JCVD (Jean-Claude Van Damme)

[pro-bassoonist]

UK-based distribs Revolver Entertainment are set to release Jean-Claude Van Damme's JCVD on February 2.

Variety:

Van Damme is back! Combined with recent news that the Muscles from Brussels will soon turn auteur with "Full Love," Gaumont's "JCVD," a French-language meta-movie parody par excellence, constitutes the headiest stretch of the beefy star's career since, well, ever. Playing "himself," i.e., an international action stud whose bruising child custody battle has him literally going postal , exec-producing Jean-Claude Van Damme reveals heretofore hidden third dimension to his monosyllabic persona. Ho-hum hostage crisis mayhem serves to buttress co-scripting helmer Mabrouk El Mechri's more experimental stunts, including a tonally opposite pair of longish takes -- one a wonderfully absurd ode to star's martial-arts moves, the other a tear- and prayer-filled Van Damme monologue that must be seen to be believed. An adventurous U.S. minimajor could reap modest B.O. following a June 4 French release.

Playful from its first moments of a balloon-toting cartoon tot kickboxing in Gaumont logo, "JCVD" pumps up "I'm too-old-for-this-crap" cliches via shrewdly deployed in-jokes. Title character is revered for having "brought" John Woo to Hollywood with "Hard Target" in '93 ("He'd still be shooting pigeons in Hong Kong," an industry player opines), but on-set colleagues find fault with 47-year-old's mark-hitting skills. Worse, prosecuting attorney in hero's L.A. custody case dissects icon's eye-gouging oeuvre by DVD to assert dad's history of violence.

Freshly spurned by preteen daughter, jetlagged from trip back to Belgium, and electronically dissed at the hometown ATM, JCVD loses his cool while seeking a post-office wire transfer of euros, only to find he has stumbled into in-progress heist for which he'll be blamed by cops -- and credited, oddly or not, by hordes of placard-waving fans (e.g., "Free Jean-Claude!").

As before, bulky thesp's acting is as flat as his pecs are sculpted, but here said limitations are more clearly part of joke within hollow mirror world, where JCVD loses key role to Steven Seagal because latter negotiated to topline sans ponytail.

Script's sharpest running gag has the concept of celebrity trumping human life in media coverage if not public estimation; even JCVD's sweet old Maman hints at worries of son's marquee rep while mistakenly urging him to release "his" hostages.

Incalculably superior in tone, attitude, intent, and intellect to bulk of bodybuilder vehicles, shrewdly produced pic limits limber star's acrobatics to first and last scenes without great detriment to whole. Gast Waltzing's horn-heavy score is pleasingly old-school and subtly parodic; Philippe Kohn's sound mix is crisply immersive; Pierre-Yves Bastard's widescreen lensing does the job despite de rigueur color-bleaching and scant closeups with which to flaunt Van Damme's near-Buster Keatonesque deadpan. Exception to that to is aforementioned long take wherein weeping JCVD flexes existential about his status as global-screen limb-snapper with backend points.

No kidding.

Pro-B

[GGX]

lol at the DVD logo on the cover.

[BluStar88]

Thanks for the info pro-b

I actually really want to see this. any news on whether this will be region coded or is going ot get a US release??????

[Giyomu]

JCVD blu-ray Review link

France release date : 17 feb 09

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by BluStar88

Thanks for the info pro-b

I actually really want to see this. any news on whether this will be region coded or is going ot get a US release??????

Revolver's releases have been region-free thus far

Pro-B

[BluStar88]

Thanks I just put my order in man I am importing way more than I should I am up around 30 tittles now 5 deliveries and 3 pre-orders this week alone.

[Crim122]

I will blind buy it, seeing how its his ONLY positive rated movie lol.

[Kynch]

Originally Posted by BluStar88

Thanks I just put my order in man I am importing way more than I should I am up around 30 tittles now 5 deliveries and 3 pre-orders this week alone.

I knooooow. Damn you Blu-ray for being so sexy!

[joegs300]

Oh how I loved how he played an American Guile.

