JCVD

Review

Jean-Claude Van Damme goes arty�and meta�in JCVD. He plays himself, past his prime, impoverished by alimony and child support, back in Belgium to recover his human equilibrium�and suddenly caught up in a hostage situation in a bank. Van Damme largely sits there, helpless, while people wait for him to do something heroic. At one point, he delivers a long, tortured soliloquy about his alienating stardom to the camera in a single take. It’s the most amazing piece of acting I’ve ever seen by a martial artist. But the film itself doesn’t rise above the level of a good try. For no clear reason, director Mabrouk El Mechri has drained off the color; the brownish-yellow palette is not just hard on the eyes, it reinforces the monotony. In the absence of Godardian wit, JCVD needs more kickboxing. — David Edelstein

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