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JCVD (2008)
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Overview
User Rating:
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Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
4 June 2008 (France)
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Tagline:
Be Aware more
Plot:
Between his tax problems and his legal battle with his wife for the custody of his daughter, these are...
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| full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
(149 articles)
Jean-Claude Van Damme to Return to Kickboxing… For Real
(From FilmJunk. 28 January 2010, 1:08 PM, PST)
Jean-Claude Van Damme Explains Why He Wasn't In The Expendables
(From LatinoReview. 15 January 2010, 10:58 AM, PST)
(From FilmJunk. 28 January 2010, 1:08 PM, PST)
Jean-Claude Van Damme Explains Why He Wasn't In The Expendables
(From LatinoReview. 15 January 2010, 10:58 AM, PST)
User Reviews:
"Shooting pigeons . . ."
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Cast
(Credited cast)| Jean-Claude Van Damme | ... | J.C.V.D. | |
| François Damiens | ... | Bruges | |
| Zinedine Soualem | ... | L'homme au bonnet | |
| Karim Belkhadra | ... | Le vigile | |
| Jean-François Wolff | ... | Le trentenaire | |
| Anne Paulicevich | ... | La guichetière | |
| Liliane Becker | ... | Mère JCVD | |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| François Beukelaers | ... | Père JCVD | |
| John Flanders | ... | Prosecuting attorney | |
| Saskia Flanders | ... | J.C.V.D.'s daughter | |
| Dean Gregory | ... | Realisateur de Tobey Wood | |
| Kim Hermans | ... | Prisoner in kickboxing outfit | |
| Janine Horsburgh | ... | JCVD assistant | |
| Vincent Lecuyer | ... | Vendeur Vidéo Club | |
| Raphaëlle Lubansu | ... | Otage 1 | |
| Steve Preston | ... | Accessoiriste JCVD | |
| Paul Rockenbrod | ... | Tobey Wood | |
| Alan Rossett | ... | Bernstein | |
| Norbert Rutili | ... | Perthier | |
| Jesse Joe Walsh | ... | Jeff | |
| Leslie Woodhall | ... | Prison visitor | |
| Mourade Zeguendi | ... | Client Vidéo Club | |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Le rois des Belges (Belgium: French title)
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MPAA:
Rated R for language and some violence.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
97 min
Country:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) |
Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) |
France:U |
USA:R |
Argentina:16 |
Australia:M |
UK:15 |
Finland:K-15 |
Netherlands:12 |
Sweden:11 |
Singapore:NC-16 |
New Zealand:M
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Mabrouk El Mechri agreed to rewrite the script on the condition he could meet Jean-Claude Van Damme first before starting the draft, so he wouldn't waste six months on something that Van Damme would veto.
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Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: Towards the end of the movie, after JCVD is taken into custody and Bruges talks to the SWAT's chief, as the camera moves up we can see on the ground the shadow of a microphone.
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Quotes:
Policier:
Central to Unit 27. Jean-Claude Van Damme's robbing a post office. I need back-up.
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Movie Connections:
References Mars Attacks! (1996)
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Soundtrack:
Hard Times
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FAQ
When is JCVD coming to DVD?more
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"He'd still be shooting pigeons in Hong Kong," says one of the players In JCVD about director John Woo's debt to action star Jean-Claude Van Damme for their 1993 collaboration, Hard Target. Making that film may have been JCVD's greatest contribution to modern cinema although the current film with his initials in the title is more interesting than any previous kick-butt martial arts flick of his I can remember.
The story's framing device is Van Damme's fictional character of the same name unwittingly becoming a hostage in a bank robbery where his inability to extricate himself and the other hostages is a commentary on the impotence in real life of the mythical hero on the screen. The gritty, de-saturated look inside and outside the bank reminds me of the urban realism of Sidney Lumet's bank-heist Dog Day Afternoon. There's even a stringy-haired thug, but Van Damme is no Dustin Hoffman.
In this satire of his mercurial career as an action star, Van Damme ironically manages a mini-Mickey Rourke comeback by expressing feelings for his daughter and for the lost glamorous life of the Muscles from Brussels. His taciturn, expressionless persona is exactly what the satire needs to move it from a comedy about celebrity to a serious attempt to throw his identity into the existential arena. Indeed one long take in which he tearfully philosophizes about his troubled life is either ludicrous or a rather nice reflection on the vagaries of fame, albeit low rent. The other long take during the titles shows the aging hero fighting his way through a gauntlet of bad guys in a current movie. It's not bad given how bad Stallone could be in the same situation.
Van Damme has had real-life difficulties getting custody of his daughter and righting his tax problems, so JCVD is an apt imagining of his troubles. At some moments he does quite well taking his acting where it has never gone before. That he recently lost a role to Stephen Seagal, who agreed to cut his pony tail for the part, is less an indictment of Jean-Claude than it is a commentary on the vagaries of showbiz heroism.
"Sic transit gloria mundi."