What do you do if you're an aging action star, written off by most thanks to years of straight-to-video obscurity who suddenly vaults back to attention thanks to what is BY FAR the the most acclaimed film and performance of your career? If you're Jean Claude Van Damme - fresh off of JCVD - you turn your back on the system that locked you into video hell in the first place, found your own company and direct your own film. That film is The Eagle Path and the trailer is here.
A military veteran and former mercenary, Frenchy (Van Damme) works as a taxi driver, hiding somewhere in East Asia, haunted by his past. After his driving shifts he often frequents the Eagle's Nest, a seedy bar that houses a caged eagle. In the midst of the chaotic Asian traffic Frenchy picks up a beautiful female passenger who will change him forever.Driven by dark memories of his childhood, he becomes determined to improve her life and, without her approval, he embarks on a journey which proves to be more dangerous and complicated then he expected. After encountering a series of harrowing obstacles he calls in favors from his special ops friends who immediately join him. His military team engages in the biggest fight of their lives. War is hell, but nothing they've done could have prepared them for this.
It’s an adrenaline-fueled, full-on, maximum firepower thriller, filled with the intense psychological conflict that Van Damme fans love the world over.
Check the teaser out below the break!
Naaaahhhhh...After JCVD you expect something...well...different! This looks like another straight to DVD release by looking at the quality of the footage and the concept. I thought he'd avoid something like this to be honest.
I guess all he wanted to say he said already in JCVD, nothing else left.
Ew.
What was up with that old A-Team music?
looks like shit, sorry
So, he's back to doing this stuff, and he still wouldn't make an appearance in The Expendables?
yeah , right , what the hell is he thinking, especially when hes gonna be in another universal soldier. well whatever. the expendables i hope will truely kick ass.
awwww...
I was really hoping for something...different...
lol @ JC's 'disguise'
To be honest it does seem to have a slither more grit than his last wave of DVD dungeon flicks. Gonna need a better cut trailer to prove he's still on the right path though. Not writing it off just yet but...expected more off the heels of JCVD.
JCVD was good but a little overrated (didn't like the John Woo bit, especially knowing that Van Damme behaved like the ultimate prick during the shooting of Hard target...GIVE US THE 120 minutes JOHN WOO CUT FOR F... SAKE!), he has said no to The expandables for...THAT??????????
Sorry Van Damme, but JCVD wasn't a hit at the box-office (it was a big deception in France and everywhere else), and The eagle path looks like another average Direct to DVD action flick (I bet it won't be as good as Until death!).
Man this trailer is just awful. Just really poorly made. Hopefully it doesn't reflect the actual film.
Let remind everyone the directorial/writting credits of Van Damme: The Quest, the fucking quest, a Bloodsport rehash with Roger Moore. So yeah, i can't see why people could expect something good out of this.
"...filled with the intense psychological conflict that Van Damme fans love the world over."
What the fuck? Did I read that correctly?
Jean Claude Van Damme, I mean.
Looks terrible ...
The Trailer is really incomprehensible. But lots of brutal elements in there.
Would like to see more acting. Didn't get what it is actually about.
But I've still hope for the endproduct.
And Fuck, The Expandables-Turndown is unexcusable!
I don't expect miracles from what's essentially a sales reel. This
trailer exists to show distributors that this films contains salable action elements in a nicely filmed package. Mission accomplished.
Van Damme's logic is sound - keep the budget low enough and make sure there's enough violence on screen to cut into a trailer, and he basically gets to make whatever film he wants to. Hard to fault him for that, even if he passed on Stallone's fan service epic in favor of completing his new film and building his new company.
Well, some people like Mike Leeder, Mabrouk El Mechri (director of JCVD), and Sheldon Lettich did saw this movie, and they said that this movie is actually really good, and that there is actually small amount of action. But, this is Cannes teaser for buyers, and the main thing here is selling the movie...and action will for sure sell much better than (romantic) thriller drama, especially in Van Damme case. I think that JC knows what he is doing...he probably saw how they did sell "JCVD"...as an action movie no matter what the movie actually was a drama and actually had only 2 min. of action. And people see JC as an actions star...they always did, and they always will. This is actually action concept teaser...yeah...it has some cheap moments...sound editing is bad, music is crap, but action, directing and camera work looks really good. And I'm sure that there is probably some strong reason for poor quality of this teaser. To me it this teaser doesn't look like is finished (and probably is not), probably was made in a shot time, fast, after all...Cannes literally knocking at the door, and teaser is supposed to be finished all ready.
So, I'm sill going to believe to Mike, Mabrouk and Sheldon who actually saw the movie (all we saw is action concept teaser), and who said that this movie is actually really good. I mean...this movie will be long like what...almost 2 hours, an we here have 1 minute and 20 second long teaser. I'm kind of sure that all this that we saw in the teaser will be only action scene in the whole movie, only little bite longer. I don't expect JCVD, but I expect better film then all the other JC's DVT movies...I'm still believe that this is going to be different movie than this teaser show as...After all, I don't think that Mikee would say something like "this movie has a Johnnie To movie feeling" without no reason, after all, even I saw some similarity's with Johnnie To movies just watching this teaser...action definitely has that kind of style. And I'm also sure that Mabrouk would not say that JC's performance is really good here and in the same level as in JCVD...after all, under his direction JC give to as his best performance, so I think that Mabrouk can see the difference.
BTW...here is Official poster for the movie...and some new pictures...
http://www.rodin-ent.com/titles/TheEaglePath/TheEaglePath.html