Darkness of Man Review

Jean-Claude Van Damme's "Darkness of Man" is the kind of gritty, low-rent crime thrillers they don't make anymore; where it's almost always nighttime, the sun only shining through the mostly closed blinds to awaken the alcoholic main character. Playing Russell Hatch, Van Damme drinks and smokes with class and swagger, trying to protect his ex-lover Esther's (Chika Kanamoto) kid Jayden (Emerson Min) from getting into the family business: drugs. Only the plot isn't that simple, involving the Russian mob, double-crosses, plot twists and some surprisingly gory kills, mostly at the hands of Russell. 

The narrative is labyrinthine not because it's well-written but quite the opposite- story beats are delivered awkwardly in English, Korean and Russian, characters often swapping between languages mid-scene. But it's biggest flaw is it's lack of purpose: this exists to make some money on the VOD market and to keep the Van Damme name relevant. Well, as relevant as a VOD film can keep you.

We meet Russell via a flashback, sitting impatiently at a diner, where he dismisses a waitress' inquiry on spiking his coffee, claiming he doesn't drink. Ha, his glazy eyes, five-a-clock shadow and suspiciously flask-shaped bump in his blazer pocket suggest otherwise. He's soon met by Esther, who begs him to protect her son. He agrees, though is narration disagrees, spouting doomy dialogue that probably sounds good in advertisements. They part ways, where she's soon killed, and him wounded, and well, here we are.

Living in an extended-stay motel, his neighbor Chris, an unrecognizable Spencer Breslin, sells drugs and generally acts as the film's comic relief. He's never funny really, but he's completely believable as a low-level pusher, and when he tells Russell that he uses a drone to pick up his merchandise, I totally bought it. (Sadly, we never seen it happen. Perhaps in the sequel?)

Jayden, a moody teenager who vapes and overall is not a great kid, thinks his mother was a druggie and overdosed, effectively abandoning him. Ah, kid, if only you saw the opening scene! He doesn't take kindly to Russell, referring as "his driver" to friends and teachers, but is soon approached by his uncle Dae Hyun (Peter Jae), to work with him in that forbidden family business. Remember when every cinematic villain involved vague drugs? Simpler times.

Van Damme, an actor with a screen-presence that is simultaneously distracting and interesting, remains convincing in the action scenes despite being in his sixties, my favorite being a fight filmed from within a minivan, while he takes down two thugs. (But my favorite moment is when we find out the muscles-from-Brussels has a little cat!)

Judging by all the production companies in the opening credits (I thought I counted no less than five, but the interwebs tells me it is "just" four), we can only surmise this didn't exactly cost a lot to make, but director/co-writer James Cullen Bressack keeps the action limited to just a few rainy streets, grungy back alleys and rundown buildings, and it works quite well. The (very) few larger scenes, such as a Cadillac Escalade flipping over, don't look cheesy or filled with cheap CGI; it's something that Cannon would have made in the late 80's, from economic directors like J. Lee Thompson or Joseph Zito, probably staring an aging Charles Bronson (or even a young Van Damme) as they slashed the budget with the cameras were still rolling. It's not necessarily good, but it is a skillfully made little thriller that in another time probably would have had a good trailer and awesome VHS box.