JCVD DVD

One of my co-workers is quite the fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme and his special brand of ass-kicking movies. When we heard last year about the movie JCVD, it seemed to have his name all over it, and we talked about going to see it. The trouble was, it being a foreign film, and rather obscure (had you heard of it before just now?), it only ran a week at a local art house theater with incredibly uncomfortable seats. The novelty factor lost out to these other factors.

But now the movie is available on DVD, and I was able to check it out. JCVD is strange comedy/drama with a touch of action, in which Jean-Claude Van Damme plays "himself." Down on his luck after losing his child in a custody battle with his ex-wife, he returns to Brussels to visit his parents, and becomes involved in a bank holdup.

It's a mixed script, both good and bad. There are dramatic moments that actually land, jokes that score solidly, and even a beat or two of action. But the movie is constructed in a unnecessarily winding structure. It's presented in essentially four "acts" (labeled with title cards, no less), which double back on the timeline and sometimes shift perspective -- none of it actually improving the telling of the story, in my opinion.

It also includes some odd stylistic moments. There's an "it could have happened this way, but it really happened this way" jump cut. There's a weird monologue in which JCVD completely breaks the fourth wall and talks to the audience for three minutes.

The directing is also mixed. There are a few long, single takes -- including one to open the movie -- that are put together rather well. But there are other noticably distracting angles. And during that monologue I mentioned, Jean-Claude Van Damme actually rises on a camera dolly out of the set to sit among the stage lights and speak. You could argue it's a fitting choice for a monologue that breaks the narrative of the movie, but it also makes a jarring conceit even more unusual.

But there is an element to the film that pushes it out of average and into something a little better. Amazingly, it's Jean-Claude Van Damme himself. It turns out, he actually can act. You really believe in this down-and-out version of himself, and feel sorry for him. It's an "it's not always great to be famous" story in which you actually do empathize. And going back to that monologue again, the one that's so odd in its writing and directing? Well, in the acting, it's bizarrely incredible. "The Muscles from Brussels" actually goes through a wide range of emotions in the monologue, and seems to truly be feeling it rather than feigning it. I'd have never imagined he had it in him.

Ultimately, this movie probably works best if you've seen a good number of Van Damme's earlier films. I admit, I have not. Still, there are some things to like even if you're coming into it like I did. I rate it a B-.