`Death Warrant' Is A Prison Film That's Just As Nasty As Can Be

X 1/2 ``Death Warrant,'' with Jean-Claude Van Damme, Robert Guillaume, Cynthia Gibb, George Dickerson, Patrick Kilpatrick. Directed by Deran Sarafian, from a script by David S. Goyer. Alderwood, Everett Mall, Factoria, Oak Tree Cinemas, Parkway Plaza, Seatac Mall, Varsity. Rated ``R,'' due to language, nudity, extreme violence.

Actually, ``Jean-Claude Gets Entirely Naked and Is Chained to the Floor'' might be a better title for this one.

He also gets his T-shirt ripped off twice (once when it's wet) by the same man. And he has his life saved by a transvestite prostitute who lives in the cellar of the prison where he is on undercover assignment. Which may make ``Death Warrant'' the ultimate closet-case movie.

Its pumped-up macho violence is filled with nervous winks at the homosexual activity that thrives in every corner of the Los Angeles prison where former Canadian Mountie Louis Burke (Van Damme) has been sent to track down a mysterious series of killings. His cellmate wants to exchange sexual favors for permission to sleep in the lower bunk. Sadistic prison guards (what other kind are there?) advise him, as he dons his prison togs, ``People will try to hurt you, rob you, even rape you.''

Why is he just the man for this threatening job?

Because he's from Quebec, according to his boss Tom Vogler (George Dickerson). Being French Canadian, says Tom, will stop anyone from recognizing him.

Helping Burke out on his assignment is Amanda Beckett (Cynthia Gibb), just out of law school. Posing as his wife, she acts as his liaison with the outside world. Once she learns not to wear dress-for-success clothes on prison visits, she does just fine.

Also on Burke's team is a Bud Cort-like computer nerd who has the hots for Amanda and who finds out that being disease-free and having a useful blood type can be fatal in this particular prison. A shortage of organ donors may be connected to all the ``medical waste'' that is leaving the prison.

``Death Warrant'' has two colors: dark red, dark blue. It has two moods: brooding and brutal. It makes prison look more attractive by adding fog machines and then filming everything in slow motion.

It's also as nasty as it can be. Deaths by incineration, strangulation, spikes in the head and, oh yes, bullets come every 10 minutes or so. Not that the prisoners are entirely to blame.

Jean-Claude is put to the test. He's asked to kiss a circular saw-blade. He is assaulted with knives, giant wrenches and plain old-fashioned fists.

Director Deran Sarafian (``To Die For'') denies Van Damme the pleasure of delivering the movie's two zaniest lines: ``Wakey, wakey, time to bleed'' and ``We have to keep the bad parts of our lives private.'' And he makes ``Death Warrant'' 's plot twists so shopworn, you can see them a mile off. (How about a movie where corruption, just for once, didn't start at the top? And why not throw in prison guard with a heart of gold while you're at it?)

Still, Sarafian gives ``Death Warrant'' some special touches, such as a pimp in a red leather fez (Abdul Salaam El Razzac) who runs a transvestite brothel in the cellar of the prison. Also, Jean-Claude fights against racism at the same time that he fights against mass-murder plots. Hawkins (Robert Guillaume) is his half-blind pal who helps him break down the prison's racial barriers.

If it takes might to make right, well then, that just can't be helped.

Kickboxing, of course, saves the day.

Hang on to your liver.