Genres

Visitors Review

anonymous 2012-05-26 00:45:32

Such crap it is worth seeing

The opening credits should serve as a warning as to the quality of thisfilm.It is poorly written and riddled with cliches, but it is so bad I foundmyself laughing the whole way through.See it, if just to remind yourself what a bad movie really is. If you enjoywatching bad movies, this is one for you. It is up there with the worstmovies I have ever seen.

2012-05-25 09:49:25

The Best 'Acting' Action film of recent memory

In truth, I thought the end was here for Van Damme--his last few films were uninspired, humourless, shameless retreads of better films by worse actors. But Legionnaire redeems his oeuvre by ignoring him throughout much of the film, giving the best lines and most of the drama to a group of relatively unknown but excellent character actors. The editing is flawless, and let's face it; no director ever went broke by ripping off Lawrence of Arabia. I love Van Damme films, and I'm telling everybody to rent it because it's not a true Van Damme picture.

2012-05-22 10:29:25

Legion Etrangere

Great movie - a historically correct depiction of the Legion of the '20s, and Van Damme plays a character who embodies the classic heroic traits of courage, honor and nobility. The desert scenes, especially the marches, convey the sense of struggle and tribulation with which every infantryman is familiar. Credits at the end are run to a beautiful rendition of the immortal tune "Mon Legionnaire", made popular in the '30s when recorded by Edith Piaf.

Urban Cinefile Critics 2012-05-22 08:30:49

Van Damme delivers a monotonic performance that is sufficient to cure the worst cases of insomnia imaginable -- and that, mes amis, is the good news.

Lionhart 2012-05-18 23:33:05

Jean-Claude Van Damme deserves some recognition for this film.

And who says Jean-Claude Van Damme can't act? Huh? This excellent film ofsurvival and friendship shows all the anti-Van Dammers where they stand. Inmy opinion, Jean-Claude deserves an OSCAR for this one. I rate this one adefinite 10 on my KICK ASS SCALE!

2012-05-18 12:58:08

Robbed of Theater Play!

This immortal piece of cinema pits the genius Jean-Claude Van Damme to join the French legion. After establishing himself as "A Genius", Van Damme impersonates a French legion officer and he becomes the lone survivor after a merciless battle. I can see he was trying to be Rambo, but he fell a little short. Rambo is pretty much an icon in American history, you can't touch that. This movie should have played in the theaters instead of going straight-to-tape. Tragedy! A good effort though Van Damme.

Joe 2012-05-15 05:28:54

Morocco in the 1920's

This is an entertaining movie, with some good visuals of desert battles between Berbers and the French Foreign Legion. The story is more interesting and meaningful than several other movies I've seen starring John Claude Van Damme.

2012-05-14 22:59:27

pretty good flick

This movie definately deserves more credit than it has been given in other reviews. I usually cannot stand Van Damme, but my wife told me this was a good movie (she saw it on cable). I rented it, and liked it alot. This movie seemed to be loosely based an out of print 1977 movie called "march or die". This one is better. Van damme tries to double-cross some french gangster, and blows it horribly. His only alternative to being murdered is to join the Foreign Legion. He winds up in North Africa, along with a bunch of other undesirables. The Legion is assigned to protecting french interests in that region. If you know your history of the French Foreign Legion, you will know that they always seemed to get the short end of the stick when it came to combat. This movie is pretty historically accurate in this sense. The legionnaires are outnumbered, poorly supplied, and isolated. As you can expect, they get whupped, pretty bad, too (just like real life). No BS here. No cavalry riding in to save the day, or some herculean feat which thwarts the enemy. They fight a losing battle, and are killed to the last man. The cinematgraphy is excellent. The on-location shooting lends favorable credibilty to this movie. The uniforms, weapons, and settings provide real authenticity. Van Dammes' accent (which usually irritates me) blends in with this movie suprisingly well. Since the Foreign legion is replete with, well, foreigners, his accent goes well with the other german, english, and italian accents one would expect from such an entity. The dialogue is also well written. It can get a little mushy and mopey, but it does not detract from the overall film. I would sum this up as a war/romance movie. this is definately NOT the typical Van Damme flick. Those of you looking for his typical stuff (karate/action), will be sorely dissapointed. Some military enthusiasts will like the authenticity. My wife liked it, and she hates Van Damme, so even the female counterparts will like it. I grudgingly have to admit that Van Damme suprised me with his acting ability. He is still no Cary Grant, but I can look at him in a new light with more respect. He did a pretty good job in this movie. I would have to rate this as one of my favorite movies. It is just plain good overall. Oh, by the way, to the person who wrote the previous review about him wielding a gatlin gun, and firing it standing up: do your research. He is firing a Lewis machine gun. It was developed by American inventor Sam Lewis prior to the First World War. While adopted in the US in only limited numbers, the Lewis gun was adopted as standard issue in the British, Belgian, and French armies and continued to serve in a limited number in the Second World War. It only weighs 27 pounds, and is quite portable, as depicted in Legionnaire.Enjoy the movie!

