Hey, this is Captain here. I sent in the "The semi-negative HOSTEL review" from TIFF '05 and I had the pleasure of catching JCVD late Thursday night. Anyways, just thought I'd throw my hat in the ring here. Hope you have room for another review. Enjoy!
I’m just going to come out and say it: JCVD is a minor miracle. That I can tell friends that I just saw a great new Jean-Claude Van Damme isn’t something I anticipating saying for the rest of my moviegoing days, yet here I am. JCVD works because it has a solid script, it’s directed with energy and class by Mabrouk El Mechri, and because Van Damme subtly plays on his “muscles from Brussels” persona in surprisingly funny, and even poignant, ways.
The premise of JVCD is this: What would a faded action star do if he found himself the unwitting pawn in a real-life bank robbery/hostage situation? Would he rise to the occasion and kick-ass and take names, or, would he fail to fulfill his own B-movie mythology and his one shot at redemption? No, I wont spoil it for you.
I can say that JVCD is definitely not a “martial arts” film, owing more to DOG DAY AFTERNOON than DOUBLE IMPACT. However, the movie opens strongly with Van Damme in the midst of fantastic Brian De Palma-esque movie-within-a-movie where the actor stealthily dispatches numerous armed villains, one-by-one with all the action taking place in single, long take set to “Hard Times” by Baby Huey (a great song, by-the-way).
The rest of JCVD centers around a bank robbery (a post office, actually), where Van Damme is mistaken for the culprit, igniting a media circus and drawing crowds of fans. While Van Damme attempts to deal with his captors and placate the hostage negotiators, the movie flashes-back to the actor’s recent problems including a painful custody battle, dealings with his second-rate agent, and increasing cash-flow and lawyer troubles.
Taking shit from all sides, Van Damme pulls off a convincing slow burn, avoiding his signature, winking Euro-charm and his penchant for excessive melodrama. It’s fascinating watching a man we’ve seen triumph over adversity with sheer brawn, countless times, act so... passively. Which is not to say Van Damme is a coward in JVCD, but he certainly responds to crisis in a much more human way than in, say, SUDDEN DEATH, for example.
Did I mention JCVD is funny? Such as when Van Damme is obliged to watch embarrassing old interview clips of himself coming off like a flake, or, when a character talks Van Damme into kicking a cigarette from a man’s lips (which got a big applause from the audience) only to try doing so himself with disastrous results. There’s humorous reference to Van Damme’s previous movies and his straight-to-video competition. A character complains about how John Woo distanced himself from Van Damme after HARD TARGET, but that watching WINDTALKERS didn’t make it seem like such a bad thing. Also, there’s some funny dialogue about how Steven Segal stole a part from Van Damme by promising the film’s producers he’d cut off his ponytail. Great stuff.
Ultimately, JCVD is a film where all the ingredients are just right. It’s stylized enough with its desaturated, tobacco-hued cinematography and fluid camerawork (by Pierre-Yves Bastard) to give it personality, but not so much as to be show-offy (ahem, Guy Ritchie). The film actually has a great throwback score, too, with Gast Waltzing providing a vintage 70’s cop movie-vibe to the proceedings. (It brought to mind Lalo Schifrin, but I’m no composer expert.)
Bottom line: See this movie. I think you’ll be surprised.
