(2013-05-20 09:30:13)

The quest continues...

By now, looking for a well-written coherent plot in a Jean-Claude Van Damme film is a bit like seeking the Holy Grail. The Order, insures that the quest will continue. This time, Van Damme is Rudy Cafmeyer, jewel thief and smuggler. When his father, an archeologist, disappears in Jerusalem, with an ancient scroll, Rudy is off to the Holy Land to discover his fate. Before too long, Rudy has left a trail of destruction that has the police firmly agitated. Police Lt. Dalia Barr (Sofia Milos from TV's CSI Miami) is assigned to watch over Rudy, and before long, they are teamed in the quest to discover the secret plans of a mysterious religious sect known as "The Order". The screenplay co-written by Van Damme, has massive credibility issues and many logical flaws. Rudy more than once, exhibits a remarkable ability to heal at a superhuman rate. How many undiscovered underground treasure chambers are there left in the world, especially one that is so conveniently well lighted? Credibility of course, is not the major reason to see a Van Damme film, and the action scenes in this one are not bad. His trademark kickboxing is frequently on display, and for the finale, Jean-Claude does battle with a broadsword. Overall, this average Van Damme film, is a slightly below average action adventure. Charlton Heston contributes a crusty cameo, and some voice over work as well. Cyrus, the renegade leader of the Order, is your stereotypical religious zealot, and is played by the numbers by Brian Thompson. Ben Cross appears to be close to scraping bottom here, as a corrupt cop. The Order starts out with some promise, but soon begins to unravel. Van Damme, will probably never be taken seriously as an actor. Often his most humorous lines occur when uttering a profanity. Jean-Claude still has some physical skills, and is capable of better work, however unless he gets finds quality material, his fans will be continuing the quest.

daworldismine

(2013-05-20 01:39:26)

enjoyable van damme movie, but not one of his best

this van damme movie is very entertaining, and is a lot more lighthearted and comedic than his other movies, but don't worry it's actionpacked and van damme kicks ass. the story is OK, nothing special, thedirection is pretty solid though, and all the action scenes have a goodkick to them. van damme's movies especially some of his latter ones area joy to watch because he makes an effort, you can see he's trying tomake the best movie possible, and even though he ain't gonna win noOscar for his performance, compare it to somebody like chuck Norris,and it seems all the more better, but I'm getting off track here, theorder is a good van damme movie, not his best not even close, but it'sentertaining, funny and action packed, it should please most van dammeand action fans, even if it is at times cheesy, i recommend to theright crowd

(2013-05-16 22:00:23)

A pretty lame attempt at "funny" but o.k. nonetheless.

First off, this is nothing like Indiana Jones. The only thing the two have in common is that the word "artifact(s)" is brought up in both movies.The attempt at humor in this film could come off to many as just bad directing/acting/execution. I think maybe some of it would make a 10-13 year old laugh, and while the movie is rated R there is no bad language and nothing more than people getting punched in the face. So don't be afraid to let your youngster see this.The action is o.k. and the plot is weak. While if you're looking to collect every Jean-Claude Van Damme film out there this review probably won't stop you from buying this. If you are just looking for some good, "Muscles from Brussels" action though I recommend looking else where.

(2013-05-16 17:28:01)

not his best

Van Damme is not the best actor we have and he needs a good cast to make a movie this has no other stars and the story is boring not his best not even good enough to call his movie to me just skip it

rmadesp

(2013-05-16 01:14:09)

Stability is the key........

As a loyal Jean Claude Van Damme fan, I am starting to get a little excited. This is because Replicant precedes the Order, which means this is the firsttime in almost a decade that Van Damme has made two good moviesconsecutively. Its nice to know that he may very well be getting back ontrack. Now, about this movie, well all I can say is that although it is notfantastic, it is good enough to get a passing grade. Van Damme stars asRudy, a thief but also legitimate business man "import/export" who travelsto Israel to search for his father yet at the same time uncover a muchbigger plot that is about to shake the world. Within all this, we get a lotof classic Van Dammage (as someone earlier stated) .....some nice moves,funny one liners, friends to help out, some mean and fascinating (whichmeans funny at times) villains ....basically a lot of the keys that havemade some of JCVD's earlier movies so great. (Sheldon Lettich is directingthis one and Van Damme has credit writing it, recall anything? Yes, its theteam that brought to life his best movie ever, Double Impact)Those who bash this one are not JCVD fans (I am talking about the real fanswho appreciate the Kickboxer, LionHeart, Double Impact days).......thus,this one will satisfy those fans.

