Darkness of Man

Former muscle men like JCVD and Sylvester Stallone certainly look like they’ve big mistakes, insinuations of hard-earned wisdom written in their wrinkles.

Darkness Of Man may start off confusing, but once it settles down, the thrills come fast and furious.

The stylish direction from Bressack gives what could have been a throwback action flick a fresh feel and while it might not be up there with JCVD’s best, it provides the actor a chance to show off more than his famous muscles.

Darkness of Man simply doesn't offer substantive enough material to support much of anything from JCVD, despite his best efforts. The film lands as little more than a somber, self-serious shrug in the DTV sphere.

Van Damme immerses himself in his world-weary character, but the rest of the movie is just another assembly-line DTV product.

“Darkness of Man” is stuck with cliched writing and flat visuals, going through the motions, unable to find the depths of gravitas Van Damme imagines himself reaching at times.

Darkness of Man is a good action thriller that may have less action than Van Damme fans have come to expect, but what is there is done well. The story works, most of the performances are good, and the cameos are fun.

[Jean-Claude] Van Damme delivers a fully inhabited, melancholy performance. [Full review in French]