Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself in this meta-crime comedy that finds him garnering mores headlines than he's had in years after stumbling into an in-progress bank heist. Down and out, with only straight-to-DVD titles under his belt and a recent job lost out to fellow has-been Steven Seagal, the aging action star returns to Belgium a broken man fresh from losing a custody case for his daughter in Hollywood. Upon his arrival, the bad news continues with a disastrous ATM encounter that leads
him into the bank and straight into a robbery situation, for which he's about to be blamed. Soon, crowds grow outside on the street, with the cops quick to point the finger at him and his fans cheering for his release. The film garnered a cult following during its festival run and awarded Van Damme his first theatrical release in the States in almost a decade. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
Van Damme is so good, and El Mechri's storytelling so entertaining, that JCVD takes its place alongside The Wrestler as one of the unlikeliest but most welcome comeback vehicles in ages.
If you know Van Damme's work in the least, if you have any sympathy for the plight of the third-rate action screen hero whose days come to an end, JCVD will amuse and touch you.
A clever art-imitates-life-imitates-art send-up of celebrityhood and the state of the action-hero genre, JCVD juggles humor with whomping martial-arts moves and a kind of melancholy star turn from the melancholy, muscular star.
It has ensured JCVD will be remembered as an introspective, thoughtful and altogether more profound individual than anyone who ever watched him split a skull would have thought possible.
For all we know, it's just a big show, a put-on for our entertainment -- but what matters is that it's really quite convincing. You do want to believe this is Van Damme.
a bold attempt to humanize Van Damme, not by trying to ignore his personal and professional pitfalls, but by reminding us that behind ever movie star, loved or loathed, is a complex human being
If you thought that Mickey Rourke had the market cornered on comebacks with his transcendent performance in Darren Aronofsky's masterpiece The Wrestler, then think again.
Mechri allows the verbally challenged action star dignity and, with this, the film works. Maybe next time he could bring Jean-Claude and Mickey Rourke together. Now that would be a movie.
...reveals ... a supple and engaging actor with a sense of humor and a rare kind of self-recognition. Van Damme knows what we think of him and understands why.
It's clever and unexpected, this confluence of dramatic fiction and real life that finds action star Jean-Claude Van Damme playing a version of himself in a heist movie
It's as if he's trying to reach through the screen and show us the real guy behind the image he's spent a lifetime creating. I'm not sure if he's successful, but the attempt is fascinating.
His face has a Bogart-esque haggardness, and his speeches about his life and career have at least a semblance of painful sincerity. This spectacle isn't enough to keep the film from dragging, but it certainly has curiosity value.
Mr Van Damme finally makes the leap to a grown up film and some proper acting, the film itself is rather weak really, the plot is basic and its been done many times before, 'Killing Zoe' comes to mind. The acting is good but the characters are slightly cliched and the look is pretty thin on the ground.The best thing is
indeed Mr Van Damme who does really serve up a slice of true inner acting from the heart. It does come across as a kind of ego trip for Van Damme as he seems to want us to feel sorry for him, there is one moment where he does seem to crack in front of the camera which is a very strong moment but it does come across as wanting sympathy, hard when your a big movie star.Still he does prove he can act seriously and could make better films, although he does sound better in French than English hahaThe start of something more interesting than martial arts maybe.
The premise is fantastic: You have a former action star who didn't have a hit in years playing himself at rock bottom: law suit for custody, money problems, stalling career. While still being beloved in his home country of Belgium Van Damme gets in the middle of a bank robbery and one shouldn't give away more than
that. The delivery of this insane idea is just as awesome, the great soundtrack, a fantastic opening sequence, non-chronological narrative perspective and very unusual camera work really make this work. To top it all Van Damme delivers what's easily the best performance of his career, really making you care for this man who has hit rock bottom. The highlight is a 5 minute monologue, that may or may not have been improvised, reflecting upon his career and life, when real life and fiction melt into each other. That's confusing, often funny, sometimes touching but extremely entertaining. Only the ending doesn't entirely hold up to the great promise, but that doesn't ruin the overall crazy experience this film offers.
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