Post by Replicant on Jan 19, 2018 20:02:46 GMT
No Retreat, No Surrender and Kill ‘Em All! – Why You Should Give a Damme About Jean-Claude
By Matt Rodgers -
Jan 19, 2018
JCVD returns this week in Peter Malota‘s Kill ‘Em All, a fiery shoot ’em up which sees the man himself return to form as a one-man killing machine caught up in the crossfire between an international criminal gang and an increasingly desperate FBI investigation. It is a ridiculously fun throwback to the Van Damme days of glory with well suited henchmen being reworked internally by the the muscles from Brussels. A wonderfully-bearded Peter Stomare and another key 80s action star Maria Conchita Alonso (who partnered The Running Man and took the alien to task in Predator 2) join in the fun. Take a look at the trailer, and you’ll know exactly what we mean…
Now Matt Rodgers takes us all the way back, to remind us why Jean-Claude was such a big hit…
For an entire generation Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg will be known only for cold-climate set alcohol adverts, a stumbling turn in an Expendables sequel, and a viral video in which he performs a tear inducing split whilst astride two trucks. But for those of us more familiar with Jean-Claude Van Damme from his days on the dusty shelf of the VHS rental store – you’ve come to the right feature, because here at HeyUGuys we’re going to celebrate arguably one of the greatest heroes of our formative years; the muscles from Brussels.
Thrown into a world in which his hard-bodied counterparts – Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis – dominated the cinema screens, Van Damme found his niche on the late night television circuit, or as rental back-up when the on-loan tab was affixed to the oversized box-cover.
Titles such as No Retreat, No Surrender (1986), a film that was Van Damme’s US debut, and positioned him as bad guy Soviet street fighter (a label that would bookend his most successful period of films, but more on that later), and Bloodsport (1988), which took the Schwarzenegger route of having Van Damme play an “American” who leaves the military in order to fight to the death in Hong Kong martial arts tournaments, were the kind of films you’d borrow from your friends, but not tell mum and dad about. They were the very definition of cult, and Van Damme’s star was born from it.
There’s no contemporary parallel; Jason Statham’s action CV has a knowing B-Movie quality to it, one that has exploded into the Fast and Furious franchise. But remember he started in Guy Ritchie’s Britbusting films, and Nicolas Cage won an Academy Award before becoming an ironic straight-to-DVD star. No, Van-Damme owned this arena, with a straight face and a fierce determination to become an icon.
If you were playing the movie round of a pub quiz and the teaser posed was “name three films starring Jean-Claude Van Damme”, chances are the first thing whispered too loudly would be Kickboxer (1989). The martial arts equivalent of Rocky, and a film in which the ‘avenge my family member’ template was set in stone for a generation of Western bargain basement rental titles. It’s undeniably wooden, particularly our subject matter, but Van Damme’s rising profile and impressive choreography was integral in bleeding Eastern fighting styles into Western cinema, and he didn’t stop there.
Read more here: www.heyuguys.com/jean-claude-van-damme-retrospective/
By Matt Rodgers -
Jan 19, 2018
JCVD returns this week in Peter Malota‘s Kill ‘Em All, a fiery shoot ’em up which sees the man himself return to form as a one-man killing machine caught up in the crossfire between an international criminal gang and an increasingly desperate FBI investigation. It is a ridiculously fun throwback to the Van Damme days of glory with well suited henchmen being reworked internally by the the muscles from Brussels. A wonderfully-bearded Peter Stomare and another key 80s action star Maria Conchita Alonso (who partnered The Running Man and took the alien to task in Predator 2) join in the fun. Take a look at the trailer, and you’ll know exactly what we mean…
Now Matt Rodgers takes us all the way back, to remind us why Jean-Claude was such a big hit…
For an entire generation Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg will be known only for cold-climate set alcohol adverts, a stumbling turn in an Expendables sequel, and a viral video in which he performs a tear inducing split whilst astride two trucks. But for those of us more familiar with Jean-Claude Van Damme from his days on the dusty shelf of the VHS rental store – you’ve come to the right feature, because here at HeyUGuys we’re going to celebrate arguably one of the greatest heroes of our formative years; the muscles from Brussels.
Thrown into a world in which his hard-bodied counterparts – Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis – dominated the cinema screens, Van Damme found his niche on the late night television circuit, or as rental back-up when the on-loan tab was affixed to the oversized box-cover.
Titles such as No Retreat, No Surrender (1986), a film that was Van Damme’s US debut, and positioned him as bad guy Soviet street fighter (a label that would bookend his most successful period of films, but more on that later), and Bloodsport (1988), which took the Schwarzenegger route of having Van Damme play an “American” who leaves the military in order to fight to the death in Hong Kong martial arts tournaments, were the kind of films you’d borrow from your friends, but not tell mum and dad about. They were the very definition of cult, and Van Damme’s star was born from it.
There’s no contemporary parallel; Jason Statham’s action CV has a knowing B-Movie quality to it, one that has exploded into the Fast and Furious franchise. But remember he started in Guy Ritchie’s Britbusting films, and Nicolas Cage won an Academy Award before becoming an ironic straight-to-DVD star. No, Van-Damme owned this arena, with a straight face and a fierce determination to become an icon.
If you were playing the movie round of a pub quiz and the teaser posed was “name three films starring Jean-Claude Van Damme”, chances are the first thing whispered too loudly would be Kickboxer (1989). The martial arts equivalent of Rocky, and a film in which the ‘avenge my family member’ template was set in stone for a generation of Western bargain basement rental titles. It’s undeniably wooden, particularly our subject matter, but Van Damme’s rising profile and impressive choreography was integral in bleeding Eastern fighting styles into Western cinema, and he didn’t stop there.
Read more here: www.heyuguys.com/jean-claude-van-damme-retrospective/