MovieChat Forums > The Hard Corps (2006) Discussion > Sheldon Lettich forgot to include the ac...

Sheldon Lettich forgot to include the action in this action movie

posted 3 years ago by PrimeMinisterX (8290)
4 replies | jump to latest

As Sheldon Lettich was the writer of Bloodsport, director of Lionheart and The Order, and writer/director of Double Impact, I was pretty excited about him teaming up with Van Damme again.

But what the fuck was this movie? In terms of directorial skills, it was, I suppose, adequate, but it certainly represented a big step down from Double Impact and even The Order. And supposedly it's an action movie about a bodyguard, but very little screen time is actually devoted to any action.

I wanted to like this movie, and I thought it started fairly promisingly, but by the end I was forced to conclude that it's actually pretty lame. I'm going through Van Damme's filmography right now, watching the movies that I missed along the way, and there's no denying that his career is WAY front-loaded with his good stuff. Second In Command is probably next after this one. Hopefully it is a little more exciting.

[–] Oblivioid (1237) 2 years ago

For me, during this time of JCVD's career, it was difficult to accept that he just wasn't going to be doing the martial arts that we had all come to expect from him. I judged this period of his movies quite harshly because of it, and like you I found it lacking 'something'. It's weird because it has a bit of gunplay action scenes, and even a 1v1 between the two leads, but does it all work? Meh.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8290) 2 years ago

I am thankful to have finally gotten a comment on this, even if it took two years LOL.

I agree about Van Damme's career. He made his name with his martial arts skills and I expected that he would always make martial arts movies. It was after Double Impact that things changed and he shifted way more into pure action. Sure, he'd still throw some punches and kicks, but except for The Quest the focus on martial arts in his films went way down. I think that, when I was young, I kept expecting him to get back to doing karate flicks and he just never did. Eventually I gave up hope.

To make matters worse, even the quality of the action went down significantly, and eventually his career was characterized by making cheap direct-to-video movies.

Van Damme is an action star who should have far more significant films under his belt. I'm sure you heard that he was essentially blacklisted from mainstream Hollywood because of his behavior surrounding Timecop. It would be interesting to know how things would've gone if that hadn't happened.

[–] Oblivioid (1237) 2 years ago

If I once knew that he was blacklisted for some reason, I have forgotten the reasons. What I do remember is him developing a severe cocaine addiction during the Double Team/Knock-Off era. After that all his movies were DTV. What happened with Timecop, was it the drug use and related behavioral issues?

I just want to say too, that I have remained a pretty big JCVD fan through the years, because he ended up having some spectacular DTV movies, such as In Hell and Wake of Death.

But yeah, I just rewatched The Hard Corps this week during my workout, and thought I'd come in here. Not much to talk about, but it was ok, I'd say the IMDB score is fine for this hovering around 5/10. I have a Bluray multipack that also has Second In Command, which is next up for watching during exercise. I remember this being terrible on my initial viewing, but I'm more open to watching it a second time almost 15 years later.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8290) 2 years ago

Van Damme has talked about being blacklisted on a few different occasions, but it all came down to the fact that his ego became massive after Timecop. It was his first--and I think maybe only--film to break $100 million at the box office and he was riding high. He was offered a three-picture deal at $12 million per film, and he demanded $20 million, and the studios decided to tell him to fuck off. Word got around Hollywood that he was difficult to work with and interest dried up.

Obviously he continued to work after that, but if you look at what came after Timecop it's clear that something changed. It would be interesting to know how his career would've gone if he had stayed within the studios' good graces.

As for his DTV films, I remember liking Legionnaire--I think it got a theatrical releases overseas but not in the US--and I thought The Order was kind of fun. And Universal Soldier: Regeneration was at least good for one watch.