Review: JCVD

JCVD (2008)

starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Francois Damiens, Zinedine Soualem, Karim Belkhadra, Jean-Francois Wolff, Anne Paulicevich

dir. Mabrouk El Mechri

Jean-Claude Van Damme has feelings. Lots of them. Now, he's decided it lay them out there for everyone to see. I've watched him travel through time, do the splits on chairs and countertops, even fight a giant penguin, but  in his latest film he makes his gustiest move yet. He becomes a human being. This is not a satire as you might expect, but a "what if" scenario. What if a fading action star is thrust into a real life hostage situation? The answer is, "JCVD, dumbass!"

In JCVD (his initials for the slow folks out there), he plays himself. Not just himself, but a warts and all self. He's broke, stuck making bad movies to pay bills, fighting for the custody of his child and has a sketchy track record with drugs and women. This is not the invincible high kicking hero that we've seen in the past.

To shake off his woes, he's decided to go home to Brussels to get his act together. Almost instantly, he accidentally gets involved in a post office/bank robbery, taken hostage and mistaken by police as the criminal . It hasn't been a good day for Van Damme.

This is where it becomes a fascinating character study of the Muscles from Brussels. By using a tried and true formula, we are given an opportunity to witness a human being whose screen persona would solve this type of problem with a few high kicks. JCVD rips away the layers of the action hero to expose a man who has worked hard, been successful, made mistakes and been ridiculed by the same people who built him up in the first place. 

What really makes me appreciate this film is how gutsy Van Damme is. JCVD is a project that could have easily been laughably bad. At times it almost treads into territory of Van Damme asking to be taken seriously as an actor, but saved by the fact that he is so good. It is tough to portray emotional truth on screen. It's tougher to play an emotional truth that exposes yourself and not a character. Van Damme not only shows us who he is, but brings it back into the framework of the plot so we understand why he is confessing these feelings to us.

The films structure is solid as well, using non linear storytelling helps build tension as well as fill in all the missing pieces and points of view to create a cohesive narrative and helps us to understand the trials and tribulations that Van Damme deals with on a daily basis. Sure it does have some visual flaws that creates confusion at times, but in the end it is about looking at a man that we have already washed our hands of.

This is an art house film with an action star. Odds are, people who are not fans of his previous work will enjoy this much more than folks walking in hoping to see Bloodsport Redux. But everyone should give it a chance and let Jean-Claude Van Damme state his case.

7.75 out of 10