JCVD
Tags: comedy, violence, alternate reality, satire, murder

Plot synopsis:
The film establishes Jean-Claude Van Damme playing himself as an out-of-luck actor. He is out of money; his agent cannot find him a decent production; and the judge in a custody battle is inclined to give custody of his daughter over to his ex-wife. His own daughter rejects him as a father, much to his chagrin. He returns to his childhood home of Schaarbeek in the Brussels capital region, Belgium, where he is still considered a national icon.
After posing for pictures with clerks outside a video store, Van Damme goes into the post office across the street. A shot is fired inside the post office, and a police officer responds but is waved off by Van Damme at the window, which is then blocked. He calls for backup.
The narrative then shifts to Van Damme's point of view. He goes into the post office to receive a badly needed wire transfer but finds that the bank is being robbed. He is taken hostage along with the others. The police mistakenly identify Van Damme as the robber when he is forced to move a cabinet to block the window. Van Damme finds himself acting as a hero to protect the hostages by engaging with the robbers about his career, as well as both a negotiator and presumed perpetrator. While speaking by phone as the ringleader of the robbers, Van Damme even goes so far as to demand $465,000 for the law firm handling his custody case. It is not clear if Van Damme demands the $465, 000 out of self-interest or out of a desire to appear as a genuine bank-robber to the police as he insists to the thieves or perhaps both.
The narrative continues to shift to show Van Damme's troubles getting roles and money, and the media circus that develops around the post office and video store, which the police use as a base of operations.
In a notable scene, Van Damme and the camera are lifted above the set, and he performs a six-minute single-take monologue, where he breaks the fourth wall addressing the audience directly with an emotional (but characteristically cryptic) monologue about his career, his multiple marriages, and his drug abuse.
Van Damme then persuades one of the bank robbers to release the hostages. After this happens, a scuffle ensues and in the resulting conflict, the head robber is shot. The police, after hearing a gunshot, storm the building. The police shoot another one of the thieves, and Van Damme is held at gunpoint by the final one. Van Damme briefly imagines a scenario in which he takes the robber out by elbowing him and kicking him in the face and everyone including the police and crowd cheering for him, but in reality, he just elbows him in the stomach, and the police take him into custody.
Van Damme is arrested for extortion over the $465,000 and sentenced to 1 year in prison. The final scenes show him teaching karate to other inmates, then being visited by his mother and daughter.

Review: It's a kind of dramatic comedy where Jean-Claude Van Damme plays with great conviction his own role in life.
Interesting concept from french director Mabrouk el Mechri: real action star Jean Claude Van Damme is engaged into a bitter legal battle for his daughter's custody.
Yet, remarkable as it may seem, the Muscles from Brussels turns in a truly career turning performance in JCVD.Directed and co-written by Mabrouk El Mechri, JCVD manages to capably straddle art house, action and comedy genres as it captivates the viewer by laying bare the soul of the star of such DVD fare as Bloodsport, Streetfighter, and Universal Soldier, to name only a few.Largely based on his real life troubles, JCVD unfolds as Van Damme retreats to his native Belgium in the wake of a losing child custody battle in a Los Angeles court.Mounting financial troubles have left our hero with over-maxed plastic and debit cards that no longer yield ATM withdrawals.
Forced to tap into his savings reserves, he makes a pit stop at a post office/bank to arrange a money wire transfer to pay his lawyer, only to discover that the bank is in the process of being robbed and he's stuck in the midst of the drama.To make matters worse, the manner in which things have unfolded has caused authorities and media alike to believe that Van Damme is the mastermind, orchestrating the heist and hostage taking to pay his legal bills.Segmented into chapters and shown out of sequence, similar to Pulp Fiction, El Mechri manages to deftly juggle laughs and tension to deliver a film that uniquely straddles several genres, including breaking the "fourth wall" with an eight-minute long monologue in the film's third act that sees the muscle-bound Belgian recap, with painful tear-inducing pain, his life of cheesy movies, women and drugs.Think of Dog Day Afternoon in which Pacino gets to speak to the audience and lay his soul bare and you've got an idea of what's in store with JCVD, which, if there's any justice, will do for Van Damme's career what Tarantino did for Travolta's.
