Product: Legionnaire [VHS]
Rating: 4.0
A Real Good Legion Movie
It's a shame this movie didn't have a theatrical release. It's one of the best Foreign Legion flicks around, and if its a bit short on plot it more than makes up for it with some very solid action sequences. Van Damme plays a 1920s boxer excaping to the Legion after double-crossing a crooked boxing promoter and losing his girlfriend in the process. The very-overated "Beau Geste," by comparison, is definitely a better story-line, but Gary Cooper was way too old to play the title role and he's too wooden. Admittedly, Van Damme might not win an Oscar but he does a very good job as part of a solid ensemble cast of lesser-known actors playing the usual riff-raff joining the FFL: a black America, an Italian, a German, and a mysterious Englishman. Overall, see this one and "March or Die," with Gene Hackman. It, too, has some great action sequences. "Legionnaire" is a good movie!