A company sends its employees on a team building vacation to a deserted island and a crazy instructor played by Jean Claude Van Damme in Welcome to the Jungle. Review after the jump.
It only seems like a couple of months ago when we reviewed Van Damme’s last film, in fact it was just a couple of months ago when we reviewed Van Damme’s last film. Enemies Closer was a bad watch, so we had high hopes for Welcome to the Jungle.
In short, it’s okay. Better than Enemies Closer, but way off from Van Damme’s better movies.
A team who don’t work as a team are sent to a team building exercise on an island along with Van Damme’s Storm – an eccentric former Navy Seal. They soon find themselves stranded after the death of their elderly pilot and the group split up, much like the story The Lord of the Flies. Van Damme’s character even mentions the book during a campfire gathering. This is no serious action thriller though, no, this is a comedy film that isn’t really funny. 
Shot pretty amateurishly with a script made up of (mostly) unfunny “comedy”, Welcome to the Jungle is barely watchable and only saved by Jean Claude Van Damme once again. The Belgian has great screen presence and still looks in top shape, but he can also act, something that many critics overlook. He was the best thing in Enemies Closer, The Expendables 2 and now this. We still wish that he is given the chance to star in another well-directed and written action film to relive the moments we felt when we watched Timecop, Bloodsport, Double Impact and Kickboxer for the first time.
Welcome to the Jungle feels like a bad episode of The Office for most. Something that doesn’t quite work. Don’t get me wrong though, it isn’t a totally awful film, some of the acting isn’t bad and Adam Brody makes for a likeable lead, it just doesn’t hit the target for which it was intended, which in turn is a shame.
Overall Thoughts:
A comedy film, Welcome to the Jungle is okay for a one-time watch but nothing else. Van Damme and Adam Brody are decent, but the script and direction lack purpose.
