Legionnaire
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13 Jan 2010

### Details

Director: | Peter MacDonald
Writer: | Sheldon Lettich, Rebecca Morrison
Producer: | Peter MacDonald, Edward R. Pressman
Theatrical: | 1999
Rated: | R
Studio: | Studio Home Entertainment
Genre: | War, Adventure, Action
Duration: | 1 hr 38 mins

Languages: | English
Subtitles: | English, Spanish
Sound: | Dolby Surround [English]
Aspect Ratio: | Fullscreen (4:3, Letterboxed)
Picture Format: | Widescreen
Discs: | 1
Region: | Region 1
Release: | Jan 1998

### Summary

Exiled to a video-only release when its distributor balked after the flop of Jean-Claude Van Damme's previous film &lt;I&gt;Knock Off&lt;/I&gt;, this lavish adventure deserved a chance at theatrical success. Action icon Van Damme recasts himself as a tragic romantic hero in this entertaining old-fashioned adventure with a modern sensibility. &quot;The Muscles from Brussels&quot; is no Brando, but he acquits himself nicely as a cocky boxer who double-crosses a Marseilles mobster and joins the French Foreign Legion when his half-baked plan backfires with tragic consequences. Surrounded by a better than usual cast (including Steven Berkoff as a Teutonic drill sergeant, Jim Carter as the ruthless ganglord, and Nicholas Farrell as a gentleman soldier with a taste for gambling and a dark past), Van Damme's dour performance sometimes gets lost in the colorful characters around him. But that's okay--there's adventure enough to go around and he's willing to share it. The Marseilles scenes evoke a quaint movie past with their smoky bars and shadowy streets, but the film is reborn as an ambitious, stoic platoon drama in the sands of French Morocco. &lt;I&gt;Legionnaire&lt;/I&gt; alludes to classic films from &lt;I&gt;Beau Geste&lt;/I&gt; to &lt;I&gt;Casablanca&lt;/I&gt; to &lt;I&gt;Lawrence of Arabia&lt;/I&gt;, but ultimately marches its own macho course, reveling in testosterone-driven heroics and bonding-under-fire while acknowledging the irony of its colonial mission (&quot;We're the intruders,&quot; realizes one soldier). It's a calculated risk for Van Damme (who also cowrote and coproduced), but if &lt;I&gt;Legionnaire&lt;/I&gt; never quite grasps the epic scope it's reaching for, it remains one of his best films, a handsome, exciting, and surprisingly grim desert adventure. &lt;I&gt;--Sean Axmaker&lt;/I&gt;

### Credits

Jean-Claude Van Damme | ... | Alain Lefevre
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje | ... | Luther
Steven Berkoff | ... | Sgt. Steinkampf
Nicholas Farrell | ... | Mackintosh
Jim Carter | ... | Lucien Galgani
Ana Sofrenovic | ... | Katrina