Double Team (1997)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Hark Tsui

Writers (WGA):

Don Jakoby (story)
Don Jakoby (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

4 April 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

He's a one-man arsenal... with enough voltage to rock the free world.

Plot:

Counter-terrorist Jack Quinn misses his target, Stavros, on the eve of his final mission. From there...

Plot Keywords:

Giving Birth | Box Office Flop | Martial Arts | Rome Italy | Antwerp Belgium

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Jack Quinn
Dennis Rodman	...	Yaz
Mickey Rourke	...	Stavros
Paul Freeman	...	Goldsmythe
Natacha Lindinger	...	Kathryn Quinn
Valeria Cavalli	...	Dr. Maria Trifioli
Jay Benedict	...	Brandon
Joëlle Devaux-Vullion	...	Stavros' Girlfriend
Bruno Bilotta	...	Kofi
Mario Opinato	...	James
Grant Russell	...	Carney
William Dunn	...	Roger
Asher Tzarfati	...	Moishe
Rob Diem	...	Dieter Staal
Ken Samuels	...	Stevenson
Sandy Welch	...	Delta Two
Jessica Forde	...	Delta Three
Malick Bowens	...	Delta Four
Dominic Gould	...	Delta Five
Frederick Renard	...	Delta Six
Cyrille Dufaut	...	Bravo One
Eric Gauchy	...	Bravo Two
Patrick Cauderlier	...	Bravo Three (as Patrick Gauderlier)
Orso Maria Guerrini	...	Colony Resident
Alexander Koumpan	...	Russian Man
Hans Meyer	...	British Man
Jesse Joe Walsh	...	Jacseck
Peter Nelson	...	American CIA Agent
Paolo Calissano	...	Roman CIA Agent
Pascal López	...	Stavros' Man
Dominique Fouassier	...	Stavros' Man
Paolo Paoloni	...	Old Monk
Jean-Pierre Stewart	...	Yamir
Ted Rusoff	...	Brother Ramulu (as Ted Russof)
Umberto Raho	...	Brother Regulo
Adam Kaci	...	Cyrus
Xin Xin Xiong	...	Stavros' Man in Hotel
Pascaline Girardot	...	Domestic
Nathalie Grac	...	Mermaid
M. Benabiles	...	Pilot
M. Szkolnic	...	Co-Pilot
Sigal Diamant	...	Glada
Angelo Ragusa	...	Stavros' Goon
Gabriella D'Olive	...	Nurse
Nick Brett	...	Hospital Guard
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rob Kaman	...	Goon (uncredited)

Directed by
Hark Tsui

Writing credits (WGA)
Don Jakoby		(story)
Don Jakoby		(screenplay) and
Paul Mones		(screenplay)

Produced by
Moshe Diamant	....	producer
Don Jakoby	....	executive producer
Richard G. Murphy	....	associate producer
Rick Nathanson	....	co-producer
David Rodgers	....	executive producer
Nansun Shi	....	co-producer
Peter Nelson	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Gary Chang

Cinematography by
Peter Pau

Film Editing by
Jean-Daniel Fernandez-Qundez
Bill Pankow

Casting by
Illana Diamant
Penny Perry

Production Design by
Marek Dobrowolski

Art Direction by
Damien Lanfranchi

Set Decoration by
Christian Calviera

Costume Design by
Magali Guidasci

Makeup Department
Katalin Elek	....	makeup artist
Zoltan Elek	....	makeup artist (as Zoltan)

Production Management
Piero Amati	....	production supervisor
Jeremy Bau	....	assistant unit manager
Antonin Dedet	....	production manager
Chantal Feghali	....	post-production supervisor
Rick Nathanson	....	unit production manager
Géraldine Polveroni	....	assistant unit manager
Samantha Gaetani	....	location assistant production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alexis Cahill	....	first assistant director: France
Inti Carboni	....	second assistant director: Rome
Manolita Cipparrone	....	key second assistant director
Marguerita Cipparrone	....	second assistant director
Limor Diamant	....	assistant director
Luc Etienne	....	first assistant director: second unit
Luc Etienne	....	second unit director
Xavier Gens	....	trainee assistant director
Allan Graf	....	second unit director
David Michael Katz	....	key second assistant director: Rome (as David Katz)
Gilles Kenny	....	second assistant director
Luca Lachin	....	first assistant director: Rome
Charlie Picerni	....	second unit director
Jack Frost Sanders	....	first assistant director (as Jack Sanders)
Yann Thomas	....	second second assistant director
Yozo Tokuda	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Cristiano Donzelli	....	illustrator
Antonio Fraulo	....	stand-by props
Dennis J. Parrish	....	property master
Manu Poupard	....	props
Paul Purdy	....	assistant property master
Tony Teiger	....	assistant property master
Gaylene West	....	set propmaster
John Wong	....	storyboard supervisor

