Story: After Demitri Petrovic, the leader of a notorious Serbian gang, is killed by Phillip, a retired CIA field agent, his brother vows to seek revenge.
Review: It’s disappointing that while action stars like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have adapted to changing times, Jean-Claude Van Damme remains stuck in the past. His latest film, ‘Kill ‘Em All 2,’ feels outdated and painfully tests your patience, even with its brief runtime. A weak script, uninspired performances, mediocre dialogue, and lacklustre action sequences make it entirely skippable. The movie loses coherence quickly, and in 2024, with action films evolving, it’s hard to understand why this one was even made. The cast appears disengaged, seemingly more interested in the scenic backdrop of North and South Italy than in delivering a credible performance. Sadly, Van Damme’s refusal to evolve has left him lagging far behind his contemporaries.
The film opens with news of a hospital massacre where 25 people have been killed by an unknown assailant. It’s soon revealed that retired spy Phillip (Jean-Claude Van Damme) was behind the attack, and among the victims was Demetri Petrovic, the notorious leader of a Serbian gang. In response, Demetri’s brother, Vlad Petrovic (Andrei Lenart), vows revenge and deploys his resources to capture Phillip at any cost. After Phillip and his daughter Vanessa (Jacqueline Fernandez) survive an assassination attempt at an Italian café, a chain of events unfolds, pulling even the residents of Phillip’s village into the chaos. As Phillip seeks help from Holman (Peter Stormare), a fellow retired agent, the situation becomes increasingly perilous for both him and his daughter.
The action scenes in the film are intolerable, with rapid cuts strung together to create a false sense of novelty. Despite his long career as an action star, Van Damme’s fight sequences fall flat and lack any real impact. Oddly, after all the fighting, his suit remains perfectly untouched. As for his acting, it’s best left unmentioned. Jacqueline Fernandez, playing Vanessa, Phillip’s daughter, turns in a mediocre performance that is made worse by the awful dialogue she has to work with. It’s hard to understand why she accepted the role—whether it was the lure of working with an action icon or the picturesque locations. The only character who leaves a mark is Peter Stormare as Holman, bringing some much-needed depth to the film.
The events in this film pick up where the first one left off, but if you haven’t seen the original, it hardly matters. It’s obvious that there wasn’t much of a script to begin with—the plot is painfully generic, as straightforward as it gets, without a single twist or surprise. The Serbian goons are little more than exaggerated stereotypes, fitting every cliché imaginable. Van Damme’s action formula is clearly outdated, and a reinvention is desperately needed. ‘Kill ‘Em All 2’ is not only a waste of time, but a masterclass in cinematic mediocrity. Even the beautiful locations can’t distract from the film’s utter lack of substance.