In Russia, the American engineer Kyle LeBlanc (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is temporarily working overseas in a steel mill. His wife Grey LeBlanc (Marnie Alton) and him are in love for each other and Kyle intends to spend some vacation days together with her on the beach. However, Grey is raped and killed by a man when Kyle is coming back home. The killer is arrested, but the corrupt Russian judge absolves him. Kyle makes justice with his own hands and shoots the assassin in the building of the tribunal. He is judged and sent to a life sentence without parole in a violent and corrupt Russian prison. There, he has a journey to hell with his body, fighting a contest called "sparka', and soul, through his rage. His redemption emerges through the memory of his wife. The theme `prison' is very commercial and I do not know how many movies I have seen about brutal prisons: `Midnight Express', `Brubaker', `Undisputed', `The Last Castle', `Mean Machine', `Lock Up' immediately pops in my memory. `Hell' is another good movie about prison, and certainly one of the best of Van Damme filmography. Although being full of clichés, the story is not bad. The choreographies of the fights are very well executed. Even Van Damme has a good performance as a man who becomes blind by his rage and fights against his own demons looking for redemption. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): `Hell'
Title (Brazil): `Hell'