Rating: 
Summary: Above Average Van Damme
Review: Van Damme plays Kyle LeBlanc a foreigner currently residing in Russia. His wife complains that he's always so busy working that they never get a chance to see eachother. He promises her that this is only a temporary situation and that things will soon change. He's right. While talking to her on his cell phone during his drive home she is brutally attacked and targeted for rape. Panic-stricken Kyle races home to save her, but he is too late. His wife's attacker, however, is still in the house. He jumps Kyle from behind, but the enraged huband fights back starting a rousing chase scene through the busy city streets. Justice takes a turn for the worst through legalities as Kyle LeBlanc is the one sentenced to life imprisonment for taking the law into his own hands. What follows is a dark and gruelling picture of life behind bars and prison corruption.This is one of Van Dammes better pictures in recent years. Director Ringo Lam is one of those directors who gives B quality pictures the same care he would give an A quality film. He has a fine visual flair for storytelling as is evidenced throughout the film not only in moments of action (his car chases are always a highlight) but in subtle yet memorable varieties of camera placement (witness the scenes of solitary confinement which is a very small space yet he makes the absolute most and best of that space). Van Damme has the capability to be one of the greats in this genre. He has not only the looks and physical skills needed for action pictures, but also, as is shown in this picture, the ability to convey emotional feeling without having to speak which, given the nature of action acting where words are often few and far between, is definitely a great plus. Most of the action in this film for instance comes after long period's of time where Van Damme's character is watching, waiting, reflecting, suffering, and just simply trying to stay out of trouble. These moments help make the action that inevitably does come after them all the more meaningful. Ringo and Jean-Claude work well together and succeed in keeping audience interest during these quieter moments throughout the film, moments that exist primarily to set the stage up for what most people watch Van Damme movies for, the fights. The fights in IN HELL are rough and raw. All of the prison fighters are big and bulky convicts and as such there is an appropriate amount of wrestling and dirty kick-em-while-there-down tactics. There's a minimal use of high spinning kicks (usually a Van Damme staple) and a lot of bare knuckle punches, but there are some nice wrestling takedowns to spice things up now and then. The fact that the fighters here don't do anything really spectular is actually a plus. The bare bone tactics seem more fitting to the theme of IN HELL where people who are treated like animals can become animals. Now for the drawbacks. Lawrence Taylor is given the role of narrator and has a tendency to be a little monotonous. He does fine otherwise, but there's a lot of ineffectual narration throughout the movie. The story is a little overfamiliar. Even Van Damme himself has visited this territory before in DEATH WARRANT (prison is a good setting for Van Damme films though since that was another one of his better vehicles) where he played an undercover mountie looking into prison corruption. Also, there's no central villain to root against during the climax. While there are various baddies you come to hate, in the end it is the prison system itself that is the real villain of the piece. This serves the film's purpose, but the final showdown becomes a little less personal and a little less involving without that one central figure. We are given a few hated villains to root against throughout the movie, but they are only a part of the climax and not the climax itself. All in all this is a good Van Damme picture and hopefully things will continue to swing up from here for him and his fans.
Rating: 
Summary: sick, funny, van damme
Review: this movie wud get 5 stars if it was not for me bein a professional critic, i took an oath vowing i wud never give a movie 5 stars unless it totally deserved it, an example of a movie deserving 5 stars wud be any movie combining van damme with the "actors" of "Big Ballers", but in hell comes reallll close...the only drawbak of this movie is the darn prison scenes where sick, tuff prisoners buy "sukas" aka dudes to sleep with, n do it prison style...that jus grosses me out....van damme aint havin it tho, whenever sumone buys him as a "suka" n says "ill see u 2nite", he breaks the rules of the prison n gets himself solitary confinement....who says van dam doesnt have brains? well except where he tries to hang himself with a rope thats way too long....the best part of the dvd is the "makin of in hell" ...i wish mr damme wud make a strait to theatres movie but i think the mussels from brussels van damme will be makin strait to video movies till blockbuster shuts down...lawrence taylor is oh so wise in this movie in which he recites his knowledge n ends his thoughts with the word "bullsh;;"....actaully, this movie is dark, n actaully tries to use symbolism n teach morals n stuff, but its still funny for sum strange reason [ van damme , lawrence taylor, come on]
Rating: 
Summary: A Masterpiece!
Review: Brilliance is achieved once again by Jean-Claude Van Damme! "In Hell" is about Kyle LeBlanc, a man sentenced to life in prison after he killed his wife's murderer. Yes, blissful nirvana is addressed in this simplistic yet brutal prison drama. Only an actor like Jean-Claude Van Damme can perform with such versatility! He refused to eat that savage food and lay next to all of that sewage! What kind of man is LeBlanc for turning into a beastly creature to become the number one contender in those yard fights! Dog saliva rejoice, as inmates fight for their lives and sleeper holds are the most dangerous weapon! Forget the Sandman, you have the bald man to worry about this time. But of course, Van Damme wins because he's Van Damme. "In Hell" is one of the best Van Damme movies and he was once again robbed of all awards.