moviecollector

(2013-05-15 14:50:19)

it was good

Well, I'm a fan of Van Damme & always will be. I rented this 1 after reallyenjoying REPLICANT, which was Van Damme's darkest film. I'll be buying thiswhen it comes to buy on video. The action scenes with Van Damme were good, its great 2 see him in actionagain. I was happy when Van Damme did his helicopter kick in a fight in theend. It also was cool 2 see the big Mongolian guy from THE QUEST in this 1 & thatbad guy from DOUBLE IMPACT with the ninja-star shoes. But I will complain about that the movie was edited badly at several parts.& the big bomb explosion was quite fake due 2 stupid CGI. & Van Damme trying2 b funny at times was kind of a dumb idea.Overall this film was good but not great like his earlier films. Its decenteffort. S. Lettich directed this, but LIONHEART & DOUBLE IMPACT were betterfilms.

XCoRyX

(2013-05-14 07:12:49)

Van Damme Is Back And Delivers....

Yeah thats right,van damme is back and delivers in what could be one hisbest yet.Hard to believe?I agree,but rent this film and you will not bedisappointed if you are an action or van damme fan itself.The story hasbeenused before,but its unique with twists and there are more then one....andthey all sum up and add together.When i first put this on,the first fewminutes are a little confusing and odd,but they all come together.Dont rentthis if your a Charlton Heston fan,as hes a cardboard character only usedfor his name...i wish he would have switched places and had a biggerrole,maybe playing van dammes father...but it was nice to see him (note:yeshe does need money).But the other acting was fine,especially by brianthompson the always feared badass....overall,very great action movie thatshard to find these days,GREAT if you dont like Jet-Li or Jackie Chan overand over again and like more realistic fighting...one has to wonder,whyisntvan damme on the big screen again?We need more van damme and on the bigscreen!My rating?must-rent....7/10

windupatheist

(2013-05-13 09:48:27)

Weird, but amusing.

This was an odd little flick, far from a classic but well-worth the costofa rental. It could have quite easily been a totally unredeemable piece ofcrap, but Van Damme manages to pull it through with some decent action andeven a little humor. Come on, it has Jean-Claude Van Damme disguised asanOrthodox Jew, complete with a fake beard and little rabbi hat. You knowyouwant to rent it.

bob the moo

(2013-05-09 12:12:07)

Passable action (just) but a poor plot with poor delivery and poor performances

Rudy Cafmeyer is a high-class professional thief, who's archaeologistfather worries about him quite a lot and despairs at his freelifestyle. When his father goes missing in Israel while following thetrail of an ancient map showing an ancient tunnel with its origins inan ancient religious cult. However, Rudy's reputation as a thiefhinders him and gets him into trouble with the local police, settinghim on the run from them while at the same time trying to find hisfather.Given that I am a young man with an average IQ and a desire to relaxand "switch off" at the end of a working day, I will always tend togive Jean-Claude Van Damme films a stab because they often are justdumb action and that is often all I really want. Sadly this film wastoo poor to even really deliver that to me and this was ironicallycaused by the film trying to have a bit of a plot. The story is set inIsrael around a sect's attempts to spark a religious war that wouldbring about their predictions. It is a very strange setting for anaction movie and one that doesn't work at all – the story is full ofholes and the real life setting is unconvincing and uncomfortable atthe same time. I never really got into the story because it felt badlythought out – a bit like the idea had only been developed just enoughto do. Certainly the characters are nothing at all – the usual clichésand rent-a-thug bad guys all round. The action is all rather so-so;passable but it suffers from not being based in a good plot.With such material the cast can't raise the standard at all. Van Dammeis his usual self but this is not a good thing. He has some good actionscenes and he does still have talent in that regard but outside of thisand a bit of natural charisma, he can't really act and never drew meinto his character. Milos is pretty but from the minute you see herpunching people while wearing her shirt unbuttoned almost to her navalyou realize that depth is not what her character is all about. Thompsonhas nothing to work with and is poor in all his few scenes and whyHeston even bothered to turn up is beyond me – a small role and a poorperformance. The direction is nothing special; Lettich edits it likecrazy, stopping an action flow and the effects he is given to work withare far from special.Overall this is a poor film but then I didn't really expect anythingbetter. The plot is poor and doesn't even manage to do its basic job –provide a simple scenario for action to take place within. It has beenpoorly laid out and is poorly delivered, producing a film that neverengages and just seems to be going through the motions. The action ispassable but no more than that but the actual acting is poor and maybethose just looking for action should skip to the 3 minute summary ofpunches and kicks that are montaged just before the end credits; atleast doing that will mean you save yourself 90 minutes of poorfilm-making. Word of advice: if you really need to see one film aboutan archaeologist father who is kidnapped during the hunt for areligious item and then rescued by his son then why not make it theIndiana Jones film rather than this – you'll thank me.

