‘Pound of Flesh’ (2015) - Ernie Barbarash. 

 After the much-needed credibility boost of the critically adored, ‘JCVD’ it briefly appeared as if the then downward spiralling, Van-Damme might have finally escaped the inexorable gravity of his increasingly uninspired, formulaic DTV time-wasters, and, happily, frequent collaborator, Ernie ‘6 Bullets’ Barbarash keeps the bellicose brand afloat in this quirky, Manila-set action-curio that initially puts a distinctly audacious, kidney pilfering kink in the enjoyably butt-kicking oeuvre of our beloved Belgian B-Movie titan! With the wheel not exactly re-invented, at least the action ligaments appear re-strung. An older, visibly battle-weary, Deacon Lyle (JCVD) awakens deliriously to find himself demonstratively short of a salient organ, grimly beleaguered, stoically surmounting ever increasing odds, our heroically hard-boiled, morphine-raddled, greatly Van-Damaged, skell-crushing martial arts icon must thunder-kick his signature cartilage sundering passage through the rapidly-montaged mean streets of Manila in order to righteously reclaim his perfidiously purloined pound of flesh! 

Thankfully, the stiflingly sentimental, dog-eared narrative of good/bad brother schism, and the film’s inevitably redemptive conclusion doesn’t cripple the overall entertainment value quite as forcefully as, Deacon’s impromptu, back alley surgery! While the reliable director, Barbarash credibly keeps things rushing along nicely, he’s not quite swift enough to obscure two irksome issues which unfortunately render ‘Pound of Flesh’ moderately less digestible than his far superior ordinance-overloaded actioner, ‘6 Bullets’. Namely, the clumsily handled green screen car interiors, which are both egregiously plentiful and plentifully distracting, and the no less glaring use of an action double for Van Damme in the requisitely ballistic, ‘storm-the-bad guy-mansion’ finale becoming more glaring upon subsequent viewings, engendering a decidedly sour aftertaste. Rather than end on such a bum note, ‘Pound of Flesh’ (2015) still has enough exhilaratingly violent, head-slamming, jaw-jarring, bullet-blasting DTV action paraphernalia to keep loyal JCVD fans amused. Sadly, this was to be the final film of much-missed British martial arts maestro Darren Shahlavi.