The Order [2001]

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jean-Claude Van Damme may never have risen to the top ranks of action stars, but his movies have been consistently enjoyable--partly because they don't take themselves too seriously. In The Order, Van Damme plays a thief of religious artefacts whose archaeologist father has found the lost scripture of a mysterious religious order. When the old man is kidnapped, Van Damme soon finds himself cruising around the twisty streets of Jerusalem, getting into dynamic kickboxing battles while disguised as a Hasidic Jew. With the help of a beautiful Israeli cop (Sofia Milos), Van Damme uncovers a plot within the religious order that leads to secret catacombs beneath the holy city. Silly? Perhaps, but directed with vitality and surprising wit. Van Damme is trim and energetic, Milos is engaging, and a cameo by Charlton Heston (!) only adds to the general atmosphere of spunky fun.--Bret Fetzer

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-07-09 rating:
Marvelous slice of DTV silliness from JCVD...
As something of a Seagal DTV devotee (sad I know...), I was initially a bit guilty about dipping into JCVD's recent catalogue, but a triple-pack purchase at a bargain price was just too tempting.... And I'm rather glad I took the plunge...

Having not really seen much JCVD fodder sine his heyday with Uni-Sol, Timecop and the underrated Sudden Death, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. I must say, he delivers. Big time....

Here, he's a lovable jewel thief with a concience (yawn) who sets out to rescue his kidnapped Father in Israel who has a map leading to treaures of a lost religious Order (The Order of the title....). Cue High Kicks, Car chases, an Orthodox Jewish themed fight sequence that simply must be seen to be believed, stunts galore and even a cameo by Charlton Heston....

I must say that Van Damme delivers the whole 86 mins with huge gusto and for that he should be applauded. Don't get me wrong, Seagal is still my all-time fave for this kind of DTV silliness, but the gap between his laboured recent offerings and Van Damme's obvious physical, fun approach to proceedings is plain to see...

But of course, let's keep in mind this is utter rubbish DTV action, it is not Ingmar Bergman, Frank Capra or David Lean, so temper your expectations accordingly. You will hear hilarious dialogue, you will see 9mm pistols fire 275 rounds from one clip, you will witness stunt doubles who barely recognise their supposed hosts, you will hear Van Damme shout 'Dees is Bullsheeeet!".... and I love it all the more for it....

In it's own genre, this is 10/10

There's a 'Kick-Ass' Movies Triple DVD pack with this on hovering around (just search for "Van Damme").... Fantastic DTV daftness.

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review by: howdil date: 2007-07-11 rating:
The Order - Oner of van dammes best without a doubt
jean claude van dame wrote this film and he also wrote the quest and legionnaire, so if youve seen these films you can get the jist of his writing talents - decent, set in the olden days, yet surprising warm and enduring. the order perhaps the best of the three, or maybe its the quest but either way the order is a great film. its full of laughs, good fights scenes, good acting (despite what other reviewers have said) van dammes happy go lucky character is well played and the support cast is good too, especially the bad cop he has some classic lines. theirs a prolonged fight scene where van damme is dressed as a jewish man as he is chased over roof tops in the city of jerusalem, then his false jew beard is ripped off by one of his assailants! its a fun time movie suitable for family, friends or just van damme fans

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review by: s.vernon date: 2006-11-21 rating:
UNLEASH THE POWER
I remember watching this on tv a while ago - I got half way through it and said to myself I've seen this.

Action superstar Jean - Claude Van Damme (Nowhere To Run, Universal Soldier is back in THE ORDER, a fast - paced, hi octane thriller set in the Middle East. From the director of Double Impact and featuring screen legend Charlton Heston (Planet Of The Apes, Any Given Sunday), Ben Cross (First Knight, Chariots Of Fire) and Sofia Milos (CSI Miami), THE ORDER is an exciting adventure packed with extreme fight choreography, exotic locations and non - stop action.

Van Damme journeys to a turbulent world under siege as reformed smuggler Rudy travels to Jerusalem to rescue his museum - curator father, who's been kidnapped by ruthless fanatics, and recover a sacred scroll believed to hold dangerous secrets of an underground sect. Framed for murder by a scheming police chief (Cross), Rudy enlists the aid of a mysterous beauty (Milos) to clear his name and wages a one man battle to recapture the prized manuscript before the ultimate Holy War breaks out and all hell breaks loose.

This is one of the better Van Damme films (coming from a Van Damme fan), I like all of Van Damme's films, some more then others but the acting is good in this and there is plenty of action - I know the action is petty tame compared to his earlier classics but it is a 15 rated film.

The dvd just comes with a couple of trailers of other films and that's your lot for special features and the running lengh is 1 hour 26 minutes like with most of Van Damme's films.

But if are a fan of Van Damme this is a good action flick even if it is straight to dvd (like all his latest films), you could do a lot worse so watch this and you may enjoy it.

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review by: mccanns23 date: 2006-09-14 rating:
decent show from the man himself
Van damme co wrote this so all his years of reciting poor scripts certainly helped him make what is for the most part a poor script.However the film is also enjoyable and that cant be faulted,in terms of making movies that dont take themselves seriously van damme has made a decent career out of it.
The order stars our belgian friend who plays rudy who is an art thief who goes searching for his father who is kidnapped,and then van damme uncovers a plot to end mankind,certainly we are lucky to have van damme do that for us and the fighting and the kicking ensues,van damme is buoyed by the help of a lovely female sidekick which van damme usually needs,and when this movie is over,you will again think that this is good but hardly class material.


review by: date: 2004-12-19 rating:
An Pretty Good Action Movie!
While Jean-Claude Van Damme may not be the best actor in the world, he is certainly amongst the best martial arts moviestars ever and so his acting ability doesn't really matter all that much, just as long as there is plenty of action, which this does have.

Van Damme plays Rudy Cafmeyer, a thief of religious artefacts whose archaeologist father has found the lost scripture of a mysterious religious order. When the old man is kidnapped, while in Israel, Rudy gets on the next plane to go find him. With the help of a very beautiful Israeli cop, he manages to find his father and uncovers a plot by the order to blow up a whole load of pilgrims.

As i have already said Van Damme is not the best actor you will ever see but he can sure have a good fight and as there is plenty of them in this movie, he is pretty good in his role as Rudy, the thief of religious artefacts. Charlton Heston plays Professor Finley who is kidnapped by the order when he finds a lost scripture that they do not want to be found. Sofia Milos plays the lovely Israel cop who helps Rudy in his search for his father when she realises that her supperiors are somehow connected to the plans of the order.

Overall, 'The Order' is not the best of Jean Claude Van Damme's movies, but its not bad and has plenty of fighting, shoot-outs, and car chases to keep most audiences entertained. If you like a good action movie, or you are a fan of Jean Claude, then you should concider buying this film.

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Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Action & Adventure . All Action & Adventure
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Video . DVD & VHS . Categories . Crime, Thrillers & Mystery . All Crime, Thrillers & Mystery
Video . DVD & VHS . Substores . Regular Stores . DVD Bargains . By Price . From £4.97 . DVDs from £4.97
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Format (binding_browse-bin) . DVD
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . BBFC Rating (intended_use_browse-bin) . 15
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Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Region(feature_browse-bin) . Region 2
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Release Date (feature_three_browse-bin) . 2000 and later
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Language (theme_browse-bin) . English

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