The Order

Plot synopsis:
The film's premise is that there is another way to heaven than adherence to the practices of the Roman Catholic Church. A secular Sin Eater can remove all taint of sin, no matter how foul, from the soul just before death. The purified soul can then ascend into heaven. The Roman Catholic Church, according to the film, considers this heresy.
Heath Ledger plays an unhappy and disillusioned priest, Alex Bernier, a member of a fictitious religious order The Carolingians which specializes in fighting demons and other hell spawn. Father Dominic, the head of the Carolingians, has died in Rome under suspicious circumstances and Alex leaves the United States to investigate. In Rome, Alex visits the morgue and sees strange markings on Dominic's corpse. After some investigation, he comes across a book that explains the markings as being the sign of a Sin Eater's work. He heads to the Vatican, where an official tells him that Sin Eaters don't exist and that Dominic may not be buried on sacred ground because he had been excommunicated for his beliefs. Alex, moving ever farther from his vocation, defies his superiors and secretly reads a holy service over the body and buries Dominic in the Carolingian cemetery (the service takes place off screen but is referred to later).
Thomas Garrett, another Carolingian (there seem to have only been a total of three including Dominic), arrives in Rome to help investigate Dominic's death.
Early in the film we meet Mara Williams, an artist Alex once exorcised, who has escaped from a mental hospital and come to Alex at his church in the USA because she has a feeling that something terrible is going to happen to him. The police come looking for her, but Alex lies and denies that he's seen her and through this exchange we learn that Mara was in the hospital because she had tried to kill Alex during the exorcism. Mara goes to Rome with Alex after promising that she won't try to kill him again.
Cardinal Driscoll (Peter Weller), who is introduced at the beginning of the film and who is tipped to be the next Pope, arrives in Rome from the USA and gives Alex a special dagger. According to a fragment of parchment Alex and Thomas find among Dominic's books, the dagger is to be plunged into the Sin Eater while reciting a text in Aramaic. Alex and Thomas take these instructions to mean that the dagger and incantation will kill the Sin Eater and they begin hunting for the Sin Eater and the remainder of the parchment instructions.
Thomas leads Alex to a nightclub where they are taken to the underground base of operations of a masked man called Chirac, the 'Black Pope.' The Black Pope owes a favor to Thomas and Alex asks where to find the Sin Eater. The Black Pope then hangs three people and tells Alex to ask his question of the dying men who can see what the living cannot. One of the dying tells Alex a riddle that leads to a rendezvous with the Sin Eater.
On the way out of the Black Pope's headquarters, demons attack and injure Thomas, but Alex saves him and gets him to a hospital.
Alex leaves Thomas in the hospital and meets the Sin Eater, William Eden, at St. Peter's Cathedral who explains that he has been a Sin Eater for centuries, taking over for an earlier Sin Eater (a Carolingian priest) who ate the sins of Eden's brother. Eden is very charismatic and talks with Alex about the priest's desires, and Alex admits he wants Mara. He then goes and presumably tells Mara this, and they make love. Afterward, Alex leaves Mara asleep and goes to Eden, who tells Alex that he is tired and ready to die and asks Alex to take his place. Alex has the dagger with him, but is curious and so doesn't use it to kill Eden. Instead, he assists Eden with a sin eating ritual. But in the end, Alex refuses Eden's offer because he has decided to leave the priesthood to be with Mara.
Later Alex returns to their lodgings and finds Mara near death, an apparent suicide. In actuality, Eden slit her wrists and left her for Alex to find. Mara is beyond medical help and Alex quickly performs the sin eating ritual so that she can go to heaven. After absorbing Mara's sins, though, Alex sees that there is no sin of suicide on Mara's conscience and realizes Eden's deception. Alex goes after Eden to kill him.
The rationale that leads Alex to perform the sin eating ritual instead of giving Mara Roman Catholic Last Rites is that Alex has already made the decision to leave the priesthood to be with Mara and he has broken his vows of obedience and of sexual abstinence. He therefore considers himself ineligible to offer Mara Last Rites.
