so there are a few hitches - or - jean claude, it's been a while

well, it turns out getting back a refurbished Xbox 360 brings along with it things that i have to deal with - right now i'm dealing with the fact that Halo 2 multiplayer maps that i downloaded previously aren't being recognized by my new system, which i find weird since the maps reside on my hard drive, which is separate from the system (when i sent the system in, i kept my hard drive here)... but whatever.

so since i'm in the midst of downloading the map packs again, i thought i'd write about the movie i watched tonight: Second in Command, starring Jean Claude Van Damme.

this movie, which came out last year, was i'm sure a straight-to-DVD release. it had its debut on cable tonight on the USA network and i happened to catch it. why did i watch? was it worth it? read on...

i just happened to be flipping through the channels looking for something to watch while eating supper when i came across this movie. why did i stop and keep watching? well that's hard to describe... in part, i've been wanting to watch a good action movie for a while, and also, the movie wasn't all that bad.

Jean Claude is a hardened marine that gets stationed at a US embassy in an unstable country. it's his first day on the job and the local militia strike at the country's president. the US (Jean Claude) gets involved and rescues the president from his palace, and the bulk of the movie then takes place in the embassy as the militia lays siege on it.

i've got to say, i like the idea of a "final stand" movie... of course, this was just a start, but if done well by someone else, it could be great. THIS movie kept me interested because it was pretty action-packed and it had the camera work of an episode of 24 - lots of quick zooms, shaky cameras, etc.

was the movie good? dear god no. but it was entertaining... and it was a step in the right direction. if a more talented screenwriter / director / actor would devote the time to one of these "final stand" movies, it would be great. as it was, it was ok.

finally, if you were to take an outside look at the movie, it was about a militia that wanted to bring the newly elected president of a newly democratic country to justice for the killing of innocents... and really, are there any good guys in this? it's got deep, DEEP shades of gray - but yet i didn't really see it while watching because of the way it was done - USA vs. bad guys. written / filmed differently, it might have been a lot more interesting. then again, "interesting" isn't as cool as "action-packed." :)

- kawitchate