JCVD (2008)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

A Jean-Claude Van Damme movie unlike any of his other films. In JCVD he plays a version of himself that is human and even vulnerable.The reason this film stumbles, however, is because of a young director who was trying to make it too "artsy." It would have played out much better straightforward, in my opinion.

Version I saw: UK bluray release Actors: 6/10 Plot/script: 6/10 Photography/visual style: 6/10 Music/score: 6/10 Overall: 6/10 There is a lot of water under the bridge when it comes to Jean-Claude Van Damme. He has had a long and eventful career, all of which sits in the background of this bizarre film-about-film, allowing director Mabrouk El Mechri and screenwriter Christophe Turpin to comment on the nature of fame and stardom through the film.It's an odd film, which I had expected, but I wasn't expecting how *fun* it turned out to be: the premise has a lot of scope for comedy, and the film is not afraid to poke a little fun at itself. Credit should go to Van Damme for being a good sport and playing himself in a central performance that does not reflect that well on his wider profile.Unfortunately, although some interesting ideas are presented by the film, they are not followed through, or even seemingly thought out, that well. We end up with a bit of a mish-mash that sort of prods at the intellect at times, but never really grabs it.For my full review, see my independent film blog on Blogspot, Cinema Inferno: http://cinemainferno-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/jcvd-2008.html

It's too bad about ol' John-Claude- all his movies go direct to DVD for release, and when he gets a shot at something edgy, like JCVD, it's so far round the bend that the viewer can't latch on to enjoy the ride.There are more than a few problems with JCVD, starting with a narrative that from the start diverts our attentions and gets us off balance by starting mid-stream in a story involving a post office heist gone bad, and utilizing a Rashomon-like technique, ostensibly to elucidate truth.Other problems involve casting, and story, each of which is sub-par to the extent that the story-telling technique only serves to highlight the problems in the narrative rather than lift it to a higher level.Stories that have no particular depth should not be exposed. Rather than show more of how a bad story functions, it's better to cover up glitches in the narrative with explosions or struggles, or chase scenes. JCVD has little of these to raise the stakes and create tension, and ultimately the dismantling of the narrative into different points of view only serves to show off this deficiency.As far as characters go JCVD stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as a character named Jean-Claude Van Damme, a character with family problems including a custody suit involving his daughter. The problem is that Jean-Claude Van Damme is not as interesting as the characters he plays. Jean-Claude Van Damme the character is not invested in the problems he faces like a bad film-acting career, and custody battle, so the issues involving the heist don't involve us dynamically on an emotional level and this is what the film needs to stay alive.Actors who play themselves are only interesting when they are in interesting stories. Films like Being John Malkovich, or A Hard Day's Night rise above the usual because the persons playing themselves are also interesting people, so their characterization of themselves as iconic figures makes sense as it comments on the cultural aspect of the person. Jean Claude Van Damn has little irony associated with himself.When an interesting dramatic moment arises, ironically as JC himself physically rises to the occasion, we are taken out of the scene and out of the picture, and this breaking of the forth wall leaves us out in the cold. Jean-Claude's big moment is an emotional landmark for the actor, showing him as a performer who can invest himself completely in his craft. The ultimate problem taints his performance however by not allowing the viewer to be swept into the emotional landscape of the actor's craft.The movie leaves a bad feeling in the aftermath of what amounts to the real-life person/character navigating his world, and this fuzziness isn't much of a payoff after 90 minutes of screen time.

I just didn't get the reviews of this film as I found it utter garbage. I have watched hundreds of films and this is in my top 10 of the worst ones. I was instantly bored to tears, I found myself texting whilst the film was on as I wasn't interested at all with what was going on. If people think that it deserves an Oscar then goodness only knows what you were watching as it can't have even this film. The most clever thing about this film was the title JCVD....utter genius I have no idea how they came up with such a title as I certainly struggled to work out what it meant. DOH. One of JCVD's worst movies to date and certainly not his best.