User reviews

Well this is a low budget starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Do you enjoy his other low budget movies? If you do, you will probably enjoy this one. It ain't any special, and Van Damme has better movies even in his post 2010 resume, but its competent and does the job. Lundgren has a rather small role despite being showcase on the cover as much as Van Damme. I wouldn't say its a cameo but his screen time is small. The other main actresses does a fair job with her character as well.

I would say honestly its a rather competent spy/action movie with a decent plot and enough action to keep you interested. Its aimed at the fans of Van Damme before anything else wich i am.

I am a big van damme fan, I enjoy most of his b-movies. This one was not very good. Bad fighting, it was like van damme was fighting like an old man. Not much lundgren in the movie either, just a small side role. A forgettable C-movie, I just enjoy seeing JCVD in action because I am a fan.

By the way, 2 years before the movie van damme did "Jean-Claude Van Johnson" series, that was JCVD in his best performance ever, watch that instead!

There's probably just enough here to please fans of Van Damme and Lundgren, but it's not a big stand out entry in either of their later careers. That said It is still well worth watching. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 2/20/2021

Everything about this movie is grade C, from props, sets, direction, story, action etc. If anything it is trying to bring Van Damme back to life but unfortunately there is not much of that left in him. The guy can hardly move now and so should avoid attempting to relive his past. Unrealistic shootouts and action scenes seal the fate of this movie.

This movie had some moment but did not succeed entirely in delivering What you want from these two...

Storyline is a bit messy and that is mostly What drawed me away from the movie from time to time

Lundgren has a good role but is not in the movie enough.

Van damme looks like he is getting to old for that type of Roles.. i means please understand i like Van damme but maybe he should be getting roles like R.E.D with Willis

Its not like i would stop Anybody to watch This i actually Think you should if you are a fan of these two. Its still great fun to see your childhood heroes onscreen...

Mostly of the cast was trying to hard...

Van Damme remains likable even looking beat up and half-way over the hill from the start; in his classic style he takes a beating but can't be stopped. Wonder how long he thinks he can play opposite these young tasty chicks. There's no real "acting" per se as all the characters are pretty much hyper-idiotic; Dolph's part is relatively small but adds a fun element and another half way over-the-hill anti-hero. Entertains mostly as a spoof/parody.

In appreciating and evaluating "Black Water", you need to make some nuances. If you are a fan of JCVD and Dolph Lundgren, there's no doubt you'll at least applaud the concept of this flick and appreciate what they are trying to do here. But you'll also be all the more disappointed, as the movie does not live up to it's excellent set-up. Largely because of what seems to me an overall lack of funds: the set, the writing, direction, and the vast majority of actors are sadly sub-par, bringing the movie down to something painfully average at best. That doesn't mean it's not enjoyable as an action flick, especially if you're a fan of Van Damme or Lundgren. But it has some painful flaws that actively hurt the viewing experience and in no way does it live up to the very hype concept.

So, what's good and what's bad? The short opening scene is extremely pleasing and exciting. It's mysterious and has a slight horror-aspect to it, kind of like Pound of Flesh with Van Damme. But it's also amusing thanks to Lundgren's character, which was obviously a role written with him in mind. And above all it gets you pumped for a good action flick with two icons. Are JCVD and Lundgren going to have to escape an under water jail? Is this going to be Death Warrant meets Under Siege meets The Expendables? Whoever thought of the basic idea for this movie, knows what's up: this is exactly the kind of concept you want for a cool old school action movie with a few of your favourite old action stars.

Sadly the second scene, which is a flashback to how Van Damme ended up where he is, is one of the worst in the entire film. It involves one of the weakest aspects of this movie: the shoot-outs. This scene was supposed to be a big action-packed shoot-out, with an emotional finale. Sadly it doesn't deliver anything: it's boring, has next to no cool action moments. It just feels ridiculous and unbelievable, and not in a good funny way. The gun-action feels uninspired and has no impact.