(2013-05-09 04:56:08)

Another silly Van Damme film, but fun...

Director Sheldon Lettich and Jean-Claude Van Damme are reunited in "The Order," a silly action movie that, despite a nice budget, went direct-to-video because, let's face it, Van Damme just can't get a box-office grab like he could with "Timecop" and "Universal Soldier." But the film looks nicely polished and it's pretty short, with action scenes kept to a maximum, just the way I like it. The plot is ridiculous, but most of JCVD's films are. This one has him travelling to Israel, I think, and doing battle with a cult that wants to destroy him and his father. Not a complete failure for Van Damme.

tintin-1

(2013-05-06 21:55:22)

The same

You know what you get when you hire a van Damme movie. Fights, crap actingfrom Van Damme and pretty ladies (Sofia Milos). This movie is better donethan many of his older ones, but no one will beat Bloodsport.Still themovieits entertaiment for a Sunday afternoon with the lads.

Craig

(2013-05-06 03:56:36)

"Worst movie ever" contender...

Watching this film was the result of a lack of choice at the video library,as well as nostalgia for my younger days as an action movie junkie (I saweverything Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris and DolphLundgren ever put out).Anyway, no excuses, I should have known better. (The fact Van Damme iscredited as one of the writers should have been warning enough). Truly oneof the worst B-grade (if not C- or D- grade) action movies I have seen inyears. A cliched plot, laughably unrealistic characters, sloppy actionsequences and general all-around poor movie making combine to make this thedud film that it is. Also features some borderline racial stereotypes thatmade me cringe. The main bad guy is Brian Thompson (but you probably knowhim better as "meathead alien bounty hunter" from the X-Files), delivering atrademark mechanical performance. Maybe if this movie had been made in theeighties it could be excused as an example of the mediocre B-grade actionflick of the time, but moviemakers now should know better.Possibly the only thing you'll get out of this movie is a good laugh at howbad it is, but I doubt it. Stay away - far, far away from thismovie.

(2013-05-05 17:11:26)

"Beats a Messiah complex any day"

You know, it irks me when Jean-Claude Van Damme goes on nowadays about how dissatisfied he's been with his career. Can't he see how fun his direct-to-video stuff like "The Order" was? Maybe Van Damme's just eager for something straight and serious at this point in his life, but I really appreciate the creativity the low-budget realm afforded his movies. Coupled with his relative luck at snagging directors capable enough to make the most of limited resources, he has had more to celebrate for this stage of his career than Seagal or Lundgren, and while "The Order" is not a flawless movie, it has the energy and originality to make for a worthwhile 90-minute time-waster, definitely worth owning.The story: Rudy Cafmeyer (Van Damme) is a successful international thief whose father (Vernon Dobtcheff, Undisputed III: Redemption) goes missing while studying an ancient Templar sect in Jerusalem. In pursuit, Rudy will need to engage a religious fanatic determined to initiate an act of international terrorism (Brian Thompson, Cobra).Director Sheldon Lettich had done consistently good work with Van Damme throughout his mainstream career, and his generally good quality of production carries over to this feature: with the exception of a couple inauspicious transitions and unnecessary jump cuts, along with a particularly fake-looking CGI explosion, "The Order" looks way more professional than a lot of other DTV flicks from the same period. It also packs a lot more action than is the norm for movies shot for $12 million: six hand-to-hand fights, three car chases, and one surprisingly good on-foot chase. It's clearly a stunt double riding the motorcycle during the middle chase, but for the rest of the action, Van Damme seems to be supplying his own moves or is disguising a stunt double particularly well. His fistfights are all pretty good, but I wish his showdown with fellow action guy Brian Thompson was a bit more satisfying: though it's one of the rare instances wherein Van Damme prominently fights with a weapon (i.e. a sword), the fight's not quite as long or climatic as the film warranted.Speaking of swords, the movie's notable for featuring a few things you can't see in any of Jean-Claude's other features. Religious-themed pictures in general were a first for Van Damme - lagging behind Schwarzenegger but beating out Lundgrenby eight years - but it's remarkable/disappointing that he goes all the way to Jerusalem without really addressing the real-life events of the area. The movie opens with a dramatic narrative and historical flashback (ever wanna see Van Damme playing a Crusader? Here's your chance!) and closes with a Jackie Chan-esque highlight/blooper reel, neither of which are quite as entertaining as they ought to be but I appreciate the novelty. At one point, Van Damme's character goes incognito as a Haredi Jew, complete with beard. Most significantly, however, is the casting of Charlton Heston (Ben-Hur) in this movie. With the possible exception of Forest Whittaker in Bloodsport, Heston is the single most acclaimed actor to appear in a Van Damme film, with the added gravity of this being his last live-action feature to see wide release prior to his death. (SPOILER) His scenes are isolated to the first half of the film and his character's death is abrupt and disappointing, but it's still oddly satisfying to see him and Van Damme interact with such apparent ease. There's a bit of Heston's characteristic fire in his delivery, but the only action he gets in on is smacking a thug in the back with his cane.Brian Thompson's character could have definitely used a bit more screentime and development, but at least he made room for the good-looking Sofia Milos (CSI: Miami) to hound Jean-Claude for the majority of the movie, which ended up persevering beyond its faults and being pretty darn fun. Serious cinema snobs needn't bother, but Van Damme fans should welcome this one's uniqueness among the man's filmography. Get it, action fans.

