Death Warrant (1990)

• Year: 1990
• Released: 14 Sep 1990
• Country: United States
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099385/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/death_warrant
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/death-warrant
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Action, Crime, Mystery
• Runtime: 89 min
• Writer: David S. Goyer
• Director: Deran Sarafian
• Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Robert Guillaume, Cynthia Gibb
• Keywords: murder, revenge, martial arts, los angeles, california, prison,

	5.6/10
	34/100
	0% – Critics
	35% – Audience

Death Warrant Storyline

In an abandoned house, detective Louis Burke confronts a maniac called the Sandman. Although the Sandman nearly kills Burke, Burke manages to stop him with a bullet. Sixteen months later, Burke joins a task force put together by the governor to investigate a series of unexplained deaths in the Harrison Penitentiary. While Burke poses as an inmate, attorney Amanda Beckett acts the role of his wife. In the penitentiary, Burke is forced to survive in an environment so dismal and filthy that it makes a public restroom in New York City look like a room in a five star hotel. Burke does succeed in befriending a few of the inmates, including Hawkins and Priest, who help him with the investigation. More inmates are mysteriously murdered. Burke’s cell-mate is killed, and prison guard DeGraff puts Burke in solitary confinement, where he’s interrogated and beaten. As if that’s not enough, the Sandman ends up at Harrison. As it turns out, the prisoners are being murdered for their body organs. Back on the outside, Beckett attends a party given by Vogler, the state’s attorney general. Just as she’s preparing to tell him about the murders at the prison, Beckett receives a call from her assistant, who identifies Vogler’s henchman Keane as the man behind the murders, which also involve Dr. Gottesman, the surgeon who harvests the organs to be sold to people who are in desperate need of them. The assistant’s suspicions are confirmed when Vogler tries to kill Beckett. Burke begins an escape from the penitentiary, pursued by the Sandman and hundreds of angry inmates who have been set free and armed with the knowledge that Burke is a cop. Burke and the Sandman have brutal showdown in which Burke tries to get the Sandman out of the way so he can go after Vogler, Keane, and Gottesman.

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Death Warrant Movie Reviews

Van Damme against violent inmates using his incredible martial art

The cunning detective named Louis Burke(Jean Claude Van Damme), a Royal Canadian police, fights in an abandoned location with a villain called Sandman. Later Burke is sent prison of Harrison to investigate assassination nine inmates mysteriously murdered. He poses as a prisoner and advocate Amanda(Cynthia Gibb) acts like his spouse. Burke befriends an one-eyed inmate(Robert Guillaume) and the Priest. The Harrison Penitentiary is ruled by a tough sergeant named De Graff (Art Le Flour) and attended by a doctor(Armin Shimerman). Burke must to confront brutal inmates(Al Leong) and his cruel enemy Sandman(Patrick Kilpatrick). Burke and Amanda are only helped by a teen hacker(Joshua Miller) until the stirring and strong final showdown.

This violent film contains suspense, action, tension and spectacular fights. Entertaining movie, thanks to tight pace, skillful edition and well mounted combats. It’s tense and exciting , at time lackluster action movie , but the struggles and fighting are well done . Jean Claude is nice as two-fisted hero in this middling budget picture. Interesting screenplay by David S Goyer, today famous as producer and screenwriter of superheroes(Batman, Blade,Ghost Rider). Appropriate musical score fitting to action movie by Gary Chang. Colorful cinematography by Russell Carpenter, a future cameraman of blockbusters (Titanic, Charlie’s Angels I and II, Monster in law). The motion picture is professionally directed by Deran Sarafian who achieved success with ¨Terminal velocity¨, though today exclusively directing for television (CSI: Miami, NY, Without trace, Lost). Pointlessly energetic and excessively violent, the film will like the true devotee of main actor. It’s a must see for Van Damme fans.

Throw realism in the trash and just watch it for what it is….and nothing more.

In many ways, “Death Warrant” is an utterly ridiculous movie. However, if you can completely turn off your brain and just enjoy it for what it is, it’s not half-bad (nor half-good).

