NationStates Jolt Archive

I keep hearing how he's being seen around town but yet to catch him, anyway, despite what you might think of his films, likely you've seen one of them. Now he's just done a new movie and I suspect it's very good:

What makes his performance in JCVD so compelling, though, is that after a career of beating up others, Van Damme beats himself up; we see him confronting his failures and facing up to the man he has become. The most extraordinary exhibition of that honesty is a seven-minute semi-improvised monologue to camera, with lights and rigging equipment behind him, in which he makes an unflinching assessment of his life: the marriage failures, the drugs, the debts and the estranged children. "When you got it all, you travel the world," he tells us directly. "You're the prima donna of the penthouse, so you want something more. I tried something and I got hooked. I was wasted mentally and physically, but I got out."

He continues, his eyes watery and his voice cracking: "It's not my fault if I was cut out to be a star. I asked for it, believed in it. When you're 13, you believe in your dream. Well, it came true for me but I still ask myself what have I done on this earth." He is weeping when he answers his own question. "Nothing! I have done nothing!" It is horribly mesmerising and a complete blurring of the line between fact and fiction. JCVD is not a documentary, but watching that scene is surely as close as one can get to a glimpse inside the mind of Jean Claude van Damme.

Link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jan/23/jean-claude-van-damme-action) - it's quite a good article if you have the time.

So what did you think of him, films, the life of an action star, cheap fame in general?

I allow throwing Mickey Rourke in here and any other star who went wrong.

Fallen stars, is it harder to have reached for the stars and come tumbling down or to be among the rest of us throughout one's life?

Bloodsport is a classic. JCVD was a great action star in his time.

Universal Soldier was always my favorite, followed closely by Desert Heat. Although neither of them was as good as Red Dawn(which did not have Van Damme in it, but is a good action flick)

I had no real opinion on Van Damme, I've only watched his films when in a chronically lazy sitting-on-the-sofa Sunday afternoon and there's literally nothing else on.

He's okay compared to that pony-tailed fraud Seagal.

It isn't a van Damme film unless he also plays his identical twin brother.

This is what I wrote about it when I heard about it:
Meta Action Hero Duel
Parallel production isn't all that uncommon-back to back summers hosted dueling volcano movies (Dante's Peak vs. the more direct Volcano) then Killer Asteroid movies (Armageddon vs. Deep Impact). I compared before battling up-coming 're-dos' of franchise films.

Coming soon two very different kinds of action heroes are staring in two very different kinds of self-referential films. This, of course, is not new. Marked by some as the beginning of the end for action hero turned 'governator,' The Last Action Hero was essentially a ham-handed commentary on Schwarzenegger's career. This new pair of films combines The Last Action Hero's 'treatise on the star' element with open referential elements in movies like The Player, Being John Malchovich, or the recent What Just Happened?.

First up is JCVD, starring Jean Claude Van Damme as Jean Claude Van Damme, aging, relevance fading, barely enough energy to keep up even his tarnished star. The down on his luck Van Damme finds himself in the middle of a hostage crisis - no stunt co-coordinators, no fight choreographing - just plain pedestrian victimhood, seasoned with the reputation of a former action star. His groin aching splits and lightening kicks don't win the day, but instead appear as a side show display in an attempt to amuse his captors and prolong his life.

The other side of the coin is My Name is Bruce, starring Bruce Campbell again as Bruce Campbell, B-movie star drunk (almost literally) on his own niche fame. In contrast to JVCD's image in contrast to stark reality approach, My Name is Bruce has the reality meet the fantasy of Campbell's persona. Ultimately they are the same story - actor meets 'real' situations that they have portrayed in movies and has to deal accordingly. It just so happens that Campbell's world is of pure fantasy.

On the surface, these stories are not new. Comedies such as The Three Amigos and Galaxyquest have dealt with actors famous for a genre of film being thrust into a 'real' situation. There's even a Twilight Zone episode where a cowboy hero finds himself face to face with the 'real' Jesse James.

My Name is Bruce takes the traditionally self effacing route, appearing to paint himself as comedically incompetent after previous false bravado. (the trailer seems to even take a swipe at Van Damme as the overly arrogant Campbell touts his action hero credentials including, "Speaking English.")

The self-effacing also has a strong tradition, such as in Free Enterprise where William Shatner leans heavily on his reputation of being a slightly off balance good natured ego maniac (in the film hoping to stage a one man show production of Hamlet).

In contrast JVCD seems to take a slightly more sober 'treatise on the twilight of stardom' look, a sort of high kicking Sunset Boulevard. (Alright, I admit that at this point part of me is just seeing how many films these two can be said to drawing upon)

This is keeping with dueling concept movies, Dante's Peak being the slightly more sober volcano movie to Volcano's over the top 'volcano in LA' premise, Armageddon's 'rock star drillers on an asteroid' vs the 'there's nothing we can do but accept that we're going to get hit by an asteroid' Deep Impact. For what it's worth, over the top trumps sober every time. (though that doesn't seem as likely this time as Campbell will be touring personally with his film, joining Tarantino's Grindhouse throwback to personality driven B-movie hey day. (seriously, once you start it's hard to stop...) and JCVD will have traditional release)

Which means in all likely-hood I won't be able to compare them (not that after my long to-do about Diary of the Dead I actually saw it...<.< >.>) unless this suddenly becomes a well read and often updated site making me an actual critic and I get invitations to these things. But for that to happen these rambles would have to come to some sort of conclusion. But for a dueling themed movies, I'll take self-examining action heroes over asteroids any day.

and after I saw it:

Who Knew You Could Use "Brechtian" and Jean Claude Van Damme in the Same Sentence?
Well, now you can.

You already know the premise, the movie lived up to its billing. We are treated to a down on his luck, misunderstood Van Damme. If the character of himself is to be believed, even he doesn't like his movies.

The movie is heavily desaturated with the light blown out. The Brecht comes in the form of a monologue delivered among the hanging lights above the set where Van Damme gives a 30% justification 70% apology for who he has been and the movies he has made (or if you're cynical, 25% justification, 35% apology, and 40% audition for serious roles that don't involve kicking anyone.)

This isn't a clumsily done attempt to rebrand an actor, even if it is clearly an attempt to rebrand an actor. Audience information is carefully controlled to create conclusions that the film later questions and the film does not even allow him the minor victory that is crafted at the end that would frankly have diminished the rest of the film. As a critique of media and cult of personality it falls short of many better attempts, but overall pretty interesting.

My only real complaint is that if you're going to blow out all the light in the film, color the subtitles so they don't get lost.

He also all but calls out Steven Segal to make the same move. Now that's something I'd like to see. But then, I am from the generation of appreciating things ironically.

I didn't know Bruce Campbell did that. Gonna see that for sure.

*snip*

That was... rambling.

If I'm of a mind, I'll see if I can get him to autograph a napkin or something dedicated to Cannot Think of A Name, or at least CtoaN, and post it on NSG, don't hold your breath though.

I'd quite like to see both this and The Wrestler.