Death Warrant (1990) Reviews

• No-Holds-Barred Action Prison Style! - The best of Van Damme!

  ivo-cobra82015-12-30

  Death Warrant (1990) is no-holds-barred-action classic another prison style Van Damme movie. It is my fourth favorite best underrated Van Damme movie. This movie is really underrated, but it is one of my best favorite prison style movies. Also my favorite childhood movie that I still watch today, like other Van Damme action movies I do. The action fighting sequences are awesome. Sylvester Stallone made an action Drama movie Lock Up in 1989 and Jean-Claude Van Damme made Death Warrant a year later in 1990. Directed by Deran Sarafian and written by a David S. Goyer who at the time was a college student and it was his first script. Cynthia Gibb is awesome as co star alongside Van Damme. The movie is awesome another adrenaline action packed movie I also love the music score: Bring Me a Dream by Craig Thomas, which I am still listening today. "Bring me a dream Burke". This movie to me is a kicks-ass, Patrick Kilpatrick as The Sandman was a bad ass villain on screen, I have ever seen. This movie is also a horror film and get's scary, when you see the prison place and the murders of the doctor and the prison inmates inside those cells. When prisoners brake loose was really scary. I love loved the prison movies, about prison inmates, it was, one the reason why I love Prison Break (2005) and why it become my favorite TV Show! This movie is a kick ass and it will always be forever my favorite Van Damme movie that I love it to death! " Don 'The Dragon' Wilson (Bloodfist) and David Bradley (American Ninja 3) the action stars from the 80's and 90's both ripped off Van Damme movies! Like Bloodfist 1 ripped off the story from Bloodsport, Bloodfist 2 ripped off the story from Kickboxer and Bloodfist 3 ripped off the story from Death Warrant! And Don Wilson was praising him self that, he could beat Van Damme to a pulp?! I don't think so! David Bradley's Hard Justice (1995) ripped off the story from John Woo's Hard Boiled (even the title they stole), Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight and Death Warrant! That movie copied and stole everything from those three movies. That is the thing I had a problems in the 90's, they could have been all creative and not copy someone else's movies work! Even Jerry Trimble - Live by the Fist (1993) ripped off Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight. I know they were all different movies, but they copied and ripped off the story from Death Warrant geesh! I want to point this out! That's fine by me, if you read my review and you don't agree, but that is me. Attila from Lionheart and Sandman in here Death Warrant fights comes very close. The movie is filled with action and the inside of the prisons is great. The cells are also great. This is the first time Jean-Claude Van Damme played a Canadian, the second time he played a Canadian was in Sudden Death (1995). I always enjoyed Death warrant and like I mentioned before it is my fourth favorite best Van Damme Movie. The other three are Hard Target, Bloodsport and Universal Soldier than is Death Warrant. It's part of that first generation of JCVD films (Bloodsport, Cyborg, Kickboxer, Death Warrant, and Double Impact) before the biggest budget film he was part of (Universal Soldier). I love Jean-Claude Van Damme and I am a big fan of him. I grew up watching, his old movies and other kids including me grew up too watching his movies. Bolo Yeung, Michel Qissi, Abdel Qissi and Patrick Kilpatrick where great villains in Van Damme movies. Cynthia Gibb was also awesome she played in Youngblood (1986) in the 80's another my favorite all time sports film.

