ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

cricketbat A Jean-Claude Van Damme movie unlike any of his other films. In JCVD he plays a version of himself that is human and even vulnerable.The reason this film stumbles, however, is because of a young director who was trying to make it too "artsy." It would have played out much better straightforward, in my opinion.

Leofwine_draca Without a doubt the most atypical film in the actor's long career, JCVD sees Van Damme playing himself, caught up in an unlikely spiral of events in a small Belgium town. This little, low-budget, self-referencing film ended up becoming a darling of the critics, with many declaiming it as Van Damme's best (they were chagrined when he went back to making action knock-offs straight after). It's a film that fans of the star will undoubtedly enjoy, although others might just find it a little passé.The plot is nothing new: the story of an ill-thought-out post office robbery that quickly turns into a hostage situation, complete with a media frenzy outside, is as old as the hills and has been done better in the past. The low budget is evident throughout and El Mechri's direction weaves between overdone attempts at style and some decent tracking shots (the opening sequence is certainly visually arresting). The music is overblown and the supporting cast do the job without ever being great. Still...This film belongs to Van Damme himself. He's at his best when winking at himself, playing a tired, messed-up star who found himself thrown in at the deep end in Hollywood, blew it all on drugs and fame and is now trying his best to keep clean and make ends meet for his estranged family members. His acclaimed five minute monologue to the camera is by far the best thing in the film and the best Van Damme has been as an actor; he's likable and deeply flawed here, a thoroughly interesting creation. How much of it is what he's like in real life is difficult to say, but it's clear that the version of Van Damme we see on film here is very close to the real one.In terms of pacing, the film starts off very slow and disjointed but hits the mark around the forty-minute mark. There are a few scenes of excitement along the way and a couple of high-kicks from the action hero, but those looking for thrills should go elsewhere. JCVD is as close to an art-house film as the martial arts actor is ever going to get: a knowing, post-modern look at the life of a fallen star.

Bene Cumb Jean-Claude Van Damme is a certain icon and one of the most famous Belgians in the world - even non-admirers should acknowledge this... His start as actor was not very smooth as - for a long time - he seemed stiff and the plots he was engaged were trivial and resembling. But improvements took place and Van Damme became a versatile martial actor and, the older he got, the less influence was on kicking-fighting and more on empathy and protection of the weaker. All this is nicely depicted in the film in question, where he plays a fictionalized version of himself, a burn-out action star whose family and career are at stake as he is caught in the middle of a heist in his hometown of Brussels. In line with several fatal scenes, we can snigger over police bureaucracy, thickheaded loafers and people's attitudes towards famous persons. Definitely one of the best performances by Van Damme - and different in many ways; by the way, Time magazine named his performance in the film the second best of the year.

MBunge This film justifies the entire career of Jean-Claude Van Damme. All the crappy movies. All the tabloid nonsense. All the personal excesses. Without it, this movie could not exist. You couldn't make it with Stallone or Schwarzenegger. You couldn't make it with Seagal or Norris or even Dolph Lundgren. Van Damme had to exist in exactly the way he existed for this motion picture to be made. It's a great story. Too bad the storytelling isn't.As you might guess from the title, Van Damme plays himself as an aging action star reduced to starring in idiotic crap. He's losing custody of his daughter. He's running out of money. His chance at a comeback is going to Steven Seagal. On a return home to Belgium, Van Damme gets caught up in a bank robbery at a post office. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I guess in Belgium the post offices are also banks or wire transfer stations like Western Union. Anyway, the authorities think Van Damme is the one robbing the place and keeping the people in the post office hostage. That gives the three real robbers inside the idea of making Van Damme play that part as they try to figure how to get the hell out of there. As the post office is surrounded by the police and the police is surrounded by the media and the media is surrounded by cheering Van Damme fans, a man who really was an international movie star has to find a way through almost surrealistic circumstances and come out alive on the other side.JCVD is an odd duck in that it is an absolute must watch without truly being a great motion picture. Let me get into why that is before gushing over everything else. This film looks, feels and even sounds too stylish. The subject matter and the performance of Van Damme is simultaneously raw and complex and needed to be presented in a gritty, unadorned way. Yet both the structure of the script and the visual style of director Mabrouk El Mechri is too flashy and works too hard at being clever. From a non-linear plot to title cards breaking the story into segments to an overly theatrical killing, JCVD too often seems more like a conventional action thriller or some pretentious art house flick instead of a brutally frank examination of a fallen star. Maybe mimicking a Tarantino-like comeback vehicle for Van Damme was an attempt to add another layer of "meta-ness" to the whole production. If so, it was one layer too many.For example, the highlight of the film is this tremendous monologue from Van Damme about his whole life and the things that animated his rise and then his decline. His performance throughout the movie is incredible and this monologue is his spectacular peak. But instead of having the monologue take place within the confines of the story, Van Damme is literally elevated up out of a scene into the overhead lighting, where he talks directly into the camera. It's a phenomenal bit of acting, and not just because of the low standards Van Damme has set, but it totally shatters the sense of reality the rest of the narrative hangs on.It's too bad because this is a near brilliant narrative that pits the truth of Van Damme (in the context of this fictional representation of his life) vs. his own self-image vs. the image others project onto him. It depicts the irrational appeal and the impossible demands of celebrity. It makes you feel sympathy for someone who's been vastly more successful than you and then foolishly wasted all that opportunity. It is a profoundly sad story, every more sadly being told by people more interested in looking "cool".If you've ever loved, liked, hated or mocked Jean-Claude Van Damme, you need to see this movie. If you want to see the mythology of the action star deconstructed before you eyes, you need to see this movie. If you want to see a much derided performer prove he honestly deserved his time in the spotlight, you need to see this movie. I don't think I've ever seen another film as well made as this where I so deeply wish the filmmakers had made different creative choices. Believe the hype. JCVD is that good.