Right, well having grown up watching all the action movies on the late 1980's and the 1990's, then the name Van Damme is not a stranger to me. Indeed his prime was back then, but he is still going strong and making enjoyable movies.

"Enemies Closer" is not your typical Van Damme movie. Whereas previous it was him alone taking on countless numbers of bad guys and their goons, but "Enemies Closer" differs from that. Especially given the fact that he is actually playing the bad guy here, a ruthless killer who deals in drugs.

The story in the movie is straight forward and requires absolutely nothing from the audience. No need to participate or emerge yourself in anything; just sit back, disconnect your brain and watch the action on the screen. Much like most other Van Damme movies. So is that a bad thing? Not in my opinion, so I will say hardly so. I enjoyed the movie for what it was, an action movie that was predictable but still fun enough to watch.

You know what you get when you sit down to watch this particular movie, so don't get your hopes up too high. The action scenes were nice enough, though hardly amongst the best of any Van Damme movies prior to this one. And of course, you know the outcome of the movie right from the very beginning.

As for the story and dialogue, well, let's just say it was there. It will not impress or make your jaws drop down in awe. It is there in all its simplicity.

"Enemies Closer" is definitely worth a watch if you grew up watching Van Damme's movies, and it is nice to see him in a non-heroic role again (as in "Expendables 2").

However, there is nothing innovating or inspiring to be seen here, and if you have seen a handful of action movies, then it is very likely you will not be amazed here. I am rating "Enemie Closer" a definite 5 out of 10 stars given its predictability, generic and stereotypical definition of this particular genre and because it is, all in all, mindless entertainment.

A low budget B-movie action film with lots of fighting to recommend it, ENEMIES CLOSER is a film by former big bucks director Peter Hyams. It stars Jean-Claude Van Damme in one of his bad guy roles, playing a crazed drug smuggler who sets his sights on tracking down a couple of fugitives in the woods.

The plot is a load of old nonsense of course, designed solely to pack as much action as is possible into the running time. Given the low budget nature of the production, there are few car chases and shoot-outs here, just a couple of guys battling it out in a darkened wood. It's one of those films where seemingly every character knows martial arts of some kind and the choreography is decent to boot: I was certainly satisfying by the plentiful and hard-hitting combat scenes.

Van Damme plays his villain as a comedian, delivering his lines with energy and wit. He's by far the best actor in the production. Elsewhere, Orlando Jones is a deadly serious man out for revenge, while Tom Everett Scott (AN American WEREWOLF IN Paris) a park ranger who finds himself out of his depth. Both are adequate and acquit themselves well in the action stakes. ENEMIES CLOSER is a silly but violent production that's enough fun for you not to care about its various shortcomings.

It is hard to think that once Peter Hyams was considered to be a top ranked film director. In an era where films are shot in Toronto or Vancouver to pass themselves off as US cities. This film shot in the US/Canada border is actually shot in Bulgaria as it is even cheaper.

Tom Everett Scott is a park ranger and ex soldier. Orlando Jones turns up in the wilderness lodge one night wanting revenge for the death of his brother who was in Scott's army unit.

They are interrupted by French Canadian drug mercenaries led by the charismatic, eccentric and ruthless Xander (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who want to steal drugs from crashed plane in the sea.

Scott and Jones have to put their differences behind them to take on the bad guys. However Xander is cunning and resourceful, Scott finds out that he cannot trust people that are close to him.

The script and story is lame, Scott is bland. Orlando Jones was once a rising star, now doing direct to DVD pictures. Thankfully the film has a short running time, it at least zips along and there are some nifty action scenes.

JCVD has fun playing the villain, he has some one liners but his hair and dye job is terrible and distracting.