A Stylish Noir Thriller
Summary
Darkness of Man isn’t up there with JCVD’s old classics like Hard Target and Bloodsport, but as he ages he has to take on different roles appropriate for his age and this feels right for him at this stage of his career. It has some stylish noir visuals and plenty of brutal violence to keep fans happy. I still would love to see him in a big budget John Wick type movie as I miss seeing him on the big screen.
Plot: Russell Hatch an Interpol operative who takes on the role of father figure to Jayden, the son of an informant killed in a routine raid gone wrong.
Review: JCVD is back in this stylish noir-esque actioner which has the Muscles from Brussels as we haven’t seen him before… kinda.
Directed by James Cullen Bressack, Darkness of Man is an ultra-violent tale with Van Damme playing Russell Hatch, an alcoholic who promises to look after a young boy called Jayden (Emerson Min) after his mother is murdered.
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Russell had a relationship with her after her husband was killed, but Jayden has no interest in Russell being a part of his life. He begins to hang out with his criminal family members, and Russell struggles to keep him on the straight and narrow while also trying to battle not only Russian gangsters, but Koreans too.
The film gets a gravelly voice over from Van Damme as he narrates this tale sounding like an old-fashioned gumshoe. He drinks to numb this pain of his life and his friend Claire (Kristanna Loken) is also there to provide support and conveniently repair Russell when he gets injured.
There is a little humour in the film, but Van Damme is an old hand at playing grizzled badasses out for redemption. At around 90 minutes Darkness of Man is sprinkled with neon dripped visuals giving the right kind of seedy vibe.
It is a little slow for the action to kick in and JCVD is showing his age in the fight scenes; still, it’s nice to see him still doing them and there are some gruesome kills. I love seeing him face off against Andrey Ivchenko (Stranger Things) in the car and there are some surprising cameos especially from a legend of action which I had no idea about in advance.
I think fans of 80’s/90’s Van Damme movies might not enjoy the film as it doesn’t have that sense of fun that those movies had, but this is still better than JCVD’s past few films. He acts well and looks like he is going through Hell, but he still smiles a few times and manages to be an appealing character.
The score is dark and ominous, sounding like it’s influenced at times by Michael Giachino’s The Batman which is no bad thing; it certainly works for this movie.
Throughout the movie Russell is trying to find out who the real villains are, so there isn’t someone to truly hate until later into the film, but I can’t help wishing we had a climactic fight scene.
Overall, Darkness of Man is a solid JCVD movie with some stylish moments, some decent kills and an impressive cast making it one of his better recent films. It won’t be for everyone as there isn’t constant action, but there’s enough to keep things interesting,