During the early ’90s, one of my pals worked on a certain film with Jean-Claude Van Damme as a P.A. I asked him how the experience was. He told me how on the first day of shooting, Van Damme took the director and the cinematographer off to the side to explain to them how important it was to light and shoot his ass just right. At the time, I thought this was such an ego trip. Why did Van Damme have be so concerned about his rump looking on the screen? But as the decades went on, I realized Van Damme knew what he was talking about. Guys show up to see the action, but the ladies (and probably other viewers) were down for a the great ass shots. If you think about the stars of the Planet Hollywood Action era of the mid-80s to mid-90s, the butt shot was Van Damme’s domain. Did anyone want to see an ass shot of his fellow action star Steven Seagal? After all these decades, Van Damme’s posterior is impressive and not just a comic effect. The Muscles From Brussels made sure his fans were given the proper view of an ass kicking and his ass during the kicking. Death Warrant puts Van Damme behind bars where he looks hot in prison jeans.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Detective Louis Burke (Van Damme, Hard Target) comes down from Quebec to Los Angeles in order to capture the Sandman (Patrick Kilpatick, The Toxic Avenger). They fight in an abandoned building and Burke ultimately unloads a gun into the Sandman’s chest. Because of his successful work, Burke sticks around California to work with the LAPD. The governor becomes alarmed about the high rate of homicides inside Harrison State Prison. Many of the victims don’t appear to have been trouble prisoners. Why are they being targeted? Burke accepts an assignment to go undercover a prisoner so he can find out what’s really happening rather than rely on reports from the warden and his head guards (including Art LaFleur from Cobra, The Sandlot and Speed Racer). An attorney from the AG’s office Amanda Beckett (Cynthia Gibb, The Karen Carpenter Story) fakes being Burke’s wife so she can smuggle in stuff to help with the investigation. Inside the prison, Burke learns that nobody wants to talk about the deaths for fear they might be next. This includes the one-eyed inmate Hawkins (Robert Guillaume, Benson). As Burke snoops around and seems close to find the source of the homicides, a new prisoner arrives who is a very familiar face. Is Burke’s undercover gig going to lead to him being buried under the prison?
Death Warrant is a choice cut of action from Van Damme. He makes sure that we sense that at any moment his character is going to get attacked by fellow prisoner, the warden or the toilet wine that’s passed around. He also has the best-looking prison uniform on the cellblock. He wears a pair of tight jeans that Brooke Shields wishes she could pull off. And when he’s kicking way, we get a sense that the power comes from his buttocks that seem sculptured by Michaelangelo (the artist and not the Ninja Turtle).
Van Damme has a great cast behind bars with him. He doesn’t make them feel like they were slumming in the flick. Robert Guillaume plays with a touch of intensity. The cataract covered eye gives him a creepy feeling in the darkness of the cells. Action flick henchmen legend Al Leong (Big Trouble In Little China) shows up for a fight with Van Damme in the laundry room. The prison doctor is Armin Shimerman, who played Quark on Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Kid computer hacker is Joshua John Miller from Halloween III: Season of the Witch and recently directed The Exorcism with Russell Crowe. Larry Hankin had a great year when this film came out since he also popped up in Home Alone and Pretty Woman. Ultimately Patrick Kilpatick proves a worthy opponent as he faces off with Van Damme off in a bloody and flaming final fight. The film also looks great. This can be attributed to Russell Carpenter as Director of Photography. After this film and Hard Target, James Cameron brought him aboard to shoot Titanic (and win the Oscar). Carpenter shot the last two Avatar movies.
Death Warrant was a bit of impressive feat when I was in film school. Screenwriter David S. Goyer sold the script while he was still a student at USC. That was the dream as we hacked away on pages for our writing instructors. Goyer has gone on to an amazing career working the scripts for Dark City, the Blade movies and Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. What made Goyer’s feat cool wasn’t that he sold the script for a million bucks (the total budget was around $6 million), but that he got his movie made with his name as sole writer and not reduced to a “Story by” credit as bigger writers took over. He wrote a low-budget action film and the producers made it. By the time I was in film school, the low-budget action film genre was grinding to an end.
Death Warrant proves that Jean-Claude Van Damme earned his way into being part of the Planet Hollywood Action Era. He didn’t have a massive budget like his other “co-owners” of the restaurant chain, but this film exceeded quite a few of their “behind bars” films.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The transfer is from the original camera negative. You’ll see all the details -especially when Jean-Claude turns around. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 Stereo. You’ll hear all the body blows. The movie is subtitled in English.
Blu-ray with the movie and bonus features.
Audio Commentary with director Deran Sarafian his explain that he didn’t know about Jean-Claude Van Damme before making this film. He feels fortunate to have found Russell Carpenter before he shot Titanic. He also has a cameo as a voice in the start of the film.
Interview with Patrick Kilpatrick (9:59) lets us meet the Sandman. He got his start working in New York City on low budget films and international productions. He moved out to Los Angeles, and his first big role was Death Warrant. He auditioned for the prison guard played by Art LaFleur. But they wanted him for the main villain. The role was physically intense since most of his scenes with Van Damme were 18 hours of fighting. They fought in an abandoned power plant in San Jose. Sandman was a silent role in the original script. Van Damme knew how to work the fights right for them. He breaks down the scene where he catches fire. He talks about how the role still gets him recognized in public.
Interview with Art LaFleur (7:20) recounts his time as the head prison guard. He auditioned for the part and Deran Sarafian cast him. He did his best to make the actors nervous when he was in the room. He praises Jean-Claude Van Damme as an actor. He was very precise in the action scenes. The Ambassador Hotel was used for the prison. This is the hotel where RFK was assassinated.
Defender of Death: Memories of a Van Damme Classic by Cynthia Gibb (35:05) lets her tell us about as a teenager getting cast by Woody Allen for Stardust Memories. She wanted to act more in films. She talks about find work in the TV series Search For Tomorrow and Fame. During the breaks she made Salvador, Youngblood and Modern Girls. When she wasn’t on a show or a movie, she was taking classes to improve her skills and discipline. She explains why she left Fame. We learn about what she did to get into the role of Karen Carpenter.
Photo Gallery (10:00) includes press photos, black and white stills and poster art.
Theatrical Trailer (1:36) recounts his Bloodsport and Kickboxer. Now he’s behind bars and nobody is playing games.
Van Damme Trailer Collection includes Double Impact, Lionheart, Black Eagle and Knock Off.
Mini-Poster suitable for framing.
MVD Rewind Collection presents Death Warrant (4K LaserVision Collection). Directed by Deran Sarafian. Screenplay by David S. Goyer. Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Robert Guillaume, Cynthia Gibb, George Dickerson & Patrick Kilpatrick. Running Time: 89 minutes. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: August 11, 2026.
