Leofwine_draca What could have been another routine DIE HARD rip-off, along the lines of the similar but atrocious thriller BLAST, turns out to be a supremely entertaining slice of action, delivered with just the right pace by experienced director Peter Hyams. In fact this is one of the better Van Damme films I've seen so far, with excellent fight scenes and an involving, if clichéd, plot. The story is nothing new, it's basically just DIE HARD relocated to a hockey match. Much like UNDER SIEGE was DIE HARD relocated on a boat, and CON AIR was DIE HARD relocated on a plane. But as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, and the formula works. It works very well in fact, which is why these sort of films are my favourite actioners. Van Damme runs around corridors, doing heroic things like defusing bombs, while the baddies shoot people. That's the main thrust of the story anyway, little aided by stupid dialogue and clichéd locations and fight scenes. However, it is perhaps the fight and chase scenes which make this film so engaging.Firstly, the fights are all bordering on the absurd, with Van Damme taking on a person in a penguin suit at the beginning. Virtually all of the bad guys in this film die bizarre deaths, one guy has a chicken bone shoved through his neck, another guy is ignited with lighter fluid from a water pistol, yet another guy has his hand drilled and some other unfortunate soul is processed through a bottle filling machine. These are the kind of death scenes I love in action films, where the villain dies in a horrible way, and there is no cutting away from the moment either. This film revels in the violence. The acting is all on the sub standard side, as to be expected, but to be fair, the cast all perform adequately. The kids aren't too annoying, and Powers Boothe is a smooth if unrealistic villain, whose motivations aren't really thought out or explained in the film. He does a great Alan Rickman impression though.Van Damme is his typical single-expressioned self, but that persona is fine for this role, and he performs brilliantly in the fight scenes as usual. His makeup is good, too. The baddies are all typical heavy types, like we've seen in these films billions of times before. There must be a special acting school for 'generic stock villains' somewhere in America. The shootouts and explosions are all handled well, and the special effects technicians deserve credit, apart from some shoddy digital effects which prove to be highly unrealistic. The editing is spot on, too, the viewer always knows what's happening and when, but the scenes are all served up in an interesting way. Basically this film is for fans of the genre, who know what they're going to get. You just need to sit back, switch off your brain to ignore the many plot discrepancies, and enjoy the increasingly contrived situations that Van Damme is in (he even gets to play hockey at one point!). I love it.

Thomas Luckens Let's face it, we all love watching someone die in a movie. Whether it be the teenage girl in the horror movie, or a good hearted main character. You can't help but laugh and not feel sorry for them. This is one of my favorite movies to watch when I need a good laugh. Let me start by saying the beginning was really funny. That poor little girl, I feel so sorry for her parents... Oh, who am I kidding? It was pretty darn funny! Watching a little girl die in the arms of a firefighter makes me feel so good inside. Like God is taking precious care of us. Pfffft. Anyway, then comes lots of other killing. I'm telling you, you'll laugh your butt off watching these poor people die. My personal favorite scene happens when one of the bad guys takes an old lady hostage in her home. He then tells her to call her husband, and give him directions. The bad guy says he won't hurt her. Lol, I should have known better. Later, the bad guy and old lady are watching TV. She thinks she's okay, but then he says "Well, gotta go." and killshots her. I never laughed so hard at someone dying. I would personally call it a highlight of the film. But it's okay, her time was coming soon anyway. Her husband, a really cool chef, gets shot too. And even more people die. There's just so much to laugh at, the comedy never ends! I can't recommend this movie enough. I only wish Emily would have been killed, as that would have been hilarious. Between dying six year old girls, and hilarious killshots, it was worth watching every minute of "Sudden Death". I just might put it at the top of my comedy movie list.

sergeantpinback80 Jean Claude Van-Damme is Darren McCord, a former Pittsburg firefighter who takes his two children to the seventh and final game of the Stanley Cup Finals being held at the city's civic arena. What they don't know is a group of terrorists have taken over the arena, wired the entire building with explosives, and captured the Vice-President who was attending the game. Only until McCords' daughter is taken hostage does McCord realize what is going on. Now the lives of thousands of people depend on a man with everything to lose and only his wits to save the day.This movie was made back in the day when action movies were not afraid to still be action movies. It definitely earns its "R" rating and is not shy of depicting the violence that occurs. Everyone from old men to several women are killed in violent ways as the terrorists put their plan in to action. Setting the action around a hockey game that depends on the outcome of who scores a goal and when they do it is crucial to the story and the audience is always reminded of whats going on. This was one of two movies Van-Damme would star in that was directed by Peter Hyams and like Carpenter & Russell, they prove they are a good match for some awesome action. It's sad that action films don't take any risks any more and have to be toned down as not to offend the easily offended audience today. If you want a classic action flick back when Van-Damme was at his peak then check out "Sudden Death", if you want something else well there are those Transformers movies.

edwagreen Fans attending the NHL Stanley Cup 7th game between Chicago and Pittsburgh certainly get more than they could ever anticipate at any game. They even have our hero Jean C. Van Damme in the game thwarting goals by the opposing team.The violence abounds here with just about everyone either dodging or taking bullets. Powers Boothe shines as the man hell-bent on having funds transferred to various banks under the threat of blowing the stadium apart. He holds the Vice President and others as hostages and shows how ruthless he can really become. Hostages are shot including the mayor's hysterical sobbing wife.Van Damme takes on the Rambo like character with a charismatic force. Naturally, his children are on the scene and he has something to prove as two years before, he was unable to rescue a child in a fire.