Sound Department
Daniel Brisseau	....	production sound mixer
Kim B. Christensen	....	sound effects editor
Chris David	....	sound re-recording mixer
Brian Eimer	....	adr recordist
Sandy Gendler	....	supervising sound editor
Scott G.G. Haller	....	sound editor
Mark Lanza	....	sound effects editor
Mark L. Mangino	....	sound effects editor
Jonathan Miller	....	sound designer
Steve Pederson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Tom Perry	....	sound re-recording mixer
Cherie Tamai	....	assistant sound editor
Steven Ticknor	....	sound designer

Special Effects by
Daniel Acon	....	special effects
Philippe Hubin	....	special effects
Bruno Van Zeebroeck	....	special effects coordinator

Visual Effects by
Jérôme Arthuis	....	motion control crew
Joe Bauer	....	visual effects supervisor
Christian Boudman	....	digital artist
Brian Conlon	....	digital effects supervisor
Rick Cortes	....	visual effects artist
Leif Einarsson	....	digital effects artist
Didier Frateur	....	visual effects cameraman
Mark Intravartolo	....	visual effects artist
Dean Lyon	....	compositing supervisor
David Moquay	....	visual effects artist
Debbie Nathanson	....	visual effects coordinator
Dave Sarbell	....	digital compositor
Ziad Seirafi	....	visual effects producer
Ray Shantz	....	visual effects engineer
Rick Shick	....	digital compositor
Peter Siciliano	....	visual effects animator
Bruno Sommier	....	motion control
Scott Suess	....	Flame artist
Scott Suess	....	compositor
Cary Epstein	....	visual effects editor (uncredited)

Stunts
David Ambrosi	....	stunt double
Alessandro Borgese	....	stunt performer
Nick Brett	....	stunt rigger
Nick Brett	....	stunts
Rémi Canaple	....	assistant stunt coordinator
Rémi Canaple	....	stunts
Patrick Cauderlier	....	stunt liaison: France
Dominique Fouassier	....	stunts
Pascaline Girardot	....	stunts
Rémy Julienne	....	car stunts
Alex Kuzelicki	....	acrobatic double: Jean Claude Van Damme
Mark Lonsdale	....	stunts
Pascal López	....	stunts
Mars	....	stunts
Randy Miller	....	stunts: tiger attack
Riccardo Mioni	....	stunts
Stefano Maria Mioni	....	stunts
Claudio Pacifico	....	ski-dive supervisor
Charlie Picerni	....	stunt coordinator (as Charles Picerni)
Rex Reddick	....	stunt double: Mr. Van Damme
Frederick Renard	....	stunts
Franco Maria Salamon	....	stunt liaison: Italy
Todd Senofonte	....	stunt double: Van Damme
Garrett Warren	....	stunt double: Jean-Claude VanDamme and Mickey Rourke
Ming-Sing Wong	....	stunt double
Ming-Sing Wong	....	stunts
Xin Xin Xiong	....	stunts
Nancy Young	....	stunt double: Jessica Ford
Cyril Raffaelli	....	utility stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Eric Bornes	....	assistant camera
Jeremy Braben	....	aerial camera operator
David Campbell	....	crane operator: Technocrane
Raffaele Chianese	....	assistant camera
Roberto De Nigris	....	focus puller
Alain Herpe	....	assistant camera: second unit
Louis Jong	....	key grip
Sophie Lemaire	....	clapper loader
Maurizio Lorenzetti	....	clapper loader: Italy
David Nissen	....	assistant camera
Francisco Pintore	....	second assistant camera
Tom Priestley Jr.	....	director of photography: second unit (as Tom Priestley)
Frédéric Vial	....	second assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Maria De Angelis Olivieri	....	seamstress

Editorial Department
Joe Binford Jr.	....	assistant editor
Linda DeMarco	....	color timer
Mark Rathaus	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Sharon Boyle	....	music supervisor
Todd Hayen	....	orchestrator
John Houlihan	....	music supervisor
Frank Macchia	....	orchestrator
Richard Whitfield	....	music editor
Micki Stern	....	music coordinator (uncredited)
Richard Whitfield	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Enrico Pini	....	transportation manager

