Sudden Death

An especially blatant Die Hard knockoff, Sudden Death follows Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Darren McCord, a former firefighter coping with a tragic loss, as he’s forced to battle a group of terrorists (led by Powers Boothe’s nefarious Joshua Foss) that are holding the Vice President (Raymond J. Barry) and an entire stadium full of people hostage – with the movie, for the most part, detailing McCord’s surreptitious efforts at disarming the many bombs that have been planted around the aforementioned arena. Sudden Death, directed by Peter Hyams, admittedly boasts a promising opening half hour, as Hyams, working from a script by Gene Quintano, does an effective job of establishing the central character and the perilous situation in which he eventually finds himself – with Hyams’ old-school treatment of the material seemingly setting the stage for a briskly-paced action adventure. The better-than-average vibe is perpetuated by a typically charismatic turn from Van Damme and by the inclusion of a few top-notch action sequences, with an early highlight a battle between Van Damme’s McCord and a villain dressed in an oversized penguin costume. (Indeed, this interlude remains the centerpiece of the entire picture.) It’s only as the film progresses into its meandering, sluggish midsection that one’s interest begins to wane, as far too much of the narrative’s second act is devoted to McCord’s solo exploits as a fledgling bomb defuser – with the less-than-engrossing atmosphere compounded by an ongoing emphasis on underdeveloped supporting characters (eg Hyams spends an inordinate amount of time dwelling on McCord’s young son sitting by himself). The relatively strong climactic stretch ensures that Sudden Death ends on a somewhat positive note, at least, and yet it’s fairly clear that the movie is simply unable to live up to the potential afforded by its setup. (And a Van Damme flick with only one bona fide fighting sequence is nothing short of tragic, let’s be honest.)

**1/2 out of ****