In the world of martial arts movies, there’s but one Jean Claude Van Damme. Action-hero, megastar and, importantly- a martial arts icon that didn’t change for his fans- Jean Claude Van Damme is still pulling the right punches at 57.
His latest ‘to hit cinemas’ Lukas proves just that. Where he could’ve sat back at home and spent sleepless nights staring at all the bucks he’s made all these years, Van Damme is still here. And it seems, he is not going to stop.
Arnold has begun to look haggard. Heck, he even made a quick visit to a hospital and came out. Sly, the numbers don’t lie, is competing to stay relevant. Where’s Jet Li- all are asking? People don’t know what became of Steven Segal. But one man, undaunted by the changing vagaries of time, is still here.
That man is Jean Claude Van Damme.
The ripped muscles stay as they have been. The curly mid-sized hair gelled well to stick to a head that’s seen many an action movie crown adorn it still looks good. The humble gait is as it is. The appetite for causing on-screen destruction remains unchanged. Van Damme, in essence, is still the burly action figure we’ve known him to be.
In the past, away from the heydays of the romanticism of the late 80s and the 90s where Van Damme hit peak fame, his movies have been different. Border Patrol, Derailed, Six Bullets, Second in Command and other flicks have all moved away from the safe and familiar territories of being filmed in Asia or at the most, some disconsolate, sagging East European location.
What’s more? Jean Claude himself has changed a mighty deal. Nevermind the wrinkles, the man who can still kick butt even made silent few changes toward acting, real acting, if it could be said. No more content with only breaking backs, we saw Van Damme prove himself the best he’s ever done when a decade back in time, he appeared in a rather satirical homage to his self in a flick appropriately titled JCVD.
Then suddenly erupted a whole puddle of typical lame low-budget Van Damme no-brainers. It didn’t really make a lot of sense to see the famous “Muscles from Brussels” in a share of movies like Wake of Death, Pound of Flesh or Assassination Games, the latter, arguably with a stronger story-base of its own.
So, having gravitated back to the thick format of heavy pounding martial art cinema, Van Damme’s appearance in the yet to be released Lukas signals a move back to the classic template. One that is, indeed, very Van Dammish!
Take the goons by the scruff of their neck, emerge being low-key, one who has a challenge in life to deal with and then, unfurl with the best USP that there can be- the 360-degree spin-kick!
One of those late office hour movies if not the classic relief to normalise things on a weekend, this is a very Van Damme kind of a film that may seem dry and helter-skelter akin to a car having massively broken down on a highway in the middle of nowhere, but Van Damme rescues it back on the road using some butt-kicking overload. These are the first impressions when you see Lukas’ trailer.
As the father to a kid daughter, perceptibly an 8-year-old, Jean Claude Van Damme is seen pitted against a bunch of goons, having fallen on an extremity, thus seeing him collaborate with the police to break into a gang of unworthy men and essentially, loaded miscreants. From there begins the savagery, a race against time and, what can essentially be called- Van Dammage. And the 57-year-old Belgian actor can be depended to deliver some quality bashing.
In effect, Van Damme even today is the John Wick of Martial art cinema. He’ll break the bones and yet have some of his own broken. He will teach the massive “arsehat” a lesson or two in manners and behaviour and get some of his tyres deflated. In the past too, we’ve seen Van Damme go undercover. One of his more bankable offerings of the 1990s saw him as a cop Louis Burke go undercover in a dreaded prison to unfold the heat lying hidden. This time, the offering is more fun and more onerous for the actor.
He’s going to be amid the sharks. He is to take down a dangerous gang’s leader. What can Lukas do? How interesting will it turn out to be? For starters, one of Hollywood’s finest longstanding action names being in it is a reason enough to hit the screens. Isn’t it?