• Death of An Era: The 1980s

  bigslam52006-06-14

  The 1980s were a guiltless time. Rock music was hard, meaningless, and not subtle with its innuendo. The same can be said about 80s action movies. The 80s Action movie had to be classic good guy-bad guy, because all action movies "should" be like that. The 80s action movie had to have some babe in it, and though it was meant to attract female viewers to a movie, the result was nothing more than a sex object for men. The 80s action movie had to have an absurd amount of killing and testosterone. 90s and 00s action movies are the same, but, they are riddled with guilt. They "try" to have a good guy-bad guy mix, but the good guy is not entirely good and the bad guy is not entirely bad. They "try" to incorporate deep "love interests," but fail miserably...at least 80s action movies didn't really try in that department. Lastly, they don't have good action anymore. Everything is computer and shaky camera during fight scenes. Where is the good old fashioned pile of dead extras? 80s action movies are guiltless and treat themselves like revenge fantasy "epics," while modern action movies try to be deep. Just like 80s rockers, they did not try to be deep, while modern alternative music's attempt at deepness and subtleness fails to invoke any real intelligent thought. 80s music, movies, presidents were not deep in meaning...everything was a MTV sound bite, a rude, in your face, unashamed whatever it was. It did not pretend to be something different. Death Warrant, like the band Firehouse, was the last breath of the 80s burning out in the 90s. It has 80s music, 80s clothes, and most importantly, the 80s mentality. The story revolves around a bad ass, shallow as a puddle, cop in Van Damme. He quickly defeats Kilpatrick (Naylor Sandman) by firing 400 bullets at him, and gets th-rusted into the "average" American prison—a cesspool of political corruption, racial tension, violence, and sodomy. The movie is rather guiltless at all of these aspects of America's prisons, making stunningly "deep" observations. The politician justifies harvesting prisoner's organs because "they're all scum"—a reflection of real policy. When Burke (Van Damme) enters "the black part of the prison," the music gets stereotypically "black" with its bass (guiltless 80s mentality) and the warden's comment "I know that you are here—Why? I can smell the (n-bomb)" is a reflection upon the racism. As a prison movie, violence and sodomy don't need to be explained. Of course the movie is all ridiculous hyperbole, but it is so extreme, yet at a strange level true, it makes the bad ass action movie extremely comical as well. The movie has many ridiculous elements added on purpose, for the sake of guiltless "bad-assness" and hilarity. Everyone in this prison is part of a gang, has access to drugs, cell phones, weapons…people leave their cells at will..the "Priest" (a prisoner), seems to be more powerful than the Governor of California, let alone the warden of the prison. The Sandman is stronger than Goliath and refuses to die until he ironically dies like every other prisoner who died as part of the organ ring conspiracy—a spike in the back of the head. Lastly, the Sandman, after taunting Burke, lets him wallow a little longer. Sure, the Sandman could had killed him right there, but instead he says something incredibly "deep" instead: "Bring me a dream Burke, bring me a dream…" This has nothing to do with the plot. It is an inside joke, a little jab at the song named "Mister Sandman," which the first lines of the song are "Mister Sandman, Bring Me a Dream." The movie ends as all movies should end. The hero gets the babe, mends racial boundaries, gets the ultimate honor of "Prison Respect" (where every convict will move out of your way and sing your praises like "He just dusted the Sandman" and "You got it homes…"), and ends with a kick ass 80s sounding rock ballad called "Bring Me A Dream"—another inside joke. I wrote an email to the composer of the song and he sent me the MP3 of it, because I "got" the joke. Very cool. I rate this movie 8 out of ten in not a light fashion. I have watched a lot of movies and only a handful are 8 and up. This movie is that good for its genre and its ultimate entertainment value. It is smart, incredibly stupid, subtle, but blatant at the same time. It is an 80s movie masterpiece and is up there with some of the best movies of all time.

• A Cut Above In A Couple Of Areas

  ccthemovieman-12006-12-28

  This was an intense prison movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme as an undercover cop. "Louis Burke," trying to solve a crime inside a tough prison. There is excellent suspense, some surprisingly-good photography with excellent closeups and slow-motion. Language-wise, I liked the fact there wasn't a lot of the usage of the Lord's name in vain. All of that help make this better than I anticipated. The final fight scene is a little long and is Rocky-like ridiculous in that both combatants get viscously beaten to a pulp.....but keep coming back and not even having their hair messed up!! That notwithstanding, it was an entertaining movie and a cut above most martial arts fare.

• Good Beat Em Up Cop Flick

  knightsend2k12004-09-27

  Most people just don't understand movies.There are different movie genres,and none can really be compared to the other.Take this movie for instance - it's not " Hamlet " nor is it " Jason Goes To Manhattan ".Not to be crass,but Van Damme makes movies not for artistic value,he makes movies you can pop into your VCR or DVD Player when you feel like kicking someones ass.Think of his movies as " Primal Drama ". What's " Primal Drama ",you might ask ? It's movies that are made to appease your inner beast.Just as you might feel like screaming at someone, or breaking a chair over someone's head,you reach for a Van Damme or Stallone movie instead.Somehow,watching the hero in these simplistic displays of eccentric unbelievable melodrama makes life a little easier.Watch an emotional display of comic brutality, and somehow everything's alright again.Look at Van Damme's movies the same way you did Comic Books and you'll understand.Just like Comic Books,Van Damme movies will always have a place in the heart of the Alpha Male.Lowbrow for sure,fun nonetheless. ***** 7 out of 10 *****

• "Death Warrant" is classic 90's Van Damme.

  tarbosh220002010-05-12

  "Death Warrant" is classic 90's Van Damme. This time around: Louis Burke (Van Damme) is a policeman who goes undercover in a jail to investigate a murder. While inside, he realizes there's not just murder, but corruption. Now he has to high kick and low split his way to justice. After the weak "Lionheart", Van Damme realized that he should take a break from the Kumites, and the Underground Brawls and focus his efforts into a making a fun action pic. The final fight had all the ingrediants for the usual Van Climax: Swift, brutal kicks to the face and an action hero trademark, an impaling. If you watch enough Seagal, Norris, and Van Damme flicks you realize it's all the same, but who cares, it's another 90 minute action movie with mediocre writing and directing! Yeah! For more insanity, please check out: comeuppancereviews.com