Review of JCVD (2008) by Badre B — 22 Sep 2009

JCVD is a French film directed by French-Algerian director Mabrouk El Mechri, and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as himself, a down-and-out action star whose family and career are crumbling around him as he is caught in the middle of a post office heist in his hometown of Brussels, Belgium.

Don't be fooled by its action-ready premise; JCVD isn't quite the butt kicking action packed movie from the Muscles from Brussels. It's something more than that: a sad, seriocomic meta-movie done in a style resembling Charlie Kaufman's movies like Being John Malkovich.

In this combination of dramatic comedy where Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a role so close to home. The movie revolves around the story of a movie-star on the decline told from a specific point of view, the star himself. What makes the movie so appealing and entertaining to me, is that it sails between being a work of fiction and an autobiography. This concept propels the script in a funny and tragic reality/fiction realm.

The film isn't without its flaws, however. From a direction/scriptwriting point of view, the movie is somewhat lacking focus. It's relying a bit too much on inside jokes and heist movie clichés, it also stretches some scenes way too much and uses a bleached color scheme that could turn off some people.

The flashbacks are carried out quite well but some scenes seen twice can be somewhat long and would have been improved by being shortened a bit the second time around. This saved time would have made it possible to develop the supporting characters, who I feel some of them were somewhat one dimensional caricatures.

Although not really a bad point to be mentioned, anybody expecting a typical Van Damme actioner I'm telling you this. Apart from the film's opening scene and this one scene near the end, don't expect any Van Dammage you usually find in a Van Damme movie.

That being said, what really sells the movie is the man himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Van Damme really put everything he had into this role, some say it wasn't really a big deal since he was mainly playing himself, which I disagree with. It's not so easy to play yourself in front of the cameras plus he was playing himself in a more tragic satire image, which I'm sure takes tons of effort to pull off effectively.

The film's most memorable moment is a six minute, one take monologue, where he references his past drug problems. I found that one scene to be kind of heart breaking in a way especially if you're familiar with his movie career.

Interesting fact: Director El Mechri stated that about 70% of the film was scripted, and the other 30% was improvised from the actors. Most of the ad-libs came from Van Damme.

JCVD isn't really a cinematic masterpiece but is still an satisfying movie overall.

Oh, and before I go, I need to leave an important info for UK residents who are interested in this film, don't let the DVD cover fool you.