Van Damme's latest thriller is a low-budget riff on BLACK HAWK DOWN, complete with a foreign locale (this time it's the cheap-to-make-films-in Romania) and lots of scenes of arms-waving militia walking the streets and engaging in shoot-outs with the defending Americans. Essentially this is yet another siege film, as the heroes protect innocent people holed up in a single location and attempt to hold out against overwhelming numbers until help arrives. Except one of the problems with the low budget is that there aren't actually that many bad guys on screen at one, probably a dozen, and it's pretty obvious at times that extras are playing multiple parts.
In the film's favour, this boasts another decent performance from Van Damme, something that's become quite comment in his recent films. Van Damme is a likable, friendly type of guy throughout, and you find yourself rooting for him from the beginning. The supporting cast members (most of whom have 'graduated' from UK soaps) are okay, with the standouts being Velibor Topic's imposing rebel leader and Julie Cox's fragile reporter. The locations are passable and there are some decent big-bucks explosions at the film's climax, in which the CGI helicopters are the only things that don't convince. There is less action than you'd imagine, and Van Damme only gets to engage in a couple of fist fights. My main problem with the film is that director Simon Fellows seems to find it necessary to shoot his scenes in a juddery, hand-held camera style that always cuts away from the impact. This is particularly bad in the fight scenes, which are little more than blurred messes where you spend half the time trying to figure out who's hitting who.
Still, the film deserves kudos for the gory eye-gouging that Van Damme inflicts on one particularly unpleasant villain. If it wasn't for Fellows dropping the ball with some truly bad camera-work, SECOND IN COMMAND would have been a highly decent B-movie. As it stands, it's a watchable film with plenty of problems but one that somehow proves to be just as likable as its leading man.
In the film's favour, this boasts another decent performance from Van Damme, something that's become quite comment in his recent films. Van Damme is a likable, friendly type of guy throughout, and you find yourself rooting for him from the beginning. The supporting cast members (most of whom have 'graduated' from UK soaps) are okay, with the standouts being Velibor Topic's imposing rebel leader and Julie Cox's fragile reporter. The locations are passable and there are some decent big-bucks explosions at the film's climax, in which the CGI helicopters are the only things that don't convince. There is less action than you'd imagine, and Van Damme only gets to engage in a couple of fist fights. My main problem with the film is that director Simon Fellows seems to find it necessary to shoot his scenes in a juddery, hand-held camera style that always cuts away from the impact. This is particularly bad in the fight scenes, which are little more than blurred messes where you spend half the time trying to figure out who's hitting who.
Still, the film deserves kudos for the gory eye-gouging that Van Damme inflicts on one particularly unpleasant villain. If it wasn't for Fellows dropping the ball with some truly bad camera-work, SECOND IN COMMAND would have been a highly decent B-movie. As it stands, it's a watchable film with plenty of problems but one that somehow proves to be just as likable as its leading man.