clearly.

Jean-Claude Van Damme adventure in the Moroccan desert

In 1925, a boxer in Marseille (Van Damme) makes some big enemies and so joins the French Foreign Legion in which he’s assigned to Morocco during the Rif war to defend a desert outpost against Abd el Krim’s Berber guerillas.

“Legionnaire” (1998) begins like “The Cotton Club” (1984) before settling into a plot reminiscent of “The Dirty Dozen” (1967) with the North African milieu of “March or Die” (1977) or “Khartoum” (1966), not to mention an ending similar to “The Alamo” (1960).

Like “The Flight of the Phoenix” (1965) and “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), this is a movie involving the challenges of sweaty men in the vast, beautiful desert. As such, don’t look for many, if any, women in the proper cast, although Ana Sofrenovic has a small role.

While this lacks the martial arts action of most Van Damme flicks, there are plenty of fights and military combat. The opening sequence in Marseilles is well done and the desert cinematography is both colorful and breathtaking. I was expecting a low-budget affair, but was impressed by the production values. Although not a blockbuster, it cost $20 million in 1997 when it was shot, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Unfortunately, the story isn’t as dramatically compelling as “The Dirty Dozen,” “The Flight of the Phoenix,” “Lawrence of Arabia” or “The Alamo.” The script needed another rewrite or two to flesh out some depth. As it is, a couple of the villains are too comic booky and the black character (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who’s stalwart in the role) is the cliched American that’s (supposedly) ever so hurt by white American society. It smacks of Lib Hollywood propaganda and is just hackneyed & eye-rolling.

The film runs 1 hours, 39 minutes, and was shot in Morocco.

GRADE: B-