This movie feels like a really good idea executed poorly. You could blame the director, the cast, or whoever's in charge of casting, or the set. But I think we should just blame the budget. If this had been a big budget film the action scenes, the cast, ... all those aspects would have been way better. The movie does have some good moments, and it's in these moments that you feel what this movie should have been. What this movie needs? 1: Re-writing of the scenes and especially the action scenes. I KNOW Van Damme has still got it. Why doesn't he do cool looking kicks in this film? 2: a better, more impactful villain, 3: more screen-time with Lundgren, 4: better actors for the crew and female agents.

I still love the idea and attempt. I love that Van Damme still makes movies. Because of that, and because it was in the end 'okay' for the most part, I still gave it a 7/10 through nostalgic glasses. I would recommend watching it at least once, it will likely give you some enjoyment and laughs, but don't go in expecting a great revival of old-school action. For that the action itself is too lacking, not to mention the other flaws.

REVIEW - BLACK WATER

2 of the most famous action / martial arts stars team up for this, what promises to be an all action 90+ minutes of fights.

But........

The film credits for the 2 stars in this film are impressive beyond belief, with every film from Rocky to Timecop being a fight and action master class, unfortunately this film doesn't even come close to any of the previous films made by Van Damned or Lungdren.

In fact the action doesn't even really start until an hour into the film.

Most disappointing of all was the poor screen time Lungdren had, only really coming into the mildly interesting story very late into the film itself.

Without trying to give too much away, correct me if I and wrong, but a submarine is basically a long tin can which goes underwear and usually comprises of one central long corridor with rooms to the bow, stern, port and starboard.

The sheer amount of gun fire being exchanged! Enough said.

Mildly interesting story, poor action, shoddy submarine and honestly not their best by far.

Rating 4 out of 10

One for JCVD/80s action fans for sure, but this film really delivered a whole lot more than I was expecting!

It's a little slow to begin with, not due to lack of action, but because the storyline takes a little while to develop. Just accept 'Good Guys vs Bad Guys' and then you can enjoy the story. The plot is fast paced and keeps you interested until the very end, and for the most part the acting is at a good enough standard. Visually it is quite impressive, which is a shock considering other non-blockbusters categorised alongside this one.

Martial arts and gun fights galore, this is really all you'd expect from this genre. The suggested split billing of Van Damme and Lundgren is very misleading, this is 100% a JCVD film with Lundgren popping up along the way. They're cheesy together, yes, but the chemistry is good.

Finally, don't expect any reality. I'm not an expert on submarines, but I'm pretty sure that amount of machine gun fire is less than ideal for ones integrity.

Van damme is really starting to show signs of wear and tear. He can't show off those impressive kicks that we remember from the early 90's and he still hasn't figured out how to change his tone of voice to match the emotion of the moment, but they picked the right co-star in Dolph Lundgren. It appears to me that Dolph has really been working on his acting lately. I could watch his acting all day, and watching this movie was a reminder to me of what made The Expendables such an epic action flick! The plot twists were a lot more interesting than other movies I've seen. Sure there's a lot of cheesy moments but it all adds to the entertainment of it all! I give it a 7/10

I've never seen such a ridiculous movie in my life. The guys were machine-gunning inside the submarine, the woman was shot through the flames, and continued the film through to the end. Damme, with that scene of not being able to see, used it 3 times. Tough history, no plot, no good pictures, no nexus. A trash. Damme did a bad job with this movie, it was a very close career.

What drew me into seeing 'Black Water' in the first place? The reasonably likeable cast, a potentially intriguing story and that it was part of my low budget completest quest and popped up in my recommended for you section. Was also a bit apprehensive, with a less than favourable rating and generally reviews that were lukewarm at best.

'Black Water', when checking it out, certainly could have been much worse. There are definitely worse films about, of the genre and overall. Is it a good film let alone a great one? Not even close. Did it use its potential? No. Is it that bad? Not quite. Does it has redeeming qualities? Yes, but not many. To me, while having learnt not to trust ratings and not worry about going against the grain (though am in the minority here who respects critics opinions and tend to be on the same, or slightly above or below, page as them), the rating is about right and do have to agree with the criticisms here.

