If you liked Shawshank Redemption but wanted more bare knuckled fights with Russian dudes who look like Thanos, then welcome to the direct-to-DVD Jean-Claude Van Damme film, In Hell (2003), the last of his three movies with Hong Kong director Ringo Lam. This is more of a brutal drama than an action movie, set in a Russian prison where Van Damme has been sentenced for a murder conviction; an engineer working in Russia, Van Damme took revenge on the mobbed up creep who murdered his wife, shooting him down in the courtroom after he was acquitted due to a corrupt system. I wondered how many JCVD fans would’ve lasted the first hour of In Hell where our hero is continually pummelled and thrown into the hole again and again, to the point where he tries to end it all, but is stopped by a CGI moth that is implied to be the reincarnated spirit of his dead wife – truly a scene for the ages. Such a moment is a perfect encapsulation of the movie’s tone, a strange blend of the ultra grim and the bizarrely goofy. This is also carried over in the soundtrack, which takes sudden shifts between classical operatic arias to European techno, all of which is thumping very low in the sound mix. Out in the prison courtyard is a sand pit where the warring Russian mob tribes settle their scores in bare knuckled fights that are sanctioned by the warden for he and his cronies to bet on. In time, Van Damme becomes a skilled fighter and a surprise contender once he gives into the rage within. This is another underrated performance from JCVD, shifting from wild despair to a hardened thug to a symbol of rebellion, all the while dealing with a run of wacky wigs and facial hair styles. Former NFL player Lawrence Taylor is great as Van Damme’s cell mate who also narrates the movie, eschewing Stephen King’s flowery words for blunt insights like, “It’s all bullshit.” Ringo Lam is revisiting terrain he charted in the HK drama Prison On Fire and stuffs in as many prison movie cliches possible, while delivering a parable about holding onto your soul in utter hopelessness. In Hell is both brutal and silly, Van Damme stretching himself once more in his role as the overall film complicates the usual action vehicle you might expect. Recommended.
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