Legionnaire

Jim Carter

Lucien Galgani

**Jean-Claude Van Damme adventure in the Moroccan desert** In 1925, a boxer in Marseille (Van Damme) makes some big enemies and so joins the French Foreign Legion in which he’s assigned to Morocco during the Rif war to defend a desert outpost against Abd el Krim’s Berber guerillas. “Legionnaire” (1998) begins like “The Cotton Club” (1984) before settling into a plot reminiscent of “The Dirty Dozen” (1967) with the North African milieu of “March or Die” (1977) or “Khartoum” (1966), not to mention an ending similar to “The Alamo” (1960). Like “The Flight of the Phoenix” (1965) and “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), this is a movie involving the challenges of sweaty men in the vast, beautiful desert. As such, don’t look for many, if any, women in the proper cast, although Ana Sofrenovic has a small role. While this lacks the martial arts action of most Van Damme flicks, there are plenty of fights and military combat. The opening sequence in Marseilles is well done and the desert cinematography is both colorful and breathtaking. I was expecting a low-budget affair, but was impressed by the production values. Although not a blockbuster, it cost $20 million in 1997 when it was shot, which is nothing to sneeze at. Unfortunately, the story isn’t as dramatically compelling as “The Dirty Dozen,” “The Flight of the Phoenix,” “Lawrence of Arabia” or “The Alamo.” The script needed another rewrite or two to flesh out some depth. As it is, a couple of the villains are too comic booky and the black character (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who’s stalwart in the role) is the cliched American that’s (supposedly) ever so hurt by white American society. It smacks of Lib Hollywood propaganda and is just hackneyed & eye-rolling. The film runs 1 hours, 39 minutes, and was shot in Morocco. GRADE: B-