“Darkness of Man” Theatrical Poster
We’ll soon see martial arts superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme (Welcome to the Jungle, Until Death, Black Water) in Saban Film’s Darkness of Man (aka Born to Kill), an upcoming thriller directed and written by James Cullen Bressack, who is perhaps best known for helming the 2019 Steven Seagal/DMX actioner Beyond the Law, and 2022’s Hot Seat, starring Mel Gibson/Kevin Dillon.
The film is written by both Bressack and Alethea Cho, with input from Van Damme. Bressack is also producing, alongside Jarrett Furst (Fast Vengeance).
Set in Los Angeles, Darkness of Man sees Van Damme play Russell Hatch, an Interpol operative who takes on the role of father figure to Jayden, the son of an informant killed in a routine raid gone wrong. Years later, Hatch finds himself protecting Jayden and his uncle from a group of merciless gangs in an all-out turf war, stopping at nothing to protect Jayden and fight anyone getting in his way — including supposed allies with hidden agendas and nefarious intents (via THR).
The film also features a supporting cast that includes Eric Roberts (Best of the Best), Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines), Kris Van Damme (Black Water), Peter Jae (Blackhat), Spencer Breslin (The Kid), Emerson Min (Black-ish), Sticky Fingaz (Blade) and MMA star, Nick Diaz. Also, be on the look out for appearances from Shannen Doherty (Mallrats) and Cynthia Rothrock (The Blonde Fury).
Darkness of Man arrives on Digital on May 21 from Saban films. Watch a New Extended preview, followed by its Trailer below:
Pretty cool trailer! I like the Don Siegel/Walter Hill/Wayne Kramer vibes I’m getting here.
Hope it turns out the way it’s supposed to!
YES WHEN DO MOVIE COMES OUT WHAT DATE
Based on the post – “Darkness of Man arrives on Digital on May 21 from Saban films.”
Sooo i saw the movie. SPOILERS!
It wasnt terrible, it wasnt great either. I think overall it was ok.
Visual style was nice, some creative camera work time to time. Story was ok and had a twist at the final part (kind of expected one, but may surprise some ppl) This is a low to mid budget production, so dont expect miracles. Van Damme acting was pretty decent and in action he still looks good. It was really nice to see Kristanna Loken, her part is not small but i thought she will be more important to the story than what i got. Now about cameos – Erik Roberts’s here hardly can be called even a cameo, all what he does is as a local hobo asking for a burrito lol, blink and you miss him, 5 seconds scene. Cynthia Rothrock playing nurse in a hospital. She had like a 2 or 3 lines of dialog and thats it.
And now i want to talk a bit about action –
There one scene involving a car similar to the scene from “Parker” with Jason Statham. It is quite different here than in “Parker”, but it was nice one. Beside this there is two fight scenes involving Van Damme, the first one where Jean Claude is fighting 4 guys in a restaurant backyard, it was probably a highlight of the film, cause in the most shots it is Van Damme and not his double. The fight is quite grounded and tries to look realistic. No kicks from Van Damme in this fight unfortunately, only punches, but it was nice one.
Second and final fight probably supposed to be a highlight of the film but something went wrong. This is a one on one fight in a big garage. Van Damme and his enemy circling around a car during this fight and exchanging high kicks and punches. Sounds cool, but the problem here is that the whole fight shown to us from inside this car they circling around, so you can barely see the fight, and Jean Claude is not even there for this fight, for the whole fight it was clearly a stunt double
except, one last shot where Van Damme used gun to finish off his opponent. I dont know why Van Damme couldnt film couple of shots where he kicks or punches bad guy in this fight. Beside all this in terms of action there is almost nothing. The final action scene was kind of disappointing, i expected at least a small one on one fight, but nope it was just a few guys shoot each other and thats it… Well considering the fact that Jean Claude skipped garage fight i should definitely lower my expectations. Overall it was ok revenge thriller.
My score is strong 5 out of 10.
P. S. Even though there was less action and fights i enjoyed Wanted Man with Dolph Lundgren a lot more than this.
Well, that sounds like a letdown. Of course I’m not going to expect Van Damme’s trademark kicks, but I thought he would do more grappling since he’s previously shown to be adept to that.
To paraphrase a line from Paul, it sounds like there’s a good steak here that needed a lot of fat trimmed off and was undercooked.
I liked it. Bought the German Blu-ray, which goes under the less poetic title “Born to Kill”. Van Damme continues to display that soulful, melancholy quality that separates him from the other action stars of his generation. The increasingly weatherbeaten countenance only adds more resonance to the effect. Cinematography in this one seems sharper, more focused and more colorful than what’s been on offer in many of his 21st century vehicles, especially some of the ones dashed off in Eastern Europe. Story is formulaic – but sells the familiar tropes with conviction. Standouts in the cast include Kristanna Logan, a solid and sympathetic leading lady and Spencer Breslin, excellent as the nerdy drug dealer next door. The last two Van Dammes I enjoyed this much were “Pound of Flesh”(2008) and “The Bouncer”(2018). So this is a solid addition to the VanDammography.