JCVD

In our world, fallen actors can easily find a place in reality television. Some host competitions and some just end up as contestants on shows. Even academy award winning actresses end up in dancing shows(Marlee Matlin). Jean Claude Van Damme(JCVD) took a different route. He started making movies outside of the country to be aired on The USA network. He was getting paid very little for the movies, but they are huge sellers outside of this country. However, he is a has-been to us in the states. He will also be a classic action guy, top-lining some crazy awesome action movies in the 80s and early 90s. I was always a fan. I liked that he did almost everything with his hands and feet. Plus, he brought Jon Woo over to our country. Do not be fooled, without Jean Claude Van Damme, Jon Woo might not have been convinced to come to our country and make the classic Face/Off. With all of this in mind, when I heard JCVD was making a movie where he played himself, I was all for it!

Tax problems and a custody battle have left JCVD in desperate need of money. He just lost a role to Steven Segal because Segal was going to cut his pony tail for the role and so JCVD, decides he needs to get away from America for a while and head home. As soon as he lands back in Brussels, he heads to a post office/bank hybrid and is immediately involved in a hostage/bank robbery situation. Everyone outside thinks he is the one who is doing the bank robbery, but we know he is merely a hostage. What makes the whole thing interesting, is that JCVD is not looking to be a hero. He is playing a version of himself, but he is not concerned with being a hero. He just wants to survive. The heist-men use JCVD to try and get what they want, which is what makes people outside even more convinced it is JCVD doing the bad deeds. It would make sense, because he has no money. One of the heist-men is a big JCVD fan which leads to a lot of funny "insider" dialog and gives JCVD a chance to get some things off his chest. JCVD takes advantage of the situation by negotiating. he lets a hostage go when the city wires money to his account, but in the end, things do not always work out the way you want.

As the opening credits fly by the screen, we are watching a pretty kick ass action sequence being shot, in what looks like one continuous shot. When the scene ends, JCVD says "I cannot do this in one take. I am 48 now." Therein lies the problem with being an aging action star trying to act in movies directed by young guys. Stallone has found a way out of that: he directs himself. From these opening moments, the movie goes into a dizzying series of flashbacks, flash forwards and half scenes. It takes a bit to adjust to the idea of JCVD in a movie with a dramatic flair for time bending, but it works. I like that we see how the hostage situation goes down, only after we know there is a hostage situation. I like that in between the present scenes we cut back to his Hollywood life, to show us how JCVD even got to this point in his life.

Some might say that JCVD is merely a vanity project for JCVD; I disagree. There is a moment when JCVD is practically begging for the bank to give him money because he is so broke. He is pretending not to be broke, but he is begging for it. This is JCVD's version of reality television. He is playing only a version of himself, but it is JCVD. he is the man complaining that studios are making a killing off of him while he makes the minimum. He is the guy who deep down wants to make better movies, but needs to make money. During the courtroom scene, his ex-wife's attorney holds up all of JCVD's movies and says JCVD must be a bad father. It is played for semi laughs, but it is an interesting idea. Can a man make violent movies for a living and raise a normal healthy child? Of course, he can, but we live in a world when we are looking for media related scapegoats and JCVD becomes an easy target. Am I reading that scene deeper than is meant? Probably, yes, but it is there and it has to be there for a reason.

The last thing I want to mention is the monologue. As JCVD is sitting in a chair being held hostage and discussing what happened in his career, the movie pauses, the wall behind him falls down (a literal breaking of the wall) and we see lighting fixtures and we know this is JCVD as JCVD. The camera stays right on his face the entire time and the man goes into a monologue about the film industry, about him and about the culture of America. It is a beautifully written, excellently delivered monologue and it shows that perhaps JCVD got a bit of a raw deal in our country. yes, he made his bed full of blood sport and double impact and he had to lay in it, but the man has an ability to act. Now, the whole movie is in his native tongue, so he speaks it much more clearly than he does English, so that helps, yes. Yet, it is his passion, his voice and his emotion that shines through.

I highly doubt this movie is going to lead to JCVD setting the comeback trail ablaze. It was a little seen movie and it has subtitles and only features JCVD doing stunts in about 5 to 7 minutes of the 97 minute run time. It is a funny and touching movie that is a nice inside look at the possible life of an actor at the low point in his career. I respect the hell out of what JCVD did during his time as an action star and I respect him more for his performance in this movie. I hope the monologue becomes like a cultish movie scene that people talk about for years to come. it really is that good.

Final Grade: B