Why did Van Damme make this? Maybe he just had some free time or he agreed to make it if they let his son co-star. Hopefully we never see his son teaming up with him in another movie. On the DVD making-of-featurette, they brag about all the special effects. This movie contains the fakest looking helicopter I have ever seen. At the end all the helicopters are real but it is just stock footage from another movie. This movie is very similar to "Agent Red" with Dolph Lundgren except Derailed lacks the sense of humor.
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diggler_inc16 October 2002
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ma-cortes5 October 2004The movie centers upon Van Damme and his family ( Susan Gibney as wife and his true son ). When in a train happens strange events Jean Claude is helped by a thief spy ( Laura Harring ).
They'll have confront a villain(Tomas Arana) and henchmen who have obtained a lethal virus. In the confrontation the virus outbreaks originating the nightmare .
The runtime film is adjusted : one hour and sixty minutes approx. , it's fast moving and enough bemusing .
From the beginning to the end the action is unstoppable.
In the motion picture there are suspense, emotions, shootouts, pursuits but with little budget , it's a B series movie with less money than Van Damme's previous films .
The storyline is similarly written two films of the 70s and 90s : ¨Cassandra Crossing ( by George Pan Cosmatos )¨and ¨Under Siege 2 ¨ ( Geoff Murphy ), it rips off both movies.
The picture is produced by 777 Films which is Van Damme's property. Also by ¨ Millenniun ¨ the production company in charge of Avi Lerner, Danny Lerner, Boaz Davison and Trevor Short who are making a lot of films in the 90s and 2000s, likeness to ¨Cannon¨(Menahem Golan and Yoran Globus) in the 80s.
The flick will appeal to Van Damme enthusiast and action fans.
Rating: 5/10 average -
curtis-827 February 2009People who say that this is one of the worst films ever made have simply not seen enough films. It's bad, but not that bad. And even though the miniatures and cg effects are sub-TV movie level, they are not that distracting once you get used to them. No, what really kills this flick is that it is all set up and no real story, no tie ups, no climax, no ending. It's as if the screenplay was only 2/3ds done when they started filming. Virtually every plot point that is set up and every character developed in the first hour is dropped like a hot rock in the last 20 minutes in favor of just killing off the bad guy and getting the thing over with. This is especially true of the thief character played quite well by the very hot Laura Harring--she is given a really big set up in the first part of the film--even having her own fight scenes-- and ends up having nothing to do with the climax at all! I thought that she was excellent in the movie and that her character could have fronted a series of DTV flicks all on her own. Instead she--and all the other supporting players--are simply forgotten.
I'm a big fan of old action adventure serials from the 30s and 40s, so some fake looking special effects don't bother me if the story is fun and good. I mean I prefer that to great special effects and no story. When Derailed started off, I was thinking "this this isn't nearly as bad as everyone says. It has a hot chick who can actually act, a great car chase, some good fighting, this seems to be leading up to a good story and Van Damme seems to be doing a much better job acting." But, once JCVD and Laura Harring get on the train, and the various characters on the train are introduced at length, and the bad guys take over, and the mysterious virus is let loose, it becomes obvious that the set up was all the filmmakers had worked out. The rest of the actual plot was just "Van Damme fights bad guys on train." I mean, I at least expected the obnoxious Texan and the dorky Aussie to have something to do with the story, as much time as was spent setting up their characters. Except for one very unlikely bit involving JCVD's son that actually tied into something that had happened earlier, nothing from the set up had a pay off. I foresaw lots of plot points and twists that just never happened--in fact I imagined a much better movie than the one that I was actually watching. All this leads me to believe that the script wasn't finished when they started filming and the filmmakers were basically just making the thing up as they went along (either that or they hired the laziest damn screenwriters of all time). -
The headline says it all.
From atrocious action scenes to pathetic sound, from worse than amateur special effects to pathetic editing this film just plain bad. No other way of putting it. It throws one over used cliché after another, along with bad acting, and horrendous direction.
It tries to be a big action film but with its sets and design, but it all looks so fake and ridiculous that you'll feel ripped off, even if you saw this movie for free.
