Enemies Closer

Van Damme makes for a highly entertaining villain in this briskly paced B-movie.

Van Damme's English is less intelligible than usual, and his line readings are sluggish in places. Improbably enough, this adds to the performance ...

Mr. Hyams keeps things moving briskly, building to an ending with a pretty good plot twist.

Suffers from wincingly bad dialogue delivered as if by jocks in a high-school play and action choreographed as if for a gymnasium stage.

Enemies Closer belongs to a category of old-school action movies usually associated with the direct-to-video market: lean, brisk, and distinguished by a clean visual style and an emphasis on practical stuntwork over effects.

A silly yet sturdily crafted time-filler ...

If you don't expect anything groundbreaking or dramatically dynamic, you'll probably have just as much fun watching Enemies Closer as Van Damme, playing a total fruitcake of a villain, clearly did making it.

Outrageous, unintentionally funny, cartoonish, dumb and consistently entertaining---in other words: the ultimate B-movie that's best watched at midnight with a group of friends while intoxicated.

Too bad no one else in Enemies Closer can match Van Damme's oddball charisma.

An agreeable way to kill 80 minutes.

A reasonably engaging B-movie, benefiting from Van Damme's nutty performance and Hyams's dedication to cinematic economy. Surprises are few, outside of the eye-roll count, which is unexpectedly low.

JCVD may not say it best, but he does say it aptly, when his manically cartoonish baddie caps one murder with the assertion that "shit happens."