Meanwhile, the injured Thomas is out of the hospital and goes to see the Black Pope who reveals himself to be Cardinal Driscoll. Driscoll shows Thomas the second half of the parchment which instead of being instructions on how to kill a Sin Eater is actually instructions on how to become a Sin Eater. The entirety of Alex's and Mara's lives have been a plot among Dominic, Eden and Driscoll to entrap Alex. Eden wants to die, Driscoll wants to be Pope and Dominic wanted the financial resources to pursue arcane knowledge.
Driscoll prevents Thomas from leaving to warn Alex.
Alex cannot find Eden and returns to the Black Pope to learn where Eden is. The Black Pope (face hidden) tells Alex again to ask the dying. Alex recognizes that Thomas is the man being hanged, and frees him using a pistol. However, Thomas's throat is too injured by the noose to tell Alex the truth of the parchment.
Alex finds Eden and stabs him with the dagger while reciting the incantation. He quickly realizes what is actually happening but it is too late, Eden's powers are transferred to Alex, and Eden, happy to be free of his burden of the sins of others, dies. In the mean time, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome crumbles around them.
Thomas, who arrives at the scene too late to prevent the transfer, vows he will find a way to save Alex, even if it means killing him.
Alex informs the church about Driscoll's activities and Driscoll is ruined. Driscoll then decides to kill himself and calls on the Sin Eater, now Alex, to remove his sins. Driscoll slits his wrists and when he is near death, Alex tells him that he knows that Eden and Driscoll caused Mara's death. Alex does not eat Driscoll's sins but forces them down Driscoll's throat. Driscoll dies a painful death and presumably goes straight to hell.
The Sin Eater William Eden used his power to accumulate wealth. The Sin Eater Alex Bernier decides to act as a power for good, saving only those who deserve it and allowing evildoers to die in sin.

Tags: violence

Review:
The action was great as well, and there were plenty of fight scenes to keep us van damme fans satisfied.
The main low-point of this film is the music, which is awful as best and extremely annoying at worst.Fight scenes are few, but good, and it seems that Van Damme has tried to get more Jackie Chan looking feeling to this film than he is used too.
This is very nice, since the co-stars - Charlton Heston and Sofia Milos - gets a chance to shine, which is rare in these kind of films.This is also perhaps one of the more down-to-earth movies Van Damme made lately, and it has a really good setting and use of locations.
And as I said, this is perhaps his best movie since Universal Soldier, and I actually place it as the number 3 movie of all Van Damme's work.I truly hope that a sequel comes out of this one, since they really put it that way in the ending!
Van Damme is particularly good, and though it's not his best acting (that would be MAXIMUM RISK), it's better than some of his earlier ones.The film makes good use of its Israeli locations, sexy newcomer Sofia Milos makes a feisty heroine, and co-stars Ben Cross and Brian Thompson offer good support in roles that are smaller than they should be.
There's even some funny bloopers that run before the end credits, though only a few; some more would have been nice.All-in-all, one of van Damme's better movies storywise, and though I'm not sure if I would actually buy the DVD, I would probably make it an occasional rental.
In addition, if you're not able to take a Van Damme underrated, good action flick from Sheldon Lettich, ignore this review, as well.
This was a good action film a very underrated Van Damme film In my opinion The Order is so much better movie than Knock Off. At least I know about what is this movie about at all.
I still don't know what was in Knock Off. This movie is Van Damme's last very fun/old school action film that is very underrated indeed!
I also have pre order it Cyborg (1989) another Underrated Van Damme film.Pino Donaggio the same music composer did made a music and edit it for The Howling and Carrie, so that's pretty cool.
Id love to see him go back to the happy-go-lucky Van Damme from the old days.It is a good movie to watch.
I really have enjoyed watching this movie, I still think it is very underrated Jean-Claude Van Damme film!
They both later worked together on The Hard Corps 5.years later, another direct to video action movie that I like.For direct to video this is far entertaining, tons of action it has Jean-Claude Van Damme the last time, that you will see him acting like he a human been!
