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Hong Kong action genre craftsman Tsui Hark directed this martial arts tale, his second collaboration with actor Jean-Claude Van Damme after Double Team (1997). Van Damme stars as Marcus Ray, a Hong Kong fashion designer who specializes in “knock-offs,” cheaply produced jeans and sneakers meant to look like major-label merchandise. With his new partner Tommy Hendricks (Rob Schneider), Marcus hopes to go legit and put his shady past behind him, but Tommy is really an undercover CIA agent investigating the smuggling of mini-bombs in Marcus’ products. An unwitting pawn in a scheme concocted by the KGB and Tommy’s CIA superior Johanson (Paul Sorvino), Marcus must clear his name and save his company. His quest to do so becomes even more complicated when local authorities link him to a murder and a vice-president, Karen (Lela Rochon), arrives from Marcus’ parent company to investigate discrepancies in his bookkeeping. Knock Off is based on a script by Steven E. de Souza, author of 48 Hrs. (1982) and Die Hard (1988).
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