The "story" is about the theft of a deadly virus, which was stored in some guy's desk and it looks like an over the counter pain medicine, by a lady thief who must be escorted to safety from a bunch of stupid terrorists. Van Damme is assigned to help her. Throw in some unnecessary family drama and you have this film in a nutshell. Avoid it. 1/10
Rated R: violence and profanity -
bob the moo3 January 2006Forced to conceal his real job from his family, international agent Jacques Kristoff tells them he is taking a train journey with a banking client where really he is escorting the beautiful Galina Konstantin and a biological weapons package to safety across the border. Regardless, his family surprise him on the train, thinking it will be a nice gesture and end up thinking he is having an affair. Before he can apologise and explain, terrorists led by the ruthless Mason Cole seize the train and start hunting for Galina and the virus. With his family in danger and the virus released on board, Jacques must not only stop the terrorists but do so before the Governent take the only available option to stop an outbreak.
Ten years or so is quite a long time. About ten years ago I had just moved to England for the first time and started studying. Since then I've been married, divorced, bought a house, got several jobs and owned one very knackered car. But the mid-nineties must seem even longer ago for Van Damme because then he was having hits like Universal Soldier and Time Cop whereas by 2002 he had sunk to appearing in rubbish like this not that he was ever a great star but this film is below even him. The plot is a basic rip off of Under Siege 2 crossed with Cassandra Crossing with any sense of fun, excitement or involvement skilfully removed by writers who between them are responsible for other classics include Octopus, Octopus 2: River of Fear (both Davidson) and Crocodile and Crocodile 2: Death Roll (both Anderson). It doesn't help that the man chosen to pull it all together as director is the man who made Shark Attack with lots of stock footage and no thrills.
The plot is messy and pointless people apparently die then return with no explanation, the action lacks logic and the whole virus thing is just daft. With this type of film this stuff usually can be forgotten if the action is slick and the film is fun to watch; Under Siege 2 is a good example it is rubbish but I quite enjoyed it so I forgave it. However the action here is poor with basic, uninspiring fights and no real tension; when I saw Van Damme jumping around the train on a motorbike I felt like just turning it off in disgust. The supporting "actors" dying one the train did nothing to make me care one way or the other and the whole thing just felt cheap. The effects make this worse, being as they are a mix of rubbish computer effects or rubbish model work or a rubbish combination of both.
The writing is clunky and full of dialogue that if even a horse spoke it your surprise at a speaking horse would come secondary to the annoyance you feel towards the unconvincing nature of his words. Already hamstrung by this the cast can do nothing to improve the situation; although many of the cast appear perfectly at home at this level. It speaks volumes that Van Damme is actually one of the best performances in the film; he is mean and tough in style just a shame the action and dialogue are so poor that he can't do anything with it. The rest of the cast are so-so support. We have the tough baddie in a humourless and dour Arana, a sexy female co-star in Harring (who does fill the sexy requirement well), loads of European rent-a-thugs and a train load of hammy dying people including Gibney, Bowman, Van Varenberg (who can kick and can't act, hmmm) and the hilariously named Binky van Bilderbeek, who must have had a lot of fun in his fancy English school as a child.
Overall this shambles is loaded with clichés, bad dialogue, bad direction, cheap effects and bad performances. Fun, excitement, humour, thrills and entertainment all got off at the last stop and nothing of value got on in its place. Even Van Damme fans will be turned off by this rubbish and it is only Steven Seagal fans that should be happy because it at least shows what an entertaining film Under Siege 2 really was. -
matthew-scrutton19 December 2005I literally wrote this after watching the movie on 5, mainly because I am a railway enthusiast and hate Van Damme movies. But because of the railway content I did raise a couple of points. Firstly, the shots of the switch tower with frantic German signalmen trying to rouse the drunken freight train driver were quite good, if not hilarious! Another point is this, when Van Damme and co uncouple their section of train from the other section, the air hoses part and all, but the train does not stop! They resort to the coaches handbrake, which for some reason the mighty Van Damme cannot turn without the aid of 50 people! In reality the train would have stopped dead because of a lack of air pressure holding the brakes off. Also, the engine kept on plowing on despite being gutted internally by fire! The crashes were dodgy, the trains looked like models off my layout upstairs, and the flames had the usual "out of scale with the rest of it" syndrome. When the two trains finally meet on the grade crossing, the loco of the freight train explodes, but then it suddenly is in great shape again, despite having clipped the end of a SOLID STEEL passenger train! When the Apache's open up on the main locomotive, it suddenly stops as though the directors re-wrote the laws of physics! I thought it was dead funny, cheap (the readily obvious H0 scale models!), and ridiculous all round, even for a non railway enthusiast its bad! So watch for high octane, low budget drama, but expect glaring errors! (the rest of the story was poor!)
