J.C.V.D

Jean Claude Van Damme has been in direct to video hell for well over 10 year's now. It's been interesting to say the least. For every 3 bad movie's he released in the DVD market there was usually one, really good film there, in fact some of his dtv effort's are actually better than some of the main stream theatrical movie's he released back in the early to mid 90's, I'd take Wake of Death over Street Fighter any day. But no matter how much effort he put in, he just couldn't seem to get away from that bottom shelf of our local Blockbuster's.

Times change and so has Mr Van Damme himself. His latest offering simply titled J.C.V.D (which stands for Jean Claude Van Damme if you haven't figured it out already) is like nothing we have ever seen from the muscles from Brussels, for perhaps the first time in his career we see Jean Claude ACT! and he is brilliant. I do believe this has something to do with him being more comfortable in his native language though.

J.C.V.D is not your typical Van Damme movie, there is no long fight scenes, cheesy one liners are over the top explosions. It's more of a dramatic comedy where Jean Claude plays himself with great conviction, almost like a reenactment of his life. It shifts between fiction and fantasy and it doesn't matter if it is real or not because Van Damme makes it real with his performance. We see Van Damme return to his home town of Belgium to seek some peace and tranquility from the court battle with his wife over his estranged daughter but finds himself caught up in the middle of a bank hostage situation.

The highlight of the movie is a scene in which Van Damme has a touching and very personal monologue about his experiences and mistakes he has made throughout his life and career which is extremely powerful and moving. This scene has to be seen to be believed!

I don't think the movie will be to every one's taste, especially a lot of the Van Damme fan boys that would be expecting some action extravaganza. Although the movie is not perfect itself, it requires a lot of flashbacks in order to tell the story which at times can become slightly repetitive and boring.

J.C.V.D reveals itself to be an excellent surprise and should pave a new direction for Van Damme's career but we'll have to wait and see. Up next for Van Damme is The Eagle Path, Karate and a risky but unavoidable Universal Soldier sequel. finger's crossed.