Second in Command (2006)

Jean Claude plays an official who's just been appointed as Second In Command to the U.S.Ambassador at an American Embassy in a small, turbulent Eastern European nation. When local ... See full summary »

Director:

Simon Fellows

Writers:

Jonathan Bowers (screenplay), David L. Corley (screenplay) (as David Corley)

Stars:

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Julie Cox, Alan McKenna

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Cmdr. Sam Keenan
Julie Cox	...	Michelle Whitman
Alan McKenna	...	Cpt. John Baldwin
Razaaq Adoti	...	Sgt. Earl 'Gunny' Darnell
Velibor Topic	...	Anton Tavarov
William Tapley	...	Frank Gaines
Warren Derosa	...	Mike Shustec
Ian Virgo	...	Cpl. Will Butler
Raffaello Degruttola	...	PFC Zanger
Serban Celea	...	President Yuri Amirev
Vlad Ivanov	...	RSO John Lydon
Emanuel Parvu	...	Cpl. Chevanton
Razvan Oprea	...	PFC Devereaux
Mihai Bisericanu	...	Marshall Geller
Elizabeth Barondes	...	Jennifer Lennard

Storyline

Jean Claude plays an official who's just been appointed as Second In Command to the U.S.Ambassador at an American Embassy in a small, turbulent Eastern European nation. When local insurgents attempt a coup d'etat, the nation's President takes refuge inside the embassy. The embassy is then besieged by the well-armed insurgents. The U.S. Ambassador is killed in the ensuing action, and it's now up to Jean-Claude and the embassy's small detachment of U.S. Marines to fend off the attackers.

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Plot Keywords:

embassy | martial arts | exploding truck | exploding car | exploding bus | 

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Taglines:

It's time to take charge!

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Genres:

Action | Thriller | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language

Details

Country:

UK Romania

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 May 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Defteros stin ierarhia

Filming Locations:

Romania

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA), Castel Film Romania, Clubdeal

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

By an odd coincidence, the scenes in which PFCs Zanger and Pazzini plant and detonate a number of package bombs around the neighborhood to distract the insurgents from the US Embassy was filmed on 07 July 2005, the date of the terrorist bombings in London, with the SFX explosions taking place almost to the exact hour of those in the UK. The largely British crew of the film learned of the attacks shortly after during their lunch break, and filming was suspended for the remainder of the day.

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Goofs

The Moldavian army is said to be in the mountains, some 5 hours away from the capital. Moldavia has no mountains, the highest point being the Balanesti Hill at 430 m (1.410 ft)

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Connections

References George of the Jungle (1967)

User Reviews

Van Damme helped by a group of Marines battle rebel communists in a far country

Jean-Claude Van Damme again as one army man , here he is an US commander assigned as second-in-command to the American Embassy in an Eastern European country called Moldavia . Then , communist rebels try a state coup . The official gets free the President and they take shelter into US Embassy nearly deserted that encounters itself under siege by violent insurgents . Meanwhile , Van Damme saves the damsel in disgrace, an enticing journalist (Julie Cox) and he along with a detachment of soldiers fight against nasty attackers which have surrounded the siege .

The picture packs noisy action , shoot-outs , explosions, politic intrigues and minimum characterization . It's exciting and tense , at time lackluster action film , but the blown ups , struggles , gun-play are well done in this routine actioner . The story is plenty of firepower , action packed , fights though is added an interesting politic suspense . Scott Adkins , who subsequently starred some film with Van Damme , was offered an important role but could not sign for it due to other commitments . Jean Claude Van Damme is fine as action hero in this middling budget film . Long time ago he played big budget movies (Time cop, Universal soldier, Double team , Hard target) , he nowadays makes low budget and directly to video (Derailed, Wake of death, In hell) like in his first films (Black eagle, Cyborg , Bloodsport). The film was well photographed by Douglas Milsone (Dungeons and dragons, Sunchaser, Body of evidence) in natural scenarios of Rumania though the coup détat was happened in Moldavia (ex-Republic of Russia) . The motion picture was professionally directed by Simon Fellows who directed a Wesley Snipes vehicle (7 seconds) and he recently directed ¨Until death¨ again with Jean Claude Van Damme . The film will appeal to action genre enthusiasts . Pointlessly energetic and occasionally fun for only the true devotee of main actor . It's a must see for Van Damme fans .