Sudden Death
Universal Pictures
CAST: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Powers Booth, Raymond J. Barry, Whittni Wright,
Ross Malinger, Dorian Harewood, Paul Mochnick, Kate McNeil, Michael Gaston, and Audra Lindley
DIRECTOR: Peter Hyams
RATING: R
RUNNING TIME: 111 minutes
1995
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It's after the fade-in. We begin with a continuous tracking shot. A house is ravaged by fire. Billowing smoke, rescue workers, fire engines… utter chaos. The camera glides into the house. Smoke is everywhere. Fire licks the lens. We see a fireman. He's trapped beneath smoking rubble. A little girl is pinned beneath him. Both are unable to move. Helpless. They cry out for help. Creaking wood. The ceiling suddenly caves in. The fireman shields the girl from the falling debris. Rescue workers rush to find them. Rubble is tossed aside. The fireman pulls his body off the girl. Her lifeless eyes stare up at him. The fireman realizes he's suffocated her. He looks away. Horrified. We fade-out…
These opening three minutes of Sudden Death are a tremendous example of premise and payoff. Something expected which leads to the unexpected; or, in this particular case, the shocking. With touches like this, Gene Quintano's obviously derivative script (the unreal studio pitch: “… think Die Hard in a hockey arena.”) is actually a better-than-expected excursion into the crowded world of the high-concept action genre.
The admittedly absurd backdrop is the pivotal seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals. The Vice-President is in the Owner's Box watching the game. Joshua Foss, a disgruntled secret service agent, and a band of mercenaries take control of the box and hold the Vice-President for a two billion dollar ransom. Foss has placed powerful explosives in twenty key spots of the arena. If the ransom demand isn't made by game's end, he threatens to destroy the complex… and everyone inside. The only thing standing in their way is disgraced ex-fireman Darren McCord. His daughter is trapped with the Vice-President. The game clock is ticking. Can McCord stop them in time?
That's the premise. Here's the payoff.
McCord is unable to diffuse the bombs before the game's end. He's failed. He can only look helplessly as the game clock ticks to zero. Foss readies his remote, finger over the button as… a last-second goal is made in the hockey game. The score is now tied. The game moves into sudden death. Foss takes his hand off the remote. McCord has been given a second chance…
The most surprising aspect of Sudden Death is Powers Booth's portrayal of arch villain Joshua Foss. Unlike so many antagonists in this genre, Booth actually does what he threatens to do. That sounds like a small distinction, but it elevates the movie and this particular character into something totally memorable. Foss and his cronies are equal opportunity assassins: men and woman alike get ruthlessly gunned down during the course of the film. What other screen villain has the gall to ask which one of his captors is the next to take a bullet… then shoot a crying woman right in the face? His sadistic reasoning: “She was the most annoying.” It's that kind of sadistic edge that gives Foss true menace.
Jean-Claude Van Damme gets his best role yet with Darren McCord, and his excellent performance is truly an understated one. Whether he's going head-to-head against a lethal Penguin mascot (a nod once again to Quintano's mastery of premise and payoff) or swinging into action atop the arena scoreboard, Van Damme infuses his role with a solid sense of realism.
Under the sturdy craftsmanship of underrated director Peter Hyams, Sudden Death is actually a tremendously entertaining action film that isn't afraid to flex its muscles and have a little fun. That's what payoff is all about.
--Yim Kip
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