Sudden Death

There were a lot of Die Hard rip offs after its huge success.  Under Siege (1 & 2), Air Force One, The Rock (the part where they’re actually in Alcatraz), Executive Decision and Passenger 57 are just some of them.  Although I’ve seen on lists others like Speed, Con Air, Stone Cold, The Transporter series and the Crank movies, I don’t think those are Die Hard knock offs.  These movies don’t involve a guy sneaking around a confined area taking out scumbags.  I can see Con Air a little bit but Cage is more like an undercover cop and not someone staying out of sight.  Stone Cold is the same thing except “The Boz” actually is an undercover cop.  Cliffhanger is almost a rip off but I think a whole mountain range is a little too big of an area for this to qualify but it’s close.  I’ve also seen Die Hard 2 out there but it doesn’t have McClane sneaking around an airport.  Instead he’s running around trying to get everyone on his side even though no one will listen.  And Speed, The Transporters and Cranks are nothing like Die Hard.  But Sudden Death is most definitely a Die Hard doppelganger.

I think people get turned off on these Die Hard wannabes.  I don’t really understand why though.  I love Die Hard just as much as the next guy but I can also appreciate a knock off if it’s done well.  And I think Sudden Death is a great movie even if it is very blatant about what it’s trying to emulate.  But I’m not going to compare Sudden Death to Die Hard.  Instead I’m going to point out the things that Sudden Death does right because it can stand on its own in my opinion.

A terrorist holds the Vice President and an entire hockey arena hostage.  If he doesn’t get his money by the time the game is over then he’ll blow everyone up.  But this ain’t just any old game.  It’s the fucking Stanley Cup finals.  Hell yea.  So a former firefighter turned security guard at the rink realizes what’s happening and decides to stop him.  So he sneaks around disarming bombs and killing off henchmen. 

Powers Boothe (Southern Comfort, Rapid Fire, Red Dawn) is the bad guy, Joshua Foss.  Boothe is so badass.  He never panics and remains so cool.  With him dressed in a tuxedo with the bowtie undone almost the whole movie it feels like he just came from some important ceremony and he just stopped by to do this movie on his way home.  But Boothe’s delivery and the confidence that he exudes is perfect for a guy who would hatch a scheme like this.  It sorta feels like he knows he’s in a Die Hard rip off and doesn’t want to take it that seriously but at the same time I think that’s his style.  Don’t get fooled by his effortless performance because he actually does take this seriously.  Boothe has a I’ve-seen-it-all-and-nothing-fazes-me attitude.  But he’s also humored a little by all the crazy shit that he has to do to get what he wants.  That’s Powers Boothe in a nutshell. 

Also one thing I want to mention is that Foss and his henchmen kill a lot of innocent people in this movie like a chef that works at the arena, the chef’s wife, attendants, hostages and a guy that just maintains the fucking locker room.  It seems like it’s more than most.

Anyway Van Damme is the good guy, Darren McCord.  But don’t get fooled by the name ‘cause Van Damme has his Belgian accent in full effect here.  And he goes about this movie pretty seriously.  More seriously than he was taking his previous two films, Timecop and Street Fighter.  I know I said I wasn’t gonna do this but he really does try to do the John McClane thing and act like he doesn’t really know what the hell’s going on but he has to stop these guys and get his daughter (which they’ve kidnapped) back.  It’s an appropriate reaction but I don’t think Van Damme has ever been so unconfident in his skills before.  He’s always been fairly humble in his martial arting and doesn’t go looking for fights (tournament movies don’t count) but whenever it did come down to a fight he knew what he was doing.  In this movie he looks a little lost whenever someone wants to kill him.  Sure he kicks anyone’s ass that he has to but he acts more surprised that these people want to hurt him and that he can actually beat them in a fight.  I don’t think we see him like this again until JCVD.

Now Powers Boothe and Jean-Claude Van Damme are great but what this film really comes down to are the classic fight scenes.  First off I don’t think there’s ever been another hockey action movie.  That’s something right there.  There are action movies that’ll have one hockey scene like in The Running Man, For Your Eyes Only or Lethal Weapon 3 and movies about hockey itself like Youngblood or The Mighty Ducks and even animal hockey movies like MVP: Most Valuable Primate.  Ok hold on a second.  When did that shit start anyway?  I don’t buy the whole “there’s nothing in the rules that says a (insert animal here) can’t play (insert sport here)” thing.  If they’re gonna do that then they should allow all animals to play or refrigerators or other inanimate objects.  That’s discrimination man.  But getting back to what I was saying, I think we have a one of a kind here.  No other movie centers around hockey but also has guns and martial arts and taking hostages and blowing shit up ‘n shit.

