The Shepherd: Border Patrol

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Shepherd: Border Patrol" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article lacks context for non-watchers of the film. Please review the Manual of Style for films and help improve this article. (October 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Shepherd: Border Patrol
Official DVD cover
Directed by	Isaac Florentine
Written by	Cade Courtley Joe Gayton
Produced by	Moshe Diamant Gilbert Dumontet
Starring	Jean-Claude Van Damme Natalie J. Robb Stephen Lord Stacie Errico Gary McDonald Bianca Van Varenberg
Cinematography	Douglas Milsome
Edited by	Irit Raz
Music by	Mark Sayfritz
Production company	Stage 6 Films
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release date	March 4, 2008 (2008-03-04)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$13 million

The Shepherd: Border Patrol (also known simply as The Shepherd) is a 2008 American action film directed by Isaac Florentine. It stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, with a supporting cast of Natalie J. Robb, Stephen Lord, Gary McDonald, Scott Adkins and Van Damme's real life daughter Bianca Van Varenberg. The film was released on direct-to-DVD in the United States on March 4, 2008.

A former New Orleans cop Jack Robideaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) arrives with his pet rabbit in Columbus, New Mexico to take a job with the border patrol, and working with Captain Ramona García (Natalie J. Robb).

At the moment, the border patrol is up against a highly dangerous drug smuggling operation, in which the smugglers are funneling illegal immigrants and bricks of heroin through the porous defenses of the Mexico US border. Migrants are randomly outfitted with C4 vests, so any border patrol agent who interferes might get blown up.

As it turns out, the smugglers are a rogue special forces unit led by Benjamin Meyers (Stephen Lord) and his right-hand man Karp (Scott Adkins), who have taken over all of the smuggling operations in the area by killing major drug kingpins Félix Néstor (Daniel Perrone) and Benito Ortiz (Luis Algar).

Jack and his partner Billy Pawnell (Gary McDonald) have their work cut out for them in trying to bring down Meyers and his operation. Myers and his henchmen take over and rig a missionary bus to smuggle drugs, but Jack and Billy pursue them across the border, out of their jurisdiction, where Jack is arrested by the local police, who are working for Meyers.

Once Jack is transferred from a Mexican jail to Meyers's compound, it turns out Billy is working for Meyers, who has also kidnapped Ramona and her uncle Emile (Dan Davies). Meyers kills Emile by throwing him into a pool of water charged by live wires.

It turns out that Jack has a personal reason for going after Meyers, as Meyers's drugs killed Jack's daughter, Kassie (Bianca Van Varenberg) about three months ago. Kassie was 16 years old. Jack's pet rabbit was originally Kassie's rabbit, and he carries it around in memory of Kassie. He also swore on her grave to take down whatever drug operation he could find.

Meanwhile, Jack and Ramona manage to free themselves and kill Billy. Ramona calls for help from Mexican police, and she and Jack start fighting their way through Meyers's men. Ramona goes to find an escape vehicle, but is knocked out in a car crash.

Next, Jack is confronted by Karp, who is a martial arts expert. They fight, and Karp brutally kicks Jack in the head, effectively slowing him down. Jack, however, manages to overpower Karp and beats him to death. Meyers, whose potential investors have abandoned him, confronts Jack and is about to shoot him when Jack throws an explosive collar toward Meyers and detonates it. In the ending scene, Ramona advises Jack to go back to New Orleans with his wife.

The Shepherd: Border Patrol was filmed in Bulgaria for 47 days between 6 February and 25 March 2007.

DVD was released in Region 1 in the United States on March 4, 2008, and also Region 2 in the United Kingdom on 7 July 2008, it was distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

• The Shepherd: Border Patrol at IMDb