Jean-Claude Van Damme
- Thread starter version
- Start date
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Cheap gag, but sometimes they're the best ones.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
been a lotta years but I LOVED this kinda shit when I was a tween and have seen em all
Bloodsport is awesome. peak Van Damme. in the highest tier of 80s action, and with considerably less steroidal machismo than Sly/Arnold
almost an actually good movie. Bolo Yeung is a great villain, Donald Gibb is always fun, the Kowloon Walled City stuff is cool
despite being based on complete lies, it even kinda has a place in real martial arts history, in a proto-mixed martial arts sense
granted a lot is utter (and occasionally deeply offensive) nonsense, but the Muay Thai dude is legit, there's a Capoeira guy, etc
Kickboxer is basically a less good Bloodsport, which still makes it pretty good. and of course, the infamous dance sequence.
haven't seen the reboot with Georges St Pierre but like all modern remakes I cannot imagine it matches the loopy charms of 80s action.
Universal Cop is bad in an enjoyable way, with a semi-interesting Vietnam War subtext. you can never go wrong with JCVD vs Lundgren.
Time Cop is pretty bad in a mostly not enjoyable way, tho Ron Silver is fun hamming it up as an evil senator
Hard Target is pretty fun. not nearly as good as his actual Hong Kong flicks but it's still John Woo so the floor is gonna be pretty high.
Street Fighter is the kind of insanely terrible mess that is deeply enjoyable. somehow, the last film of the great Raul Julia before his death.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
of ones you didn't mention, I'd also ride for Cyborg, v Road Warrior meets classic Eastwood with some Terminator thrown in (but not as good obv)
it's pretty bananas. his character's name is fucking Gibson Rickenbacker. he has a switchblade in his boot. everyone has a mullet.
it's pretty bananas. his character's name is fucking Gibson Rickenbacker. he has a switchblade in his boot. everyone has a mullet.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Gotta admit it seemed a bit below Hellman to me at the time when I read it. Can't imagine Harry Dean Stanton or Warren Oates rolling around on the floor after hearing it either - though who knows what they're really like I guess.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Think I started watching that one but didn't last too long.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
woops
is not like other people
just watching BLOODSPORT as a result of this thread and there's a scene where some beardy biker guy starts sleazing this woman opposite JC on the bus. You're expecting JC to defend her honour obviously but they become best mates instead. Different times eh, although maybe there will be a revenge scene later in the film I haven't finished it yet
IdleRich
IdleRich
I read something about the making of this film. Sounds like it was a total fucking mess - that guy from the Addams Family was half-way through death's door through most of the film and there was some guy who had this big scene with a martial art sword technique thing that was supposed to look supercool but every time the stuntman or whatever went to show him how to do it he got interrupted... the scene got closer and closer and he had no idea how to do it, I think in the end one of the extras who knew how to do it showed him it roughly five minutes before the shoot and he just about managed to do an incredibly shit version that impressed precisely no-one. How the fuck does that sort of thing happen on a film with a big budget and loads of professionals involved and stuff? Oh didn't they have to change location and start again or something at one point too?
woops
is not like other people
and for the lady in question to thank JC for his gallantry
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
yeah that's Donald Gibb, long-time Hollywood go-to for beardy biker guys both friend and foe
that character is otherwise pretty awesome - shotgunning beers, ignoring all the fancy martial arts in favor of just headbutting dudes and the like
a few minutes later there's a scene where an Arab stereotype much more offensively propositions JCVD's love interest
JCVD very much defends her honor, and later on "Arab" (probably actually Hispanic or Filipino) guy is the first dude he defeats in the tournament
it's that 80s trope of making assholeish behavior by the good guys pale in comparison to the assholeish behavior of the bad guys
the classic example being Karate Kid
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
I mean like all these films the female "love interest" is so clearly tacked on to a story about intense connections between sweaty dudes
tho it has to be said JCVD's films are in general much less homoerotic than yr average Arnie/Sly flick
probably b/c he was much less serious about projecting ultra-masculinity
tho it has to be said JCVD's films are in general much less homoerotic than yr average Arnie/Sly flick
probably b/c he was much less serious about projecting ultra-masculinity
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
it's interesting cos 70s action stars - Eastwood, Bronson, Burt Reynolds, etc - were super careful about that
projecting ultra-masculinity in a way that can't be coded as queer
then you get to the 80s and it's just an explosion of shirtless dudes with gleaming pecs slathered in baby oil
which JCVD I think avoids by, in fact, having an inherent sexual ambiguity tho his litheness of person and movement
so it never looks like he's trying super hard to be straight, he's just being himself
vs the muscle gays fisting each other vibe of something like, say, Commando
projecting ultra-masculinity in a way that can't be coded as queer
then you get to the 80s and it's just an explosion of shirtless dudes with gleaming pecs slathered in baby oil
which JCVD I think avoids by, in fact, having an inherent sexual ambiguity tho his litheness of person and movement
so it never looks like he's trying super hard to be straight, he's just being himself
vs the muscle gays fisting each other vibe of something like, say, Commando
version
Well-known member
Yeah, I rewatched it yesterday and assumed he'd be fodder for Van Damme, but he just beats him at some arcade game then they start hanging out all the time.
IdleRich
IdleRich
I thought that with Franco Nero until I saw Querelle.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
yeah but that's different, it's a conscious choice to play against type
and you couldn't get more self-consciously queer in 1982 than Rainer Werner Fassbinder adapting a Jean Genet novel
also, it's Europe, which never attained the ultra-masculine/homoerotic heights of American action
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
that is pretty good, I'd forgotten that
all I remember from the score is "Fight to Survive" and that generic 80s song that plays when Forest Whittaker and the other guy chase JCVD