Originally published Friday, November 21, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Comments (1)
E-mail article
Print view
Movie review
"JCVD": A black belt in self-deprecation
"JCVD" is an unexpectedly ambitious vehicle for Jean-Claude Van Damme. He essentially plays a version of himself as JCVD, a washed-up action hero who returns to his native Belgium to revive his career — and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a real-life hostage crisis.
Special to The Seattle Times
"JCVD," with Jean-Claude Van Damme, François Damiens, Norbert Rutili. Directed by Mabrouk El Mechri, from a screenplay by Mabrouk El Mechri, Frédéric Bénudis and Christophe Turpin. 96 minutes. Rated R for language and some violence. In English and French with English subtitles. Meridian.
Making one of the most curiously fascinating career moves in recent memory, Jean-Claude Van Damme turns action-hero stardom on its head in "JCVD," playing a semi-fictional rendition of himself in a sendup of the genre that made him an international star. Still in fighting trim but now sporting the world-weary visage of a recovered coke addict who's been chewed up and spit out by Hollywood, Van Damme does the unthinkable for an action star: He acknowledges that he's a has-been. Well, sort of.
As the character known only as JCVD, the so-called "Muscles from Brussels" has returned to Belgium, seeking to revive his career after an extended losing streak of straight-to-video turkeys. His latest gig provides the film-within-a-film opening sequence, a cut-rate sendup of long-take "tour de force" action sequences that ends with a shot-wrecking blooper and 47-year-old Van Damme (now 48) complaining of aches and pains.
Almost broke, divorced, frustrated with his lousy agent (he keeps losing roles to Steven Seagal) and just back from L.A., where he lost a child-custody case, JCVD walks into a post-office/bank in Brussels, where the premise of "JCVD" kicks in: If a washed-up action-movie star got snared into a real-life hostage crisis, would he live up to his big-screen persona?
Considering the comedic meta-possibilities of this setup, "JCVD" begs to be better than the half-baked movie it is. It doesn't help that the drab, uninvolving hostage crisis (a weak nod to "Dog Day Afternoon") has been given a sickly grease-yellow pallor that's more distracting than visually justified. Still, there's something seductively clever about the way French director and co-writer Mabrouk El Mechri has fractured chronology (à la "Pulp Fiction") to examine JCVD's plight from various perspectives.
Just before a climactic showdown might occur, Van Damme floats into the rafters of a movie set to deliver an anguished soliloquy about the pitfalls of stardom and his own admittedly poor handling of it. It's a galvanizing, soul-baring moment ... but is that really what it is? Could it be an aging yet still-appealing star begging for redemption and reinvention as a European art-house attraction? Delivered in his native French, Van Damme's surprisingly nuanced performance suggests an intriguing range of possibilities.
Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
Director John Woo's 'Red Cliff' is an epic whose time has come
An epic revival for 'Gone With the Wind'
At a Theater Near You: Polish, Italian festivals lead weekend's films
Movie review: Bella + Edward + Jacob = a pale 'New Moon'

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup
Real Salt Lake defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy with penalty kicks after 120 minutes of play at Qwest Field in Seattle.
general classifieds
Garage & estate salesFurniture & home furnishings
Sporting goods
just listed
8 seat pecon formal dining table and china hutch - $1500
A American Table, Chairs and Bench - $275
ATV POLARIS TRAILBLAZER - $1800
More listings
POST A FREE LISTING
shopping
Give yourself a treat and visit Watson Kennedy's Holiday Open Houses
More minding the store
events for Monday, Nov. 23
- Two-week opening at Midori Inc.
- Sur La Table November sale
- Seattle Premium Outlets Thanksgiving Weekend ...
- 5th Annual Urban Craft Uprising
editors' picks
More shopping guides- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
236 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
165 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
158 - Palin excitement builds in Tri-Cities
131 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
119 - Historic health care bill clears Senate hurdle
91 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
61 - UW, WSU once again meet to see who's worse
56 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
56 - Ranking the Pac
53
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list





