SPOILERS ahead.
For this month’s Van Damme movie, I decided to cover another direct to video release as I try to even this series out so I don’t end up writing about fifteen DTV movies in a row. I picked Assassination Games for a couple reasons. First off, I don’t remember much of anything about this movie, so I was genuinely interested in seeing what happened. Second, I recently covered Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, which also starred Van Damme and Scott Adkins. I came away flat out loving that film, so I hoped I would find more enjoyment from this Adkins/Van Damme team-up film. That didn’t turn out to be the case, mainly because the film didn’t capitalize on the team-up aspect nearly enough. Instead, it felt like a Van Damme movie was merged with a separate Adkins movie. It’s still pretty good, especially for a DTV film, but overall I found it underwhelming and ended up more interested in character quirks and the misleading title.
People Who Like Fancy Objects Must Always Slightly Adjust Them.
Van Damme is presented as a heartless loner who appreciates the finer things in life. This is clear from the set design of Van Damme’s secretly nice apartment, but the filmmakers, or perhaps Van Damme himself, insisted on adding an extra touch, literally, to show this. As Van Damme moves about his apartment throughout the film, he stops to admire different objects, like an antique crossbow or a violin, and then he slightly adjusts them on their respective stands before moving on.
I get this character trait in other films. Someone on the fancy side enters a room to discover that some philistine has touched or moved some precious object, so they must make a show of moving it back to its correct location. It’s usually a piece of artwork or something. It’s a classic way of showing one character’s meticulous nature vs. a more careless character. But in Assassination Games, it makes no sense. Why does Van Damme need to adjust these objects when he’s the only one who has been in the apartment? (These moments happen before he takes in October, the abused prostitute.)
Once again, I get the reason for it, but it just doesn’t fit in this scenario. I focused on this so much because Van Damme’s character is very interesting in this film because of what they don’t tell us about him. Sure, he’s stupidly meticulous to the point that he will readjust things he himself has set down. But why? Why is he so alone? Why does he seem to hate humanity? He references having a hard life growing up, but plenty of people grow up in poverty in rough areas and don’t become rich assassins because of it.
The silliness of some of his actions (the pointless readjustments, getting mad about domestic abuse happening near him because it’s disturbing his violin practice, etc.) is telling because he wants to be fancy but doesn’t seem to exactly grasp how to go about it.
For instance, why does he live in an expensive apartment hidden in a shitty building? He claims to want privacy, but Polo finds his apartment very easily, so Van Damme isn’t being careful enough to keep it hidden. And if he wants to avoid interactions with the riffraff in the hallway, why doesn’t he just buy an apartment in a nice building that has more security?
It’s because he doesn’t know how to be sophisticated. It’s all pretend. Unfortunately for October, Van Damme realizes this much too late. His interaction with her makes him question his loner lifestyle. And he ultimately realizes that connections with other people and having feelings in general are what make life matter. He is so stuck in his ways, though, that he still sets Adkins up, and he refuses to deal with Polo, leading to October’s death.
Betraying Adkins is bad enough, but allowing October to die is pretty unforgivable. This is why I wish there was more to Van Damme’s backstory. Perhaps if I knew a little more about Van Damme’s early life then I would be more sympathetic to his slow turn into an actual human being. As it is, all I can do is wonder why he thinks he needs to slightly move his fancy objects, and why he recoils at October’s kiss as if he’s unaware of what kissing is. Who is this sad, fancy man? I guess we’ll never know.
There Are Not Nearly Enough Assassinations or Games to Justify the Title.
Assassination Games is the title of a fun action film. This is not a fun movie. There is rape, domestic violence, needless death, revenge plots, torture, etc. It’s a bleak fucking movie. There is certainly assassination in the movie (but not much), but there are absolutely no games in this film.
As far as the assassinations go, this film is actually pretty light in that department too. Van Damme kills a guy at the beginning, but the rest of the film is about using an assassination to draw out a former assassin.
I suppose the trickery used by the Interpol agents in the film could count as the titular “games,” but I think that’s a bit of a stretch. I just think that a movie with this title should not be as bleak. If the focus of the film was Van Damme and Adkins continuously butting heads as they go after contracts, I could see that title. But they come across each other once and almost immediately decide to work together. Why not have the focus of the film be on their rivalry, or games? That would make the film immensely more enjoyable, and the title would make sense.
As the film is, I can’t think of a serious better title. But I do have some stupid ones:
Just Leave Professional Killers Alone
Nobody Fucks with Van Damme’s Pet Turtle
Nobody Kills Van Damme’s Prostitute Friend Who Is Teaching Him How to Be a Human
Why Do I Own This?
It's a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.
Random Thoughts
Starting off with a Neitzsche quote is definitely unique for a Van Damme film…
...but the movie taking place in Romania is pretty standard at this point in his career.
Loving Van Damme’s giant sideburns at the beginning, and how he kills a dude by throwing a meat cleaver directly into his forehead.
Did we really need the shot of the stray dog pissing in the street during the credits? I feel like the scene was suitably dreary before this moment.
“Hey hooker who was just savagely beaten in the hall, I’m trying to practice my violin because I am clearly a sophisticated person.”
I know Adkins’s wife is in a coma, but can they not close her eyes? For one thing, it’s creepy as shit. For another, her eyes must be horribly dry. And if her eyes are open, at least set up a TV or something near her bed.
I’m with October on this one, JCVD. Having sex for money is better than killing people for money.
But in Van Damme’s defense, she is very combative towards someone who saved her from a beating and is letting her crash at his place.
So some of the women Polo is choosing from are topless, others are not. I’m guessing these women answered a casting call, and when they found out their scene wasn’t with JCVD, they said no fucking way to nudity. Or they may have just no fucking way to nudity when they realized this movie wasn’t going to theaters. My point with all this is that it’s weird for some of them to be topless and others not. Once some of the women said they didn’t want to, they should have had them all have clothes on.
Wait. Is Van Damme a virgin in this? We need more info about his backstory.
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