2012-05-12 06:26:48

good old fashion storey

great to see jean claude in a non-martial arts movie, not a oscar winner by any mean, but a good storey , up dated by modern advances in photography, see it, and see history, the way it was..

AmericanPsycho2011 2012-05-11 19:06:01

Average Film!

Sure, this is no action flick but it turned out to be good! The plotrevolves around a man named Alain Lefevre (Jean-Claude Van Damme) whojoins the Legionnaires to avoid a bunch of gangsters who want him dead.The movie has a lot of drama. I thought it was pretty good. There is nofighting or martial arts moves but that doesn't mean the film is bad.Sure, Jean-Claude Van Damme can't act but I thought he was decent inthis.The one person I really enjoyed watching on screen who did a great jobwith his character was Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Luther. Man, this isa guy who can act.I give this movie 5 stars out of 10. Average film!

Glenn Kunka 2012-05-09 11:30:29

LEGIONNAIRE IS AN EXCELLENT WAR MOVIE

VAN DAMME GIVES YOU A SOLID PERFORMANCEIN THIS WAR ACTION MOVIE. THE ACTIONIN THIS MOVIE IS EXCELLENT AND VERYEXCITING.THE ACTING IN THIS MOVIE ISGOOD. IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH BUYING.

2012-05-08 22:34:14

Good action shots but a pitiful storyline that yawns

2.5 Stars because the action scenes are great, but the plot is simplistic and the semblance at drama pathetic, with irritating stabs of shallow sentimentalism and worn cliche. Worth renting but not worth buying unless you want good action shots and are a Van Damme fanatic. I will sell my DVD if I can. A previous review compares this to Glory, but I consider the comparison far-fetched, unless action is the sole criteria.

Antoine Dubé 2012-05-05 06:47:49

Maybe the best so far

This may be a better kind of movie for Van Damme, no kicks. I love thekicking action, but this movie has but one kick, it's to the shin and VanDamme's lying down when he gives it. Right off the bat that proves thatthis is not your typical Van Damme film. It all about dreams. All thecharacter, primary and supporting bring their dreams into the story andshowhow following these dreams has led them into the "Legion Etrangere". Fromthere we get the bonus of having a sort of inside look at a militaryelementthat's not very well known.This part could be a spoiler, so if you have not seen this movie and don'twant to know then stop reading.The story of friendships that are forged, then lost as they all bite thedust, leaving Van Damme, alone in the desert, still clinging to his dream.The ending is not happy, as not all ending are and it leaves a tear in youreye. In this movie, maybe the first, Van Damme proves what a lot of peoplehave been saying all along, that he actually can act. It's top class forhim, and it's just too bad it wasn't released in theaters because it couldhave really bolstered his dwindling career. The supporting cast also did agreat job, ALL of them. This movie was great.

moviecollector 2012-05-04 17:35:24

this was a pretty good movie

There is a knee kick 2 the stomach, several punches, many gun shots. Asurprising but very good VD movie. If u r looking 4 a straight upaction(UNIVERSAL SOLIDER)- this is not the movie. Its touching, in a way.VDcries a few times.VD flees from some bad people & becomes a legionnaire & then a war breaksout. Its set in 1920's. VD bares butt too in a unnecessary shower scene.Itsworth seeing.

cannae 2012-05-02 07:47:01

So lame it needs crutches!

Another disaster of a movie. Unbelievable characters and a script out ofthe30's. The ending was SO stupid. Go to the dentist for a root canal asopposed to watching this. This movie is DOA. I cannot recommend it toanyone. Don't even waste your time on this one!

Dirty Harry 2012-05-01 17:36:00

The best of Van Damme

First of all, we got to know this is a Van Damme movie. Taking thatinto consideration, it is a very good movie. I've watched it severaltimes now, and it really has something special, at least for me. Iwatch those ratings, like everybody do, when I'm searching for films towatch. But, the ratings are often very misleading, in both ways. So,I'm watching really bad and boring films with ratings 8, and I getturned off of perfectly good films with ratings from 4.5 to 6.Unfortunately, we can't watch all the films, and there will be missedgood films, and a lot of bad films watched, but if you want aninteresting story, not expecting too much, and have a lot of nicescenes, then don't miss this one. Give it a chance, it's a good film.

