Sudden Death (1995) User Reviews

Powers Gives Boost To Film

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 20 August 2006]

I found this to be a very interesting action with with Powers Boothe fun to watch as the main villain, thanks to his dialog and no-nonsense approach. At least he wasn't one of those talk-first, shoot-maybe-later clichés from the world of film. The hockey scenes in here are realistic, too. However, the rest of the film doesn't exactly exhibit realism: lots of hokey stuff in here, too. At the end, the action really gets carried away and brings the rating down on this to a manageable "7." Otherwise, it would be a minimum of "8" just for the entertainment value alone.

After a slow start, it picks up when Boothe enters the movie. Then it never lets up. If you want a pure hour of action, this is it. There is no female lead in this movie, so you get no romance nor gratuitous sex scenes, which is a bit unusual. It's a straight crime story.

One note: unless things have been changed, I was disappointed my DVD did not offer a widescreen version.

Review of Sudden Death

[gsjs_316 · 7/10 · 25 January 2005]

OK, let's be straight forward. This is not Oscar material. It's a typical hostage movie similar to the Die Hard series. There are some pretty decent action sequences and some that just don't plain make any sense and, after you see them, you will be left kinda confused. Having said that, this is a good movie. The best part about this movie is, surprisingly, the bad guy. Powers Boothe plays the lead terrorist and he plays it well. At times you root for him because he plays the part so well. Unfortunately, it's hard to root against this guy because of his wise-ass attitude, but some of his quotes are memorable and quite amusing. (Example: To the vice president "I voted for you. I really did. It's your sincerity and compassion. However there may be a need to kill someone else. Now we're gonna make this work or we're gonna die trying!") This is a typical Van Damme film except in this one he plays a little hockey. This movie, albeit a bit done-before, is surrounded by an entertaining cast that propels this from a 5 to a 7.

Ice ice baby.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 8 March 2009]

Darren McCord, a fire safety officer at a hockey stadium, takes his two kids to a major Pittsburgh Penguins game. It just so happens to be the day that extortionist/thieves kidnap the vice president and hold him hostage at the stadium, thus putting himself and his children in mortal danger.

Lets cut to the chase here, Sudden Death is a clone rip off of Die Hard, the action template movie that shines as bright as a newly formed bruise, but as copycats go {and there have been reams}, Peter Hyams' beefcake blunderbuss movie is an action junkie's delight. Jean Claude Van Damme {McCord obviously} flexes his muscles and not only beats seven bells of tar out of Powers Booth's criminal minions, he also proves to be a hero and loving father to his oblivious children. It's contrived for sure, I mean we get Jean sneaking on to the ice and taking up net minding duties, and it's certainly a script devoid of imagination. But it's got Van Damme fighting a hot kick ass babe in a penguin suit and a last fifteen minutes of high roof/dangling/swinging/exploding mayhem that does the action genre proud.

It's no Die Hard, but what genre films are? Sudden Death in spite of its contrivances, is a film that is impossible not to enjoy if you are a like minded adult. 7/10

Great Van Damme movie

[monkey-man · 6/10 · 22 August 2005]

Another great movie from Jean-Claude Van Damme who is one of the best action stars of all time and one of my favorite action movie actors.The plot in this movie is good and its about how some Terrorists take the Vicepresident hostage and threaten to blow up a ice hockey stadium full of people if they do not get $1 Billion dollars.

There are a lot of good scenes in this movie like when Vam Damme is fighting one of the bad guys and he kills him by stabbing a chicken bone in his neck.And the scene in the end of the movie when the bad guy gos down in a helicopter and he blows up.

Over all this movie is a great Van Damme movie and i recommend it to watch and my rating is 6 out of 10.

Van Damme as a fireman hero fighting against mean terrorists into an ice-hockey stadium

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 19 November 2007]

Darren(Jean Claude Van Damme) is a firemen, he carries his sons to a Pittsburgh Penguin national Hockey play-off where is taking place the final.But the arena has been taken by a terrorists led by a cruel villain(Powers Boothe). The bad guys are holding the Vice President(Raymond J. Barry), as well as another authorities taken as hostages in a private box. The chief villain demanding a few billion dollars or he'll blow up the stadium because is wired with enough explosives for killing all around. Meanwhile an Inspector(Dorian Harewood) is also investigating the events and is captured our hero's daughter .

This film is plenty of action and explosions and is quite amusing. Displays suspense, thriller, violence, great action scenes and stunts with sensational scenes. Jean Claude Van Damme gets a perfect part who plays cat-and-mouse- with a sardonic nasty, well played by Powers Boothe.The highlights film are the impressive fighting on the stadium's ceiling. The blowing up ,pyrotechnics,struggles are breathtaking but the picture is just another usual Hollywood product in the wake of ¨Die hard¨.Married only by lack credulity for feats of Van Damme and too many needlessly scenes. It packs a high budget and lavishly produced ,however, nowadays Van Damme performs a middling and low budget movies. Spectacular music score fitting to action film by John Debney(Sin city,Passion of Christ).The motion picture is professionally directed by Peter Hyams who repeats with Jean Claude in ¨Timecop¨ . He's an irregular director with hits(Relic,Outland,Capricorn one) and flops(Sound and thunder,End of days).