The film begins with a cop, Louis Burke (Jean-Claude Van Damme) ,apprehending an infamous serial killer, the Sandman. He’ll be important later in the story….but for now, the story jumps ahead ten years. Van Damme’s been recruited for a crazy assignment–to go undercover in a prison where lots of unexplained deaths have occurred to the inmates. What is the reason for the deaths and who’s behind it? Well, I don’t want to spoil it for you.

The prison in this film is hilarious–much more like it’s “Escape from New York” than any real prison. And, how much damage can folks inflict on Van Damme’s character before he’s dead? Apparently, far more than what happened to the Terminator!! Overall, ridiculous…but strangely entertaining.

Normal prison film antics enlivened by an incredibly over the top ending

The sudden prison craze of the late ’80s (including flicks like Stallone’s LOCK UP) is surely the source of inspiration for this entertaining slice of Van Damme action. You would be hard pressed to make this film look good in light of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, but let’s face it, Tim Robbins never gets to go around and kick people in the face in that film, even if it is ten times better made. I was pleasantly surprised to find this in the budget section, which is where most of Van Damme’s films seem to be hiding these days. Made the same year as A.W.O.L. but not quite as good, this is still fun stuff. Van Damme gets to go through all the old prison clichés – homosexual inmates, transvestites, getting locked up naked in a cockroach-filled hole – in a manner which is never fun, but wholly unpleasant.

In fact, the film seems to simply switch from Van Damme getting beaten up in one bad situation to just put him in another, and another, and so on until the end. Most of the film is dark and dank looking, so this ultimately makes for one majorly depressing movie, well that is if it wasn’t for the cool action sequences.

The cast is of the typical B-movie variety, with Robert Guillaume enjoying his role as one of those ‘old black sympathetic guys’ who seem to fill up just about every prison movie of the ’90s. The actor playing the evil Sandman, Patrick Kilpatrick is also memorably over the top, with a manic laugh and even stranger features. Other memorable faces fill out the cast, but Cynthia Gibb has a thankless role as the token love interest who gets about five minutes of screen time and is pretty much degraded. Armin Shimerman (Quark from DEEP SPACE NINE) is the only other familiar face, as a corrupt doctor who faces gang vengeance.

Thankfully, the interesting and unlikely plot about unorthodox organ donation is pretty fun to watch, and there are lots of fights and punch-ups to keep things moving along. The movie is pretty average, well that is until the ending, then it becomes something else entirely.

Never have I seen a reel of film that is so over the top, but done in such a straight-faced manner. This is the ultimate in unintentional humour, the final fight between Van Damme and the Sandman is sheer brilliance because of the absurdity of it. It starts off with Van Damme having a huge spanner hit him across the wrists and head, then the Sandman whacking him in the chest and stomach with the aforementioned hammer. This would have killed most people, but has no effect on Van Damme who is being pummelled one minute and then up and running the next.

The next fight involves a circular saw which just happens to be laying around, and the Sandman gets his hair sliced off in one cool and startling effect sequence, which I’ve been wondering how they achieved. After this Van Damme gets thrown off a ledge and hits the ground some thirty feet below, only to groan and grunt a bit, then he gets up and keeps on fighting! The Sandman uses a broken light bulb (which in reality would be extremely fragile and hardly effective) to lacerate most of Van Damme’s body. But our favourite Muscles from Brussels eventually kicks the Sandman into a burning room, but the Sandman runs out, puts out the fire and keeps on fighting! This is hilarious stuff.

Let’s just recap here: by this time, the Sandman is suffering from third degree burns over 70% of his body, and would probably be unconscious with the pain. He definitely wouldn’t be coherent, and he couldn’t stand up either. Van Damme, meanwhile, has had his skull fractured and his arms broken with the spanner, his stomach crushed and mutilated with the same spanner (kind of like how Houdini died), he’s been thrown off a ledge and had the rest of his ribs and bones broken in the resulting fall, and also he’s had most of his body sliced open and must have lost a couple of pints of blood. Still, he’s one tough guy, and he has just enough strength to kick the Sandman’s head onto a handy spike, then breaks his jaw and kills him.

In another hilarious moment, all the prisoners stand back to let him pass (despite the fact he’s an undercover cop), because he’s earned some respect from the fight. This has to be one of the best fight sequences I’ve ever seen, just because it’s so damn funny and an unexpected treat. That’s right: watch this film for the ending alone.