Knock Off
Metascore
37 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 13 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 13
  3. Negative: 6 out of 13
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  1. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    0
    It's amazing how boring an action movie can be when there's absolutely no point to all of the sound and fury.
  2. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    30
    Hong Kong action pioneer Tsui Hark is in high form here, tricking out the bare-bones story with disorienting camera angles, trick photography and virtuoso action sequences.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    58
    Van Damme and his cronies (including Lela Rochon, Paul Sorvino, and, for no immediately graspable reason, Rob Schneider as Van Damme's rabbity sidekick) race, speed, shoot, chop, and zip through scenes of such festive mayhem, plot is a clunky afterthought, like a lopsided fake Prada label on a cheap nylon knapsack.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    80
    It's fast, light and funny and not top-heavy with special effects and epic-scale destruction.
  5. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    70
    Essentially just an above-average Hong Kong action movie, but as such, it's still far better than just about anything else Van Damme has done.
  6. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    70
    Though the jokey lines seem out of place, the somber tone of this 1998 action movie makes the political subtext -- nearly obscured by the expected double crosses, extravagant destruction, and incongruous-buddies shtick -- more sincere and less grandiose than usual.
  7. Variety
    Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    70
    Working from a formulaic script by Steven E. De Souza, Hark employs a variety of visual stratagems to keep the action fast and flashy.
  8. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    10
    A stunningly lethargic, uninvolving piece of crap.
  9. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Bob Graham
    25
    The ridiculous complications might have worked if there had been an awareness of how absurd they are.
  10. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Van Gelder
    50
    Knock Off runs breathlessly over land and water in familiar comic book fashion, offering more action than sense and next to nothing in the way of suspense, humor or romance.
  11. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Russell Smith
    40
    In essence, the whole Knock Off experience can be summed up neatly in four words: loud, stupid, blurry, frenetic.
  12. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: Edvins Beitiks
    25
    An amusement park special, screaming from start to finish with no brakes, no plot and no acting to speak of.
  13. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: John Haslett Cuff
    0
    The plot is as incomprehensible as the dubbing and many of the special effects are neither special nor effective.

User Reviews

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User Score
5.2 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1
  1. JohnW.
    1
    SPOILER ALERT!!! I have only two words to say about this movie: Exploding Pants.
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