Movie Reviews

Enemies Closer
submitted by
Thomas
 on
Saturday, June 28, 2014 - 12:55
5.5
Directed by: 

Teaming up once again with director Peter Hyams, Jean-Claude Van Damme gets to play the villain this time around. And while “Enemies Closer” won’t get anywhere near the commercial impact “Sudden Death” and “Timecop” had, it makes for an okay B-movie. You know, the kind of no-brainer you’d go out and rent on a Sunday afternoon back when there were still video stores? If anything, you need to see this just because we get to see Van Damme dressed up as a Mountie with a haircut that even Nicolas Cage would say no to.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot… there’s a story! Working through some personal issues that stem from his years as a Navy SEAL, Henry (Tom Everett Scott) keeps mostly to himself while working as a park ranger. This changes however when a major shipment of drugs goes missing and drug smuggler Xander (Van Damme) needs Henry’s help to retrieve it. As if this isn’t enough yet, a guy called Clay (Orlando Jones) shows up at the exact same day with a personal vendetta against Henry. So much shit to deal with while all Clay wanted to do was go on a dinner date with the lovely girl he just met earlier… the very same day! Clay and Henry have to form a reluctant alliance in order to stop Xander, who – while being a vegan who worries about his carbon footprint – has no problem killing anyone who gets in his way.

While the plot feels a bit convoluted at times, director Hyams maintains a brisk pace, making “Enemies Closer” an enjoyable action flick with plenty of well-choreographed fight sequences and some okay one-liners.