robin2099

Big fan of Jean Claude. Out of all the 80-90 action heroes he seemed like he was the most consistent in terms of making either fun action movies or good action movies. He had movie star good looks and a natural charisma that always showed. Like I said earlier he had probably the best straight run of action movies but for whatever reason was never able to reach the same highs of Stallone, Willis or Arnie.

Ironically after he had his biggest hit with Timecop, his career seemed to take a nose dive as he just started doing nothing but crap. Though I do think that Sudden Death and Street Fighter are somewhat unappreciated. He also was the first actor to try and bring in noted Hong Kong directors and stuntmen to work in his films.

He also is in great shape still and has actually improved as an actor while not taking himself to seriously anymore. Hopefully he's due for a comeback because I believe he could still pull it off.

My Van Damme top five:

1. Bloodsport: First introduced us to JCVD and the things that would become his trademark. Great showcase for what he could do which kicked off all the Van Damme imitators.

2.Double Impact: Just a ridiculously fun and entertaining movie.

3.Universal Soldier: Jean Claude and Dolph make for a great pair.

4. Lionheart: The first movie that showed Van Damme could somewhat act.

5.Timecop/Hard Target: I can't choose between them. Timecop is a fun Sci-Fi movie that is still entertaining though somewhat cheesy today. Hard Target while not as good as it could have been showed Van Damme at his best. Plus it features this scene.

Rob V

Huge JCVD fan here. I loved Bloodsport far more than his other movies... but Kickboxer was a decent flick back in the day. My favorite part of his movies was when he'd cast a hot female lead and ALWAYS, ALWAYS bang her in the movie. It was shameless.

badlieut

He actually has a pilot on Amazon currently up for vote called "John Claude Van Johnson." I enjoyed it. Makes fun of himself quite a bit in there.

fumanstan

Bloodsport will forever be one of my favorite movies of all time and I find it endlessly rewatchable whenever it's on TV.

Solid Snake

I thought the show had potential. Just needed better writing. I loved the Time Cop reference and about having taste in movies.

Why So Blu?

My Van Damme faves:

1. JCVD (this was my #2 favorite of that year behind The Dark Knight - shit, can't believe it's been almost 10 years since)

Hard Target
Death Warrant
Assassination Games (Scott Adkins is also in this and it has next to zero martial arts in it and has an awesome sepia-tone wash to the entire flick - it's highly underrated)
Enemies Closer (completely unhinged and has a creepy hairdo)

Maxflier

Another huge fan here, although I haven't been keeping up with all of his recent DTV stuff like I should.
A top 5 would be tough to rank, but my favorite is Timecop. Some of my other faves are:
Lionheart, In Hell, Hard Target and Replicant.

Norm de Plume

Bloodsport. Other than that, meh. Maybe Death Warrant. I haven't seen JCVD. He's not a terrible actor and his martial arts is solid, but he has not had a really lean, kickass "vehicle" since Bloodsport.

MLBFan24

My first favorite movie was Universal Soldier (I was a young kid at the time). It's not my favorite movie anymore, but I still enjoy the movie.

But Bloodsport is still my favorite martial arts movie.

I was also rooting for him in Expendables 2.

Solid Snake

Universal Soldier: Regeneration was a damn good movie. You could tell when he had a stunt guy replace but it was damn good. The fights were brutal.

DJariya

He has a pretty prominent role in the new Kickboxer remake. He's in pretty good shape considering he's in his late 50's now. Although, as I mentioned in that thread, the movie itself is not very good. They are making 2 more movies though. Part 2 with Van Damme returning is filming right now.

planetaire

I appreciate JCVD as well. Everyone has mentioned all of the best... some of the rest. Among his latter-day DTV output, I think Until Death is a film that doesn't get enough positive mention. Warts and all.

DJariya

Replicant, one of his early 2000's direct to video releases, is quite underrated IMO. It's loaded with action and sort of mixes a little science fiction in it.




I enjoyed one of his most recent DTV releases Pound of Flesh.



Takes place in Asia and deals with the theft of human organs. Very gritty movie. Although it's really low budget.

Sonic

I'm a big fan as well. My top 5:

Bloodsport
Cyborg
No Retreat No Surrender
Black Eagle
Double Impact

Ash Ketchum

Consider me a fan--for all the good reasons the OP cites. I used to love going to Times Square after work (two blocks away) to see movies starring Norris, Seagal and Van Damme, during their respective heydays. I saw HARD TARGET on opening night there. I ran into lots of people I know; a memorable night. I liked that one, MAXIMUM RISK and DOUBLE TEAM a lot. I've seen each at least once or twice since their theatrical releases. I've seen THE QUEST, which he directed, only once, but I'd love to see it again. A friend of mine was production supervisor on it and once ordered James Remar out of the van taking them to the location because he was complaining loudly about the production. She had nice things to say about Van Damme, though.

