Requiem For...Sudden Death
The debut of another series aims to praise derided films
Bad movies hold a special place in my heart. I unironically love Con Air as you’re probably aware. One of my mentors in radio put it best when talking about movies “It can be good, it can be bad. Just don’t bore me”. BINGO! I get the same enjoyment from watching Con Air as I do Pulp Fiction. They’re VERY different types of enjoyment, but I enjoy myself the same. “Requiem For…” is a series that aims to shine a light on movies that aren’t held in high regard but deserve a place in our heart.
The first in this series is Sudden Death. The 1995 film starring Jean Claude Van Damme centers around a man (JCVD) who is tasked with eliminating a terrorist threat from inside a hockey arena during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Sudden Death is a great example of one of my favorite sub-genres of action movies…the “Die Hard” rip-off.
There are several hallmarks of the Die Hard ripoff. I have stricter requirements than others, so forgive me. There must be a member of law enforcement as the main character. He doesn’t have to be working alone, but I prefer it if he/she were. There must be a terrorist organization that has taken over…something (a boat, a plane, a building). The leader of the terrorists must be charming and charismatic. And, finally, to describe the plot of the movie to another human being you must be able to say “It’s Die Hard on a ________ (boat/plane/train)”.
Top 5 Die Hard Rip-Offs
5 - Passenger 57
4 - Under Siege
3 - Sudden Death
2 - Air Force One
1 - Speed
Sudden Death is “Die Hard in an arena”. It sports a 51% on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics (just 40% from the audience), debuting in 8th place opening weekend during a crowded Christmas season that saw Toy Story dominate the box office.
This movie does a few things really well, but those things it does well are important things. First and foremost, it gets the villain right. Joshua Foss is played by Powers Boothe, a great character actor of the 90s probably best known for Tombstone. I don’t really know what his motivations are, and what he’s asking for but he’s so charismatic that I don’t even care. He chews the scenery without overacting, he’s delivering his lines with such confidence that you can’t help but be drawn to him on screen. I’m telling you there are three scenes featuring Boothe before he utters a single syllable of dialogue and he OWNS the screen without saying a word.
The other thing it does masterfully is the action set pieces. JCVD fights the Pittsburgh Penguins mascot at one point, and it builds all the way to a finale where a helicopter falls into the open air Pittsburgh hockey arena and crashes onto the ice below. This is a fact I had to look up, at the time Pittsburgh’s hockey arena had an actual retractable roof. What for?!
To put it into perspective about where we are on the JCVD timeline at this point in 1995, Van Damme is coming off of Hard Target, Timecop, and Street Fighter. One could make the case this is his last great movie. The movie works so well because it asks so little from its star in terms of acting. He doesn’t have much dialogue at all, he doesn’t deliver many of those action movie one liners we’ve come to expect from this type of work, he just does the physical stuff really well.
Sudden Death is a movie that began as an idea from Karen Baldwin, the wife of Pittsburgh Penguins owner Howard Baldwin. Karen thought the unique architectural feature of a hockey arena’s retractable roof would make a great set piece for an action movie. And she was not wrong! The movie was shot during the 1994 lockout on location. Luc Robitaille had been working on his acting and wanted more opportunities and him being on the Penguins served as another reason for Pens ownership to get this movie made.
Before landing on JCVD, the casting director looked at Arnold Schwarzenegger. He dropped out due to filming True Lies and Junior back-to-back, Sly Stallone was obviously the next choice and being the auteur he is, Sly said no because he didn’t like the script. The starring role then trickled down to Bruce Willis who declined due to filming Die Hard with a Vengeance. (Important Note: A good Die Hard ripoff can NOT star Bruce Willis, too on the nose)
The events of Sudden Death take place during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks. A game in which the Vice President is in attendance. People are talking in stores, and on the streets, not about the Pens trying to win another Cup but about the VP being at the game. In this game the following events take place…
The Penguins goalie has the flu
Said goalie leaves in the third period, comes back from the locker room and leaves again after punching an opposing player in the face (keep in mind the audience watching the game wouldn’t know the second appearance from the goalie is JCVD in disguise)
Penguins score a game-tying goal with less than a second remaining in the third period
The scoreboard blows up in overtime
We never get to see the conclusion of the game
That’s just what the audience in the arena and on television would see and be aware of. This doesn’t take into account that the Vice President was kidnapped and held hostage inside the arena during the national anthem (The terrorists REALLY got the drop on the Secret Service in this one). It would be one of the craziest hockey games in the history of the sport without adding in the terrorist aspects of the game. I’m shocked they didn’t add an epilogue scene where they restart the game and JCVD performs the ceremonial puck drop or something. Missed opportunity there.