Definitely one of the most intense action films of the 90s

[LLAAA4837 · 20 May 2010]

This time, Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a traumatized firefighter who takes his two children to a Stanley Cup game that the vice-president is attending. Unfortunately several people, including Van Damme's daughter as well as the vice-president, are taken hostage by a deranged CIA member and his team of suited up goons. Their plan is to kill one hostage each quarter if their continuously outrageous demands for absurd amounts of money are not met. If they still don't have their money by the end of the game, the arena and all of the people inside will be detonated. Van Damme ends up having to do battle with these creeps while trying to disarm the bombs. Eventually when the game nears it's end he also ends up having to do everything in his power to get the hockey game to continue.

This is easily one of the most intense and nerve-wracking Van Damme films. Obviously it's just another Die Hard-ripoff, but it has more to offer than most Die Hard-ripoffs that came out in the 90s. For starters, the villains in this are real villains. They have absolutely no qualms with killing any innocent people, and they do it about as casually and as constantly as a real bad guy should. A lot of people get killed in this film, and a good portion of the victims are innocent bystanders. Powers Boothe is actually pretty damn scary! The first third of the film has a pretty high bodycount, and the bloodshed starts off almost immediately. Sure, the villains aren't as sadistic as the villains in, say, the second Die Hard film, but I don't think that anyone is going to dispute that these bad guys are pretty bad. One thing this film does exceptionally well, however, is allow the action set-pieces to be implemented in some pretty cool ways. There's a fight scene in the kitchen involving a team mascot gone mad in which all the deadly and dangerous hazards become tools. There's a lot of really slick gore and some really shocking moments of bodily harm that make this film a lot more memorable. What really makes the film work, however, is the final act where things get down to the wire and it becomes all about survival. I won't spoil what happens, but the last few action set-pieces are spectacular in their creativity and in their energy.

Van Damme also does a fine job as usual as the hero who ends up having to do everything by himself. He shows about as much charisma as expected for the role, but since he's playing a father he remembers to keep it in check a lot of the time too. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but don't expect a lot of moments of sly little comments like you would find in Bloodsport. I don't mind so much either way, it's just that this isn't the goofy Van Damme that was in Double Impact, but it's not the hardened stonefaced loner in Hard Target. This Van Damme lies somewhere in between those, though leaning more toward the Hard Target Van Damme. As long as he isn't the loudly shrieking crucified idiot that he was in Cyborg, I don't have any problem. I think one thing that made this a little more unique is the fact that he's trying to rescue his child rather than rescue a woman who simply knows too much. This helped make the film much more simple to digest and it also gave it that little emotional kick that never hurts in a good action film.

I like my action films to be raw and gut-wrenching, and Van Damme's films usually deliver the goods. Sudden Death is definitely no exception. It's an intense and explosive film that is entertaining as hell and has plenty of good shocks. It's not a good film by any means, but if you're looking for action that is brutal, Sudden Death is easily one of the more entertaining films of the 90s, and plus there aren't a lot of films where a bad guy is killed by getting shoved into a dishwasher.

JCVD does Die Hard at the NHL Stanley Cup finals

[a_chinn · 5/10 · 1 August 2019]

Jean-Claude Van Damme does "Die Hard" at a Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game. Interestingly, co-writer Randy Feldman said he wrote the first draft of the screenplay as a comedy/action movie parody. The only scene that remained in the finished film was the scene where Van Damme fights the penguin mascot. The now serious version of the screenplay co-written by Gene Quintano (writer of Police Academy 3, 4 & 5) is a highly derivative action film about a group of terrorists holding the Vice President and Stanley Cup fans hostage. Despite a weak script, the film does deliver some solid fight scenes from JCVD, features a good villain with Powers Boothe as the lead terrorist, and well directed action from Peter Hyams ("Capricorn One" "Outland" "Timecop"), who is also the cinematographer on most of his films and was doing it long before it was the cool thing to do, as is done by Robert Rodriguez, Doug Liman, Gaspar Noé, and Steven Soderbergh. So overall, this is a dull script that's executed by it's actors and director much better than it deserves. Worth watching for JCVD fan only.

A typical Van Damme outing in "Sudden Death"

[dee.reid · 6/10 · 18 January 2020]

It seems that every Hollywood action heavyweight has to have their "Die Hard" moment, and 1995's "Sudden Death" was Belgian martial arts sensation Jean-Claude Van Damme's contribution. Basically "Die Hard on Ice," "Sudden Death" is slickly polished and photographed nicely & directed by Van Damme's "Timecop" (1994) director Peter Hyams, but that's about it - despite a few well-executed action sequences and special effects.

During Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, fire marshal Darren McCord (Van Damme), a former Pittsburgh firefighter traumatized by his inability to save a young girl from a deadly house fire two years earlier, takes his two children to watch the hockey game. Also in attendance, is the vice president of the United States (Raymond J. Barry); and a crack team of terrorists led by Joshua Foss (the late Powers Boothe), a disgruntled former Secret Service operative who has taken the VP and 10 others hostage in the owner's box and wants two billion dollars in frozen funds from enemy nations to be wired to 13 bank accounts of his choice.

The gist of it is, is that the government has until the end of each inning to transfer one-third of the money, or else Foss will execute a hostage. If at the end of the game his demands still are not met, he will blow up the Civic Arena with strategically placed explosives and kill everyone inside it. Only a one-man army, Darren McCord, can stop them.

