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JCVD

I had heard plenty of things about JCVD before I watched it.  Unimpressed by everything I read, I attributed most of the positive hype to internet fanboys who haven't quite progressed passed the whole let's-watch-Cyborg-on-late-night-cable-while-having-a-sleepover-in-the-late-80's era of their lives.  I figured just like another fanboy favorite, Bloodsport, the positive reviews came from people who's lives were stuck in syndication.

I was wrong.

JCVD successfully builds on the recent trend of washed-up action star comebacks.  Stallone was first with Rocky, Willis followed up with Die Hard, and now the Muscles-from-Brussels shows them all how it's proper done.  Whereas Rocky was just meant to be a decent bookend for the series and Live Free or Die Hard was meant to be a watered-down money machine, JCVD takes an contrarian approach and feels like a film that just happens to have Jean-Claude Van Damme in it.

Oh, and happens to have him in it starring as himself. 

The writer/director, a Mabrouk El Mechri (if that's his real name), does an excellent job of making the film seem to be about Jean-Claude Van Damme the celebrity and not Jean-Claude Van Varenberg the washed-up movie star.  To the bad guys, Van Damme is the a hero, a common man who's never forgotten where's he's from and who can defeat an army of baddies using only his bare hands.  To the cops, Van Damme is dangerous and mentally unstable, a joke and a liability.  To Van Damme himself, he's none of those things - just Jean-Claude Van Varenberg caught up in yet another regrettable situation. 

The story is blended together from all three persepectives, with Van Damme's as the lynchpin.  The movie's no-name cast really relies on him and the movie's surprising success is not a result of Van Damme's muscles, but his acting chops.  Who knew the Belgian could act?  JCVD has me on the Van Damme bandwagon.  Let's see if he can keep it rolling.