Does not deserve to be hated.The Order is a 2001 American action film directed by Sheldon Lettich, and written by Jean-Claude Van Damme, who also starred in the film.
The film was released on direct-to-DVD in the United States on March 12, 2002.8/10 Grade: A Studio: TriStar Pictures Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sofia Milos, Brian Thompson, Vernon Dobtcheff, Ben Cross, Sasson Gabai Director: Sheldon Lettich Producer: Avi Lerner Screenplay: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Les Weldon Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 29 Mins.
I just finished watching this movie and I have to agree with one of the other user comments: Van Damme's acting is definately getting better.
As with all Van Damme movies, don't go watch it with high expectations, just sit back and enjoy it for what it is: brainless action.
I am a huge action fan, and have loved every movie Van Damme has made, even though there has obviously been the weaker ones (namely Universal Soldier 2, Knock Off) but this time the man is back bigger than ever.
Later On, Jean-Claude Van Damme reunites with his father(Vernon Dobtcheff) and learns about the lost chapter of ¨The Fazar¨, it happens to be the holy scripture of an obscure Middle-Eastern sect called ¨The Order¨ (ruled actually by Brian Thompson).
There is received by an old professor (Charlton Heston) and happen several adventures, dangers and risks.This movie exhibited in some countries direct to video packs violent action, suspense, shoot-outs, and martial arts fighting and results to be quite amusing.
Tough Van Damme plays finely a sympathetic thief, splendid Sofia Milos as enjoyable police who finally falls in love with him and Charlton Heston plays convincingly a veteran archaeologist in a brief appearance .The movie is pointlessly energetic, occasionally fun and entertaining and for that reason will appeal to true devotee Van Damme.
It's produced with middling budget by Milennium with its usual producers Boaz Davidson, Trevor Short and Danny, Avi Lerner , furthermore by Van Damme's 777 Films Corp .The movie is professionally directed by Sheldon Lettich.
When I heard Replicant was coming out I had great reservations, but ended up not only liking it but putting it as one of my favorite Van Damme films.
It wasnt as good as his previous efforts, most action scenes seemed to look badly edited compared to his newer films like Double Team and Replicant...the main fight scene in the city of Isreal was good, with Van Damme doing some nice Jumps and Flips, shame the end fight wasnt done better, but overall a watchable action flick....
Terrible movie has Van Damme in Israel as a cross between Indiana Jones and a Universal Soldier to save his father from the hands of a cult, set out to destroy about every religion on this planet.
Van Damme should stay far away from movies like this who actually have a story in them (well, I'm sure that was the purpose anyway), for the simple fact that...
This film clearly shows that Van Damme is still one of the best action movie stars out there today.
I love half second shots of their faces during the car chase scene, van Damme kicking EVERYONE in the movie(and i mean EVERYONE!
not a single human being in this movie is spared from van Damme's kung fu FURY!!!), van Damme using his martial arts to get whatever he wants, the fight scene in the shallow fountain, the shot of the gun landing in the produce, Charelton Heston, the sexy cop who always ran around with her long lucious hair down and her shirt 3 buttons open (yum!), Rudy (van Damme's character) always giving his dad a "high five!", the music (oh God, the music)...
"The Order" just happens to be another great film from Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Mention Jean Claude Van Damme to any action movie aficionado and you'll see their eyes beam remembering films such as Bloodsport, Kickboxer, TimeCop and perhaps even Hard Target.So what happened to JCVD?
Well his style of violent action movies has been dead in the water for many years and plus his films, although interesting, always end up being another 80s styled movie - lots of cheese, OTT action and stupid story lines.VD has been relegated to Direct-to-Video, and having seen the mess that is "The Order" - I have to wonder what happened to VD and his movie career.Its refereshing to see an action movie set in the middle east, but did they have to resort to so may sterotypes, cliches and just pointless chases.
