Acting Muscles Flexing in Brussels

JCVD is a French crime film directed by Mabrouk El Mechri, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a fictionalized version of Jean-Claude Van Damme. The out of luck action hero whose career is crumbling, has an ongoing custody battle over his daughter which is causing financial problems and now is caught in the middle of a Post Office heist in his hometown of Brussels.

The film juggles slight comedy that isn’t overbearing, as well as action and the tension and suspense of the heist itself. El Mechri’s direction of the film is brilliant, breaking the chapters apart and splicing them out of order not unlike Memento or Pulp Fiction. Delivering us a first take on the situation from the police’s perspective outside of the post office and flipping the vantage point back inside to Van Damme. Essentially the unique camera angles parlay the whole story, giving the viewer the only person who knows entirely what has happened.

Throughout the film we get to see exactly what Van Damme is thinking. The six minute soliloquy Van Damme has when he breaks the “fourth wall” during the film is gut-wrenching, truly showing the man can act. Not only does he confess regret to all his wrongs but show us what life was like to be living in his shoes. It is a plea to the audience about how easy it is for movie stars to be put on a pedestal, only to have society watch you tumble off of it. Near the end of the film, Van Damme is being held by gunpoint outside. A quick roundhouse kick and he saves himself, receiving cheers from his legion of fans waiting outside. But cut back to reality, the perpetrator is subdued by Van Damme but not as flashy and with help of the police.

A big knock on the film is the lighting, which not only caused it to become distracting at times but also ruined the white sub-titles. The use of pure white subtitles on a brightly lit film makes you have to fill in words that are almost unrecognizable as the blend into the screen.

Not only is the final scene heartfelt but could have an oddly metaphorical meaning that Van Damme is not ashamed of his career (like his daughter was) especially now that he proves he can star out of his element. Van Damme received some praise for his portrayal of dirty cop in Until Death when he moved away from his stereotypic action hero role. Now with his shifting performance in JCVD, could we see a demand for Jean-Claude Van Damme the actor?

4 out of 5
Colin Enquist