Second in Command

As an action flick "Second in Command" is nothing we haven't seen and it's based on a very unoriginal plot. Featuring an American intelligence or military action in a poverty ridden Eastern European Country. The problem with some of these movies is that the production staff does very little if any research. As if people who make these movies don't expect these movies to be shown in those Eastern European Countries they portray. Things like a Rebel Leader swearing in Serbian or Croatian language while speaking on the phone to Van Damm - from what I know in Moldavia or presently known as Moldova local population speaks Moldavian (romanian dialect) and Russian. I give this movie 2 for the lack of research and unoriginality.

That sums it up right there. This is definitely the worst military movie I've ever seen. With a lot of military background myself, I love movies with the description this one had on the box. But please, this movie had so many military inaccuracies that it seemed like the director didn't even try. That turned me off, but also the acting is pretty bad in general, and the plot very predictable. Jean Claude's accent made it a little hard to picture him as a Navy SEAL. He doesn't do a lot in the movie himself anyway besides a few round house kicks here and there as he walks around with a force field protecting him from all the enemy fire. And of course, there has to be a random love interest, but in this case it had so little to add to the plot that I had to scratch my head even harder thinking of what the director was thinking. If you want a GOOD movie about an embassy evacuation with some convincing Marines rent "Rules of Engagement."

It is nice to see a new Van Damme movie. The acting was good for this kind of movie. I'm sure many fans will be disappointed that VD doesn't do any famous kicks. I will say that this is a very minor step back for VD, after doing the really good WAKE OF DEATH. I am hoping HARD CORPS will be a bit better. I am also glad that not much CGI was used in this movie. If you're looking for a different sort of movie from Van Damme, then this is it. Its more of a political action movie. I'm not much for those kinds of movies. But I will still add this to my DVD collection, its worth seeing. Its better then BLACK EAGLE, DERAILED & DESERT HEAT, at least. :)

Now i am a massive van Damme fan I've seen everyone of his films and i could say that i like everyone one of them until i watched this film. There is so much wrong with this film that not even van Damme can rescue. Firstly the storyline is just awful its just not realistic, i only say this because the film is obviously trying to be very accurate and life like as possible. The filming is terrible, it keeps showing close up views of everything, things that u don't need to see like and close up of a mans arm and a close up of tyre the list is very long so i wont go on. Now when anybody goes to watch a van Damme film they are not expecting the storyline or the acting to be amazing they are just looking for some great action and fighting from van Damme but this does not happen. van Damme fights like 3 or 4 times in the whole film and when he does its done with a close up camera view and some weird slow mo effect that just doesn't do nothing for the film. I hate to say this about a van Damme film but this is one of the worst films I've ever seen. Even if you are the biggest van Damme fan (which i am) i guarantee you will not like this film.

Worth watching? Yes if you want to see how badly a film can be made. Hand held-style filming is jerky, misses subjects. Special effect in this hand held filming is a sudden zoom jump for no apparent reason or artistic benefit. Hammy filming at its worst. Corny? Save the girl, doesn't matter if any one else dies. Then the real corny child shot at the end. A hero film cannot work without a child being saved. Eh? Dialogue? Attempt at army speak to make it sound tough. Not much else. J-C must have been desperate to deviate from his usual blood and honour plots to make this. Just goes to show that you do not need a good script or good filming to get something produced. If you have seen assault on precinct 13, then you might recognise the theme.