I renounce my long standing view of Jean Claude Van Damme. A hollywood action darling of the 80′s and 90′s he deserved his reputation for bad acting and silly action movies,
……………..but that was then and this is now.
He’s back, a mature and humbled actor – putting self deprication, humor, and an inner darkness all out in front. I’ll go as far as to say there is no other action star who’s nailed such startling emotion-driven sequences as he has in this latest film.
The last pleasant acting gem came when Bruce Willis did the Sixth Sense, and even that takes a back seat to JCVD.
The plot of the movie centers on Jean Claude the washed up action star struggling to make movie deals with hackish producers out to use him for a few quick bucks, and while trying to get some money advanced to him he ends up in the middle of a bank robbery. The press and the police have good information indicating JCVD is part of the heist and malay ensues as die hard fans and police surround the bank to get a piece of him.
I’d just mark this up to a one in a million performance, a lucky script, or even chance, but he also pulled off another excellent portayal a few years ago in a movie called In Hell. No martial arts, no hammy tough guy bs. In Hell, he’s a man sentenced in a foreign prison for taking the law into his own hands. Yes, it’s a bustem up prison movie, but he uses no martial arts and the action is gritty and realistic. He doesnt even have any muscle in this one, it’s very weird to see a skinny out of shape Van Damme trying to keep his butt from being kicked. But I digress….
I highly recommend JCVD, and his earlier work In Hell. Both will amaze those familiar with the Van Damme of old.
This is simply not the same cheesey action guy from the 80′s.
