Sudden Death (1995)

Jean-Claude Van Damme saves the Stanley Cup Finals from terrorists in the emptiest arena in sports history.

This is clearly a Die Hard knockoff, and it’s so funny to me that JCVD considered this to be his first triple-A movie. Like, this was the one that was supposed to make him a legitimate action star on the level of Schwarzenegger or Stallone.

The most unintentionally hilarious part? For a Stanley Cup Finals game - literally the biggest event in hockey - this is the most empty stadium I’ve ever seen in my entire life. The arena looks like a preseason game that nobody showed up to. It completely kills any sense of stakes or urgency when JCVD is supposedly racing to save thousands of people and you can count the extras in the stands on one hand.

What the movie mostly involves is JCVD running around empty back rooms and hallways, building improvised guns out of random materials, and punching people in the throats. Which, to be fair, is kind of fun in that mid-90s direct-to-video action movie way, even though this actually got a theatrical release.

I have to say though, I prefer Timecop over this movie any day of the week. That one at least commits to its bonkers premise and has more memorable set pieces. This just feels like a pale imitation of better action movies that came before it.

Still kind of fun if you’re in the mood for dumb 90s action, but it’s nowhere near JCVD’s best work.

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