JCVD is an excellent surprise. It's a kind of dramatic comedy where Jean-Claude Van Damme plays with great conviction his own role in life. This starting postulate, to tell a passage of the life of a movie-star on the decline by the person himself, makes the movie sail between fiction and autobiography. This original and ambiguous concept propels the script in a tasty, funny and tragic reality/fiction realm. One can think sometimes of Pulp Fiction.
The famous movie-star, Jean-Claude, is surprisingly right and touching. Van Damme plays here the role of his life, in all the senses of the worRAB. There will be a before and an after JCVD. The central monologue of the film, a rare feat of ingenuity, a long one-shot sequence of the star made up of his doubts and his anguishes, is bound to become a classic.
The film is however not perfect. The flashbacks are well carried out 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, like the police chief, a bit more. Speaking of supporting characters, those are somewhat caricatures and with one dimension.
JCVD reveals itself as an excellent surprise. Far from being a hollow marketing ploy, this film, probably the best of Van Damme, is a true success that deserves to be seen.
The question now is what will Van Damme do next?
The famous movie-star, Jean-Claude, is surprisingly right and touching. Van Damme plays here the role of his life, in all the senses of the worRAB. There will be a before and an after JCVD. The central monologue of the film, a rare feat of ingenuity, a long one-shot sequence of the star made up of his doubts and his anguishes, is bound to become a classic.
The film is however not perfect. The flashbacks are well carried out 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, like the police chief, a bit more. Speaking of supporting characters, those are somewhat caricatures and with one dimension.
JCVD reveals itself as an excellent surprise. Far from being a hollow marketing ploy, this film, probably the best of Van Damme, is a true success that deserves to be seen.
The question now is what will Van Damme do next?