Double Team

Right now you can watch Double Team on Crave — and it goes further with its ideas than most genre entertainment bothers to. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. With 847 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Watch it for Jean-Claude Van Damme — the performance elevates material that could easily tip into self-seriousness. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Crave.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, Double Team is worth clearing space for. Double Team uses its genre premise as cover for asking bigger questions. A CIA agent is interned for failing to kill an international terrorist. Escaping from his island exile, he teams up with a flamboyant arms dealer and sets out to find the terrorist and rescue the agent's family. Together they're a two-man arsenal... Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 1997. The world-building is meticulous enough to sustain multiple rewatches, with details early on that only make sense later. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Double Team is satisfying on multiple levels — something to watch and something to think about after. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Watch for Jean-Claude Van Damme in particular — the performance elevates the material. Satisfying on multiple levels.