(2013-05-05 05:27:03)

Just Another Van Damme Action with Indiana Jones Taste

In the opening scene of this film, in which Van Damme's character steals some precious (so they say) "egg," his partner asks:"Was that a gunshot?" to which our hero quips:"No, I farted." ... (speechless) Now you can sense the awkward silence of those who are watching this dreadful dialogue (the script is co-written Dan Damme himself). If you like this kind of thing, or Van Damme disguised in traditional Jewish clothes (with a beard), you may want to give this film one more star. The truth is "The Order" is not as bad as it looks, considering its too obvious low-budget origin. The story is [like]Indiana Jones, with the hero's father missing mysteriously, and his action-packed search for the relics of a certain religious group, of which leader attempts to realize the prophcy of their ancient words, and so on and on. And you also get a deadly booby traps set for careless treasure hunters in a cave. Overall, an OK action with Van Damme as always giving his high-kicking, and at least, it doesn't try to be anything but what it intends to. Another good thing about it is Charlton Heston, whose hammy performance, curiously but naturally, fits in the whole system of this Grade-B movie,... And some may find the location of Israel (where main part of the film was shot) very exotic.Though it lacks any originality and energy his former hits such as "Timecop" have, Van Damme's new film ends up as a so-so action film, even though some say it's just another B movie, which is, I am afraid, very true. What he needs is more energetic direction for hyper-action flicks Hong Kong filmmakers are famous for.

(2013-05-05 08:57:12)

OH! SOFIA!

This is a typical Van-Damm movie and its not to bad really. Why his releases are being relegated to strictly video now is unknown to me. One high note is the...local cop that befriends him when he is knee high in trouble. Her name is Sofia Milos and you can expect to see more of her I bet. Her...eyes and voluptuous body only crank up her dynamic screen prensence. Rarely have I seen such a good mix of...beauty and talent. I hope she makes her own movies now. Viva la Sofia!!!

Jawad Daud

(2013-05-04 19:44:45)

Fallinf Flat!

From the director of A.W.O.L, Double Impact and The Last Warrior comesa picture that falls flat on its face and turns out to be a forgettablemovie due to various reasons.The Order starts in 1099 A.D. and narrates the story of a warrior wholived to unite Christians, Jews and Muslims who had been fighting amongthemselves in the name of religion. This warrior formed an 'Order'comprising these religions and his disciples undertook to spread theword of peace. The warrior composed a code of ethics for his disciplesto follow, of which the last chapter goes missing.Fast forward to the present time where Rudy (Jean-Claude Van Damme) isa common-day thief. When news of his father who has gone missing,reaches him, he goes to Tel Aviv on a lead, where he joins forces withDalia (the adorable Sofia Milos) and sets on a mission to track hisfather. With the help of his martial-arts expertise, Rudy finallysucceeds in locating his old man but discovers that the kidnapping wasactually held to drag Rudy to the city.Van Damme's action is the only salvation in thethe movie where the paceis fast. Also starring Charlton Heston, as the vile Professor Finley.Overall, The Order is a movie fit for a single watch and tends to turnoff interest sporadically.

bkoganbing

(2013-05-02 18:32:50)