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lone-wolf-0077 May 2013A train full of terrorists. A biological weapon. Sound familiar? Well it is due to the fact Derailed borrows most of its ideas and scenarios from other movies. Jean Claude Van Damme stars as a special agent trying to get a thief and her cargo from one point to another. Mode of transportation is a train and like most action fans will immediately think of is Under Siege 2. Of course that movie utilized this idea much better but we are working on a much lower budget. The cargo happens to be vials of a toxic nature that so happen to be wanted by the bad guys. This movie is strictly for hardcore Van Damme fans only. Essentially he is the only real saving grace of the movie as is Laura Harring who plays the thief. The biggest problem with this film? Everything else. Borrowed story, terrible editing, horrible cheap effects, sound design that needs to be heard to be believed. For i'm certain movie fans can pick up sound effects from other things that are used in certain spots throughout. JCVD should have skipped this one but he didn't and his fans get treated to this mediocre film. Not his fault of course but as a loyal Van Damme fan myself, even I thought this film was bad. Even if you can get passed the minor gripes and try to enjoy the movie, the editing and effects will make you think twice. Everything looks cheap and shoddy.The bad guys are stereotypical in every form and their deaths in some cases are over-exaggerated. Everybody makes bad films from time to time and this is at the bottom of Van Damme's filmography. It would have been a lot better in someone's else hands who understands how to use Van Damme and his talents correctly. Still just off of Van DAmme alone I'm giving this a 4 out of 10. The movie will pass some time if you are looking to kill some but you will be wondering how this movie derailed so bad.
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no-skyline20 December 2005This is just plain bad, a movie without a single redeeming feature the story is as clichéd as they come imagine Under Siege 2 with added bio-chemical weapons and half the budget. Add some real bad acting from all involved, mix with some cheap MTV style editing that trys to make the film unique but just means you can't see what the hell is going on but then again after 15mins you just wont care whats happening.
I'm going to make a pretty bold statement this is Jean Claude van Dammes worst ever film and thats some statement. J.V.D was never a great actor but he used to make some entertaining enough action flicks (see Kickboxer, Bloodsport etc) but avoid this one like the plague. I don't think there's even one fun action sequence to enjoy.
2/10 - Avoid at all costs. -
Okay, I watched this movie just to see a motorcycle riding on top of a train, and I'm reviewing it only to say that J-C Van D did an impressive job of acting in the couple of scenes right after he loses his son. Other than that, the acting is second-rate, to be kind (and that includes the woman who plays his wife).
I enjoy a movie mainly for plot and clever dialogue. This had none of that, but if action is your thing and acting is not important to you, you might enjoy the ride. The plot deals with biological weapons. Once again, the thugs' cronies have to be out of their minds to give their loyalty and trust. Does money really make you that stupid? These guys never worry that they will not be given the antidote to the germs.
Typically, Van Damme is lured back into the spy business for an important job, and he is not convincing to his wife nor the audience why he "just has to." Everything else was just that typical as well.
