Knock Off Review

Van Damme, directed by a Hong Kong director, is not the same as Jackie Chan, directed by a Hollywood one. Imagine Van Damme trying to be funny. The attempt is so poor that only the discerning would notice that there is such an attempt.

Our friend plays Marcus Ray, a marketing director in a Hong Kong jeans company. His partner, Hendricks (Rob Schneider), and he appear too clownish to be businessmen. No wonder then that they land themselves in a soup, with half of their consignment to the States turning out to be counterfeit. (By the way, since when did China start to export jeans to America?)

Apparently, some guys among their acquaintances are manufacturing 'knock-off' (fake) jeans. The guy turns out to be one Eddie, who is executed before the arrest. The hunt begins to nab the main culprit whom we are barely know. And then there are a host of Russians around to be blamed for all the bomb explosions. To make it worse, there are more CIA agents in the main cast than even the director cares to remember. Hendricks is the first one to be reminded of the fact, pretty early on in the movie.

Tsui Hark is definitely not the next John Woo. For all his attempts at style, he comes out of this looking a very confused director. The camera misbehaves throughout with weird camera angles making more of a clown of Van Damme than he tries to be. Rob Schneider is his jocular self but it would be better if he continued doing his stuff on television.

If you are planning to watch this one, then better knock the idea off your mind.