[Mobe1969]

YEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:ro ck:

[lnh_boy]

According to the Blu-Ray.com review for Kidulthood, Revolver uses a PAL logo screen when the disc loads. Will this (if used on JCVD) cause problems for the US version of the PS3?

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by lnh_boy

According to the Blu-Ray.com review for Kidulthood, Revolver uses a PAL logo screen when the disc loads. Will this (if used on JCVD) cause problems for the US version of the PS3?

Actually, from the review:

Note: This is a region-free disc which you will be able to play in your Region-A machine. However, please note that it takes approximately 10 second for the player to access the main menu as there is a PAL-logo that precedes it.

So, there is a short company logo that is in PAL but the actual menu is not (your Region-A PS3, and SA, will simply skip it and display the HD menu). Therefore, there won't be any issues with playback. Things get complicated when the actual menu is in PAL. Your Region-A PS3 (and most SA) will not be able to access it and therefore you won't be able to get to the main feature (this is the case with Artificial Eye's Zatoichi).

Pro-B

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Actually, from the review:



So, there is a short company logo that is in PAL but the actual menu is not (your Region-A PS3, and SA, will simply skip it and display the HD menu). Therefore, there won't be any issues with playback. Things get complicated when the actual menu is in PAL. Your Region-A PS3 (and most SA) will not be able to access it and therefore you won't be able to get to the main feature (this is the case with Artificial Eye's Zatoichi).

Pro-B

So you can't even bring up the PS3 control menu and jump to a chapter or title or something?

[blooded predator]

hell yeah keep em coming to blu another badass van damme flick

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Mobe1969

So you can't even bring up the PS3 control menu and jump to a chapter or title or something?

On this specific disc - Artificial Eye's Zatoichi - I have not been able to bypass it.

Pro-B

[ravenus]

Some time in the last week or so, I re-watched JCVD, the film that in a small way re-invented the career of Jean-Claude Van Damme. In JCVD, JCVD plays...(d-uh)...JCVD, or at least a version of himself taken from all the media stories about his career and personal life. He is a faded action star, doomed to working in low-budget indie financed movies in East European countries and fighting a custody case for an estranged daughter. He comes back to his native Belgium to take stock of his life...and gets embroiled in a local armed robbery situation, which the media and police think he has orchestrated.

In its modest way, JCVD is 8 1/2 meets Dog Day Afternoon, focusing on the bungling robbers (one of whom is closely modeled on John Cazale from DDA) and a confused and desperate Van Damme, reflecting on his life and the turns it has taken. The film takes a nakedly emotional look at its lead star, and scenes where JCVD is directly addressing the camera, bear an honest, unrehearsed quality that transcends the screen. It walks a razor's edge between seriousness and parody. Apparently a previous draft of the script was more jokey, but writer-director Mabrouk El Mechri balances these aspects to provide a poignant and emotional experience. It's a film I loved when I first saw it, and on this repeated viewing still holds good.

The UK blu-ray hosts a solid A/V presentation. The film has a deliberate bleached brown processed look, but these are artistic decisions. The soundtrack is provided as DTS-HDMA 5.1 or LPCM 2.0. The surround track is not a showcase in this low-key film, but it does provide an atmosphere when required, and occasional scenes like the opening where Van Damme is shown taking down a terrorist base in a movie shoot are sufficiently energetic. Extras include a half hour making of with some excellent BTS footage, and an interesting documentary giving a candid look at its lead star.



This re-watch led me to checking out the Amz Prime series, Jean-Claude Van Johnson. This one has JCVD playing...well, JCVD again, but who behind his movie star avatar is also a deadly secret agent called Johnson. In the course of the first two episodes, it feels more like what the initial jokey draft of JCVD was supposed to have been, with Van Damme channeling Leslie Nielsen from the Naked Gun series. It's decent thus far, although the fourth wall addressing Van Damme jokes can be a little hit and miss (the first has a delightful Timecop reference I won't spoil here). Let's see how it goes.

Jean-Claude Van Johnson - Official Trailer | Prime Video - YouTube