But...I stayed for the whole ride, and didn't end up angry over wasting 90 minutes of my life (but maybe that was just the mood I was in). I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but Van Damme fans, and all of them surely will have seen it. -
Chance_Boudreaux197 December 2019This is truly one of the most insane and poorly directed action movies I've ever seen. The sheer incompetence on display from the director and editor is enough to make this possibly the worst movie of JCVD's career in terms of quality. Yet despite all that it is quite entertaining and it could easily have been a 6 from me as its hilariously bad for most of it. However, the problem is with the constant quick cuts which are a big part of the movie. It feels as if there are about 200 cuts per minute in this movie and I am not exaggerating. This brings the movie down a little as it gets very tedious to watch and it's incredibly hard to follow what's going on in certain scenes. The director in general had a clear affinity for trying all the possible camera tricks he could think of; this movie has everything including slow-motion shots, stills, rapid zoom-ins etc. I'm actually planning on seeing more Bob Misiorowski movies to see if they're all as enjoyably terrible. As for Van Damme, this seems to be one of his coke-binge movies and it shows as he just seems very disinterested for most of the movie. He can't be blamed though as he probably knew what this movie was, as did the rest of the cast. Everyone just doesn't care or wonderfully overacts to glorious results. The bad guys are especially hilarious in this as they seemed to have been told to act as if they were in a state of perpetual anger that shows in their facial expressions which just cannot be taken seriously at all. Overall, I recommend any Van Damme fan watches this as it's worth seeing it just to see how insane and incompetent it is.
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gezoes2 September 2002I like action movies in a closed space, like trains, boats, planes etc...if you like that, you might enjoy this. Certainly nothing special, hee! it's JC van D. so LOL, just switch your mind off and enjoy the baddies get it.
Jean Claude plays a, yes, what organisation does he work for anyway? Doesn't matter, a woman spy-like burglar steals a deadly virus for a contracter wich also happens to be JC's hirer. His job: get her on a train to safety running from Slovakia to Munich. There are lots of far better stuck-on-a-train movies but it wasn't that bad. Watch out: GIRLFRIEND SPOILER AHEAD ;).
Lots of things don't work, acting is bad and all that, and the thing that really annoyed me is his family coming on board early in the film to celebrate his birthday!! For Pete's sake! The man has a job to do. WHAT are they doing there! Well, this ensures you can watch this with a lady friend, but I think she will also find it just plain anoying.
Further more, lots of baddies very politely wait for JC to take his badass pose to kick their ass. Nobody seems to think about the AK-47 hanging 'round their neck. I know they can't kill the hero, hehe, but at least give hem a shot....or two ;).
Mostly for Jean Claude van Damme fans but not a very bad action movie. Just don't go to the cinema for it. -
furiousneon28 May 2003This movie isnt one of Van Damme's best. It was a low budget action flick and if you can just get past that(which isnt too hard to do) then you will find yourself having fun. Its a fun movie to watch, it moves along fast and the plot is solid. The best fight scene is with the big russian guy who was also in Maximum Risk. Well this movie is not that bad and in my opinion is worth a watch. For Van Damme fans and anyone else who enjoys a fun action movie. 9/10.
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KHayes66623 April 2005Normally I wouldn't mind criticism of Van Damme's movies, but in this case its justified. Don't get me wrong, its a semi-decent action flick since it was a made for TV movie, but the overall plot basically combines Outbreak with Die Hard. Terrorists hijack a train to steal a virus that gets out and infects everyone.
The overall movie wasn't Van Damme's best work but what the hell, wasn't exactly a major Hollywood production.
The one thing I don't understand was why Mason killed Natasha, sure she infected the whole entire train but you'd think he'd keep her around in case....you know, Van Damme gets away and starts killing Mason's team.
Either way I'm not gonna be too harsh with a rating because it wasn't exactly a Double Impact like script.
6 out of 10 -
biggm12 October 2002...that's best viewed in a beer induced stupor or under mind numbing medication. The impossible plot contrivances are standard issue for low grade action movies (i.e. our hero is tossed off a bullet train by the bad guys...but he's evidently wearing magnetic underwear, as he miraculously manages to hang on).
The action sequences are undermined by quick cuts,dropped frames,and split screens. (This chop chop style belongs is better suited for a Japanese Steak house).
Overall though, it's not a bad time waster that's over before it becomes too tedious. With low expectations, you might enjoy it. -
deltadave66915 November 2002While not the worst movie Van Damme has ever made, it is nothing more than a mediocre entry into the straight-to-video schlock-fest JC finds himself stuck in.
