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Second in Command
Directed by	Simon Fellows
Starring	Jean-Claude Van Damme
Release date(s)	2006
Running time	91 min.
Country	U.S.A. / Romania
Language	English
IMDb profile

Second in Command is a 2006 action film directed by Simon Fellows, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. It was released direct-to-video in the United States, Belgium, and Germany on May 2, 2006. It has been rated R by the MPAA for violence and some language. The film was made in Bucharest, Romania.

Sam Keenan (Van Damme) is a government official who's just been appointed second-in-command for an American embassy in the fictional Eastern European nation of Moldavia. Immediately upon arrival, Keenan encounters protesters, mostly Communists, who are upset at the election of Yuri Amirev, the country's new president.

The Communist militia, led by Tavarov, obtains a truckload of artillery outside the presidential palace in an effort to overthrow the new government, and the president's secretary of state's orders to shoot one of the protesters only makes the scene even more unsafe. Amirev calls on the U.S. embassy for refuge, and Keenan and a small team of diplomats making a daring transfer.

Once President Amirev is at the embassy, the militia soon follows, and Keenan finds that his small team of Marines is heavily outnumbered, so the U.S. Army is called on for support.

As the embassy awaits the arrival of support, the story becomes reminiscent of The Alamo, in which Keenan must fend off the militia while facing constant second-guessing from diplomat Frank Gaines, and some from actual first-in-command Capt. John Baldwin. Keenan's strategies will affect him personally too, as his British journalist girlfriend Michelle is taken hostage, and he also must keep her away from harm from the militia, who frequently target journalists.

In his last attempt to take out the U.S. Embassy, Tavarov retreats as the Army has returned from the woods in North of Maldovia. Found out that the most-trusted General had betrayed the President and joins the militia attacking the Embassy. Luckily for Sam, that while he is battling hand-to-hand with Tavarov, U.S. Air Force Helicopters arrived and destroy all the militia's vehicles.

• Jean-Claude Van Damme as Sam Keenan
• William Tapley as Frank Gaines
• Julie Cox as Michelle Whitman
• Alan Mckenna as Frank Baldwin
• Razvan Oprea as Devereaux
• Serban Celea as President Yuri Amirev
• Razaaq Adoti as GSgt. Earl "Gunny" Darnell
• Warren Derosa as Mike Shustec

• Second in Command at the Internet Movie Database