I was slightly worried that having either not seen or totally forgotten 2017’s KILL ‘EM ALL (regarded as one of JCVD’s worst direct-to-video efforts) I’d be lost by the plot intricacies (hah!), but that wasn’t the case.
Van Damme returns as Phillip, a retired spy who has settled down in a small Italian village after the events of the first film. Living a life off the grid with his daughter Vanessa (Jacqueline Fernandez), all is well until Vlad (the younger brother of the villain from KILL ‘EM ALL) locates him and pulls out all the stops to exact revenge. Our hero must save himself and his daughter from a bevy of evil Eastern European stereotypes while also protecting the village that he loves.
From there it’s all double crosses, shootouts, and fast-edit-fistfights as we head to the inevitable showdown. Unfortunately, JCVD is edging into The Seagal Zone, in which there’s lots of half-hearted stunt doubling and the occasional vocal impersonation because the star was probably off shooting something else and couldn’t be brought back for dubbing. Still, its miles ahead of most of the dreck Seagal has been cranking out for the last couple decades.
In its defense, KEA2 zips through its 85-minute running time and it’ll be over before you go “why am I watching this…”. Bonus points for bringing back the always-reliable Peter Stromare (as Agent Holman) and look for JCVD’s son Nicholas (billed as Nic Van Damme) in a small role. – Dan Taylor
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