Those times are long gone.Charlton Heston makes a brief cameo - and ironically gets shot in the stomach - well I thought it was ironic considering his stance on guns.Also in there is the worst bad guy I've ever seen - Brian Thompson, his sneering smile reminded me of Gustav Graves in Die another Day - yet Thompson gives no real venom or character to VD's enemy - he's just a heavy who got lucky and now wants to start WW3.Meanwhile JCVD takes on the entire Isralei police force in karate fights - at last, I thought, a chance to see how JCVD would fare against the hand-to-hand combat skills of the Isralei police/army force - but it turns out its more of a flashy leg kicking match - another opportunity missed.If I could resolve this story line in one sentence its this: A die hard in the middle east meets Indiana Jones.
But then again, IT IS a Van Damme movie and you don't go and see them for their acting or their plots.This one has some good fight scenes, but JCVD never really had an opponent who was in the same league.
For Van Damme it's a return to his fighting roots with plenty of martial arts and action with less emphasis on acting (which is a good thing).The plot is a bit lofty, but moves very quickly with some genuinely good fight sequences.
However, Rudy's reputation as a thief hinders him and gets him into trouble with the local police, setting him on the run from them while at the same time trying to find his father.Given that I am a young man with an average IQ and a desire to relax and "switch off" at the end of a working day, I will always tend to give Jean-Claude Van Damme films a stab because they often are just dumb action and that is often all I really want.
The direction is nothing special; Lettich edits it like crazy, stopping an action flow and the effects he is given to work with are far from special.Overall this is a poor film but then I didn't really expect anything better.
The Order directed by Sheldon Lettich feel like a classic Van Damme flick from his golden age and that says a lot.A crazy cult tried to start world war 3 so Jean Claude Van Damme need to stop them at any cost is all you need to know.Van Damme legs truly put to work this time cause there a ton of action scene to make sure you never feel bored and that fine for me.Not one of his best but entertain enough to be owned by any action movie fan.
The Order finds martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme cast as the rogue son of respected archaeologist Vernon Dobtcheff answering a call for help when dad summons him.
Van Damme is a smuggler of artifacts and seller of same and Dobtcheff is worried about some ancient parchment that the members of an underground religious cult want very badly.Later on dad gets summoned to Israel and then is kidnapped by The Order and Jean-Claude is on the hunt.Charlton Heston is in this film in a small role as an archaeologist colleague of Dobtcheff.
The powers that be wiped it out like the Albigensians, or so they thought.Of course when he gets to Jerusalem, Van Damme is involved in a car chase that in the end results in Heston's death and him being accused of it by over zealous Jerusalem homicide cop Ben Cross.
But I also think Heston knew he wasn't in anything like the great epics he was famous for.Lot's of martial arts and chase action as per a Jean-Claude Van Damme film with some specious theology thrown in as well.
Ham on Rye. Action-oriented artifact smuggler Jean-Claude Van Damme (as Rudy Cafmeyer) kicks his heels in the Middle East, where he goes to unload a priceless "Faberge Egg".
Good location and story idea, poor execution and use of resources.*** The Order (12/13/01) Sheldon Lettich ~ Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sofia Milos, Brian Thompson.
Jean-Claude Van Damme, although he can look convincing in action sequences, is never the most expressive of actors, although things could have been worse.
Wanted by the local police, Rudy discovers that members of the sect, known as the Army of God, plan to unleash World War 3 by bombing a Muslim shrine.I wasn't expecting much when I sat down to watch this third collaboration between Jean-Claude Van Damme & director Sheldon Lettich.
Soon it is revealed that his father has found that lost chapter, but then disappears, and Van Damme finds himself in the classic situation where his father has been kidnapped, but not only will the police not help him, they suspect him of the recent murder of a prominent professor, who was played by Charlton Heston, who's talent is conspicuously wasted in the movie.
THE QUEST was bad....but this is a totally misfired, under-achiever of an action flick and the worst thing Sheldon Lettich has ever lent his name too.Having said all that though and acknowledging how sad in some ways it is to see Charlton Heston (77 when he made this) prostituting his art here, It was still good to see him working...however reluctantly.
The warrior composed a code of ethics for his disciples to follow, of which the last chapter goes missing.Fast forward to the present time where Rudy (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a common-day thief.