And boy oh boy, his first attempt seems promising.Jean-Claude van Damme showed the world he can actually act and he made sure that everyone watching this film understands why he was involved.
Going to the theatre, I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, after all it's Jean Claude Van Damme and you see his movies for the action and his high kicks not for his acting.
The relation between a daughter watching her "normal" dad in his Hollywood life/career is not easy.Van Damme is really back on track.JCVD The Movie : 10/10 Jean-Claude Van Varenberg, the most human-actor in Hollywood.
I don't want to spoil the film, but to me it's great one in his career, very mature, well written, many private jokes for us, well directed, well played (Jean-Claude is simply awesome like you never saw him before), many many fresh things, scenes, and moments.
"He'd still be shooting pigeons in Hong Kong," says one of the players In JCVD about director John Woo's debt to action star Jean-Claude Van Damme for their 1993 collaboration, Hard Target.
Making that film may have been JCVD's greatest contribution to modern cinema although the current film with his initials in the title is more interesting than any previous kick-butt martial arts flick of his I can remember.The story's framing device is Van Damme's fictional character of the same name unwittingly becoming a hostage in a bank robbery where his inability to extricate himself and the other hostages is a commentary on the impotence in real life of the mythical hero on the screen.
It's not bad given how bad Stallone could be in the same situation.Van Damme has had real-life difficulties getting custody of his daughter and righting his tax problems, so JCVD is an apt imagining of his troubles.
Jean-Claude Van Damme in a post-modern meta-movie (at least that's what I think they call this kind of thing) in which he plays himself with brutal honesty as an ageing action star caught up in a real-life hostage situation.
And who would have thought that it could possibly be this good?Not me, that's for sure, but here it is, JCVD, a brilliantly original film starring the Muscles from Brussels as we've never seen him before—as a believable human being—one with real-life problems and a troubled past who has absolutely no desire to get himself killed when confronted by desperate gun-toting criminals.With the Belgian superstar playing Van Damme the man rather than Van Damme the action hero, making this film is a gamble, one that risks alienating the star's existing fan-base due to a lack of slam-bang Van Damage, but hopefully it will earn him their respect—and the respect of movie-goers in general—as a bold performer willing to try something a little out of the ordinary.Told in a non-linear fashion by director Mabrouk El Mechri, this tense, funny and dramatic movie is filmed in French with subtitles, with improvised scenes of dialogue and an amazing monologue by the star that proves he can really act, all of which may even have cinema-snobs sitting up and taking note.In taking such a daring role in such a unique movie, by portraying himself as a man with flaws and weaknesses, and by acknowledging his mistakes, Jean-Claude has certainly become an even greater hero than ever before in the eyes of this particular fan..
It features an action sequence where Van Damme is out of breath and sloppily taking out soldiers while the stunt men and actors alike exhibit their heartless effort for a pay check in the film industry while the director throws darts at a picture of Hollywood.
It features an action sequence where Van Damme is out of breath and sloppily taking out soldiers while the stunt men and actors alike exhibit their heartless effort for a pay check in the film industry while the director throws darts at a picture of Hollywood.
JCVD (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a struggling B-movie action actor trying to maintain some artistic integrity despite everyone around him.
However at the same time I must not be careful to the point that I do not admit that I found this film fascinating, engaging, thrilling and creative  words that rarely appear individually anymore in reviews of a Van Damme film, let alone appearing together in one, but all of which apply here.I temper this by saying that here and there JCVD is very close to being self-indulgent and artsy for artsy's sake and I can totally understand why many people will dislike this film.
We see him in this "real" world making films like he has recently (Oriental director, low budget, low effort) but mainly it is played for "real", only to then at one point have Van Damme literally rise out of this "real" world into another, realer world and talk to the audience.
This is one example but it is a good one of what the film is like as it gives Van Damme the chance to be honest and personal within this "reality".At times this is funny and I particularly enjoyed the discussions on John Woo, the attitude of the "director" at the start of the film and the references to Seagal.
