Legionnaire (1998)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Peter MacDonald

Writers (WGA):

Sheldon Lettich (story) &
Jean-Claude Van Damme (story) ...

Release Date:

3 December 1998 (Australia)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | War

Tagline:

From The Producer Of The Crow And The Director Of Rambo III

Plot:

Alain Lefevre is a boxer paid by a Marseille mobster to take a dive. When he wins the fight he attempts...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Foreign Legion | Italian | Mercenary | 1920s

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Alain Lefevre
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	...	Luther
Steven Berkoff	...	Sgt. Steinkampf
Nicholas Farrell	...	Mackintosh
Jim Carter	...	Lucien Galgani
Ana Sofrenovic	...	Katrina
Daniel Caltagirone	...	Guido Rosetti
Joseph Long	...	Maxim
Mario Kalli	...	René Galgano
Joe Montana	...	Julot
Kim Rømer	...	Capt. Rousselot
Anders Peter Bro	...	Lt. Charlier
Paul Kynman	...	Rolf Bruner
Vincent Pickering	...	Viktor
Takis Triggelis	...	Cpl. Metz

MPAA:

Rated R for battle violence.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Brazil:14 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Australia:M | France:U | Germany:12 | Norway:15 (video rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Atlas Corporation Studios, Ouarzazate, Morocco

Company:

Edward R. Pressman Film

Goofs:

Plot holes: Lefevre is photographed for the machine gun demonstration against his will, thus leading to his discovery. One of the few guarantees afforded legionnaires is anonymity, and it is specifically forbidden for a legionnaire to be photographed without explicit permission.

Quotes:

Luther: I came out here to find a life. Now I realize I've been looking in the wrong place. It ain't out here.
[puts hand over heart]
Luther: It's in here.

Movie Connections:

Version of March or Die (1977)

Soundtrack:

Mon légionnaire

Van Damme does drama

I found 'Legionnaire' for $10 on a rack labelled "Movies that should never have been made!". I had never seen 'Legionnaire', but on the same rack was the Arnie classic 'Conan the Barbarian'. I decided that whoever was running the store obviously didn't know what they were talking about - I'm sure Arnie will forgive them - and so I picked up 'Legionnaire'. If I had known it had a lot more of Jean-Claude Van Damme acting rather than Van Damme beating the **** out of bad guys, I probably would have avoided it. Good thing I gave it a go, as it was actually pretty good.

Van Damme plays Alain Lefevre, a boxer paid to take a dive by a mobster. Alain and his girl-friend have other ideas, and plan to flee France and go to America. After giving his opponent a good butt-kicking, and enraging the mobsters, Alain ends up being chased by police, and finds himself in the French Foreign Legion and deployed to Africa to crush an insurgency in a French colony.

Funnily enough, it is pretty much 'Lionheart' reversed. Other than that, 'Legionnaire' feels more like a war movie than a Van Damme movie. Then again, you can tell Van Damme co-wrote it: He gives himself a lot of acting time, and not much arse-kicking time, but then you have various action clichés popping up and the odd one-liner here and there.

Van Damme's martial-arts skills are not showcased here as much as in his other movies. There are a few boxing scenes, and maybe one kick in the entire movie. The rest of the action is standard war stuff: explosions and gun-play (circa 1924, to be precise).

'Legionnaire' is surprisingly good in the end. Van Damme gets to do something different for a change, and I'll give him credit for it. It is more dramatic than most of his other movies, but that should not stop Van Damme fans - and even non-fans of Van Damme - from seeing it - 7/10