I must admit that when I heard that Jean Claude Van Damme was starring in a film in which he plays a character named Jean Claude Van Damme... I thought "this is nuts."
The advert for the film portrayed JCVD as an action movie in which Jean Claude is trapped in a fortress-like bank and has to fight his way free... but I have to tell you the film is nothing like that at all.
It's actually very good. In my opinion.
This is not a fight movie! I have to make that clear. This is not Bloodsport Revisited. We see Van Damme filming a fight at the beginning of the film, and after that he demonstrates one kick and imagines another. The emphasis here is not on fighting at all. Nor is it a jailbreak movie. There is no gigantic bank. The story takes place in a small, confined Post Office... and that's really the point. Everything is concentrated into condensed, emotional scenes that literally force Jean Claude, (the actor - not the character), to act instead of relying on his fighting skills to carry the weight of the film.
And, believe it or not, Van Damme really does act in this movie..., a film which wanders from English to French as the locales dictate, (Hollywood / Belgium). Van Damme faces the collapse of his career and his life in LA, and has to witness his new life in his hometown crumbling before it's begun, thanks to criminals botching a heist.
JCVD is unlike any other Van Damme film you've ever seen... and I think it's definately worth a look.
SPACE COMMANDER