Other crew
Francesco Belfiore	....	personal assistant: Dennis Roadman
Andrea Borella	....	location manager: Italy
Fabiomassimo Dell'Orco	....	location manager: Italy
Lara P. Fox	....	script supervisor (as Lara Fox)
Daniel S. Frisch	....	production accountant
Beatrice Giraud	....	assistant accountant
Koan Hui	....	key assistant: Mr. Tsui Hark
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	....	special action choreographer (as Samo Hung)
Ryan R. Johnson	....	assistant to head of production
Dean Lyon	....	post-effects supervisor
Dianne Mapp-Cheek	....	production supervisor
Maria Grazia Melline	....	production secretary
Randy Miller	....	tiger trainer
Marco Olivieri	....	production assistant: Italian crew
Kwame Parker	....	assistant coordinator
Charlie Picerni	....	action sequence choreographer (as Charles Picerni)
James Portolese	....	office manager
Howard Samuelsohn	....	speech coach
Beverly Sutton	....	production coordinator
Samantha Timmerman	....	script supervisor
Xin Xin Xiong	....	action choreographer

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation
• Mandalay Entertainment
• One Story Pictures

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1997) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (2001) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International (Argentina)
• Columbia TriStar Film (Germany)
• Columbia TriStar Films AB (1997) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films (1997) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films de España (Spain)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1997) (Netherlands) (video)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Egmont Film (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Falcon (1997) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• LK-TEL (1999) (Argentina) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (1999) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Nordisk Film (1999) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE)
• Trimark Pictures

Special Effects

• Modern VideoFilm

Also Known As:

The Colony

MPAA:

Rated R for some nudity and brief strong language.

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #35076) | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | UK:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 | Mexico:B | Netherlands:16 (video premiere) | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:18 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Mickey Rourke underwent a serious martial arts regimen, not only to obtain the physical appearance in the film, but also in preparation for the fight scenes with Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Goofs:

Continuity: When backing away from the tiger, Jack holds both his hands up in a defensive stance. In the next shot, when filmed from behind, he has a stick in his right hand. After that the stick is gone, his arms are up again.

Quotes:

Stavros: You know, men are strong, Jack, but the tiger is stronger.

Movie Connections:

References "The Prisoner" (1967)

Soundtrack:

Rush Hour

Van Damme v. a Tiger!

Continuing the tradition of successful Hong Kong directors going to Hollywood only to end up directing Jean-Claude Van Damme movies comes Tsui Hark with 'Double Team'. John Woo must have gotten lucky when he went to Hollywood: Ringo Lam is still making Van Damme movies, and Tsui Hark went back to Hong Kong after this and 'Knock Off'. I have nothing against Van Damme, but he seems to be some sort of trial-by-fire for any Hong Kong director with ambitions of making action films in Hollywood: If a director succeeds, he go on to Dolph Lundgren and then mainstream Hollywood action (John Woo), otherwise the director is faced with sticking with Van Damme movies or going back to Hong Kong.

Counter-terrorist Jack Quinn (Van Damme) is planning to retire after one final mission to nail the villainous Stavros (Mickey Rourke). The mission goes incredibly wrong: Stravos gets away, but somehow his son is killed in the cross-fire. Out for revenge, Stavros kidnaps the pregnant Kathryn Quinn (Natacha Lindinger), and the only way Jack can save is wife is team up with Yaz (Dennis Rodman) and kick-box his way to a happy ending.

Watching 'Double Team', I thought it was pretty clear than even Van Damme realizes that his movies are a joke to all but the most hardcore of action fans. Australian sketch comedy show 'Full Frontal' (featuring a not-so-famous Eric Bana) regularly took stabs at Van Damme for a good year or so ("YOU LAUGHTER CRACKIN' AT ME? ARRRGGGHHHHH!"), coincidentally around when 'Double Team' would have been released. At no point does 'Double Team' make any attempt to be taken as a serious action movie. All the fight scenes are played for laughs, if only slight chuckles. Van Damme gets to fight a tiger and use a coke-machine to shield himself from an explosion. All it really amounts to be is 90 minutes of action fun.

While fans of director Tsui Hark would be disappointed with this effort, something good came of Hark's short-lived collaborations with Van Damme: He went back to Hong Kong and directed the incredibly awesome 'Time and Tide' (which did not feature Jean-Claude Van Damme at all).

'Double Team' doesn't come to close to being one of Van Damme's best, and it might not even please hard-core Van Damme fans, but its all in good fun - 5/10