"Sudden Death" has the usual shoot-outs, explosions, martial arts showdowns (including Van Damme's hilarious fight with Foss's henchwoman, disguised as the Pittsburgh Penguins' mascot, in the Arena's kitchen) and thrilling foot-chases, but that's about it. It's pretty typical and by-the-numbers stuff that doesn't offer anything new to a tired and worn-out premise.

On the plus side, Powers Boothe makes for a truly memorable bad guy with a cold and efficient manner and a no-nonsense approach, as well as a black-hearted sense of humor. Boothe provides some of the film's best lines and gets some of the most memorable moments, too. He is really what keeps the movie going.

All in all, "Sudden Death" is a good way to kill 111 minutes of your Saturday afternoon.

6/10

A guilty pleasure ... maybe

[A_Different_Drummer · 5/10 · 6 October 2016]

A strange movie. I mean really strange.

Die Hard was done in 1988. In 1992 Steven Seagal did Under Siege and to be frank it was an awesome film. In 1994 the venerable JCVD did what is possibly the best film of his own (post-Bloodsport) career, Timecop.

And then we have 1995. My best guess is that a producer figured the world could use one more Die Hard/Under Siege clone, and that JCVD should star in it.

The same genius figured it should be done on a shoestring budget, and set in a hockey arena where the editor could "fill space" by inter-cutting scenes from the game.

The main "character" is a fire Marshall who (best guess on this backstory) had a JCVD fetish and studied MMA between fire drills.

As a stand-alone film, it is pretty awful. The plot is dumb. The hockey is distracting. The fight scenes are wretched. JCVD looks mainly lost.

The good news is a classic "trope" where (not making this up) the hero, trying to avoid the assassins chasing him, decides the best strategy is to dress up as the goalie in a Stanley Cup game and wander out onto the ice. Where the coach puts him in the net! It is so outrageous it almost works! And Powers Boothe knows more about playing bad guys than even real bad guys.

The second best movie ever made in Pittsburgh

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 7 July 2019]

If you live anywhere other than Pittsburgh, this movie - much like Striking Distance - is a DVD that you can find in the $1 section. Here, it's a prized commodity, a remembrance of the Steel City in the 1990's and a time when the owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins' wife decided that she wanted to make a movie.

That's right - Howard Baldwin, chairman of the Pittsburgh Penguins, was one of the film's backers. The goal was to use the home opened between the Pens and the Chicago Blackhawks as a backdrop, but there was a lockout due to the owners and players not coming to terms. That meant that an exhibition game between the two teams didn't have the intensity that the filmmakers wanted, so they got the minor league Johnstown Chiefs and Wheeling Thunderbirds to play in front of 3,000 extras, with the rest of the crowd being cardboard cutouts. Seriously - look for the fake fans.

Darren McCord (Van Damme!) may be French Canadian, but he's a true Yinzer. Once, he was a firefighter but he was unable to save a young girl from a house fire. He lost his wife and barely sees his family, who live in a nice house up on Mt. Washington while he's probably living in Carrick or Brookline (I'm trying to make this review so Pittsburgh-centric that it will only appear as blips and bleeps to anyone outside of Allegheny County).

Now he's the fire marshall for the Civic Arena - long gone for the several times renamed PPG Paints Arena - and finds himself in the midst of a terrorist situation when former CIA agent Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe, who played Jim Jones in the made for TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones) wires the Igloo up with explosives and takes the Vice-President hostage.

Yes, this is a movie directly tied into the end of a hockey game causing bombs to blow up an ice hockey arena. A film where JCVD does battle with the Pens' penguin mascot, Iceburgh. Where even supposed good guys are really on the side of evil. And where Van Damme can create homemade flamethrowers and even get on the ice himself to save the day.

If you're a fan of 1990's hockey, this is the film for you. Jay Caufield, Mario Lemieux and Luc Robitaille, as does venerable Pens announcer Mike Lange, who is one of the few announcers left who isn't some vanilla pretty boy who barely knows the game. Instead, he's given to loudly shouted Lange-isms like "She wants to sell my monkey!" and "Get in the fast lane, grandma! This bingo game is ready to roll!" You can hear his signature "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh!" call in this film as well. Not to brag, but of all the names in my phone, the fact that I have Lange's makes me probably the happiest (we worked together on several radio commercials).

Director Peter Hyams has an interesting IMDB list, working on films like Capricorn One, The Star Chamber, 2010, Outland, Running Scared, The Presidio, Stay Tuned and Timecop before this one. He'd go on to make The Relic - a film I was asked to quiet down during my laugh-filled viewing of it at Mann's Chinese Theater - and End of Days. He elevates this above it being just another Die Hard clone.

You know who else does? Powers Boothe. He's one of the best bad guys ever here. And to top it all off, he read the audio book of the film. This is the holy grail here in Pittsburgh, a valuable artifact worth its weight in pierogies.

This Film Should Be Met With Sudden Death.