With the help of his martial-arts expertise, Rudy finally succeeds in locating his old man but discovers that the kidnapping was actually held to drag Rudy to the city.Van Damme's action is the only salvation in thethe movie where the pace is fast.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsVan Damme teams up with Sheldon Lettich again.And what a promising little flick this looked.Aside from the initial pairing,the cast includes Ben Cross,Charlton Heston and Brian Thompson.On this front,Van Damme is on high-kicking form,but Cross is here miscast in the bad guy role,Heston is a little wasted and Thompson's character is too inconsistent to care about as the main bad guy.There is some good action and scenery in parts,but the movie is sunk by a wavey plot and rather trite dialogue.Plus,in this and some of his more recent movies,Van Damme seems to be modelling himself on Jackie Chan by including comedy scenes in his movies.This is kind of welcome,and kind of unwelcome,but it certainly helps rather than hinders things here (there's even some out-takes at the end.)A bit of a wasted opportunity then,but not all bad.**.
Van Dammes fighting is ok but neither good nor spectacular (though I'm in no way competent to judge martial arts, just what I find exciting), and the plot isn't very good, and thats with the expectations you'd put on a film like this.
I'd first like to say that going into this film you already know that since Jean-Claude Van Damme is the star (and co-writer) that what you can expect is a formula action movie.
Going into this film with that assumption you will be rewarded with your average "good guy beats his enemies, saves the day, gets the girl" film.Jean-Claude Van Damme is Rudy, a talented thief who's father ( a distinguished Professor) has gone to Israel in search of great treasures, and is soon kidnapped by others who would rather the treasure be found by them.
At the early nineties, Van Damme was a big star with some nice hit (Universal Soldier, Time Cop) and now he puts all his science to play in turnips (bad film, french expression).His last movies are "direct to video", I'm a fan, and today I'm sad because I think that the end of his career is soon.The only solution to save van Damme is that Quentin Tarantino saves him like he saves the careers of Travolta and Willis with Pulp Fiction...is it possible?
The Order had some good things going for it, but in the end, like the secret Order itself, it failed to deliver on its promise.The lines mouthed by some of the actors in this film are corny and are often predictable, saved somewhat by fairly good acting performances, especially Van Damme's.
I know he can do it - consider Time Cop - so why not expect the same here?After the very interesting intro, in which we learn of the origins of The Order, the film quickly loses focus, and embarks on a LONG sub-plot about Van Damme's character being a thief.
Watching this film was the result of a lack of choice at the video library, as well as nostalgia for my younger days as an action movie junkie (I saw everything Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris and Dolph Lundgren ever put out).
I like movies featuring Van Damme, but this was his worst performance that I've seen.
Jean Claude Van Damme is back in Action!!!!
The Order is Jean Claude Van Damme's second good movie since "The Replicant".
Each time "Sheldon Lettich" works on a Jean Claude Van Damme movie, Jean Claude Van Damme does some of the most amazing action scenes, and he shows off his acting skills.
Jean Claude Van Damme fight Israel police who are chasing him.
Not much martial arts involved, but it has Jean Claude Van Damme fighting with a sword.Thats all of it so I found this movie good and I would suggest people should see it..
Jean Claude Van Damme in a movie that seems like a Jackie Chan vehicle..
Hell it's just worth it to see a car chase involving Jean Claude Van Damme and Charlton Heston..
"The Order" is an action film about Rudy Cafmeyer (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who goes looking for his father, Prof.
Yes, it has all the stupidity we've come to know and love from Nu-Image, but the Israel locations add a lot and the movie has a good pace.Van Damme gives a pretty upbeat performance as Rudy, whose claim to fame is that he's a black market Faberge egg dealer.
Another disappointing actioner from once-reliable superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme, now reduced to making movies for the straight-to-video market that only his most die-hard fans will bother checking out.
The action is plentiful but rarely exciting, consisting of poorly-edited punch-ups, some cool-but-not-THAT-impressive car and motorbike chases; the villains here intend to deport Van Damme rather than to kill him like in previous movies, which makes things that bit less exciting.