Wake of Death (2004)

After his wife is brutally murdered, club enforcer Ben Archer wages war against the Chinese triads.

Director:

Philippe Martinez

Writers:

Mick Davis, Laurent Fellous

Stars:

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Simon Yam, Philip Tan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Ben Archer
Simon Yam	...	Sun Quan
Philip Tan	...	Han
Valerie Tian	...	Kim
Tony Schiena	...	Tony
Claude Hernandez	...	Raymond
Lisa King	...	Cynthia Archer
Anthony Fridjhon	...	Max (as Anthony Fridjohn)
Danny Keogh	...	Mac Hoggins
Pierre Marais	...	Nicholas Archer
Warrick Grier	...	Da Costa
Tom Wu	...	Andy Wang
Jacqueline Chan	...	Mamma Li (as Jacqui Chan)
Burt Kwouk	...	Tommy Li
Joon Chong	...	Kim's Mother

Storyline

Ben Archer is a thug/enforcer for a criminal organization. Tiring of the work, he tells his coworkers that he's ready to retire. His wife Cynthia is a social worker for the INS. She brings a Chinese refugee girl to their home. Soon, Sun Quan wants his daughter back. Cynthia Archer is murdered, and Ben's son Nicholas disappears, along with the Chinese girl. Ben must save the children and avenge his wife's murder.

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Plot Keywords:

murder of a nude woman | murder | immigrant | brothel | drill | 

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Taglines:

Revenge is all he has left.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, language and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Bauer Martinez Studios Limelight Distribution [France]

Country:

UK France Germany Spain South Africa

Language:

Cantonese French English

Release Date:

19 January 2005 (France)

Also Known As:

After Death

Filming Locations:

Romania

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$112,381 (Spain), 13 May 2005, Limited Release

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,206,134, 15 March 2009

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bauer Martinez Studios, UKFS, Frame Werk Produktion GmbH & Co. KG

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ringo Lam was the original director but he left the project after a few weeks of filming in Canada.

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Goofs

During the motorbikes chase, in the mall part. Ben Archer's bike switch from Supermoto to Motocross when he jumps to the first floor from a ramp, then switch back to Supermoto for the rest of the chase.

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Quotes

Ben Archer: [while interrogating Hoggins] Hey Tony, I think he wants to call the police.
Tony: [sarcastically] Give him a fucking quarter then.

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Alternate Versions

In Germany the uncut version didn't get a rating/approval at all (both rating/approval boards thought the film might violate §131, glorification of violence). Therefore the rental version is cut by 81 sec. with a JK/SPIO approval, while the retail version is cut even more (ca. 4 minutes) with a "Not under 18" rating from the FSK. The Dutch DVD also features this same cut version.

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Connections

Referenced in Decker: Sonrise (2017)

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Soundtracks

Crushed
Performed by Biomechanics
Published by Cutting Edge Music Holdings
Written by Will Johnstone (as Johnstone) / Ivor Guest (as Guest) / L. Ross / M. Ross / Binite
Licensed by Biomechanics

User Reviews

Not as good as I'd hoped, but better than I expected.

"Wake Of Death" is no master piece. But it's easily the best Van Damme movie since "Hard Target" and probably his best performance ever. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he does know how to act. Especially in the scenes right after his wife's death. Granted, he's not going to win an Oscar anytime soon. But his performance was definitely worth more than a direct-to-video release. Also the directing was a lot better than I thought it would be. Phillipe Martinez has actually put together a pretty nice package of a movie. We get pretty much everything: Gun play, car chases, nudity and a solid performance by Van Damme. But I would like to have seen a bit more story. It seems that the movie is mostly driven by the action scenes. If only we'd learned a little more about the characters, the movie would have had that last touch that would make it great.