[anaconda-40658 · 1/10 · 25 December 2015]

Sudden Death (1995): Dir: Peter Hyams / Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Powers Booth, Raymond J. Barry, Ross Malinger, Whittni Wright: Title describes its box office results. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a firefighter who quit his job but unfortunately not the film industry. He emerges as a security guard at a stadium and takes his two children to a hockey game attended by the President but Powers Booth holds the V.I.P. group hostage and demands money or bombs will go off at the end of the game. Perhaps he should have demanded a higher salary for allowing himself to be part of this crap fest. Before long Van Damme's daughter ends up in the isolation booth and many bone breaking battles follow. Production succeeds where story fails. Director Peter Hyams previously made Time Cop with Van Damme and together they prove that two heads are not necessarily better than one. Booth is laughable as this villain whose ass will get kicked. It is just that so many others are ahead of him in the wait line. Raymond J. Barry is wasted as the President. Ross Malinger plays Van Damme's son who stays put when told. Perhaps had he left then he would have avoided any further involvement in one of the year's worst films. Whittni Wright plays Van Damme's daughter who laughably yet tearfully informs Booth that her dad will hand his ass to him. Pointless wretch that should be met with sudden death. Score: 1 / 10

One of the best "Die Hard" clones

[jhaggardjr · 9/10 · 14 October 2000]

After the success of "Die Hard" there have been many movie clones of that great action film. There was "Die Hard on a Ship" ("Under Siege"), "Die Hard on a Train" ("Under Siege 2"), and "Die Hard on a Bus" ("Speed"), just to name a few. "Sudden Death" can be described as either "Die Hard on the Ice", "Die Hard at a Hockey Game" or "Die Hard in an Arena". You pick. Technically you could put all three titles into this movie and it'll still be pretty much the same thing. However, "Sudden Death" is one of the better "Die Hard" clones. It's an exciting movie about terrorists taking over the Pittsburgh Civic Arena where the decisive seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks is being played. However there's a little difference here. The only people who know that hostages have taken over are the people in the VIP box (which includes the Vice President), the Secret Service men outside the arena, and an arena fire marshall who's two little kids are attending the game. The 17,000-plus fans attending the game have no idea whats really going on. That fire marshall is played by Belgian action star Jean-Claude Van Damme. I've not been a big fan of Van Damme's films, but "Sudden Death" is easily his best movie to date. Van Damme plays Darren McCord, the fire marshall who finds out something's wrong when his little daughter is taken to the VIP box as a hostage after witnessing a killing. When McCord finds out what's going on, he does precisely what Bruce Willis did in "Die Hard", takes on the terrorists all by himself. The lead bad guy is portrayed by Powers Boothe in a frightening performance. He may not be quite as effective as Alan Rickman's villain in "Die Hard", but Boothe does a good job at being mean. Van Damme is also very good too (especially in one scene where he poses as the Penguins goalie to hide out from the bad guys who were chasing him). He's much better here than he was in "Timecop", teaming again with "Timecop" director Peter Hyams. The action scenes are splendid (both the gunplay and the action during the game), and the suspense has you on the edge. "Sudden Death" has a few silly moments here and there, but since this movie is such a good thrill ride, you won't care. This movie deserved to be a big hit at the box office and wasn't. I'll never understand why.

***1/2 (out of four)

"Don't get so worked up. They'll win."

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 7 July 2012]

Coming towards the back-end of Jean-Claude Van Damme's popularity with movie-goers (although the fans would stick with him), "Sudden Death" would be an huge improvement over his previous feature "Street Fighter" but only to be short-lived with what was to follow in the late-90s. Really he didn't fall away like some other 80s and 90s action stars, but actually made some decent features even if they were straight to video. Anyhow "Sudden Death" would be directed (and photographed) by Peter Hyams, who previously in the year before guided Van Damme in "Timecop". What we get is a fashionably conventional, but tautly exciting siege standoff like something in the sorts of "Die Hard", although done during a sporting spectacle meaning a stadium load of victims (at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena) are virtually unaware of the danger. Van Damme is the only one who can stop these terrorists who are holding the American vice-president for ransom in a private box. These guys mean business. Powers Boothe is terrifically commanding and genuinely threatening. While quite suave and quick with a witty response, he's one you wouldn't want to get on his bad side as there's no hesitations in the way he gets about things. Van Damme's ex-fire-fighter character (who is scared by a past incident) gets involved when his daughter is kidnapped and he goes about trying to spoil the terrorist's party by disabling their bombs while also taking some of them out. The expansive set-up might have been done to death and is elaborately plotted, but Hyams perfectly delivers the martial arts combat of its star (where can you see Van Damme take on the Pittsburgh Penguins' mascot) and the suspense of the situation to go with it. While slow and steady to start, where it feels played down suddenly becomes an assault on the senses with its busy pacing and bruising, brutal and unsparing violence that builds up to a heart stopping finale.

"My daddy's a fireman."

They don't make them like this anymore

[Agent10 · 3/10 · 9 November 2004]

Okay, here is a really short review: this movie blowed. I wish I could just have a review that stated this simple principle, but I must bore you with more bad review type words like 'horrible' 'clichéd' and 'unwatchable.' It's the type of film you watch when you are drunk or are stuck on a desert island with nothing else to do. Here's the premise: the vice president is captured by a terrorist group at a play-off hockey game and only Van Damm can stop the madness. Truly, truly terrible, but then again, I didn't pay to see it the first time around and only my dad felt the absence of girth in his wallet after this movie. I hate the fact he is a Republican and all, but then again, he did spare me the horror of paying for this piece of garbage. Okay, that is now enough space to be recognized as a review, so I bid adieu.

