Knock Off

Directed by Tsui Hark, Knock Off follows counterfeiters Marcus Ray (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and Tommy Hendricks (Rob Schneider) as they’re unwittingly drawn into a deadly scheme involving CIA agents and maniacal terrorists. Filmmaker Tsui, working from Steven E. de Souza’s convoluted script, delivers a predominantly unwatchable trainwreck that boasts few, if any, positive attributes, as the movie, which runs a short-yet-not-short-enough 87 minutes, has been suffused with a woefully, aggressively over-the-top feel that wears out its welcome almost immediately – with the movie’s frenetic visual sensibilities highlighting the various deficiencies within the far-from-streamlined narrative and preventing the viewer from even partially embracing the material. (What, for example, is the viewer meant to get out of a shot wherein a foot enters a shoe?) The arms-length atmosphere, as a result, grows more and more problematic as time slowly progresses, and the picture does, in its second half, suffer from as tedious and uninvolving a feel as one could possibly imagine – which, in turn, ensures that the loud and completely ineffective climax is hardly able to pack the visceral, exciting punch for which Tsui is striving. The final result is an awful and unwatchable endeavor that completely squanders the charming efforts of its star, as Van Damme turns in a loose and relaxed performance that’s rendered moot by Tsui’s relentless incompetence.

1/2* out of ****