Writer-Director Mabrouk EL Mechri's innovative film-making punch of inserting the aging actor Van-Damme in a real life situation similar to the actor's past movie plot lines is the real kicker of "JCVD".
During the film's third act, Van-Damme's gives out an emotional speech on his past fast lifestyle and present faded movie stardom which is by far the best acting scene of his career, or was he really acting?
I expected a lot from this film and it did not disappoint me.I've always been a big Jean Claude Van Damme fan.
some can say that he is playing himself and the performance of the Belgian is nothing special, but in my opinion on this film the actor, the man, jean Claude van Varenberg( real name of Van Dame) plays the myth, the star, jean Claude van Damme...the famous scene of the speech is so emotive and well played by Jean Claude that almost made me cry...the rest of the cast is amazing.
I have to confess that I have never been a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme.I have generally regarded his films as meaningless wastes of time.This film,however,reeled me in with it's very unique story idea.Van Damme,in fact,plays himself here.He is knee deep in personal problems and finds himself in a real life predicament that no Hollywood script can help him out of.This film is a very imaginative,and very well carried out change of pace for the low budget action star that both long time fans and people who have never cottoned to Van Damme's style of film should enjoy.Congratulations,Mr. Van Damme.This one is a keeper..
Its interesting to note that in 2008 there are two critically successful vehicles of two old actors who are looking for a second chance in the film industry- The Wrestler with Mikey Rourke, and JCVD with Jean Claude Van Damme.
A wildly over-the-top action scene with much typical Van Damme ass-kicking (and accompanied by a Curtis Mayfield tune) is followed by Jean-Claude walking off the set, heading straight for the director, a young, talentless hack, to complain about the filming.
The next step after these establishing scenes is, naturally, to put the 'real' Van Damme in a situation right out of a movie he might have starred in- he gets stuck in the midst of a hostage situation at a bank, while attempting to make a withdrawal to pay his lawyer.
well, at least he made 'Face/Off'"), several scenes are genuinely suspenseful, but most surprising of all is that the film features one of the greatest scenes in years: just past the hour mark Van Damme faces the camera and delivers a lengthy soliloquy on why he made the movie, why he decided to take up karate, and expresses his feelings on celebrity, his own image, women, drugs, and Hollywood.
Van Damme plays himself in a flashback cross-cutting fictional narrative about his "real" personal life complicated by a post office heist-gone-wrong that Van Damme stumbles into.Not an action movie per se, but a semi-comic drama with action elements, JCVD is mainly a showcase for the serious acting chops of Van Damme -- and (surprise) Van Damme gives a performance that is -- yes, believe it -- Oscar-worthy.Even if you've zero interest in action films, or zero interest in Van Damme, JCVD will surprise you and possibly move you emotionally.
It would seem likely to see JCVD appearing in more dramatic roles in the future, for as much as we've got to know him throwing kicks and punches over the last 20 years, this movie will make you fall in love with the flawed, sad character wearing the movie star mask.In one of the most touching moments, Van Damme worries that despite being an action star, he will die in a post office having contributed nothing to the world.
This is the movie we've all been waiting for.Here he finally makes a stand , against all who mock him.Here he shows how violent movies , can inspire good in people.The violence doesn't matter , as long as you represent good.I love the whole convicting him in the end thing, brilliant.Shows that even if you do the wright thing , you still pay the price , and he endures it in the end.Marvelous ending.A big hand to the director , who was spectacular in filming this movie.I just say that i'm now looking forward to his next film , which he wrote.I can only say that , i never lost faith in him as a character , and he redeemed himself to the public , to me.Thank you Jean-Claude Van Varenberg..
"JCVD" is a Crime - Drama movie in which we watch Jean-Claude Van Damme returning to Belgium, the country of his birth, to seek peace since he cannot live any longer in the United States.
A Jean-Claude Van Damme movie unlike any of his other films.
The leading character is performed by Jean-Claude Van Damme a Belgian actor and karate champion in a movie where he represents himself in a fiction plot (supposedly autobiographic?) that involves a post office bank assault with hostage retention where he gets caught on while trying to raise money.
