JCVD

Released by: Peace Arch
Released on: April 28, 2009.
Director: Mabrouk El Mechri
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme
Year: 2008
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The Movie:

As you watch Mabrouk El Mechri's JCVD you can't help but feel sorry for 'the muscles from Brussels.' A man who was once box office gold has resigned to a life of making low budget action schlock simply because he needs the money. His Hollywood clout has all but completely disappeared as has his popularity with the mainstream public. This is the starting point for the film, a movie which plays off of Van Damme's real life persona to excellent effect in this odd hybrid of action movie, bio pic, and strange rant against the movie making machine.

When the film begins, Jean-Claude Van Damme (playing himself) takes a break from the set of his latest straight to video action film to go to the post office. On the way, two guys who work in a video store stop him to have their pictures taken with him. He obliges, and then heads inside to see if a wire transfer he's been waiting for has shown up. As luck would have it, the post office is in the middle of being robbed and Van Damme gets pulled into the heist.

While things take a turn for the ugly inside, outside a cop shows up outside the video store where the two clerks tell him, excitedly and with much fanboy vigor, that Van Damme is in their town - in fact, he's in the post office. Once the people outside figure out what's happening inside, the cops and eventually a SWAT team show up, all unsure if Van Damme is in cahoots with the armed robbers or trying to fight his way out from the inside. As Van Damme tries to make it out alive, the cops try to save all of the hostages and the audience? Well, we get to learn a little bit about what it's like to be Jean-Claude Van Damme.

The title obviously implies that this is a pretty personal film but you really don't know until you see it just how personal it really has to have been. Van Damme delivers a monologue here towards the end of the film that is so honest and heartfelt that feels very much like a confession rather than a plot device. Subtle digs towards the likes of John Woo ('You helped bring him to Hollywood and he abandoned you!') and Steven Segal ('Steven got the part because he promised to cut off his ponytail') mix with bits about his personal life, child custody and alimony issues, careless and uncaring lawyers and agents, and, the bright spot, movie fans.

While the movie is centered around the making of an action film and does feature a bit of violence, JCVD is first and foremost a character study and a fairly dramatic one at that. The action definitely takes a back seat to the lead performance and thankfully Van Damme delivers. Here he seems vulnerable, wounded, and especially human. His bronzed good looks having given way to a weathered face that is starting to show its age - just like the rest of us. He opens up about substance abuse, mistreating his family, screwing up his career and much of it feels improvised, as if the cameras started rolling and he just let it all come out. As such, it's a remarkably honest feeling performance from a man not usually associated with much more than stilted dialogue and kicking people in the face. Van Damme's fans know he can act - he's proven it in films like Ringo Lam's In Hell to name only one. JCVD, however, takes it to another level, one that ought to win him critical acclaim but which, like so many of his other films, will probably be swept under the rug by the mainstream.

Video/Audio/Extras:

JCVD arrives on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p 2.35.1 high definition transfer. In short, it looks decent. It's not a reference quality transfer by any stretch but it does feature considerably more detail than the SD release. Colors are very muted and lean towards green, beige and brown but that's obviously an intentional choice on the part of the filmmakers. There aren't any compression artifacts or print damage issues and only slight edge enhancement pops into the frame. All in all, a nice enough looking effort.

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound options are supplied in French and English with optional English, French and Spanish subtitles available. It'd have been nice to get a TrueHD or DTS-MA track, but that didn't happen. The French track is the one that plays out the best, and it sounds pretty good but the subtitles on this disc are screwy to say the least. The vast majority of them ARE ALL IN CAPS which is odd, and even more odd is that A LOT OFTIMES THEREARE NOTENOUGHSPACES. That said, surround activity is fine, the score sounds nice, and the levels are well balanced. There just isn't as much punch here as you might hope for. The British release reportedly has a French Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix, but it's not been carried over to this disc. The English dub is there for those who want it, but it doesn't sound nearly as realistic as the French track does.

Aside from the trailer for the film, there's a pair of fairly mediocre deleted scenes and some menus. All of the extras are in standard definition. Again, the British disc wins, as it has a few bonus documentaries that are not included on this disc.

The Final Word:

JVCD is a pretty interesting film, and on top of that it's pretty entertaining too. Peace Arch's transfer is decent enough but it's a shame that there's no HD audio track available and that the extras are as light as they are. While far from a terrible presentation, the film deserved better than this, as it really is a testament to Van Damme's acting abilities.