Iamnetboy 2012-05-01 13:50:20

You can see Jean-Claude Van Damme acting and some eye-opening battles in the desert. Not much else left.

With Jean-Claude Van Damme starring the film, it's supposed to be a goodaction film. It barely is. And that's it.Some battle scenes on the desert and at the fortress are well arranged andshot. Besides that, it seems that through out the movie the script lacksofstrong reasoning. Van Damme tries to show his comradeship in the film asmain theme, but I am not moved at all.This movie lacks of some "chemical elements" to make it a better actionfilm.

in-the-fade 2012-04-30 23:05:48

For Honour! The Legion!

It's 1924; in Marseilles, France and boxer Alain Lefevre goes on to wina fight that he was supposed to take a dive in. He had it all plannedout that he would win and then leave with his old girlfriend (who's nowwith the mobster) to head to America. However things go terribly wrong,and this leads to Alain joining the Foreign Legion to mould a newidentity to escape from those mobsters. Although this second chance isgoing to be a hell of an ordeal. What good can come from a straight-to-video, Jean-Claude Van Dammeaction film? Well, you know won't be expecting a masterpiece or even agreat movie. So it gotta crash and burn. But wait a minute."Legionnaire" actually breaks that trend, to be one of Van Damme'sbetter movies of recent years. Hey, it's probably my favourite of hisand that's saying a lot when compared to "Time Cop", "Universal Cop"and "Nowhere to Run". I don't know why I enjoyed this film so much, buteven with my second outing, it delivered the minor goods in a simple,flourishing formula. There's no escaping the old-hat concept creaking in the set-up. Itmight be a change of scenery. Although, it's no different from aordinary war film with an assortment of token characters setting up aloyal partnership to pull together when it gets tough going. There's nopretensions to its clichéd material and while, its contrived andheavily laced with them. It seems to get away this dramatic edge andits survival of the fittest message is passionately orchestrated. Mostof these men are burdened souls, escaping from life or trying to provesomething. This is why these comrades hold a strong emotional rapportwith each other, as they know when they signed up there was no releaseclause to fall back on. The gleefully, corn-riddled script providesplenty of overstrained melodrama and electrically campy banter. Thecamera-work is swiftly executed and an elegant music score that couldturn fiery in an instance are resourcefully worked in. The performances aren't anything special, but surprisingly competentand workable. Vann Damme is *cough* … solid, yes that's true. He'sportrayal is quite convincing and subdued in his blistering likeattitude. There's good turns by Nicholas Farrell, who chimes in as anoptimistically, witty British man, Mackintosh and Daniel Caltagirone asthe fickle Guido. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is an excellentcharacter-actor and he does wonders with a plain stereotypicalcharacter, Luther. They were quite a likable bunch that we got to know.Steven Berkoff is compulsively good as the hot-wired Sgt. Steinkampf.When watching Van Damme flicks we know there's must be some kick-assmartial arts when he's wiping the floor of the bad dudes. Oh no, thathardly happens here at all. There are a couple of moments, but they areshort lived. It plays for a meaningful war film, where its main focusis the high-octane battle scenes than just one-on-one combat. Sometimesthe action does play second fiddle to the inner-goings of the men, butthe loud, relentless war scenes were well organised and made for a morebelievable rough 'n' tumble foray. This just proved how much the Frencharmy were out of their league when facing the skilfully quick anddeadly Arabs on their turf. Here he's no potent individual, but relieson his comrades to look over his back. Few surprises occur andknee-jerk jolts find there way into the warfare. When it came to thefinal minutes it seemed to lose a bit of creditability, to what hashappen before it. An ambitious detour to the formula for Van Damme, but it mostly workedout and delivers undemanding entertainment.

Dragan Antulov 2012-04-29 21:57:14

Could have been a great film, [but] suffers the fate of its protagonists -- honourable failure.

liebpferd 2012-04-29 03:44:30

Worth watching even for non van Damme fans

Legionnaire is beautifully photographed and contains both an engagingstory (loosely based on Beau Geste) and good performances by theactors. Underrated from the start, the picture undeservedly wentstraight to video. However, it is not a 10 out of 10 as some suggest.The story and characters fall too often into clichés and some of theroles could have been given more depth. Particularly the love story,mostly told in flash backs, is depicted with emotionally appealingpictures and music but remains too superficial to be fully satisfying.This film had the potential to be great with a bit more emphasis on thedrama part and toning down the more usual action flick formula (theaction scenes are well done, though). However, here is hope that vanDamme will make more serious movies, even if they have martial arts andaction themes. I always liked him as an actor. There is an honesty andmodesty to van Damme's work that is missing in most Hollywood products.