This One Is A Tall Order

The Order finds martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme cast as the rogueson of respected archaeologist Vernon Dobtcheff answering a call forhelp when dad summons him. Van Damme is a smuggler of artifacts andseller of same and Dobtcheff is worried about some ancient parchmentthat the members of an underground religious cult want very badly.Later on dad gets summoned to Israel and then is kidnapped by The Orderand Jean-Claude is on the hunt.Charlton Heston is in this film in a small role as an archaeologistcolleague of Dobtcheff. Heston also narrates a small prologue showinghow a Crusader knight also played by Van Damme who was tired of all thekilling started a religious order that also attracted Jews and Moslemsto it. The powers that be wiped it out like the Albigensians, or sothey thought.Of course when he gets to Jerusalem, Van Damme is involved in a carchase that in the end results in Heston's death and him being accusedof it by over zealous Jerusalem homicide cop Ben Cross. There'scustoms&immigration inspector Sofia Milos who is familiar with VanDamme because of his criminal enterprises and we're not sure what heragenda is. And there's Brian Thompson all decked out like those Nazisfrom Raiders Of The Lost Ark who are trying that ancient Hebrew ritualat the climax of that film. The climax here has that kind of potential.In fact The Order is a hybrid of any number of cop chase films andRaiders Of The Lost Ark set in modern times. Charlton Heston did notlook well in his small role, I'm thinking the disease that eventuallykilled him was starting to show. But I also think Heston knew he wasn'tin anything like the great epics he was famous for.Lot's of martial arts and chase action as per a Jean-Claude Van Dammefilm with some specious theology thrown in as well. His fans shouldlike it, Heston's fans will be pained.

(2013-05-02 07:12:06)

Not as good as some other Van Damme movies

Great movie, however, Charlton Heston could have lasted a little longer, more booby traps, more in the style of Bloodsport or Kickboxer, more spinning air kicks, more muscle flexings, shirtless muscle scenes like they were in Bloodsport, Universal Soldier 1 Some CGI, eg. booby traps and so forth.

movieman55

(2013-04-29 10:41:45)

Van Damme Scores Again

Van Damme scores again. I must admit to being a pretty big Van Damme fan.Some of my favorites are Hard Target, Sudden Death, Double Team, andReplicant. Heck I even enjoyed Legionnaire. However, when I viewed DesertHeat I was extremely disappointed. When I heard Replicant was coming out Ihad great reservations, but ended up not only liking it but putting it asone of my favorite Van Damme films. With expectations raised I picked up"The Order" and was not disappointed. After a nifty little prologue theaction starts with a nice little heist and seems to never let up. Theaction scenes are top notch, including martial arts, car & motorcyclechases, and shootouts. Van Damme is great in the fight scenes and seems tobe in great shape. He also injects some nice humor into the role. DirectorSheldon Lettich infuses the flick with some nice energy and good use ofslomo/fast motion. I also liked the flicks editing, especially of the actionscenes and also the use of the "wipes". Although this flick does not giveVan Damme the chance to give a juicy performance like in Replicant or havemuch character depth, it is still a lot of fun. Van Damme is getting backtowhat his fans want to see him to most and that is kick some major butt. Atonly 89 minutes The Order is a fun, action packed ride. 8 out of10

wes-connors

(2013-04-28 22:17:29)

Ham on Rye

Action-oriented artifact smuggler Jean-Claude Van Damme (as RudyCafmeyer) kicks his heels in the Middle East, where he goes to unload apriceless "Faberge Egg". In Israel, Mr. Van Damme declares, "Somethingis not kosher here." He adds, "I'm not trying to be funny, okay." Okay.Van Damme is sidetracked by the kidnapping of his father, and athickening plot.In the holy land, Van Damme meets Charlton Heston (as Walter Finley),who shouts, "Up yours!" to bad drivers, and gets shot at. Ben Cross (asBen Ner) is nasty to Van Damme. Duplicitous customs expert Sofia Milos(as Dalia Barr) and some scantily-clad women offer some mild sex appeal(the "R" rating is for violence). Heavenly choruses sing, unholyalliances are broken, and Van Damme fights.The main storyline is more interesting than the film deserves - as itturns out, Van Damme becomes involved in a search for an ancientreligious sect's missing scroll. The sect's origin is told in anopening flashback; after that, the movie takes place in the present.Alas, instead of becoming more intriguing, the plot gets sillier. Goodlocation and story idea, poor execution and use of resources.*** The Order (12/13/01) Sheldon Lettich ~ Jean-Claude Van Damme, SofiaMilos, Brian Thompson