One of the best scenes is when McCord fights the team mascot.  You knew it was inevitable when you threw on a sports action movie.  And what’s great is that it pays off.  The fight is in a kitchen and they use it well with a meat slicer, a hood fan, a deep fryer, a meat tenderizer and other stuff.  The bad guy in the mascot outfit uses it to her advantage too because it’s like she’s wearing a suit of foam armor.  So the fight goes on for a little while because McCord needs to figure out how to attack her.  This makes for some great hand to hand combat and clever use of kitchen equipment.  They knew you wanted it and they gave it to you.

And that seems to be a recurring theme in this film.  Whatever you wanted to see in a hockey action movie they did it.  How about Van Damme actually playing hockey?  Sure let’s do it.  That’s right, in order to escape henchmen McCord suits up and goes out onto the ice to play goalie for the Pittsburg fucking Penguins.  But it’s ok because they tell us briefly that he’s played hockey before so this isn’t anything that he can’t handle.  So McCord goes out there and at first he’s fuckin’ up but he eventually gets the hang of it and even makes a miraculous save.  This scene is fairly short but they knew you wanted it so there it is.

After that scene is another great fight.  The bad guys have figured out that McCord is the goalie because he has to fucking sign “I love you” to his daughter in the stands after he makes the save.  He knows that he can’t stay and keep on playing so he starts a fight to get out of the game and scurries back into the locker room.  The henchmen show up and they go at it.  Just like in the mascot fight they use the locker room well.  There’s workout equipment, weights, a grinder that they sharpen the skates with and other shit.  You wanted to see them use dangerous shit they got in a locker room in a fight well you got it buddy.

This movie finally makes us realize that a hockey arena (or really any sports arena) is a perfect setting for an action movie.  There’s so much shit to use for weapons, places to fight, places to hide, a jumbotron or PA system to send messages, people to take hostage and it all has to be done in a set amount of time.  It really belongs up there with construction sites, office buildings, refineries and bars. 

The announcers in a sports arena make it so exhilarating too.  With any movie involving sports the commentators are always a highlight and this film is no exception.  They got the actual Penguins broadcaster, Mike Lange, to be in this and he’s got some great lines too like “scratch my back with a hacksaw” and “Oh stop the press!”  It really adds an extra level of excitement to what is an already very exciting movie.

Peter Hyams directed this thing and action movie fans should recognize this guy.  He just came off of another Van Damme picture, Timecop, and this was his last great movie really.  For those that don’t know who he is he’s the guy that directed Capricorn One and 2010.  Capricorn One has a cool idea and was actually pretty interesting by the way.  But he did dramas more and switched to full on action with Timecop.  And his movies are done well.  He likes to do cinematography for a lot of his own films including Sudden Death.  And this was still the 90’s so you can follow what’s happening perfectly and there are no bad CGI shots or indecipherable choppy editing.  But Hyams doesn’t really have a particular style.  If anything it’s very straightforward without very many frills.  But I haven’t been able to pick out exactly what makes it a Hyams production.

Just as a side note it’s cool to see that his son has continued to carry the torch.  John Hyams made a really awesome documentary called The Smashing Machine about a mixed martial arts fighter that’s never lost a fight.  He’s also done another excellent one on bull riders competing for a championship called Rank.  But as far as features he made Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Dragon Eyes both with Van Damme.  I haven’t seen either one but Universal Solider: Regeneration is supposed to be fucking great and Dragon Eyes isn’t out yet.  But it’s nice to see the family business is being passed down.

So I highly recommend Sudden Death.  It may be a Die Hard rip off but it’s still really good and if you can get past that then there’s a lot to love.  The pacing is good, the title is bad ass, the deaths are plentiful and varied, they use the arena incredibly well, Boothe is an awesome villain, Van Damme kicks a lot of ass in this, it builds and gets better as the movie goes and the climax is fucking cool.  And I didn’t want to ruin it for you but yes, the Stanley Cup finals actually do go into sudden death.  Fuckin’ A.