Review: JCVD
Most people are going to assume that JCVD is about Jean Claude Van Damme, but they would be wrong. This is a film about Jean Claude Van Varenberg, the man who, for almost 20 years, has been internationally known as the movie star, Jean Claude Van Damme. This stripping of the façade is done with brutal honesty, whimsy and, even in the context of a bank-heist movie, plausibly.
I have to say that, when the one-man hero movies of 80’s and later the 90’s faded away, my respect for that generation of action stars began to fade. C’mon, do the names Steven Seagal, Dolph Lungren, Wesley Snipes, Jeff Speakman, Chuck Norris or Jean Claude Van Damme for that matter inspire memories of terrific, artistic films? Or do they invoke emotions of silliness and quaintness? To me, it’s the latter. When Pablo Francisco did his joke about seeing Van Damme in “the same boring shit you’ve seen over and over,” I laughed. After watching JCVD, I see why Van Varenberg wouldn’t.
While in Belgium, Van Varenberg is adored by his fans as he is their representative in Hollywood; he’s The Muscles from Brussels. Considering how far Hollywood has gone to keep men like Van Varenberg at arm’s length for so long, their fandom comes off as sincere. These are the people who root for their team when they are on a multi-year losing streak because that’s when they need fans the most. It’s admirable.
Also admirable is Van Varenberg’s willingness to not pull any punches (pun intended). He’s willing to expose himself in ways few actors ever would. Can you imagine Pacino or Deniro ever talking about the movies they did for the paychecks? You see, while some actors get praise for allowing themselves to play unfavorable characters with reckless abandon, how many times have those characters been themselves? I didn’t see it, but there was a critically panned movie that came out recently called What Just Happened about the behind scenes goings-on of actor Bruce Willis (played by himself) and his agent, played by Deniro. I seriously doubt Willis had the balls to portray himself anywhere near where Van Varenberg did here.
I have a list of my top five movie soliloquies. It includes Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator, George C. Scott in Patton, Cary Grant in Penny Serenade, Ned Beatty in Network and now Jean Claude Van Damme in JCVD. He delivers a powerful, Shakespearean monologue that is tinged with such honesty that its shortcomings aren’t drawbacks, as much as they are endearing touches of a man truly exposing himself to the world. I was blindsided by it.
In addition to making the top five movie soliloquies list, this also gets a spot on my top five movie openings of all time. I will gladly add JCVD alongside Godfather I, LOTR, Patton, Contact and Once Upon a Time in the West. This is something I really don’t want to spoil, but just want to acknowledge that it is brilliant, in more ways than one.
JCVD is not without its flaws. But, in many ways, I’m quick to dismiss many of them as they seem to be a result of paying homage to the forgotten 80’s action flicks, as oppose to steering towards a more modern day approach. I can understand how some people would be hard on the movie in this regard.
I am sincerely looking forward to the day when Van Varenberg gets a film that isn’t straight to DVD. I will happily watch it, despite what anybody says. He deserves it.