This is not so much a review of the movie, you can see from most of the other posts that this is an Under Seige 2 rip-off, with a little Outbreak thrown in for laughs. This is more a statement of the dreadful path this man's career has taken. This man was so close to becoming a major action star when he had a major brain fade and did Street Fighter. Every movie of his since has tanked at the box office, even the really good ones. After Universal Soldier 2 rolled around to stink up the box office, all his stuff has gone straight-to-video, good or bad. It is a sad testament. Maybe he should team up with a rap artist and make a movie. Hell, it worked for Seagal's career!
Rent it if you are a fan of JCVD, otherwise skip it. -
Gezzerboy16 November 2002Save yourself £3 and dont even bother with this. The stunt scenes are terrible with Van Damme jumping between moving trains on a motor bike. Rubbish storyline and terrible acting doesn't help either. The only bonus is Laura Elena Harring who is a top Bird !!!
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Maziun18 October 2013The actress which play the thief is quite sexy and that's the best thing about this movie. "Derailed" is another clone of "Die hard " with Jean Claude Van Damme instead of Willis and the train instead of skyscraper. There were some good "Die hard" clones – "Under siege" and "Cliffhanger". "Derailed" feels here like a clone of clone of "Die hard" – "Under siege 2" (with a little bit of "Cassandra's crossing"). The problem is that "Under siege 2" was a watchable popcorn , while "Derailed " is a crime against humanity.
The best way to describe "Derailed" is that you should imagine a really good action movie . Now throw to the garbage every element that makes a good action movie a pleasure to watch – quotable dialogue , humor , memorable hero and villains , breathtaking action scenes , decent story and good technical quality (music , editing and so on) . In the end you will have something like "Derailed".
Special effects that probably were made by drunk amateurs . The acting so bad that Van Damme is the best actor in the movie . Editing that doesn't even deserves to be called poor. Action scenes that will make your head hurt . The scene with the motorcycle is one of the worst scenes ever made . You can't SEE ANYTHING . Some bad techno music . Bad dialogues. Dumb story.
Van Damme had some decent movies in his career . This isn't one of them. I give it 1/10. -
claudio_carvalho21 February 2004Jacques Kristoff (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is an agent assigned to protect a woman, who stole a deadly virus in Slovakia, in a travel by train to Munich. His wife, his son and his daughter get in the train without previous notice to make a surprise party for him, as well as a group of terrorists, trying to retrieve the virus. While fighting, the virus is released in a wagon and the passengers get sick. This film is so dreadful that does not deserve much time in writing a review. The effects, dialogs, performances, direction are awful. The screenplay has lots of flaws. The grimace of the black terrorist is ridiculous and pathetic. Van Damme needs to retire. My vote is three.
Title (Brazil): `Agente Biológico' (`Biological Agent') -
wes-connors24 August 2013Austrian secret agent Jean-Claude Van Damme (as Jacques Kristoff) must find tough but sexy Laura Harring (as Galina Konstantin) and bring her back to officials by train. She is the woman stealing something in the opening minutes. It's smallpox virus. Nasty foreign agent Tomas Arana (as Mason Cole) wants to derail the mission. Having vials of smallpox on a train with secret agents and terrorists means danger for the passengers. Also on board is Mr. Van Damme's wife Susan Gibney (as Madeline). Van Damme's real-life son Kristopher Van Varenberg plays his movie son and shows off a couple of martial arts kicks...
"Derailed" should have been a better action thriller. There is a great deal of action, some of it standard and some of it substandard. We should expect that these were the best takes, edited together to make the best possible film. Still, the production looks sloppy. It appears as if editing errors were not taken care of, at some point. Writers weren't alerted to the fact that, if an infected woman was tossed off the train, the world is contaminated. Granted, details may not have been considered important. Probably, the goal was to get the Damme film out to exhibitors and make as much money as possible before word got out.
*** Derailed (5/19/02) Bob Misiorowski ~ Jean-Claude Van Damme, Tomas Arana, Laura Harring, Susan Gibney -
The beginning knocked it off. In 2002 it seems, that we all here in Slovakia drive cars from 1970's, there are red-berets and barbwire everywhere and we hunt mammoths for dinner :-D. Why to create such image of the post-communist country? It's been at least 10 years past the era when this title was in production. Doesn't make sense at all. Not to mention that almost none of the scenes were actually shot in Bratislava (I believe it is Sofia, Bulgaria).
