So, I stumbled across this low budget B movie. The Mercenary . It was obviously not a $100MM production, but was actually pretty good. The gun handling was excellent, knife fighting very "looks like he knows what he's doing" as in "sewing machine" and not the dramatic stick and look at them thing, and the martial arts were spectacular. The lead actor, Dominiquie Vandenberg, was in excellent physical condition. Sure, there were some issues, like blood squirts never pulsing but more Monty Python style, whatever. For a low budget flick, it was very well done. Then at the end, there's this dedication to his old outfit, French Foreign Legion 2REP. Uh... yeah.
From his Bio,
Ex-French Foreign Legion Special Forces, served with the 2nd REP Paras for five years in Africa and the far East, before working as an independent advisor or soldier for hire. Competed as a professional in Muay Thai kick boxing in Burma and Thailand following his stint in the legion -- believes his time living in the rural boxing camps served as a decompression chamber for the years in combat and actually served to keep him sane.
Also taught Leonardo Di Caprio knife fighting for a movie, etc. So, this "actor" is actually "the real deal." Not a martial arts expert or champion that got a movie job, this guy is the real-killing-machine-deal. No wonder the knife fighting scenes looked so well done. And he handles a SAW like he was born with it.
Anyway, I also watched him in The Doorman (available on amazon prime) and Pit Fighter. There are common themes in them. The Doorman was kinda below B movie. Maybe C+? But even on a budget of couch change and pocket lint, it was still well done, with excellent fight scenes. The Mercenary, made last year, was the best done of those 3. Also, he is still in virtually the same physical shape in that movie, made last year, as in The Doorman made 20 years prior. We're not talking Steven Seagal, here, where he only sort of looks like he did a few years ago, I mean this not large Belgian has arms and a chest that are still amazing. He's 50 now too.
I had never seen or heard of him before. And he's actually been in quite a few movies, either training the actors, as a stuntman, actor, or producer. I ordered his autobiography. If it's slow on the movie list, check out one or two of his flicks, and I'd start with The Mercenary.
