Jean Claude Van Damme (JCVD) has always enjoyed playing more than one version of himself in a film -at least five times by my count, as his twin, clone, brother, future self etc.
But he’s reached another level of post-modernism and self-reflexivity with his new film, JCVD.
Fully acknowledging his washed-up status, the Muscles from Brussels plays himself as he returns to his home country, marriage in tatters, only to be caught up in a heist at the post office.
(Apparently they’re still open and functioning in Belgium.)
I’m yet to see it, but it’s being screened at the Toronto Film Festival next week and looks like Curb Your Enthusiasm meets Last Action Hero; a glorious mix of self-deprecation and existential doodah.
It’s not going to be a powerhouse performance from Van Damme – he reportedly deadpans all the way through it, which is what he always does intentionally or not – but it is nice to see the man moving onto more intelligent fare as his joints start to ache and his roundhouse kicks turn to round bungalows.
There’s a certain amount of dignity in admitting that, well, you’re pecs aren’t as perky as they once were.
Most old-school action stars have suffered a more ignominious fate, taken out back and shot, or like an old, scarred lion, beaten by a younger male (Jason Statham, and now quite worryingly James McAvoy) and left to fend for themselves in the wilderness of straight-to-video.
Van Damme’s co-star in Universal Soldier, Dolph Lundgren, has been trying to rejuvenate his own ludicrous directing career for some time, and Chuck Norris has become a cult joke for his killing prowess.
Steven Seagal meanwhile was last spotted fronting a blues band, styling his corpulent self as the “Mojo priest” (No, really, see live footage here).
Stallone has had a bit more luck resuscitating his steroid-pumped Rocky/Rambo franchises admittedly, but these creaking sequels seem to be worryingly without irony – after all, Stallone was the one who turned David Morrell’s critique of the Vietnam war into a gung-ho All American who shoots first and doesn’t bother about asking questions.
Until now, about the only viable option for Reaganite movie stars seemed to be to move into right wing politics (The Governator of course, but let’s not forget that Clint Eastwood was mayor of a small town too).
But Van Damme has shown there’s still hope for the heroes we’ve left out in the cold.
If they’re prepared to accept that Top Gun and terrorists have shot the old concept of a hero stone dead – with a macabre quip, no doubt – they can live on again as the old mentors, cops just days from retirement and Larry Davids of the new action movies.
Vin Diesel can fuck off though.
