DVD
REVIEW: JCVD
04/26/09
In 1988 Jean-Claude Van
Damme has his first international hit with the movie
Bloodsport. I was 13 years old when this movie first came
out and thought it was the second best movie ever made right
after America Ninja. Hey, give me a break I was just a kid.
Anyway, I went on and became a big fan of Jean-Claude, and
through the 90’s I enjoyed many of his works including
Kickboxer, Lionheart, Death Warrant, Double Impact, and Hard
Target. Some time after Hard Target, Jean-Claude kept doing
the same thing and I grow up and lost interest, that is
until now.
I’ve always which that the action stars of my childhood,
Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Michael Dudikoff,
would stage a comeback. Here with JCVD, in my opinion,
Jean-Claude has come close. In JCVD, Jean-Claude shows that
he is much more than an action star and can portray the
emotions required of a dense character.
Director Mabrouk El Mechri has crafted a wonderful
crime/drama which only problems are a bit of clumsy editing
and a couple of strange scenes that don’t exactly fit. The
movie is a glimpse into the life of Jean-Claude Van Damme in
a alternative reality, but leaves the viewer guessing as to
how much is really about Jean-Claude. Here after losing
custody of his daughter and a failing film career,
Jean-Claude returns to him childhood home of Brussels and
gets mixed up in a big mess that seems at times comedic.
The support cast is excellent and did a very good job
maintaining the seriousness of the film. However, for those
looking for their karate fix, I’m sad to say they will not
find that here. The only knock out punch Jean-Claude does
deliver involves an emotion portrayal.
Peach Arch Entertainment is not having a big release for
this movie; the DVD is very basic. The DVD has two deleted
scenes and includes a digital copy. However, do not let this
dissuade you, this is a damn fine movie and it would be a
shame not to watch.
Review
By Brad Peterson
brad@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
Widescreen (2.35:1 aspect ratio)
AUDIO:
English/French
5.1 Surround Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Deleted Scenes
- The first scene is one of my favorite from the movie. Here
one of the robbers is trying to get Jean-Claude to spin kick
a cigarette off a guy‘s mouth. The second scene shows
Jean-Claude giving a speech to one of the robbers about
Awareness and having the answer before the question. This is
a pretty good scene and shows how good of an actor
Jean-Claude really is. (5.37)
Digital Copy
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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