I have to be careful here. I have to be careful because if you drink vinegar with every meal for several years then have a really cheap wine one day, it will taste glorious by comparison and you risk praising something cheap just because it is so much better than what has come before it. Those who have watched some of Van Damme's output over the last few years will know what I mean and, for those that do not I would say that a mere 30 minutes of "Second-in-Command" will tell you all you need to know. However at the same time I must not be careful to the point that I do not admit that I found this film fascinating, engaging, thrilling and creative words that rarely appear individually anymore in reviews of a Van Damme film, let alone appearing together in one, but all of which apply here.
I temper this by saying that here and there JCVD is very close to being self-indulgent and artsy for artsy's sake and I can totally understand why many people will dislike this film. For those that look to him for action and see "plot" as being nothing more than the thing you have to have to create the action this film may disappoint as it is not his usual action-drama stuff. Whereas on the other side those that may appreciate what this film does may have decided decades ago that anything with Van Damme involved is not their sort of thing. For me though this film is worth approaching just to see what it does because, for its weaknesses it is still a great film. Why? Well it is down to what the film is. Years ago I saw Deconstructing Harry and was amazed at how folded in it was, how introspective and full of self-loathing and self-awareness: JCVD didn't quite do the same job for me but it is certainly doing the same sort of thing. The film is presented as real, with Van Damme playing himself. We see him in this "real" world making films like he has recently (Oriental director, low budget, low effort) but mainly it is played for "real", only to then at one point have Van Damme literally rise out of this "real" world into another, realer world and talk to the audience. This is one example but it is a good one of what the film is like as it gives Van Damme the chance to be honest and personal within this "reality".
At times this is funny and I particularly enjoyed the discussions on John Woo, the attitude of the "director" at the start of the film and the references to Seagal. More often it is actually quite hard to watch as Van Damme allows the film to put a lot of criticism at his feet and in his mouth. He acknowledges the standard of his recent films, his very public personal problems, his failings as a person and he allows himself to be mocked in the film in the way he is in real life because the film is set in this real world. I know action heads may not agree but to me this brutality was more gripping than many of his action scenes I sat very still the whole time, like if I moved I would disturb the film, break the spell and Van Damme would sober up, put up the defences and suddenly I would be back in the cheap action movie he is filming at the start of this film. But it doesn't, it carries on till the end and I loved it. Not all of it makes sense and I didn't get what it was doing/saying at each point but it was still really engaging.
What also surprised me was that the situation in the post office gripped me as well, even after it allowed Van Damme to exit it as a film! I would have expected it to be not real in my head but it was still surprisingly exciting. Credit to the El Mechri because the film is visually really clever and it matches the material, complimenting it. There are loads of clever shots, long takes, good music selection and so on. I do not know what else they have made but I will be making an effort to check out something else on the basis of this. Van Damme himself gives a really good performance and not just by his standards. His monologue is what sticks in the memory but he does good work throughout it and I can believe it must be a very personal film to him because he seems totally sold into it and emotionally I felt for him and was held by a man reflecting and not liking all he found. The rest of the cast do well around him but the film belongs to Van Damme almost the entire time. Damiens, the main villain and a few others all give good support and there is a brief cameo from Vincent Cassell at the start.
The film will not please action fans and it also risks being taken as being too deliberately arty and introspective (or "up itself") by those coming to it for what it is. For me though I found it fascinating a frank delivery of Van Damme as a man set within a fictional plot that actually works with a great performance from the man himself, all pulled together with a creative eye from director, cinematographer and editor that compliments the script throughout. It is not perfect and at times I wasn't sure what to make of it but it was engaging, clever and gripping in regards both tension and what it was doing generally. What he follows this with is anyone's guess but if I could only ever watch one Van Damme film again in my life, it would be this one by a country mile.
I temper this by saying that here and there JCVD is very close to being self-indulgent and artsy for artsy's sake and I can totally understand why many people will dislike this film. For those that look to him for action and see "plot" as being nothing more than the thing you have to have to create the action this film may disappoint as it is not his usual action-drama stuff. Whereas on the other side those that may appreciate what this film does may have decided decades ago that anything with Van Damme involved is not their sort of thing. For me though this film is worth approaching just to see what it does because, for its weaknesses it is still a great film. Why? Well it is down to what the film is. Years ago I saw Deconstructing Harry and was amazed at how folded in it was, how introspective and full of self-loathing and self-awareness: JCVD didn't quite do the same job for me but it is certainly doing the same sort of thing. The film is presented as real, with Van Damme playing himself. We see him in this "real" world making films like he has recently (Oriental director, low budget, low effort) but mainly it is played for "real", only to then at one point have Van Damme literally rise out of this "real" world into another, realer world and talk to the audience. This is one example but it is a good one of what the film is like as it gives Van Damme the chance to be honest and personal within this "reality".
At times this is funny and I particularly enjoyed the discussions on John Woo, the attitude of the "director" at the start of the film and the references to Seagal. More often it is actually quite hard to watch as Van Damme allows the film to put a lot of criticism at his feet and in his mouth. He acknowledges the standard of his recent films, his very public personal problems, his failings as a person and he allows himself to be mocked in the film in the way he is in real life because the film is set in this real world. I know action heads may not agree but to me this brutality was more gripping than many of his action scenes I sat very still the whole time, like if I moved I would disturb the film, break the spell and Van Damme would sober up, put up the defences and suddenly I would be back in the cheap action movie he is filming at the start of this film. But it doesn't, it carries on till the end and I loved it. Not all of it makes sense and I didn't get what it was doing/saying at each point but it was still really engaging.
What also surprised me was that the situation in the post office gripped me as well, even after it allowed Van Damme to exit it as a film! I would have expected it to be not real in my head but it was still surprisingly exciting. Credit to the El Mechri because the film is visually really clever and it matches the material, complimenting it. There are loads of clever shots, long takes, good music selection and so on. I do not know what else they have made but I will be making an effort to check out something else on the basis of this. Van Damme himself gives a really good performance and not just by his standards. His monologue is what sticks in the memory but he does good work throughout it and I can believe it must be a very personal film to him because he seems totally sold into it and emotionally I felt for him and was held by a man reflecting and not liking all he found. The rest of the cast do well around him but the film belongs to Van Damme almost the entire time. Damiens, the main villain and a few others all give good support and there is a brief cameo from Vincent Cassell at the start.
The film will not please action fans and it also risks being taken as being too deliberately arty and introspective (or "up itself") by those coming to it for what it is. For me though I found it fascinating a frank delivery of Van Damme as a man set within a fictional plot that actually works with a great performance from the man himself, all pulled together with a creative eye from director, cinematographer and editor that compliments the script throughout. It is not perfect and at times I wasn't sure what to make of it but it was engaging, clever and gripping in regards both tension and what it was doing generally. What he follows this with is anyone's guess but if I could only ever watch one Van Damme film again in my life, it would be this one by a country mile.