.... For all the wrong reasons
I saw AWOL as it's known in Britain several years ago when it was broadcast on TV . Storywise it is - As you'd expect from a Jean Claude Van Damme star vehicle - very poor and threadbare . Van Damme is Lyon Gaultier a French foreign legion soldier who on finding his brother has been killed by gangsters flees to America to save his sister in law and nephew from a massive medical bill and becomes a bare knucklefighter
It sounds rather tedious and it is but what made it so entertaining is the way the TV company censored all the swear words . This was very rare at the time of broadcast and is almost totally unknown on network television these days . I have never liked this type of censorship before but for AWOL it actually improved the movie . Check this sample of dialogue from one of the fighters : " Hey you're kind of pretty . I don't know whether to fight you or kiss you " If you've ever seen RAGING BULL you'll know what the original line was . If you've seen this version of AWOL you'll still know what the original line was because the actors continually mouth obscenties at one another and you can quite clearly see their dialogue doesn't match their mouth movement
!!!!! SPOILER !!!!!
And it's impossible to believe that such a violent foul mouthed movie can have such an upbeat happy ending but it does . After winning his final fight Lyon is arrested by his former CO and is driven away . The commanding officer turns to Lyon" Do you love her Gaultier ? " Lyon nods . The officer stops the car " Then go to her Gaultier " Lyon exits the car and runs into the arms of his sister in law which led me to think if their wasn't so much violence and bad language the producers could have easily marketed this as a family film
I saw AWOL as it's known in Britain several years ago when it was broadcast on TV . Storywise it is - As you'd expect from a Jean Claude Van Damme star vehicle - very poor and threadbare . Van Damme is Lyon Gaultier a French foreign legion soldier who on finding his brother has been killed by gangsters flees to America to save his sister in law and nephew from a massive medical bill and becomes a bare knucklefighter
It sounds rather tedious and it is but what made it so entertaining is the way the TV company censored all the swear words . This was very rare at the time of broadcast and is almost totally unknown on network television these days . I have never liked this type of censorship before but for AWOL it actually improved the movie . Check this sample of dialogue from one of the fighters : " Hey you're kind of pretty . I don't know whether to fight you or kiss you " If you've ever seen RAGING BULL you'll know what the original line was . If you've seen this version of AWOL you'll still know what the original line was because the actors continually mouth obscenties at one another and you can quite clearly see their dialogue doesn't match their mouth movement
!!!!! SPOILER !!!!!
And it's impossible to believe that such a violent foul mouthed movie can have such an upbeat happy ending but it does . After winning his final fight Lyon is arrested by his former CO and is driven away . The commanding officer turns to Lyon" Do you love her Gaultier ? " Lyon nods . The officer stops the car " Then go to her Gaultier " Lyon exits the car and runs into the arms of his sister in law which led me to think if their wasn't so much violence and bad language the producers could have easily marketed this as a family film