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Legionnaire
Directed by Peter MacDonald, 1998
Jean Claude van
Damme plays a French boxer (Alain Lefevre) in 1920's
Marseilles, who is forced by a local crime boss (named
Galgani) to take a dive in a fight. Turns out Galgani's
girl friend is also Alain's ex-fiancée, whom he left
standing at the alter. But the girl forgives Alain (naturally
- he IS the Muscles after all), and the two hatch a plan
to run off to America together. Alain doesn't take a dive
in the fight, but just as the escape plan is about to
succeed, Alain's friend gets killed, and his girl gets
captured by Galgani's men. Unfortunately, Alain has also
shot and killed Galgani's brother.
Desperately needing a new escape plan, Alain signs up for
the French Foreign Legion, and is shipped to Africa, to
help defend French territory against a native Arab
rebellion. Along the way, Alain meets some new friends,
including an African American who's fled injustice in the
States, a former British Army Major with a gambling
problem, and a naive Italian boy, who wishes to impress
his girl back home by returning a hero. But things will
not be easy. The only real way to escape the Legion is to
survive your term of service, and the rebels have them
outnumbered. And Galgani's sent his hired thugs into the
Legion as well, to find Alain and extract revenge.
Think Kickboxer meets Lawrence of Arabia, and you get the
idea here. The script has a few really good moments. The
action is also good, and tons of money has been lavished
on the production. The locations are great, the visuals
are very nice, and there's lots of big, set-piece action.
On the other hand: don't expect to much karate fights, but
more gun-fights. |
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