Rating:
Summary: Van Damme is AWESOME
Review: This movie is only a good source of entertainment to those individuals who like violence and action. Although this is one of those few movies where Damme features street fighting rather than the typical martial arts techniques to win fights, it doesn't exempt the fact that this movie presents good values and a strong sense of the strength required to survive in a Russian prison. Although some critics argue that this is just another typical prison movie where the protagonist fights for escape, they fall short of the strong emphasis on how people can transform into wild savages, over extensive periods of physical and mental brutality. The only flaw in this movie from my perspective that forces me to give it four stars instead of five, is for the lack of an effective ending. Instead of conveying the steps taken to close down the corrupt prison, it ends with wording that the prison closed 3 months later. I didn't find this to be a very effective ending. I would have been much more satisfied if the movie elaborated a bit more on what became of Kyle's future life, considering the fact that his only family (his wife) had already long been deceased.
Rating:
Summary: maybe his next movie will be in theaters!
Review: I was really impressed with van-damme's new movie, good fights,good plot and good acting!. He is going the right path in making good movies and the movie is doing very well in the usa being in the top 6 most hired movies in the country!, don't be surprised he bounces back and ends up in theaters real soon!, JEAN-CLAUDE VAN-DAMME IS BACK!!!
Rating: 
Summary: TO HELL WITH IT
Review: After Derailed I thought Van Damme would fade into action film bliss but....He returns with In Hell. How many movies have been made about a guy fighting all odds in prision(20,30??) I really cant say much more than the other reviews, He goes to prision, gets born again hard, and starts kickin booty. I have been wondering why all his new flicks go straight to viedo now I know. This film was bad. We fell asleep during his escape scene. One more thing Van Damme looks bad in this film like life has beat him down once to often...beat him bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Van Damme is In Hell..this movie goes to hell
Review: Van Damme is a man who is in prison for killing his wife and in the prison there is this butthead warden who..wow...pits prisoner against prisoner to the death..then the prisoners do riots and have fun..this rings into the tradition of some of Van Damme's old works like Lionheart and Bloodsport....he faught in an arena in Bloodsport..he fought in underground fights in Lionheart and now he fights the fight in a prison IN HELL....not a bad title but it goes soft with some dialouge and aacting that let's Van Damme down a bunch...not a horrible Van Damme movie but its not that good..though there are some good fights..but what do you expect from Van Damme..damnit
Rating:
Summary: This movie is Awesome with a capital A
Review: Im not into vandamme, but I did enjoy this movie. It was done very well, I really felt for him. The fighting was very realistic and as a fan of UFC I enjoyed it. I showed the world how real people fight. No spinning kicks or death touches but dirty...savage like punching, strangles, and holds.
Rating:
Summary: THIS IS THE #1 WORST MOVIE OF 2003!!!
Review: DERAILED & IN HELL: 2 recent direct to dvd titles that sound like the career of 1 jean claude van damme. he looks tired in this prison flick (another one? DEATH WARRANT, NOWHERE TO RUN & now this junk!). so van damme kills his wife's killer in a russian courtroom and then is sent to a hellish prison (where he meets LAWRENCE TAYLOR ?! what's he doing here?! he sets a poor jail fella in a wheelchair on fire! ugh!). the warden sets up brutal fights between prisoners and they beat the living hell outta each other & to see jean claude go insane after killing an inmate is just laughable! his facial hairstyle from beard & longish hair to goatee is hilarious! and hey, NO MARTIAL ARTS FROM VAN DAMME! you expect good action from hong kong director ringo lam but nope! how could other viewers give **** to this?! 95% of IN HELL poor van damme likes to get beat up, ripped apart, tortured & bullied all over from head to toe. SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION & MIDNIGHT EXPRESS this really ain't! van damme's career should be the title of his next direct to dvd---KAPUT!!!!
Rating:
Summary: To hell with Van dam
Review: The first striking impresion is the three times that the islamic prayer was played as a background for three violent scenes, one of which a prisoner was raped by another one. It is very clear the racism and the unti-islamic view of which van dam comes from. I promise him that I and 250 million muslim in the arab world will ban his film and all other new films. I lost my respect i had for this actor for good. I really loved his films and raised him above all suspicions, but now it is all ended. I hope this comment would reach him so he could know his worth from now on. Van Dam, go to hell with all your racists that supported your film.
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