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71 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Astonishing Masterpiece, February 4, 2009
Now like many I too accept that Jean Claude Van Damme isn't the greatest actor in the world. He's an action hero after all and much like Steven Seagal, he's someone we wouldn't usually expect a 5 star acting performance from. He's just used to kicking people in the head and looking all attractive whilst doing so. Now he's older and currently a man who's career was absolutely dying a death, at least until this film was made and now he has the possibility to be back on form and revive his career as a more serious actor.
So what makes this film different from all the rest? I hear you ask. Well for one he's not playing some clichéd character who you end up shouting "kick his head off" at. He's actually playing himself in a fictional setting and as strange as it sounds it actually allows him to display much more acting talent than you would have first thought.
So what's the film about? I hear you secondly ask. Well, JCVD's life isn't going too well and is constantly in battle to win movie roles but is constantly beaten by his rival Steven Seagal. His wife has divorced him and is in legal battles for the right to have access to his daughter. He also has quite a few tax and money troubles to boot, so to escape his troubles he decides to go home to his native Belgium only this isn't as peaceful as he'd hoped.
Upon his arrival in Belgium he goes into a Post Office, and after his fans tell a local policeman that the legendary Jean Claude Van Damme is home and in the local post office. Then out of nowhere a gunshot rings from the post office sending people into a panic and shocked that it turns out to be the movie star himself holding up the post office, or is it?
Well what entails is a film about hostage negotiation and a traumatic movie star life that is topped off with a difficult situation. It's not the typical JCVD film as it contains very little fighting karate style, but the film is made truly special with the defining monologue. Roughly half way through the film, JCVD is brought away from the story and the film in quite a strange style that allows him to deliver a monologue that gives the impression it comes straight from the heart. He talks about his life and career and how he wants to be remembered as a more serious actor. I got the impression that a lot of the monologue although in a scripted movie, was actually improvised or at least written by JCVD himself.
I would highly recommend this film to any JCVD and non-JCVD fan as it's truly his best work to date. This is seriously a possible breakthrough movie for him to bring his career back up to speed and rather than continuing to star in "straight to DVD" movies like this one, sadly, he may be given more movies that start in the cinema and give him a wider appeal as the man is still a name that captures peoples interests.
Get it, you wont be disappointed.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kicks Just Keep Gettin' Harder to Find, May 14, 2009
JCVD is just what all the other reviews claim, it is a tour de force for Jean-Claude Van Damme the actor. If you're renting this expecting anything at all in the way of action then you are going to be extremely disappointed because apart from the opening scene (which turns out to be a scene from a movie he is supposedly filming) there is a total of two kicks, an elbow, and maybe a punch. I think that perhaps as Van Damme nears 50 has realized that his career as an action star is living on borrowed time and that this film might serve as his calling card to the world of serious film-makers, at least in Europe. And it definitely does that in a most impressive fashion. With the making of this film the Muscles from Brussles proves himself to be undoubtedly the most talented thespian of all kwailo martial artists, and probably most Asian martial artists as well. Here he presents himself as amiable-- though world weary, down trodden, and scrambling to hold together the last vestiges of his fading career, and he does so very convinvcingly. Its been said that the most difficult thing for an actor to play is himself. If that's the case then Van Damme deserves an Oscar.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
JCVD - What A Movie!, February 6, 2009
I came upon a crowd outside a movie theater bearing the title: JCVD. The theater is jammed with dedicated fans having memories of Van Damme's past International super star status from the 1988 Bloodsport.
What a movie! It likely surpassing the collective expectations from the start of the entire audience. The opening scene rocks. A 4-minute film within a film begins with vintage-like Van Damme moments of high energy action. This single-shot sequence unfolds vamping up Van Damme's pre-existing persona in dynamic fashion. Then this incredible assembly of action ends with a hilarious fake wall falling over when a door is simply slammed too hard by a winded and exhausted Van Damme blithely complaining to a movie director, who couldn't care less (as in real life), that he is 47 and it is simply too hard to do these mad action scenes at his age!
The film then pivots under the young but world class directorship of Mabrouk El Mechri to the main story, where the audience is treated to a Van Damme they have never seen before acting with incredible depth and character. This transformation from a shallow bigger-than-life action hero to portraying true down-to-life emotions will be worth the admission alone.
Van Damme's dramatic performance and his featured monologue --- are remarkable. The director caught Van Damme on film in a way to make any audience celebrate with rousing enthusiasm alongside Van Damme as he convincingly relates his belief in the American dream, then address his marriage and drug problems of his past, and how he wants a second chance to make a difference in the world. It is one of those cinema moments bordering on being a masterpiece; it re-invents Van Damme.
The camera floats through the chaos of Van Damme's life and caresses Van Damme's face that has taken on a good amount of character. Van Damme has stories in his eyes. Van Damme has life in his eyes. Van Damme has sadness in his eyes. Van Damme has regrets in his eyes. Van Damme has a message to deliver. The movie cleverly uncovers the pitfalls behind celebrity status with humor that Van Damme does very well.
The plot borrows on Van Damme's trying past. Playing himself, a beaten and depressed Van Damme returns to his native Belgium in hopes of getting out of the limelight. Van Damme is financially drained and makes a bee line to his home bank. But the Belgium bank is in the midst of being robbed. Van Damme is caught up in the ensuing mayhem as the police on arrival wrongly assume Van Damme is part of the robbery team. The actual criminals are enjoying extravagant good luck. Not only do they have Belgium's biggest movie star in their control, but through his ill-luck he is also taking the fall for them! In trying to find a way out, Van Damme realizes his Hollywood action roles of his past all fall flat when a real gun is pressed to his head.
This is a movie to be seen, not merely read about. Not only is Van Damme re-born but so too is the audience through a shared experience with Van Damme's factual failures and triumphs! (Dr. R. Witmer, Ph.D. co-author of Van Damme's Biography appearing [...])
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