Dolph Lundgren is fun to watch and the main reason as to why 'Black Water' wasn't any worse, Lundgren being the best thing of the film.

Some of the story intrigued at the promising start and the music while not the most memorable is at least listenable.

Unfortunately, Jean Claude Van Damme looks fatigued and goes through the motions, he didn't look interested at all or look like he wanted to be there. None of the characters are developed enough and are very difficult to get behind. 'Black Water' looks cheap, especially the badly organised and sometimes incomprehensible editing and catastrophically awful visual effects, so fake looking and doesn't blend well with the setting at all. The action is both dull and chaotic, there is nothing exciting and it's choreographed with no enthusiasm or finesse.

The script is too talky and has no tautness, the pace is flabby and the story gets far too complicated with the twists not being that much of a surprise. The direction seemed indicative of lack of experience or ease.

Overall, not horrendous but severely lacking in many areas. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I grew up watching bloodsport, kickboxer, double impact and the late 80s and early 90s van damme classics but now I struggle to watch his newer stuff, I'd say his last film that was half decent was probably assassination games and that wasn't the best but watchable...still think he's a legend tgough

I gave 5 just for the history of Van Damme & Lundgrin... NOTHING ELSE.

When two legends like these perform they need to pick the best of work team; director, producer, support team..etc

Shame to have such a movie.. Better after watching this nonsense to hurry and watch something from the back golden movies of them and hope to forget what was in, call it any thing but movie, Black Water

The whole movie was like actores and team of young studies final year project.. Amateurs, no experience, no scenario, no dialogue, no story, unbelievable/not logic acting, fake fake fake.

Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren underemployed in a boring Z movie action flick. Everything about this movie is bad!

CIA games within games - and we're all fed up trying to follow any logic there.

Comes down to two of our favourite action men, Jean Claude and Dolph. One with hidden reserves and a great fight-back personally, and the other unexpectedly smart.

So it's a bit of a romp, and that's why we watch it. We already know that the baduns can't shoot straight - Sylvester taught us that - so don't quibble with the action. Sure, Jean Claude caught one in a neck triangle - what more do you want?.

But ask yourself, if either of the leads figure this is worth their time allocation who are we to argue - and you'll have to try hard to beat a 160 IQ in the argument!!.

'Black Water' really surprised me. It's easily one of the best entries in the filmography of its two stars in this decade. Comparisons to the old days are quite useless, because I wouldn' expect someone who is almost 60 to put his foot in other people's faces a lot - apparently some fans do, and that's the bunch with the low ratings. The movie does not feature any kicks, look elsewhere for that. Instead, 'Black Water' is an intense thriller with psychological tension (okay, and a lot of ammo used as well). Agents from different sides are locked in a submarine with their enemies, some may be double agents, most of them don't tell the truth, so the captain and many others have a hard time guessing who is on who's side - and then, in the extremely narrow space, chases and deadly shoot-outs take place.

Jean-Claude Van Damme as Wheeler is the hero here, while Dolph Lundgren as Marco is a prisoner whom Wheeler releases although he doesn't know anything about him, believing "my enemies' enemy is my friend - probably" which is a good example of how the movie never lets his characters walk on safe ground. Small grudges like the embarassing love scene aside, a good movie that did not need a big budget due to its confined location (almost completely taking place inside the submarine) and a clever script.

I just watch it for Jasmine Walz as Agent Cass. She was a 10 in everything - performance, looks, chapter development, character depth, etc... The movie was okay, sort of unbelievable if you ask me but I guess the CIA and it field agents becoming criminals, enemies, etc.. is the standard plot that sort of began with Borne Identity and continues to the present day. I gave it a 7 because there were interesting elements in it that you have to watch. The two superstars Van Damme and Lundgren were good but I like Lundgren acting much better in Blackwater. All in all, it was not over the top type of movie and action was minimum till the end.

Horrible movie in every possible way and waste of time. Feels and looks like some kind of school project.

And if you hope that this goes into category "so bad that it is funny", you are most likely going to be disappointed.