"JCVD" gives homage to the actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, who's career kicked off in 1988 with an action movie called "Bloodsport".
So everything whats left of an indecisively directed wanna-be art-house film is the performance of Jean-Claude Van Damme, who uses the loosely connected scenes to show some personal character insides beyond the usual physical action..
Aged action star Jean Claude Van Damme finds himself a hostage in a Belgian Post Office heist.
That's how I like my movies to end: realistically.But best of all: Jean-Claude Van Damme!
In an unusual career move, the Belgian action star Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself in a comedic action-drama about the actor's return to his home country.
The scene, all done in one take, sounds very sincere and Van Damme gets to demonstrate his acting ability a lot more than average action movies normally allow.
But in real life, or at least a film that's set in this alternative reality that cut quite close to home, things aren't always that easy, especially when he's in his forties and admits early on that he has to pant his way through any film set with an action scene that requires one continuous take.JCVD is, well in case you're now aware, made up of the initials of the has-been action hero Jean-Claude Van Damme, hero from films like Blood Sport and Universal Soldier, and as he's associated in this movie, the man credited for introducing John Woo to Hollywood as they made Hard Target.
Hollywood's action heroes of yesteryears have been fading from the limelight, and it's no wonder that some are finding second life through direct-to-video films, and in JCVD's experience here, he's not gaining any respect from new filmmaker hacks who couldn't care less about his glorious past.What makes this film intriguing is to witness how ordinary Van Damme is, being just another regular joe who faces problems that aren't as far fetched as saving the world singlehandedly, and juggling his visibility with fan boys when in public, and can't actually step up to be that hero he's idolized for.
The Van Damme here gets caught up in an armed robbery in a post office, and contrary to what we would assume he would do, he has to play ball, listen to instructions, and just about making sure that he himself also survives the ordeal.But of course when one of the robbers happen to be a fan, then this allows for some comedy especially in a scene where he requests his action hero to demonstrate some of his famed moves, which in my opinion, shows that Jean Claude still has what it takes.
The other action sequence that will impress will be the one in the beginning, which packs everything from gunfights to fisticuffs, and is just about the time that you'll experience much action in the film, bar delusional moments of "What If"s that Van Damme dreams up, which adds to the fun and plays on his action hero persona.Which gets shelved aside for JCVD the man, even though this reality is an alternative one.
He covers in earnestness the ups and downs of his life, his success and failures, and frankly, if the Muscles from Brussels had bragged at one point that amongst the Hollywood action heroes he had the most credible acting skills, then this dramatic moment is that justified, with JCVD exhibiting plenty of genuine emotion.Presented in a non linear narrative with view points changing from the likes of the cab driver, to the video store guys, to the cops and of course from JCVD's own, director Mabrouk El Mechri managed to build up suspense and allow us to wonder just what and how things are related with one another, with the crux of the story taking place in and around a single location isolated by the police from curious passers by and fans of Van Damme.
The writer- director Mabrouk El Merchi has made a movie with the, by now standard, narrative framework of Tarantino about a bank robbery scenario where he puts way too much focus on the uninteresting robbers and doesn't bring the rabbit out of the box enough many times; Jean-Claude Van Damme is one of the hostages.
If you are a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme, then you should watch this movie.
In what was certainly one of the most original and overlooked films from 2008, "JCVD" signals the return of one of action cinema's biggest stars: Belgian martial artist and "actor" Jean-Claude Van Damme.
"JCVD" is also the first major film of Van Damme's where he is seen speaking mostly in his native French, which also adds to the authenticity of his great acting here.
He has one scene that is an artsy monologue given directly to the camera that a lot of critics have complained about, but it is one of the best shots of the year, one of the most unflinchingly honest performances I've ever seen from an action movie star, and by far the single best piece of acting that Van Damme has ever done in his career.I don't know how much of this is real about Van Damme's real life, but I love the way he pokes fun at himself and his genre, particularly his relationship with Seagal.
But it is well worth a watch if you are a fan of Van Damme.The movie has just the right amount of action, comedy and drama to make it all work well.
The first thing that came to mind after watching JCVD was: " Jean-Claude Van Damme can act ??