The entire movie is so bad I don't even care for commenting extensively. Inaccurate set, awkward action scenes, poor characters, idiotic story. Full of completely non-sense artificial constructs, shallow and predictable plot. The only thing that made sense here was Jean Claude Van Damme and what you expected of his performance while he attempts to save the day. Otherwise, just bad.
If you value your time, avoid watching this title (which I wouldn't even dare to call a decent movie)! -
movieman_kev5 August 2012Jean-Claude Van Damme vs. terrorists on a train with biological weapons figure into the worst film that Van Damme has ever been in. This movie has it all, atrocious acting, sub- par action scenes, crap special effects, a ridiculously awful story line. There is sincerely nothing that can be salvaged from this train wreck of a film. Fortunately, JCVD would rebound with some pretty good films later on, but that's little solace to the poor soul who has to suffer through this dreadful movie. There are truly not enough words in the English language that can properly convey how much I truly loathe this film. Hell, I'm surprised that The Asylum didn't put this one out (yes it's THAT bad)
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zaltman_bleros19 January 2003Rent this film only if you want to see how bad it is and how low Van Damme has sunk. Replicant was still a decent film but Derailed is just about the worst Van Damme movie and one of the worst films I've seen in my life. As you know by now it's an Under Siege 2 clone with Van Damme trying to bring back some good fight scenes from his earlier films. There is a scene where he fights a la Maximum Risk (elevator scene) which sucks. The special effects...made by ILM's rejects and the acting reminds me of how bad I acted in highschool drama lessons. This movie is bad, it reminds me of Adrenalin (with Christopher Lambert)...just want to press fastforward but force yourself not too because you paid nearly 4 euro to see it and want to make it worth the rent.
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liammurphy114 August 2003This film is actually pretty good, admmitedly Van Damme's not as young as he used to be, he looks pretty rough and his popularity like Steven Seagal's is slipping - well in the UK anyway - since his last few movies have gone direct to video, but he does very well in this -his latest action movie.
Yes, it's a rip-off of Seagal's UNDER SIEGE 2 and is familiar to anyone who has seen 'THE CASSANDRA CROSSING'& the late Robert Urich's 'FINAL RUN' But is actually much better and more fun to watch than any of these put together.
The movie is very stylish & the acting by all concerned is at least fairly good - the direction is first rate and the tension builds up very nicely and keeps you on the edge of the seat even though it's pretty predictable .The script goes through all the 'Runaway Train & deadly diseases' 'we're all gonna die' cliches. but I'ts still very good and enjoyable.
For a Video only release it's much better than most mind numbing crap that get's into cinema's
DON'T TAKE ANY NOTICE OF THE REVIEWERS THAN WRITE THIS FILM OFF! IT'S A BIT OF LOW-BUDGET ACTION FUN FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!!!
Rating:-
Action & suspense 9/10 Direction 9/10 Script 6/10 Acting 7/10 effects 8/10
Overall 8/10
RENT IT OR BUY IT!
YOU WON'T REGRET IT!!!! -
jonsimon-132-13205225 August 2018I'm a big Jean Claude van damme fan and i enjoyed this a solid effort.
Nicely directed, editing is fine, action as well. Simple story to follow, but this type has been done so many times before. Decent casting and supporting cast is fine.
The only thing was special effects weren't great they were alright but could have been better to be honest.
Overall a reasonable action film. -
moviecollector16 October 2002Yes the plot has been done before - UNDER SIEGE 2, but this still was a decent movie. The dialogue isnt too bad in this movie, the main problems with the movie is the heavy amount use of CGI. You can just tell when the actors stood in front a green screen. :( The editing at times was choppy as well & kind of let me wondering what happened to certain characters. But Van Damme really needs to avoid movies like these, that have been done plenty of times before. Otherwise, its worth seeing & I'll be getting it in my video collection soon, since I am a big Van Damme fan. :)