Monday, April 16, 2012

English Movie Review: Death Warrant

I had watched the Hindi Remake of this movie starring Bollywood action hero Suniel Shetty - Vinashak (1998), but at that time I didn't know this little detail. Anyway Death Warrant starring Jean Calude Van Damme is one heck of an action-crime movie set totally in the prison of Canada. Detective Louis Burke is a very successful undercover cop who solves all the cases he is assigned to. He is now requested by the chief of police and the judge to investigate the deaths of several inmates and guards in a prison in a different part of Canada. The modus operandi would be to get arrested as a common armed robber and infiltrate the prison gangs and find out exactly what is going on. Amanda Beckett (Cynthia Gibb) is the liaison between him and the justice department.

Things take an ugly turn once inside the prison, Burke is targeted by the gangsters for death. He discovers some ugly truths in the prison system. A human organ smuggling gang is operating inside the prison, the doctor, warden and several of the guards are involved. The boss of the whole operation is someone else in civil life and is discovered at the end.

The Hindi movie Vinashak is pretty much a frame-by-frame remake of this movie except for the fact that there is a liberal dose of drama thrown in. Few songs featuring the otherwise role-less female co-star in skimpy clothes, gyrating to the tunes, then a rape scene where the hero's sister gets killed and so on.

In my opinion each of the movie was appropriately made for the respective audiences. I can't say one is better than the other because the specific action sequences in both movies have been well executed. As far as a straight forward plot with fast moving storyline is concerned the English movie is the winner. As far as real entertainment, drama, music and a decent pace of the movie are concerned the Hindi movie scores.