The JCVD films you watched thread

[randombs]

Take it away, [MENTION=3144]Dogg Thang[/MENTION]

[Dogg Thang]

Oh man, where do I even start? Okay, I can do this. Let me get some thoughts together and we'll discuss the films of the master.

[wakka]

The breed of our dog is Vallhund. We decided on the name Jean Claude Vallhund, provided it was a boy.

->Open Spoiler<-

Breeder only had female dogs left. We called her Polly instead. Sorry.

[Dogg Thang]

Great story with a poor ending. Not at all like most JCVD films, which have great and thoughtful endings.

[CMcK]

JCVD is JCVDs best film.

[chipsgravy]

I've always quite enjoyed Hard Target. I have to confess though I haven't watched any JCVD movies in quite a while.

[prinnysquad]

Predator.

Definitely an inferior product after they lost JCVD.

[Neon Ignition]

Whilst not his best by any stretch I'll definitely make the case for JCVD that Expendables was a pretty bland action film. Expendables 2 is pretty much exactly the same but it is also the better of the two solely thanks to the turn JCVD puts in as he seems to revel in getting to play the villain against the others.

[Dogg Thang]

JCVD is JCVDs best film.

There is definitely a case to be made for this.

Okay, I'm going to shuffle through some films in no particular order, from old to new. Let me know what you have seen and what you all thought. First up:

No Retreat No Surrender

I say no particular order but I'm really starting at the beginning here. I bought this on blu-ray. I hadn't seen it back in the day so my first watch was only a few weeks ago. It has just JCVD on the cover and his name in big red letters across the top.

He is barely in the movie.

No Retreat No Surrender tells the story of kid in the 80s who is obsessed with Bruce Lee. His dad runs a karate dojo and some heavies come in and beat him up and we get one of the most hilarious 'thinking' VO scenes I have ever seen in my life. VanDamme plays Ivan the Russian, who beats up the dad. They have to move to a different town and the kid makes a new friend, the most 80s type friend ever who can breakdance and rap and ride a BMX, encounters some bullies and then trains with the ghost of Bruce Lee to eventually beat the heavies. Yes, the ghost of Bruce Lee. Played by one of the guys who stood in for Lee to complete Game of Death.

The film is utterly terrible. And yet wonderfully entertaining. It's one of the most 80s films ever.

And yes, JCVD is barely in it. But when he is in it, the movie shines. It's so easy to see how he was the breakout star here.



Have you seen it?

[CMcK]

I remember that, it's was guff.

[Yakumo]

The only JCVD movie I have in my collection is Cyborg. I can't even remember anything about it beside enjoying it back in the late 90s.

[QualityChimp]

JCVD's best performance is in Breakin'.



AWOL was OK.
I'm not a massive fan, if I'm honest.
I arrived via the Jackie Chan route, so seeing JCVD taking someone out by doing the splitkicks in slo-mo from 4 angles does nothing for me. Funny how every film required him to do the splits.

[Dogg Thang]

I haven't seen AWOL. But I'm going to move us on to a stone cold classic...

Bloodsport



A 1988 film starring JCVD and also a pretty young Forest Whitaker, Bloodsport tells the true* story of Frank Dux who went awol from the US army to take part in the Kumite, a mythical martial arts tournament. Forest Whitaker and some other guy from the army try to track him down and stop him from competing while Dux makes a friend and works his way through the tournament to face the mighty (and a bit cheaty) Chong Li.

The film is hailed as a classic for good reason. It's very '80s and comes with all that you would expect from that and, yes, some of it is unintentionally funny but I feel, unlike No Retreat No Surrender which is hilariously awful, somehow Bloodsport manages to retain a dignity throughout. And part of it is actually the warmth of the characters. JCVD's buddy, Ray Jackson (who I saw recently in an episode of Cheers) is huge and loveable and VanDamme himself is young, raw, funny at times and yet has a heart and presence that really does carry the movie. It builds to a great climax and has some epic fights.

The real star of the show for me, however, is the score. Paul Hertzog is almost a forgotten master of movie scores. He only did a few back in the day but with this, and his score for Kickboxer, he created something incredible and it suits the movie and the visuals so well. It's a perfect score.

This is an absolute classic movie and I can watch it over and over and over.

*Turns out Frank Dux was a dirty rotten liar and none of it happened.

[Finsbury Girl]

Very good but brick not hit back

[wheelaa]

My JVCD experience, in brief.


No Retreat, No Surrender - Awful

Bloodsport - Great(est) (If it's on TV I'll watch it despite having the DVD)

Cyborg - Awful

Kickboxer - Awful (Was 'Great' but every cheesy bit annoys me now and the entire film is cheesy.)

A.W.O.L.: Absent Without Leave, aka Leon, aka Lionheart, aka Wrong Bet - Great (despite the cheese, 'Wrong Bet' lol.)

Death Warrant - OK (Plus for having Art LaFleur.)

Double Impact - OK (Plus for having Bolo!)

Universal Soldier - Great (It has Dolph, Tiny, Ralph!)

Nowhere to Run - Trash

(Last Action Hero - Only a cameo that I don't recall but I bet he was great!)

Hard Target - Great (It's trash but I love it! 'I ain't got no change, man!')

Timecop - Great

Street Fighter - Awful

Sudden Death - OK

The Quest - Trash (I really want to like this for so many reasons, but can't.)

Maximum Risk - OK

Double Team - Trash

Legionnaire - Trash

Universal Soldier: The Return - Trash


And then for his last 22 years or so, all I've seen, one film aside*, is the odd 30 mins here and there on some of the direct-to-video releases, all trash. Caught 20 mins of one of the later Kickboxer entries, swapped channel


* The Expendables 2 - Great