Product: Legionnaire [VHS]
Rating: 4.0
It's not Beau Geste, but . . .
. . . it was not intended to be.I like movies about the French Foreign Legion. I like this movie.All of the stock-characters and stereotypes are here, and the plot is as old as . . . well . . . as old as movies about the Legion!Van Damme is, of course, the recruit seeking escape in the Legion from enemies on civvy-street. It is that preliminary background that rather drags ("Yes, yes, he's on the run . . . get on with it!"). The training stage in Africa is not particularly well done, either. But once the "bleus" get marching to that far-away, isolated fort-- and the Rifs-- the action picks up.A number of reviewers do not like this film because it is not a martial arts film. That's their prerogative. But this was not billed as a "Van Damme martial arts film," so I think their criticism unfair.Van Damme actually does some acting, here, and he is more at home in a besieged fort or boxing ring than in a night-club or romancing the "female interest" character. It's not high-art, but it's entertaining, so pass the wine ration and quit your grumbling!