If all of that sounds like a lot, even for a 90s action movie, you’re probably correct. But what if I told you Jean Claude Van Damme doesn’t fight a henchman or anyone else until minute 37 of this film. It takes its time setting up the story. The cold open has JCVD as a firefighter and pinned in a building during the failed rescue of a child. This forces him to serve as “Fire Marshall”. They keep calling him that but he is treated by everyone in his life as if he’s a cop who shot a kid and is now being forced to work a desk job. Fire Marshall would be a clear promotion from Fire Fighter, yes?
Darren McCord (JCVD) is the “Fire Marshall” for the Penguins game, and springs some Game 7 tickets on his ex-wife asking if he can take the kids to the game. She is ADAMANT that they not go. Very 90s divorced movie couple stuff. Eventually she gives in and the kids accompany their dad to the game.
One of my favorite little things about this movie is that McCord is the “Fire Marshall” for the game. He does not have a radio on him. He does not have a walkie-talkie on him. He has no way to contact anyone should a fire break out. Incredible stuff that serves our movie perfectly. Although, thinking about it now, even John McClane had a way to talk to Carl Winslow.
Then, our hero works his way from the bowels of the arena to the top floor suite that holds our Hans Gruber and the hostage Vice President. Beginning with one of the best/funniest fights in cinema. JCVD vs Ice-Burgh, the Pittsburgh Penguins mascot. With a henchwoman inside the suit. In what I would nominate as a “Hall of Fame Movie Fight”, something I have tried to get off the ground before and might have to devote more time to in the future.
Just like John McClane, McCord picks up weapons and intel along the way. Yes, just like in Die Hard, Sudden Death sees our hero make his own grappling hooks. Even his name is similar to John McClane from Die Hard.
It plays all the beats of Die Hard, and plays them well. It also occasionally wanders off and does it own crazy, bizarre stuff. There’s a running joke of JCVD telling his son in the movie not to move, even if the arena blows up. And as chaos is reigning during the events of the game, it cuts to the son staying in his seat. Towards the end of the film, JCVD is being loaded into the ambulance, and the medics close the door without loading the children into the ambulance. They’re just left in the parking lot on their own. (Likely just an oversight by the filmmakers and not an actual choice, but it is highly entertaining)
Now, the movie disappointed in theaters. Grossing $20 million in the States versus a $35 million dollar budget, it turned a profit if you include overseas grosses, but never wowed anyone. Its Director Peter Hyams has had a bizarre career to say the least. He makes “Capricorn One” in the 70s which is now just famous because it had OJ Simpson in it. He makes the sequel to “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Running Scared” is probably his best received work with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal. Then in the 90s he has a run that includes “Timecop”, “Sudden Death”, “The Relic”, and “End of Days” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. A lot of flops, but a lot of oddball stuff in this resume.
Not to Chris Farley myself here, but…”Sudden Death” is really cool. It has everything you could want from a Die Hard ripoff. There’s good versions of “Die Hard” rip-offs. For example “Speed” is one of the greatest action movies ever made. It’s a legit GREAT movie. Then there are version of “Die Hard” like this that aren’t the best movie ever put together, but it certainly hits all the notes and is very entertaining in the process.
A requiem is a tribute to something that is dead. Many would consider “Sudden Death” a dead movie. Not beloved like “Speed’ or “Air Force One”, not reviled like a lot of JCVD movies or movies from this decade. It lives in the middle, but it certainly isn’t boring. I ask you all to reconsider “Sudden Death” in the pantheon of great action movies, and great sports movies!