An old hat but entertaining enough

[amesmonde · 15 July 2011]

A former fireman goes head to head with a gang of terrorists holding the Vice President and his daughter hostage during the NHL Cup finals.

While John McClane is certainly not the first action hero, had Die Hard not happened and Sudden Death had been made in 1988 Karen Elise Baldwin story may have faired well, however, by 1995 the theme had been done to death with endless amounts of Hard-a-likes including Passenger 57 (1992), Under Siege (1992) Speed (1994) to name a few. 

Jean-Claude Van Damme looks unhappy, yet actually does an okay job as Darren McCord but feels miscast, even with the screenplay catering for his trademark kicks for fans he looks uncomfortable with a slightly thriller oriented script by Gene Quintano and comes across less effective than in Maximum Risk. 

Like Bruce Payne and Alan Rickman before him Powers Boothe is first rate as ruthless ransomer Foss. Raymond J. Barry is notable as the Vice President, the rest of the cast of expendable agents and terrorist are adequate but forgettable. No doubt hockey fans will have fun spotting real life personalities and players.

The stadium location is visually interesting and the music score adds to the action and more tension filled scenes. Director Peter Hyams keeps the screen busy but like Van Damme just goes through the motions, still Sudden Death is only really let down by bad timing, pacing and annoying child actors. 

With unexpected executions, fights, explosions, one-liners and an obligatory twist Sudden Death is an entertaining larger than life hostage flick - just leave your cranium at the door.

Die Hard in an Ice Hockey Stadium

[nicksholl · 7/10 · 7 July 2002]

*MILD SPOILERS BELOW*

Like most Van Damme vehicles, the action is hard hitting, the acting lame and the screenplay hilarious ! Most aspects of the story-line have been influenced by earlier hostage thrillers, especially Die Hard, the mother of them all.

Take for example the scene where the foolish FBI decide to take matters into their own hands and send men into the stadium, strictly against the orders of the villain, quite well cast as 'Powers' Boothe. As they all run in from separate doors, their is a man sitting behind several surveillance cameras of the outer stadium, relaying their actions through his walkie-talkie to Boothe. Like the black man in Die Hard with his 'all was quiet on Christmas Eve, except 3 swat team members entering from the front' line.

Some of the action scenes are well crafted, like Van Damme's entrance into the VIP box at the end, but most of the fights have far too many speedy cuts to make them enjoyable, instead they are just ultra-violent. If nothing else, some of Jean-Claude's moments of glory are highly comical, especially his facial expressions, which are completely OTT e.g. after saying 'come and get me' over the phone. Other notable bits of unintentional humour are;

1. Van Damme's ''educated guesses'' at where the bombs could be within the stadium, all of which are inch perfect, naturally.

2.The way in which Van Damme, THE FIREMAN, diffuses all bombs with ease.

3. One scene where the producers must have run out of dosh as it seems they couldn't afford to over-dub sound effects and old Claude has to, hilariously, make them himself with a throaty 'HUUGH'!! (during the 'sharp object up the arm' manoeuvre)

So, all humour apart, this is a better than average flick which will keep you entertained due to its fast pace and moments of genuine tension. Just don't expect something as good as Die Hard, Under Siege, or Speed.

Overall Rating: 7/10

Die Hard Van Damme

[Coventry · 6/10 · 5 June 2013]

Jean-Claude Van Damme, my country's most profitable export product (right behind beer, chocolate and waffles), stars in what is arguably one of the top three best films of his career. I deliberately state top three, because personally I'm also a big fan of "Death Warrant" and "Hard Target" even though I might be the only one. "Sudden Death" is a typical "Die Hard" clone, like there were far too many of them throughout the nineties, but it's one of the chosen few that are actually great fun and closely approaching the quality level of the actual "Die Hard" sequels (not the one and only original, of course). This accomplishment is largely thanks to the craftsmanship of director Peter Hyams and – also typical for major action blockbusters – the presence of a genuinely evil villain you just hate to love. In this particular case it's Powers Booth who depicts his terrorist/robber character continuously straight-faced and seemingly emotionless regardless of who he kills or what challenge overcomes him. Booth and his equally evil platoon of accomplices invade the Vice Presidents' lounge during the prestigious Stanley Cup ice-hockey finale and demand for a whole lot of money to be transferred to secret bank accounts all across the globe. If there aren't sufficient transfers at the end of each game period, Booth kills off one of the hostages. In case the whole sum isn't transferred at the end of the game, he threatens to blow up the entire stadium with everyone in it. Luckily for the thousands of (unaware) spectators, the tough former fireman JCVD is the arena's responsible fire safety inspector and Power Booth made the terrible mistake of taking his young daughter hostage. "Sudden Death" guarantees adrenalin-rushes from start to finish, with violent shootouts as well as brutal hand combat battles, a suspenseful race-against-the-clock aspect, a bit of disaster-movie mayhem near the finale and a handful of cool (if predictable) plot twists. I wouldn't know what to possibly expect more from a 90's action movie.

