I was born and raised on martial arts movies because my dad was a fan. From the definitive Bruce Lee classics to obscure 70s Shaolin monk themed films, and of course watching one of the greatest 80s action stars of the time, Jean-Claude Van Damme. The 1980s action film scene consisted of the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone and Steven Seagal. Cinematic tough guy legends with sweat dripping biceps, comical one lines and questionable storylines, who churned out straight to VHS movies my father would often rent from our local video shop.
I championed Van Damme ever since I saw him in 1986 No Retreat No Surrender. I was mesmerised by the ability of one man’s martial arts skills whilst impeccably dressed in a crisp white suit!
But why do I care about this guy and his tight vests, ripped body and eye watering leg splits I hear you cry?! For 2 reasons. 1) his iconic and awkward drunk dancing in arguably one of his best movies, Kickboxer and 2) because I always get pumped with delusions of grandeur and genuinely feel like I’m an invincible ninja after watching just one of his films!
Belgian born Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD) AKA the Muscles from Brussels, is famous for being a martial artist champion who has excelled in Karate, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Taekwondo and ballet. Exhausting I know! (He is also famous for being a bit of a cocaine addict back in the day and also had an affair with Kylie Minogue… but I digress!) Van Damme moved into action movies in the 1980s and as of 2019 his net worth was sitting around $30 million.
You may recognise him from the quirky Coors Light adverts rocking double denim and a mullet! Or randomly executing his infamous splits and beating bongos! However, one of his first roles was an extra in 80s classic dance movie, Breakin’ where he is enthusiastically dancing in lycra!
After playing a bad boy in No Retreat No Surrender, JCVD breakout movie moment was the 1988 martial arts cult classic, Bloodsport. As a big Jean-Claude Van Damme fan I decided to rank his top movies and await the internet to scream at me in CAP LOCKS for being wrong! So here are my top 12 Van Damme best and worst movies!
12 – Street Fighter 1994
As a rule, 90s video games that are made into films are a big no no and the epic mess that is Street Fighter is no exception. JCVD plays Guile and I’m fairly sure they just used his fame and popularity to lull us all into a false sense of security! The overall plot revolves around Guile and the other Street Fighter characters trying to bring down the evil General M. Bison. Critics hated it and fans of the game were also unimpressed. Yet somehow through the weak ass storyline, shockingly camp characters (who decided to cast Kylie Minogue?! Seriously!) and slagging from all corners, Street Fighter was a commercial success. The video game giant Capcom managed to make $165 million. You should watch this movie to just to tick it off a list to say you have watched it, and then immediately scrub your eyes with bleach!
11 – No Retreat No Surrender 1986
Now I know I have said that this vintage 80s movie was the inaugural moment of me becoming a Van Damme evangelist, but what I did leave out is that I love it for nostalgic reasons and not necessarily because the film is actually any good! I love this movie through the eyes of an eight-year-old (who was way too young to watch it!) but as an adult I slightly cringe. The premise of the movie is about a teenager who learns karate from the spirit of Bruce Lee.
He then has to defend his father’s dojo and honour from a corrupt crime syndicate and Soviet martial arts baddie, Van Damme. Of course. The acting is poor, and the storyline is very haphazardly knitted together where you’re left with gaping plot holes or completely unrealistic sound FX and action sequences. Which is ironic seeing as Van Damme was told off many times on set for having uncontrolled contact with his fellow actors that rendered one of them unconscious with a roundhouse kick! You should watch this martial arts movie to fill a gap in your day and for JCVD’s ridiculous accent!
10 – The Expendables 2 2012
Taking it to more recent years, The Expendables franchise has fulfilled the fantasy of many 80s and 90s action movie fans. With an old school legend line-up of who’s who of musclebound film stars like Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis, it was awesome to finally see a stand-off with two of my favourites Stallone and Jean-Claude. Van Damme plays another baddie which I haven’t seen since No Retreat No Surrender, and his character is aptly named Jean Vilain. The film itself is actually fairly ok. It has all the elements you could want in an action movie with over the top explosions and classic beat ‘em up storyline that will allow you to scroll aimlessly on your mobile phone and still know what’s happening! You should watch this if you are a true lover of the classic action film stars you grew up with.
9 – Hard Target 1993
Hard Target is the American debut film from renowned Chinese director John Woo who is known for his hectic action movies, awesome choreographed fight scenes and slow motion. So, you really get to see and hear all the punches, kicks and breaking of bones! JCVD character, Chance Boudreaux saves a damsel in distress who is searching for her father. Enter two businessmen criminals who enjoy orchestrating a hunting ‘game’ of homeless people. The lead role was meant for Kurt Russel, but he was busy at the time. However, Van Damme impresses all the same and Woo even upped the amount of action sequences in the film knowing JC could handle himself. You should watch this film if you want to see JCVD sporting a limp, greasy mullet of a hairstyle reminiscent of Nicolas Cage in Con Air!
