Bullet Points: Legionnaire (1998)
Twelve years after making No Retreat, No Surrender, Van Damme tried his hand at playing a guy who does more than just yell a lot while kicking faces. This time he would step into some of those same pants he wore in The Quest (1996) and test his knowledge of French colonialism in Northern Africa. Legionnaire is different than anything Van Damme had ever done and would stand out even more if he hadn’t done the ambitious JCVD. Either way, it’s been quite a few years so lets dust off this DVD and see what happens!
Synopsis: Alain (Jean Claude Van Damme) is a French boxer who takes money from gangster Galgani to take a dive in his next big fight. Instead, Alain wins the fight and attempts to flee to America with his ex-ladyfriend. Unfortunately, his plan is interrupted and Alain is forced to join the French Foreign Legion to escape the reach of Galgani. Now, deep in the desert of Morocco, Alain must fight once again for his new brothers, his honor, and his very life.
- Not everybody was kung fu fighting: Sometimes you need to wrap your hands up, lace up a pair of 12 oz. gloves, and punch somebody in the head so many times that there is absolutely no doubt he’ll suffer some sort of traumatic brain injury. Am I right?? Legionnaire starts off with Alain (JCVD) as an on the rise boxer in 1925 France. Mobster Galgani offers him a stack of money to take a dive to his champion (a man Alain had already beaten previously) and it becomes an offer he just can’t refuse.
- No takebacks: Unbeknownst to Alain, Galgani doesn’t take kindly to someone messing with his money and Alain ends up on the run while also trying to steal the mobsters woman. Okay, it was originally Alain’s lady but this wouldn’t be a movie without some sort of romantic lead that gets caught in the crossfire. Alain doesn’t get far as Galgani is hot on his tail and he’s forced to enlist in the French Foreign Legion to evade the pissed off gangster.
- Making pals: Misery sure does love company! Alain makes fast friends with a few fellow legionnaires in Luther (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Mackintosh (Nicolas Farrell), and Guido (Daniel Caltagirone). They watch each other’s backs and make the terrible living conditions of the Legion a little more bearable with their friendship. Oh yeah, it also takes less than 30 minutes for Van Damme to show his ass. So there’s that….
- If you’re gonna be dumb you gotta be tough: The training for the legionnaires crosses that line of toughness and right into dangerous, if you ask me. There is a difference between force marching your guys to build grit and determination and getting your guys so tired that they can’t even fight when called upon. The legionnaires force march their way into a fort in the middle of nowhere and immediately start work on the fortifications. At least Alain has his buds right next to him. Unfortunately for him, he also has to deal with a couple of Galgani’s goons who joined up just to kill him. Damn the luck!
- He died a Legionnaire: By the time that the Legion makes it to the fort they’ve already had their asses whooped by the elements, lack of water, and native badasses who are getting really good at killing foreigners. They don’t take kindly to the Legion hanging out in their homeland (and who can blame them) and ambush the guys at a crappy mudhole they find. The big moment that happens there is when Guido takes one to the chest, but at least he dies a Legionnaire.
- The fighting: I already mentioned how this movie is a little different than the rest of the stuff Van Damme had done to this point and that goes for the fighting, as well. You’re not going to see any spinning roundhouse kicks or random splits in Legionnaire. He’s a boxer, of course, so he punches several people but most of the fighting is with the Lebel 1886 rifle as it was the standard service rifle of the time. They also use the Lewis guns, which are full-auto awesomeness while mowing down Berber Horsemen at a distance. It has surprisingly cool gun battles even though they totally could have used a Van Damme kick in there somewhere.
The Verdict: I really like Legionnaire. It isn’t the typical JCVD film but it still brings plenty of action while still feeling like it probably doesn’t crap all over history. Neither the legionnaires nor the Berbers are made out to be the villains and we get an ending that isn’t difficult to guess. The strength of the film is the action and the bond that develops between the men. Van Damme might just be the least fleshed out character of the group but it’s his perspective that we experience everything through so you’re damn well gonna root for him. I still don’t have this film in my Top 10 JCVD list but it’s probably knocking on the door. If it’s been a while since you’ve watched it then this is the perfect week for a re-visit.
