Rewind
Sudden Death (1995)
It’s no secret that we all love a bit of nostalgia, and personally, I find there is no better era to walk through than the 90s era of film. What a time. Given this movie is so old, there are a few spoilers littered through this piece, but we will do our best to keep some surprises. If you haven’t seen this gem, you really ought to.
It was a simpler time when movies weren’t scrutinised so hard, and chaos reigned supreme.
A completely unhinged time, you might say, which brings us to “Sudden Death”, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, released in 1995. I do often wonder what would have happened if he ended up playing “The Predator”, but that’s another story altogether. If you are unfamiliar with this, look it up. Thank sweet baby Jesus we didn’t get a kickboxing Predator.
Anywho, back to the action.
We are introduced to Darron McCord, firefighting hero and devoted father, who suffers a very heavy loss at the start of the film, which ultimately leads to his retirement from firefighting along with his marriage. The loss isn’t his kids, just to clarify. We also never get an explicit reason why they separated, so feel free to speculate. However, that is yet another charm of the nineties movies.
“Do we need to explain this? Nah, who cares.” Love it.
It’s his son’s birthday, and Darron is now working as a fire marshal, which is another thread that ties us to the plot. So, good old Darron shows up to the ex-wife’s house with some last-minute tix for the Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup final. The ex-misso does not like that, but the new stepfather takes a bit of pity on our hero and convinces her to let him take his son and daughter. I would love a 20-minute follow-up movie about the ear-bashing he got at the end of the night. Custody is definitely gone, and some therapy is required.
Keep in mind that he was just a firefighter. For the events that are about to transpire, however, that would really suggest otherwise. It isn’t long before the automatic weapons come out—literally at the four-and-a-half-minute mark. If you are a civilian in a 90s action movie, bro, just get out of the way because you are going to cop some smoke. There are some rough hits on this one. Poor old lady.
They really had no chill.
“If you hurt my wife, I will…”
“You will what, burn my toast?”
Even flogs her cookies. Brutal.
No 90s action movie would be complete without a rogue gallery of henchmen & of course a charismatic villain. The villain, “Joshua Foss” (played by Powers Boothe), plans are largely centred around a game of ice hockey and taking the vice president hostage. Yes, that is correct. There are so many cracker one-liners in this movie, most of them coming from Powers Boothe. However, Jean-Claude has a few of his own rippers.
Some of my personal favourites are:
- “Crazy? I’m not the one paying some Neanderthal 40 million dollars to skate up and down a slab of ice.”
- “I keep my machine gun with the produce.”
- “See, Dad, he doesn’t have a rocking chair.”
- “Someone has to die at the end of this period. Now, do we all agree that the mayor’s wife has been the most annoying?”
- “Sprite, no Coke. No Sprite.” It’s also paired with an extremely mocking tone.
The motivations are largely centred around money, as they generally are in these flicks. How much do you think the henchmen make? Surely there is a solid benefit package and perks if your daily duties involve knocking off civilians and taking part in highly dangerous activities.
Are they part of a union?
Do you get sick days?
What does he say to his misses when he gets home from “work”?
I have so many questions.
The kill count hits 39, and there really is some variety going on here. The ice hockey stadium is littered with bombs, so we get taken all around the arena in various sequences. You simply haven’t lived if you haven’t seen Jean-Claude beat the living piss out of a 6ft penguin mascot.
The action scenes in this film are quite fun. While there is plenty of gunfire, you can’t deny that Jean-Claude knows how to throw hands, and it’s always entertaining. He’s also rather inventive with a chicken bone. I have no doubt he was in the director’s ear getting in as many high kicks as possible.
There is one scene where he alludes his pursuers that is pure nineties madness, but let’s just accept it for what it is. So much of this film reminds me of a video game—moments of gathering supplies and making DIY weapons for the larger action set pieces to come. The film does have a great pace.
Like I said earlier, this guy was a firefighter and is now a fire marshal, but he can apparently defuse bombs, build weapons, be handy with automatic weapons, you name it. Rather versatile bunch in these films.
One of my favourite things about 90s films is half of them just end with the villain murdered in some heinous way, someone hugging someone, and then getting wheeled to the ambulance.
Bam. Credits.
No post-credits, just straight-up blood pack shootings and punch-ons for 90+ minutes. Add some one-liners in, and it really is a solid recipe. There is always a soft spot for Van Damme films and ridiculous action flicks. To this day, my brother and I still quote these things to death. Nostalgia has no time constraints.
Do yourself a favour and revisit this one. You will not be disappointed, and you can find this bad boy on Binge.
Once again, let’s pour another one out for the old duck.
Review by James Seeney