After the disaster that THE EXPENDABLES was, I would have forsworn EXPENDABLES 2, but Van Damme's participation was the deal-maker for me and I loved it. I remember applauding when he first appeared on camera, a dim, shadowy figure in the Bulgarian mist, and another guy in my row followed suit and when his girlfriend asked who that was, he said "Van Damme!" and he made a point of approaching me afterwards to share his love of Van Damme.

I have REPLICANT on DVD and still haven't seen it. I must correct that very soon.

james2025a

Bloodpsort is by far his best movie. Hard Target comes second. Universal Soldier a close third. Rounding out the top 5 would be Double Team (this movie is way better than it has any right to be, probably in large due to Tsui Hark directing, and Timecop. I am rather fond of AWOL (Lionheart) as well, but its thin on story, but i guess thats most of his movies. He did some solid movies, but i dont think he ever got a good chance to make the truly great action movies that his piers did.

JZ1276

Anyone catch Welcome to the Jungle? Came out a couple of years ago. Basically played a parody of himself. He can be funny.

Sonic

He was awesome in that scene. It was great to see evil Van Damme. Van Damme when he played bad characters always shined on screen.

JCWBobC

A few I liked that weren't mentioned are Nowhere to Run with Rosanna Arquette, Desert Heat with Monroe from Grimm & Jamie Pressley, and Knock Off with Rob Schneider.

SuckaMC

Big fan of Knock Off. Its just fun.

Of his DTV stuff, I thought Wake of Death was quite good.

His Amazon pilot is great too.

Sonic

And Pat Morita and Danny Trejo! I love that movie!

jessecrx

Growing up as a teen, I loved watching his movies.
It was because of his movies that I got so heavily involved in playing fighting games in the arcade. First Street Fighter 1, then Pit Fighter and Final Fight and then ultimately Street Fighter 2.

I liked him for his entertainment value, just as I did Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Segal and Don The Dragon Wilson.

Gotta list my favorites as:

1. Bloodsport - Loved the whole display of different fighting styles and the slow mo camera and introduction to the signature Van Damme scream. This movie also had the baddest mofo bad guy ever. Bolo Yeung as Chong Li. YOU ARE NEX!! So many great lines! "OK USA!" "Aren't you a little young for full contact?" "They really love Asians because we're GOOD LOOKING!" "Jackson? You look like a Jackson! That would make you Frank DUCKS!" "Too late!? No such thing as too late!(slips money to the judge)" Can't love this movie enough.

2. Lionheart - This movie, although very predictable, is still a great story at heart. The only thing I HATED about it was the multi-hit effects for every single strike landed. But some of the lines in that movie are classic. "Hey you're kinda pretty.. I dunno if I wanna fight you..or f-you!" ha!

3. Kickboxer - Back then there weren't many movies that displayed a lot of Muay Thai Kickboxing. This movie was out in 88-89, right about the time I was playing Street Fighter 1. When I would get to Thailand(the last boss stage in Street Fighter)I was fascinated by the fighting styles of Adon and Sagat. So when I saw the movie it was a huge spotlight on their homeland and fight style. I especially liked the score and soundtrack to this flick. I still have the original HBO DVD with the original cover art. And who could forget the classic van damme dance scene at the Thai bar!? Great stuff.

4. Double Impact - Oh boy, I can remember reading the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly in their gossip section. They spoke about a DOUBLE DRAGON movie and Van Damme has a twin role! I was super excited because up until that point there hadn't been a Double Dragon movie(yes, even before the one with Alyssa Milano lol). But this movie is pure mindless Van Damme cheese and it's just so damn good! It's the perfect snapshot of that time between the 80's and 90's. Kinda like how Road House did, but in Asia. We also got to see the return of Bolo Yeung as a bad guy. Seeing Van Damme play a tough guy role and a spoiled brat playboy was too much fun. And to this day, when my gf points out that the silk underwear are on sale I always say out loud in my best Van Damme voice "YOU OF ALL PEEPOH SHUDD KNOW DAT I WOOD NEIGHBOR IN MY LAFF WEER BLOCK SEELK HONDA-WARE!!"

And the rest are a tossup between Universal Soldier, Cyborg, Death Warrant and Time Cop.

Ash Ketchum

Damn, you guys are making me upset that I've never seen BLOODSPORT or KICKBOXER!

stingermck

Well for starters this thread needs this, which always makes me smile:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vD1Usk0DYc0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I'm a huge JCVD fan as well. I still get all his DTV movies. In fact, I have all his movies.

Personal favorites are Bloodsport, Double Impact, Hard Target. Death Warrant is also a great 80's sort of creepy flick. Less action, but a little darker.

Universal Soldier was also great with Lundgren, even the 2nd one with Jai White and Goldberg. Double Team is fun, even with the stunt casting with Rodman. Van Damme can play well off of others. I always wanted a movie with him and Seagal.

Ky-Fi

He's an enjoyable action-movie star. He doesn't take himself as seriously as Seagal, and he's funnier and a better actor than Chuck Norris.

My favorite quote about him was from the DVDtalk review of The Shepherd (sorry I don't remember the reviewer):

"His acting is neither good nor bad, it is simply Van Damme."