Sudden Die Hard

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 3/10 · 26 June 2021]

I enjoyed this movie a lot more when it starred Bruce Willis and Alan Ryckman. And Bonnie Bedelia. And featured zero snotty kids.

Granted, Powers Boothe puts across a good combo of sinister and camp. Still, Ryckman, I mean, come on.

Van Damme - as much as he's my guilty pleasure - isn't given enough interesting dialogue to work with. He just runs around getting in super-lame fights while displaying none of the self-effacing sense of humour that made John McLane one of the all-time movie heroes.

The key hostage, instead of being the scorching hot Bonnie Bedelia, is some guy playing the VP of the United States. Who cares. He might as well have been the Penguins team dentist.

Then there's Van Damme's two brats. By god I hate kids. I hate kids in movies even more. And I hated these two kids eleventy times more than that.

Then there is the hockey, which is barely Junior A level, much less NHL Stanley Cup Finals level. And those doofus announcers, Lange and Stiegerwald, who for the longest time were regarded as the worst announcing duo in hockey. In fact, every time the topic comes up online,they are still named as the worst, as if their stench lives on in the broadcast booth.

This movie's crowning achievement is how it manages to be entertaining and still be so bad

[Robert_duder · 6/10 · 22 June 2013]

When I was in my teenage years, growing up in the nineties I loved a good action flick with Jean Claude Van Damme. He wasn't my favourite hero but he was always good for action. I thought I remembered Sudden Death being one of my favourites so I was anxious to watch it again. I'm glad I did because man was it bad. I was completely entertained but now that I've seen so many more movies and become something of a connoisseur I can see all the ridiculously huge plot holes with a movie like this. I mean any good action film requires you to suspend some belief but I'm talking ridiculous gaping plot holes that are just ignored. How is that terrorists completely overtake a stadium during the biggest sporting event ever, blow up cars outside the stadium, have massive gunfights and perform other acts of terrorism without anyone inside the stadium ever having any idea? Its ludicrous. This is only one example but its a major one. The acting for the most part is wooden and even Van Damme who at least has a strong chemistry on screen just doesn't really come alive in this one. Still with those downsides the film is still fun and entertaining and still has some worthy action scenes.

Many will poke fun at Jean-Claude Van Damme for his acting abilities but he was a nineties king for a brief moment. He was a martial arts/action superstar and this seems almost primed for him. The unfortunate part is they misuse him. He hardly does any martial arts and just seems so out of place. His character has no development and doesn't really get the chance to be as charismatic as other heroes in similar films. Powers Boothe actually steals the show in a lot of ways. He is a fantastic lead villain right up there with a great Die Hard villain. Boothe has the look and the delivery and has a cold blooded character not to be messed with. The final show down is epic enough and it is sort of a cool concept but when Boothe's villain finally meets his end it is rather campy but suits the film. Raymond J. Barry also is quite good but sadly underused as the Vice-President of The United States. Whittni Wright and Ross Malinger deserve honourable mention as they both do a good job as Van Damme's children who find themselves in danger. Dorian Harewood is decent as Hallmark but I'm not sure his entire purpose in the film and despite getting one of the cooler death scenes his character feels awkward in the grand scheme of things.

Certainly director Peter Hyams is no stranger to a good action film. He worked with Van Damme previously on Timecop and has done a handful of decent to really good action flicks but his best work is usually in sci-fi. This is not his best work. Essentially this is another Die Hard type rip off but its lacking the heart and the smart script that is necessary to make it really something. As the rumour goes this film was originally written as an action/martial arts spoof film and ultimately I think that is what it ended up being. For all the bad I've said you can't deny its nineties classic status. Its a terrific concept to have the lone hero suddenly have to protect his children, the Vice President and thousands of hockey fans from an insane terrorist at Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals IN Sudden Death Overtime. I don't understand why they made him a fireman as opposed to a police officer which would have made far more sense and helped with some of the glaring plot holes. So basically if you can really let go of logic and sense and just sit back and enjoy a silly action flick then you'll be entertained and find this amusing. A great piece of film making it isn't but I suppose that isn't its goal. 6/10

So sad to see JCVD being reduced to fighting a mascot

[jonathanruano · 3/10 · 17 February 2013]

Back in his heyday, martial arts sensation Jean Claude Van Damme was fighting titans like Chong Li (Bolo Yeung) and Attila. But in this movie, JCVD (playing Darren McCord) is reduced to fighting a hockey team's mascot (which looks like a cross between a hen and a penguin) -- and worst of all he comes very close to losing. And that fight scene really sums up this entire movie. Jean Claude Van Damme was in his element when he was playing unapologetically macho guys in movies that were so cheesy, so laid back, and so consciously silly that they were funny and fun to watch. In addition, some of Van Damme's martial arts fight scenes in those laid back, silly films were brilliant in terms of their execution. But in director Peter Hyams' "Sudden Death," all of that cheesy, laid back, silliness that made the JCVD movies so entertaining was lost in a barrage of loud and remarkably boring shoot em ups, explosions, and stunts. Plus the martial arts fights in this movie are few and far between and nothing compared to the wonderful martial arts sequences in JCVD films like "Bloodsport," "Kickboxer," and even (shockingly enough) "Black Eagle."

