Oh, Sudden Death, how I love you!

At first glance, 1995’s Sudden Death appears to just be another “Die Hard in a—” type of film. The final game of the Stanley Cup Final is being played in Pittsburgh. The Vice President (Raymond J. Barry) will be attending. Security’s tight, but not tight enough to stop rogue Secret Service agent Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe) and his band of quirky mercenaries. The hockey players continue to fight on the ice. The fans in the stadium continue to cheer every punch thrown and tooth knocked out. None of them know they are currently being held hostage as part of Foss’s plot to extort the government out of several billion dollars.

Fireman Darren McCord (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is at the game with his son and his daughter. He just wants a good bonding experience with his children. Instead, in true John McClane fashion, he finds himself sneaking around the arena, trying to defuse the bombs Foss has set and also trying to rescue the Vice President. It’s not easy, even for someone like Jean-Claude Van Damme.

As I said, this film was obviously inspired by Die Hard. But not even Bruce Willis ever found himself fighting for his life against a terrorist wearing a big penguin costume. Van Damme not only defuses bombs but also finds time to put on a goalie’s costume and hit the ice. He manages to block the puck, then looks up at the stands and gives his son a meaningful look. Even with the mask covering his face, his son recognizes him. Meanwhile, up in the VIP box, Powers Boothe appears to be having a wonderful time chewing the scenery. Even though he’s playing the bad guy in a Die Hard rip-off, Boothe doesn’t make the mistake of trying to imitate the great Alan Rickman. Instead, Boothe brings his own rugged style to the role of Joshua Foss. It’s hard not to appreciate a villain who can casually threaten to blow up a stadium without breaking a sweat. When someone sensibly points out that Foss would probably die in the explosion as well, he merely shrugs as if to say, “Let’s do it and be legends.”

And I haven’t even gotten to the bit with the helicopter yet….

Sudden Death is a big, ludicrous, and wonderful movie. It’s the type of action film that could only have starred Van Damme. Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis may have been better actors, but Stallone would have taken the project too seriously and Willis’s wiseass persona would have sabotaged the film’s more earnest moments. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have been bigger, but there’s no suspense to watching Schwarzenegger beat up someone in a penguin costume. Steven Seagal would have made you root for the penguin. Only Van Damme could have played Darren McCord and made you cheer for him whether he was fighting terrorists or trying to impress his children. Director Peter Hyams directs with an anything-goes sort of energy. The same genius that somehow made me cry when Elliott Gould and James Brolin ran through the cemetery in Capricorn One is present in Sudden Death’s best scenes.

Sudden Death is a true pleasure. No need to feel too guilty about this one!

Previous Guilty Pleasures

1. Half-Baked
2. Save The Last Dance
3. Every Rose Has Its Thorns
4. The Jeremy Kyle Show
5. Invasion USA
6. The Golden Child
7. Final Destination 2
8. Paparazzi
9. The Principal
10. The Substitute
11. Terror In The Family
12. Pandorum
13. Lambada
14. Fear
15. Cocktail
16. Keep Off The Grass
17. Girls, Girls, Girls
18. Class
19. Tart
20. King Kong vs. Godzilla
21. Hawk the Slayer
22. Battle Beyond the Stars
23. Meridian
24. Walk of Shame
25. From Justin To Kelly
26. Project Greenlight
27. Sex Decoy: Love Stings
28. Swimfan
29. On the Line
30. Wolfen
31. Hail Caesar!
32. It’s So Cold In The D
33. In the Mix
34. Healed By Grace
35. Valley of the Dolls
36. The Legend of Billie Jean
37. Death Wish
38. Shipping Wars
39. Ghost Whisperer
40. Parking Wars
41. The Dead Are After Me
42. Harper’s Island
43. The Resurrection of Gavin Stone
44. Paranormal State
45. Utopia
46. Bar Rescue
47. The Powers of Matthew Star
48. Spiker
49. Heavenly Bodies
50. Maid in Manhattan
51. Rage and Honor
52. Saved By The Bell 3. 21 “No Hope With Dope”
53. Happy Gilmore
54. Solarbabies
55. The Dawn of Correction
56. Once You Understand
57. The Voyeurs 
58. Robot Jox
59. Teen Wolf
60. The Running Man
61. Double Dragon
62. Backtrack
63. Julie and Jack
64. Karate Warrior
65. Invaders From Mars
66. Cloverfield
67. Aerobicide 
68. Blood Harvest
69. Shocking Dark
70. Face The Truth
71. Submerged
72. The Canyons
73. Days of Thunder
74. Van Helsing
75. The Night Comes for Us
76. Code of Silence
77. Captain Ron
78. Armageddon
79. Kate’s Secret
80. Point Break
81. The Replacements
82. The Shadow
83. Meteor
84. Last Action Hero
85. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
86. The Horror at 37,000 Feet
87. The ‘Burbs
88. Lifeforce
89. Highschool of the Dead
90. Ice Station Zebra
91. No One Lives
92. Brewster’s Millions
93. Porky’s
94. Revenge of the Nerds
95. The Delta Force
96. The Hidden
97. Roller Boogie
98. Raw Deal
99. Death Merchant Series
100. Ski Patrol
101. The Executioner Series
102. The Destroyer Series
103. Private Teacher
104. The Parker Series
105. Ramba
106. The Troubles of Janice
107. Ironwood
108. Interspecies Reviewers
109. SST — Death Flight
110. Undercover Brother
111. Out for Justice
112. Food Wars!
113. Cherry
114. Death Race
115. The Beast Within
116. Girl Series
117. Gone in 60 Seconds
118. Swordfish
119. Marked For Death
120. The Internship
121. The Angry Red Planet
122. 2012
123. Old School
124. No Escape
125. In Death Series
126. Alligator
127. Little Annie Fanny
128. Wicked Wanda
129. Congo
130. The 13th Warrior