Sudden Death

Reuniting Hyams and Van Damme, director and star of Timecop, this spectacular nail-biter exploits their combined, if limited, abilities to the full. As 17,000 fans cheer on their ice hockey teams in Pittsburgh's magnificent Civic Arena, ruthless smoothie Joshua Foss (Boothe) and his team infiltrate the owner's box and kidnap the US Vice President. Foss's demands include the electronic transfer of frozen foreign-government funds, allowing hi-tech thief Boothe to siphon off a cool $500 million. Unless these fiscal transactions are completed before the game ends, bombs planted all over the stadium will explode. Foss however, has not reckoned with Darren McCord (Van Damme), a haunted ex-fireman turned security guard whose young son and daughter are in the crowd. Fortunately, McCord has seen Die Hard and Under Siege, so he's able to use his hand-me-down Bruce Willis-like quips and Steven Seagal-style booby traps to frustrate Foss's plans. As always, Van Damme's at his best when cracking heads; his overplaying of the caring, sensitive father role, on the other hand, is irksome in the extreme.