The Shepherd: Border Patrol (2008) (V)

Director:

Isaac Florentine

Writers:

Joe Gayton (written by) &
Cade Courtley (written by)

Release Date:

4 March 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Welcome To Mexico

Plot:

A texas cop battles ex-navy seals who are trying to traffic drugs from Mexico into the USA. |

Plot Keywords:

Mexico | Drug War | Drug Smuggling | Border Patrol | Bare Chested Male

Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Jack Robideaux
Stephen Lord	...	Benjamin Meyers
Natalie J. Robb	...	Capt. Ramona Garcia
Gary McDonald	...	Billy Pawnell
Daniel Perrone	...	Felix Nestor
Scott Adkins	...	Karp
Andrée Bernard	...	Lexxi
Dan Davies	...	Emile
Miles Anderson	...	Arthur Pennigton
Luis Algar	...	Benito Ortiz
Todd Jensen	...	Wray
Ivaylo Geraskov	...	Gallery (as Ivailo Geraskov)
Velislav Pavlov	...	The Contact
Phil McKee	...	Jed
Bogdan Plakov	...	Turgell

Also Known As:

The Shepherd (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and brief nudity.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:16 | Singapore:M18 | UK:15 | Sweden:15 | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Bulgaria

Company:

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: On Robideaux's first day at the station, as all of the agent's are leaving their morning meeting, you can clearly see that one of the agents is wearing his belt too high.

Quotes:

Billy Pawnell: The border. We can't go into Mexico.
Jack Robideaux: F*ck the border.

Soundtrack:

Strange Face of Love

Excellent throwback to 90's Van Damme

Unlike many of his action "contemporaries" (uh, you know who) Van Damme has at least been trying to improve himself as an actor with his direct to video films, while working with better directors. Many have been attempts at something different, like the somewhat surreal "in Hell". This is applaud able, but who really wants a Van Damme movie with little or no action? The Shepherd is a throwback to his 90's films where plot was minimal and fights and other action scenes took centre stage, where everyone knew they were making a pot boiler and had fun doing it. And thank God, because while no biggie plot wise, this movie delivers everything you'd want from a Van Damme movie. Great if happily familiar martial art fights (it even opens in that old action movie stand by, a diner)lots of guns and explosions, and even a torture scene for our boy. It's also well directed, starting with a great sense of humor then turning dead serious when it needs to. The last 15 minutes or so are wall to wall boom boom.

For pure action, for what Van Damme does best, this is absolutely his most entertaining film since he went DTV.