MovieFreak.com - "In Hell" DVD Review by Dennis Landmann

Kyle LeBlanc (Van Damme) is convicted to life in prison after killing his wife's murderer. Inside the corrupt prison, the warden pits prisoners against each other in fights to the death for profit. The brutality transforms the inmates into dreaded monsters. Facing the brutality, Kyle starts to become one of the monsters he despises, but his savage rage may be what saves his life.

I never thought to see Jean-Claude Van Damme in hell. Well, actually, he's not in hell, but rather he's "the savage". To clear things up, the film's original title is The Savage, and it's much more fitting than In Hell. But in the end it doesn't really matter. The reason is because we've all seen this type of film before, one way or another. The film's backstory is better and more dramatic than those of Van Damme's previous films over the past few years, although I can't speak for Replicant, which I hear is not that bad. The backstory transitions well into the film's main story, which sets up the corrupt events inside the Russian prison LeBlanc is sent to serve a life-time sentence. He witnesses the madness of the prison fights and abhors it. His cellmate is played by Lawrence Taylor, a sort of bookworm (he writes journals) who stays out of all affairs except when it comes to killing his cellmates.

In Hell is not a bad film, but it's not good either. Some aspects are interesting. However, the negative aspects just carry too much weight and drag down the film. One negative aspect is the film's pace. Not a great deal happens inside the prison for the first half hour. LeBlanc spends a couple of nights locked away in solitary confinement where he's visited by a very obvious CGI butterfly or something, which reminds him of the good times he had with his wife. There's also the obligatory Van Damme training sequence where he prepares and strengthens his muscles for the ultimate fight. One of the early fight scenes depicts LeBlanc in long hair and full beard fighting, or biting as is the case, a prisoner to death. Both men lie on the ground, and LeBlanc lets out some incredibly freakish screams. Wow, that was kind of intense, yet the rest of the film is not.

Most of the story is predictable. I don't want to give anything away, but late in the story all the prisoners make a pact to stop the violence and fights. This pisses off the prison's warden, of course. Some of the prisoners are clichés and exhibit sentimentality, especially when guards tie up LeBlanc and leave him to rot in the cold. On the other hand, I'm glad the film has some surprises in store. Lawrence Taylor's character pays respects to a ratted-out prisoner by taking care of the snitch in a most unpleasant way. Van Damme's acting is quite good. His English sounds pretty decent. His role is also more complex than his previous roles. Taylor and Van Damme have some good chemistry late in the film, and the ending is quite liberating to a degree. In terms of filmmaking, Ringo Lam directs the film well. Lam and Van Damme (hehe) work good together. Let's hope their next project features a better story and script. I think they'd be well off.

Columbia Tristar presents In Hell in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colors are somewhat dry on occasion. Other times there are dark and blue-like hues in the color mix. Scenes outside the prison look gloomy like they should. You won't find any vibrant or well-saturated colors here, however. This film is not about lively colors, mainly because it's set inside a very cruel place. Some grain exists. Dark tones and blacks are okay. The print image looks fine; some problems appear, but they're small. I didn't notice any compression artifacts. Overall, this is a pretty decent presentation. A fullscreen version of the film is also available.

Columbia Tristar presents In Hell in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Dialog scenes are not accentuated as well as they should. Some of them are too quiet, especially when combined with the film's score and sound effects. The score sounds off in a decent manner, while the sound effects make a pretty nice impression. Rear speakers pick up some good sounds, such as thunder, rain, body hits, and screams, bringing them into the soundfield nicely. When called for, surround usage is probably the best thing about this presentation. Despite a less-than-decent dialog presentation, the overall track sounds pretty nice.

A 15-minute making-of featurette is included. It features interviews with the cast and shows director Ringo Lam directing on set. The interviews are lame, at least I didn't care for any of them. There's also a bit on the film's special effects. The video quality of the behind-the-scenes footage is somewhat weak. A negative aspect about this featurette is the annoying song used throughout. Not a great deal is learned here, but it's good to have at least "something" on this disc. You'll also find the film's Theatrical Trailer.

You can select to view the film with optional French subtitles. The 98-minute feature is organized into twenty-four chapters.

Van Damme fans may want to check this one out as a rental, mainly because of the actor's performance. Anyone else doesn't need to bother, essentially because we've seen this type of film before, one way or another.

THE MOVIE	5
THE VIDEO	7
THE AUDIO	8
THE EXTRAS	3
OVERALL (not an average)	4