During the first half of the ’90s, Jean-Claude Van Damme was at the height of his career, scoring massive action hits with films like Hard Target (1993), Timecop (1994), Sudden Death (1995), and a few others before everything went south. Whether it was the personal demons he was fighting or the changing landscape in Hollywood, after the box office failure of Universal Soldier: The Return (1999), Van Damme found himself in the world of DTV releases. Personally, I found his DTV output very interesting, and he may have done some of his best work as an actor during that period.
After those huge hits, he failed to make a splash with Maximum Risk (1996), Double Team (1997), and Knock Off (1998), losing Sony Pictures millions of dollars. Despite underperforming at the box office, those films found an audience at video stores and on cable, so they’re looked upon rather fondly. Thanks to the MVD Rewind Collection, one of those films, Knock Off, has been given the premiere treatment and is being released in 4K. It’s an interesting choice for sure, but it really makes the film pop.
Set against the volatile backdrop of Hong Kong’s manufacturing underworld during the 1997 handover to China, Marcus Ray (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a businessman skating the edges of legality when a routine shipment of jeans to the U.S. exposes something far more dangerous.
Unbeknownst to him, his operation has been hijacked by the Russian Mafia, who’ve concealed thousands of micro-bombs inside everyday consumer goods bound for America. With disaster imminent and time running out, the CIA turns to Ray as their only viable asset. In a city where alliances shift overnight, survival hinges on knowing what’s real and what’s fake.
Knock Off would be Van Damme’s second collaboration in a row with legendary Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark, having previously worked together on the previous year’s Double Team. Neither film could compare to the best work of either Van Damme or Hark, but they’re not without their merits. Knock Off works as both a comedy and an action film, no matter how offbeat it might actually be. The story is paper-thin, but there are several set-pieces worth remembering.
This 4K release features the restoration from the original camera negatives and is an absolutely crisp transfer. The film is wildly colorful; this transfer really captures just how vibrant they were. Rewatching this Jean-Claude Van Damme action film after many years, this transfer helped me appreciate it much more than I did originally.
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Many of the bonus features from previous releases have been ported over, like the archival audio Commentary by Action Cinema Experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, a 2020 interview with writer Steven E. de Souza, a making-of featurette, and the original theatrical trailer.
As far as new stuff goes, there’s a collectible Knock Off “4K LaserVision” Mini-Poster, a new interview with Steven E. de Souza, a new interview with Moshe Diamant, Reversible Cover Art, and a Limited-Edition Slipcover (only available on the first edition).
Knock Off is full of issues, but when you look at it, it’s just a wacky action/comedy that delivers where it counts, in the fun department.
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