Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

Just like a book shouldn’t be judged by its cover, a film shouldn’t be judged simply for being released direct-to-video. This is a conclusion you might take if you watch Inferno, 1999 action film directed by John G. Avildsen, known mostly as the last title in of his filmography.

The protagonist, played by Jean-Claude Van Damme, is Eddie Lomax, former soldier who is so troubled with the killings that he made during his career that he has decided to end his life. Before he does so, he intends to say goodbye to Johnny Sixtoes (played by Danny Trejo), his war comrade and best friend who lives in small desert town somewhere in US Southwest. Along the way he is intercepted by gang of local thugs who beat him, leave him for dead and steal his prized motorcycle. Eddie, after being found and nursed back to health by Johnny, changed his priorities and now not only wants to live but actually get back his motorcycle. In doing so he would get in conflict with local gangs and their drug smuggling sponsors, playing rival gangs against themselves and receiving aid from local inhabitants that are fed up with terror.

Although Avildesn later denounced his film, displeased with the way Van Damme had forced cuts to his original version, Inferno is surprisingly good film. Van Damme plays one of the more unusual characters of his career, a person burdened with serious psychological baggage and occasional inability to set what is real and what is not. Despite his limited acting abilities, result is impressive and much complemented with the rest of rather diverse cast, often playing bizarre characters that look like they came out the films by David Lynch or Federico Fellini. Generally surreal atmosphere is maintained by good direction and Avildsen’s attempts to base his films on classic works of cinema, most notably Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, 1960s spagetthi westerns and 1970s low budget action films. Paul Koslo, one of the iconic actors who played villains in the latter, here appears in small role of gang leader. Avildsen also fills the film with a lot of exploitation content like extreme violence and sex, which has all but disappeared from action films produced by big Hollywood studios. Despite rather predictable plot resolution, Inferno delivers the goods to the fans of old fashioned action cinema. On the other hand, it is quite obvious that the film could have been much better and we can only imagine what Avildsen’s original version was like.

RATING: 6/10 (++)