As for the plot, I will not go into all the details about why this movie is awful because there is simply not enough room in this review for that. Suffice it to say, there are two main problems. To begin with, the lead villain (who is so boring that I honestly forgot his name) explains right in the beginning that he will shoot people if $500 million of U.S. government money is not delivered into his bank account by the end of a (get this) period in a hockey game. Hockey, for those who do not follow the sport, has three periods, which leads one to conclude that the villain wants $1.5 billion in all. This scene, where the lead villain explains his plan, sucks out most of this film's excitement and suspense because predictably enough when the first and second periods of the hockey game end, people die violent deaths in scenes that are identical to each other. If that is not bad enough, this film tacks on a ridiculous plot twist at the end of the third period. Apparently the hockey teams are drawn 4-4 and go into sudden death, which inexplicably influences the lead villain to postpone his original plan to kill everyone in the hockey stadium (which he says he will do if all the money is not delivered by the end of the third period) to the end of "sudden death," giving Van Damme just enough time to save the dumb hockey fans. Maybe I could have excused this flawed plot, if the villains were given interesting things to say and do. But the villains in "Sudden Death" are very dull fellows and not frightening at all. As a result, we are not concerned about their potential victims and we are not entertained by the villains. So my advice is to have fun reading this review, have a few laughs, and be glad that you missed this film.

Not his best, although not his worst.

[itsparsley · 6/10 · 19 February 2009]

For me to say that this film is not entertaining and I wasn't enjoying myself would be a complete lie. It was one of the many Die Hard clones that came out (mentioned in other reviews)at it's time. While the film wasn't anything great, it wasn't as bad as Jean Claude Van Damme's later movies. Sudden Death promises Die Hard fans a somewhat decent experience. You'll get plenty of bad guys resembling the Die Hard type along with a nice amount of Van Damme fights. Sudden Death is the perfect film for an action fan bored on a weekend afternoon. It's mediocre but it's passable so just have an idea of what you'll be in for.

Van Damme had to do a Die Hard clone

[The-Sarkologist · 5/10 · 9 December 2013]

Right from the beginning I could see that this movie was going to be a Die Hard clone, which is not surprising because Die Hard was a very successful movie and created a trend that followed on behind it. The action in the movie was good but the plot seriously sucked. Basically there were so many holes in the plot that it created a movie that you only go and see for Van Damme, and I don't think that he is that great anyway. If you are wanting to see Van Damme's moves, then this is not the movie to see them in. In fact, if you simply want to see good fighting, hire out a Hong Kong video - there generally tends to be much better moves in them.

The vice president is going to the Ice Hockey finals and some guy, the movie really never actually explains who he is, only that he knows the government security operations very well, holds him hostage so that he can force the president to remove money from frozen bank accounts. The problem is that they grab a nosey little girl who turns out to be Van Damme's daughter, and that brings him into it.

Van Damme's character is a fireman who quit after a girl died in his arms. Now, the thing that annoyed me is that they showed this part, and it really had nothing to do with the movie. It could have just as easily been explained afterwards than to show it. I think that it would have been much better for the plot line if they spent some time describing who Foss, the antagonist, was. They dropped hints but they never actually went as far as outlining everything. Some might say that it is not important because this is an action movie, but I think it is. It makes for a very poor movie to simply disregard plot for action.

Sudden Death is a better Van Damme movie and I enjoyed it. All but this stupid sporting commentator in the booth, but then this is what you expect from commentators. I generally do not watch sports because first I find them boring, but mostly because the commentators are prone to say the stupidest things. These guys tried to make themselves look tough, when they really just didn't think about what they were saying. Actually, it was even worse because it was scripted.

I liked it, and I am sure Van Damme fanatics would love it. Personally I would rather go back to the original Die Hard. That is a finely crafted movie.

A fairly decent thriller that doesn't try to get cute.

[mhasheider · 8/10 · 24 January 2001]

I may be one of those movie buffs who's at least willing to confess that they're not a huge admirer or fan of a certain actor or director. Jean-Claude Van Damme would be near the top of my list of actors that I only admire although I've seen a few films where he has his name is on the poster.

"Sudden Death" is the second film that Van Damme has starred in with photographer/director Peter Hyams ("End of Days", "Timecop") is at the helm.

This film was based on an actual story by Karen Baldwin and is adapted into the story by Gene Quintano.

The movie takes place at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh where the Chicago Blackhawks and the Pittsburgh Penquins are about to take the ice for the last game of the Stanley Cup finals. Van Damme's character, Darren McCord, takes his son and daughter to the game. As usual, the arena is packed with fans and the Vice President of the U.S. has come to see the game as well. Unfortunately, Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe), a demented terrorist and a small band of terrorists take control of the Owner's box where the V.P. and several people. Foss demands that he wants a billion dollars and how he wants to use it puzzles me. However, at the end of each period, if his demand isn't met, Foss shoots someone and if the deal isn't done at the end of the game. The arena is blown sky high with several explosives that are set all over the arena.

Boothe is good here and he makes the threat very real, which is key to making any thriller. He also shows some wit and in one particular scene, the Vice President curiously asks Foss "What kind of lunatic are you?" Foss responds - "The best kind."

What draws McCord into the situation is when his daughter is taken up to the Owner's box. From there on, the movie manages to make the excitement to be interesting. One example would be the fight scenes that McCord has with a couple of thugs in the kitchen at two seperate times. Just about every prop is used from the meat slicer to the bone, which goes through one of the neck of a terrorist. Fun and yucky isn't it?

