PodBill Just what I expected

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Leofwine_draca Director Philippe Martinez brings a touch of French class to what is a very unusual and striking revenge thriller, boasting some fine moments of originality, great camera-work, and top-notch performances. Now, these aren't things you'd usually associate with the likes of Van Damme and Seagal, whose recent films have all been straight-to-video fare. The good news is that Van Damme seems to be coming out of his rut, and, with this and IN HELL, making some of the best films of his career. The focus on these films, and what makes them so successful, is that Van Damme actually acts and gives a decent performance. Recently, he seems to be drawn to darker, more mature fare and he's been great, proving to be a stable, fleshed-out lead with whom the audience can really engage.WAKE OF DEATH borrows from modern Asian cinema in providing thrills which have a real dark edge, a real bite to them. The level of violence is pretty extreme, with shotgunned heads and nasty knife slashings. The film's darkest moment is in a gratuitously nasty torture sequence, in which a guy gets his just desserts when a French mob start working on his arms and knees with an electric drill. The blood spatters and gore sprays everywhere, making this possibly Van Damme's most violent film.The performances are good, with Van Damme's grieving widower equally matched by Simon Yam's cold-hearted gangster, who likes nothing better than slashing a woman's throat with his flick-knife. Van Damme's buddy Donny is also great. The action is over-the-top in places – the motorbike/car chases, for instance – but the stunts are good, the effects fantastic, and the physical battles brilliant. I especially loved the ending on the boat, which offers vintage thrills and spills. All in all this is a very good film with plenty to offer for those who can stand the intensity.

Adam Peters (57%) Another example of Van Damme's strait-to-video movies being actually better than his cinematic ones from back in the day (or the 90's as it's also called). This is a somewhat solid, violent revenge flick with a great central role from Jean-Claude giving a more than decent dramatic performance that you just don't really get in this type of lower end budgeted movie. There are a few noticeable cracks here and there as you'd expect, the fact that it's only about 1 hour 22 long is proof enough of not the highest quality, but as far as hard edged crime action thrillers that never made it to cinema go, this is really is a bit of a highlight.

pete At first, I'm a Van Damme Fan. I like him since Bloodsport and shame or not but I hate him since UniSol2. I think everyone knows why... Since 1999 something broke his ego. Maybe, it was his mental problem and the thing with drugs or the world changed but something moved in different way. Sadly all these came back in movies too. Everyone who watched JCVD knows this. He tried and tried to became an actor against martial arts star, but I think he is much more a fighter like an actor. And that was what I always loved in Van Damme. I think this move isn't good. It want to be a drama-action flick but it works not. There are so many weak moments. Please, I think who loves action movies knows what's the different between good and bad. Cheap effects, laughable scenes with overplayed characters kills everything. JC is OK, the problem is the story the cast and directing. Everything is B... Double Impact was B-movie too, but million miles away from this. In 1990 there was mood and an elegant style for these kind of movies. I think after the year 2000, this kind of cinema is only for renting. Somewhere in the past Van Damme was a cinema star, not only a product for DVD... I hope he shows us more JCVD in the future!

rockdalecop In my opinion, this is by far the best Van Damme film. The acting is superb and first rate. The story is nothing new but it's done very well. The directing and the editing is first rate too. All about this film is first rate. There is maybe a few glitches but that's it. The fights are awesome as well. What I think makes this film superior, it's how well it was made. You actually feel "something" for the characters. I loved Max and Raymond. The actor who portrayed Max is awesome. Tony was very cool as well. My feeling is that if someone like Bruce Willis or another big time movie star played the main role of Ben Archer, the film would've been a theatrical box office success. Jean needs to stick to films like this.