We’re all aware that the ’80s action movie hero is back in full force in the 2000s. Stallone brought back Rambo, Bruce Willis brought back Die Hard’s John McClane, Harrison Ford just brought back Indiana Jones. But what does someone like Jean-Claude Van Damme do? He’s an iconic action star of the same period, yet he hasn’t a single iconic action hero role with which to stage a comeback. To us, he was always simply Jean-Claude Van Damme. Which is why it’s all the more appropriate that his big return is with a meta-movie in which he plays himself.
J.C.V.D. premiered at the Cannes film market this month (Karina showed us the teaser trailer pre-fest) and it’s been labeled a surprise hit. But does it deserve prime U.S. distro, or would it be more appropriate for it to go straight to DVD in America? As far as I’m aware, it hasn’t been picked up for either, yet. But anyone taking note of two excitable blurbs on GreenCine today should be hopeful that we’ll get to see it Stateside soon. My favorite of the two:
“If the goal with the self-reflective JCVD was to recreate the public image of aging action star Jean Claude Van Damme, then you may consider that mission a success,” writes Todd Brown at Twitch. “If the goal was to announce to the world that sophomore feature director Mabrouk El Mechri is a truly world class talent, then you may also consider that mission a success. If the goal was to skewer celebrity obsessed culture while laying out the toll it takes on those on the receiving end of the idol worship, then - yep - that’s another one in the success column.”
Considering I was never a fan of J.C.V.D., and only had minor appreciation for one of his films (Timecop), the fact that I’m dying to see this parody/biopic/whatever means there has to be other curious cats out there, too.
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