The Order (2001)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Sheldon Lettich

Writers (WGA):

Les Weldon (written by) and
Jean-Claude Van Damme (written by)

Release Date:

27 December 2001 (Russia)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Unleash The Power.

Plot:

Van Damme plays Rudy whose father, Oscar is an archaeologist. His father goes to Israel. When his father disappears...

Plot Keywords:

Jerusalem | Map | Kidnapping | 11th Century | Airport

Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Rudy Cafmeyer / Charles Le Vaillant
Charlton Heston	...	Prof. Walter Finley
Sofia Milos	...	Lt. Dalia Barr
Brian Thompson	...	Cyrus Jacob
Ben Cross	...	Ben Ner
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Oscar Cafmeyer
Sasson Gabai	...	Yuri (as Sasson Gabay)
Alon Abutbul	...	Avram (as Alon Aboutboul)
Joey Tomaska	...	Goldman
Peter Malota	...	Amnon
Sharon Reginiano	...	Bassam
Sami Huri	...	Lieutenant Itsik
Jack Widerker	...	Executive
David Leitch	...	Detective Mike Moran
Abdel Qissi	...	Big Arab

Also Known As:

Jihad Warrior (Philippines: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

Aruba | USA

Language:

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | English | Arabic | Aramaic | French | Hebrew | Ukrainian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Germany:16 | Norway:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #38570)

Filming Locations:

Jerusalem, Israel

Company:

777 Films Corporation

Trivia:

Steven Seagal was first slated to star, but later dropped out.

Quotes:

Cyrus: Apparently, stubbornness is an ingrained family trait.
Rudy: It beats a messiah complex any day!

Movie Connections:

Edited into Today You Die (2005) (V)

not Vam Damme's best, but still good

I've always been a fan of Jean-Claude van Damme, so I've been mad that his recent movies haven't got theatrical releases, while the latest Adam Sandler and the current breed of gross-out teen movies have. I'd much rather see van Damme on the big screen than another teen movie. Although THE ORDER is far from his best or my favorite of his films (those would be HARD TARGET, SUDDEN DEATH, MAXIMUM RISK, and LEGIONNAIRE), it's still pretty good, even if it does drag in some places and has some hard-to-understand accents. But you can understand enough to know the basic idea of the movie, so it doesn't really matter. Written by van Damme, the story moves had a decent pacer, but the direction could have been a little tighter in some scenes. Van Damme is particularly good, and though it's not his best acting (that would be MAXIMUM RISK), it's better than some of his earlier ones.

The film makes good use of its Israeli locations, sexy newcomer Sofia Milos makes a feisty heroine, and co-stars Ben Cross and Brian Thompson offer good support in roles that are smaller than they should be. Unfortunately, however, Charlton Heston is wasted. I kept saying to myself, "Why go to all the trouble to get a famous big-name veteran screen star to play such a teeny, tiny little role?" His part would have been better suited for the unknown who played van Damme's father, with Heston playing the father. That would have been much better. As I said, some parts tend to drag a little bit, but the action scenes are well-done, my favorite being the entire climactic sequence in the underground tunnel system. There's even some funny bloopers that run before the end credits, though only a few; some more would have been nice.

All-in-all, one of van Damme's better movies storywise, and though I'm not sure if I would actually buy the DVD, I would probably make it an occasional rental. Then again, I'm a big van Damme fan, so I'll probably buy it next time I see it just to have it.