The last half of the film is just about entertaining as the first half is. I'm undecided if "Sudden Death" would make the best thriller that involves a sports event and terrorists since John Frankenheimer's "Black Sunday". Van Damme and Boothe are both good here.

A good Van Damme 90's Die-Hard action film!

[ivo-cobra8 · 7/10 · 30 December 2015]

*SPOILERS*

Sudden Death (1995) is a good 90's fun action film, that has flaws and many problems in it. Is the second Van Damme movie that was directed from Peter Hyams and a decent action Die Hard movie, definitely of one of my action fun favorite Van Damme movies and mostly because I love Die Hard movies and a Die Hard style flicks like Sudden Death. It is a really shame how underrated this action movie flick is. I never get tired of it or bored with it. This is the second time I actually recognize that Van Damme's character is a Canadian is this action Die Hard Flick. The first time his character was a Canadian was in Death Warrant when he played a Mounty cop. In here he plays a Canadian disgrace Fireman now turning a fire building inspector who takes on a group of terrorists holding the Vice President and others hostages including his daughter during the seventh game of the NHL Stanley Cup finals. Still Van Damme's decent action movie in my opinion.

"Terror Goes Into Over-Time"

Sudden Death is a 1995 American action film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Darren McCord, a Pittsburgh firefighter who during a Stanley Cup finals game finds himself trying to save his daughter and the Vice-President, who have been taken hostage by a team of terrorists led by former government operative Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe). The film was directed by Peter Hyams from a story written by the wife of the then owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The majority of the film was shot during the 1994–95 NHL lockout in the Civic Arena, the actual arena of the Pittsburgh Penguins. That is the basic plot it is about a an ex fireman fighting terrorist in the hockey arena. I liked Whittni Wright and Ross Malinger who played Emily and Taylor, Darren's children, they were great.

This movie how ever has a lot of mayor problems, problems that I do have with the film. Which is also one of the reasons it wasn't my favorite Van Damme movie as a child. I think this is the first time I do not see Van Damme's martial arts and his spine kicks. I hated the twist! Dorian Harewood should have played the good guy and not the bad guy at the end. The fight choreographer still has horribly done fight doubles/stand-ins during the fights, which are very noticeable and take away from the fight scenes. You can easily tell, that this is not Van Damme in so many of the fight scenes. The pacing is still not that good. Too many useless stuff like the cops outside who weren't interesting. The 'good luck' that the main character got throughout (the gun shooting but "Oh, it's Empty", the game going into Sudden Death at the last couple of seconds so this No Explosion) and etc. made me "Call Bullshit" quite a few times, making that kind of stuff not enjoyable, and this took me out of the flick quite a few times. A couple of nice explosions and a good role by Van Damme & Powers Boothe, doesn't make a great movie'.

I like this movie but honestly I think Double Impact and even Kickboxer are better movie than this. I like the Hockey game and That Van Damme's character does everything in his power to safe the hostages including all people in the hockey arena. But personally to me this movie did not felt a real Die Hard movie. I think Die Hard is still better movie. A good ideas was also used in this movie including nice shootouts. The helicopter crashed in the hockey arena with Joshua Foss in it. Van Damme's character realized right away what happened and try to spoiled the terrorists plans. I like that he was looking for the bombs. I like that the movie was set in Pittsburgh and not New York or Washington D.C./: Those are one of the reasons why I like this movie and the rating, this movie get's by me is a 7, the ideas in this movie very terribly. As a Van Damme fan I like it.

7/10 Grade: C- Studio: Universal Pictures, Shattered Productions Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Powers Boothe, Raymond J. Barry, Whittni Wright, Ross Malinger, Dorian Harewood, Kate McNeil, Michael Gaston, Audra Lindley, Brian Delate, Faith Minton, Manny Perry, Brian Hutchison Director: Peter Hyams Producers: Howard Baldwin, Moshe Diamant Screenplay: Gene Quintano Story by Karen Elise Baldwin Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 50 Mins. Budget: $35.000.000 Box Office: $64,350,171

Not really good

[dasa108 · 4/10 · 30 May 2021]

In hindsight there is probably no Jean Claude movie that survives the judgment of the years with the exception of No Retroat Never Surrender (where he appears ten minutes and is the best Rocky clone) and the Expendables (where he works with the Rocky star). Here Van Damme plays a traumatic divorced firefighter who is the worst father on the planet. I counted four times where he left his children alone for many different reasons in a stadium with thousands of spectators. Only a denatured parent would do that. The great drama of his existence is to impress his children or to be looked at with dignity while in truth he only deserves the most absolute repudiation. Meanwhile, a villain with a good timbre of voice and fine manners manages to circumvent the security of the vice president to keep a few bills whose owners have frozen accounts. The villain has a partner who is just in charge of the secret service for that place. Van Damme is the only one who can do something. He manages to kill everyone and in a spectacular ending he kills the jerk that he thought he could get out alive after killing hostages and blackmailing the vice president. His children do not worry about a father who left them alone whenever he could; they are delighted with their superhero father . There is no way to fall in love with any character. Despite being well filmed, the big problem with the film is that there is no way to sympathize with anyone.