8 – A.W.O.L: Absent Without Leave / Lionheart 1990
Yes, both titles are the same film depending on which country you’re in. (It is also named Wrong Bet because confusion is fun!) I know this Van Damme movie as AWOL and found myself having an argument with a friend who I assumed was wrong when he called it Lionheart. Either way, AWOL has been considered as the martial arts version of Rocky. In the sense that it tells the story of the underdog rising to the top. The plot consists of returning French legionnaire Lyon Gaultier played by Jean-Claude who resorts to brutal underground fights in order to provide for his dead brother’s family. The martial arts and action are classic JCVD as you watch his lethal stunts and spinning kicks, but I think it is the first time we see Van Damme play a character with more depth (and dialogue!) than his other more iconic roundhouse kick to the face movies. You should watch this movie not just for the action, but JC’s shower butt shot that became somewhat notorious with his films!
Baby got back!
7 – Timecop 1994
The 1990s was a glorious time for sci-fi movies featuring big action stars. For example, Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes in Demolition Man, Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall and Bruce Willis in the Fifth Element. So of course, Van Damme stepped into the frame with his portrayal of a time travelling police officer (complete with his mullet again!) trying to topple rogue politician Ron Silver in Timecop. The thing that is great about this classic 90s sci-fi film, is that it feels as if the director Peter Hyams, just threw a shit load of sub plots and genres at this just because he could… and I’m here for it! There’s your archetypal yet nonsensical time travel storyline, martial arts, gun violence, cool SFX, romance and a villain with sinister facial hair! Also, as an old school action movie trope, you have the standard breasts on screen for reasons unknown except… it’s a 90s action film! You should watch this if you enjoy big, fun sci-fi movies with plenty of combat that makes you not care about the plot. Oh… and also for the boobs!
6 – Sudden Death 1995
Bruce Willis had Die Hard. Steven Seagal had Under Siege and Wesley Snipes had Passenger 57. So, it was only natural for Van Damme to have his own ‘one man against a shit-ton of terrorists’ movie. This royal rumble of an action movie collaborated again with Timecop director Hyams, is quite full on with brutality that had me questioning the need for certain over the top violence. Yet it’s still a great watch once you get past that and the predictability of a familiar story telling device. At the time, Sudden Death bombed at the box office but is now considered to be one of Jean-Claude’s best movies. You should watch this for the more than ridiculous kitchen fight scene between Van Damme and a furry mascot! Aside from the random cartoony hilarity of JCVD being lobbed around by a grown ass man in a costume… it’s also a health and safety nightmare where every imaginable kitchen hazard from knives to deep fat fryers are there to kill him!
5 – Double Impact 1991
My older brother and I definitely burnt out the video tape of this film as we watched, re-watched, rinsed and repeated! Like a few of Van Damme’s late 80s and early 90s movies, the storyline and acting came second (and sometimes last!) to the jaw dropping action on the screen. Double Impact tells the story of twins Chad and Alex (both played by JCVD) who are violently separated as babies and are reunited 25 years later with a mission to avenge their murdered parents. All that is missing is a teeny tiny broken locket that unites the two, and the eye rolling plot could almost pass as a fairy-tale classic! But instead, director Sheldon Lettich gives us gangsters, explosions, gratuitous sex and of course Bolo Yeung! I can only think fondly of this Van Damme movie and see past the dodgy dialogue and poorly edited scenes where JC plays both characters in one shot. Genius! Mainly because any fighting scene between Jean-Claude Van Damme and the legend that is Bolo Yeung is always worth watching. You should watch this movie if you want to get a double dose of Van Dammage!
4 – Kickboxer 1989
I love movie training montages! There. I said it! And the training sequence with Van Damme in Kickboxer is hugely satisfying. 80s action films with a training montage complete with a motivational power ballad is like crack to me! Every time I watched Kickboxer as a kid, I would genuinely feel like I could kick down a tree with my bare feet… if I wanted to. So, let’s gloss over the cheesy storyline of a Van Damme avenging his brother, held together by cringe worthy predictability and flimsy characters, Kickboxer is still one of my favourite JCVD movies. Maybe because there are undertones of a Karate Kid style narrative of a wise old master training an inexperienced fighter, but just with loads more violence and glass! You also can’t come away from watching this film without shouting out loud “WTF!” when you see JCVD drunk dancing! I loved it so much that I even made it into a t-shirt!
The hilarious, iconic scene (to the banging tune of Feeling So Good Today by Beau Williams) will be torched into your memory as well as the image of him doing the splits in linen trousers where it’s evident he isn’t wearing any underwear! Beautiful. You should watch this film purely for the training montage and THAT drunk-dance-fight scene!
3 – JCVD 2008
I must admit, when I heard about this movie, I was reluctant. I love Van Damme, but the thoughts of a semi-fictional film about himself sounded weird, egotistical and self-indulgent. Like, just do a 360 spinning kick and beat the bad guy already! However, after watching JCVD I was proven entirely wrong and needed to have a word with myself over my premature judgy ways. The premise of the film surrounds Jean-Claude Van Damme playing himself who is caught up in a heist at a post office in Brussels. It is unlike any of his other movies and I think that is why I enjoyed it so much. Well, that and his 6-minute-long monologue where he has an open and surprisingly honest oration at the audience about his life. The idea of celebrity, his failed marriages and even his drug abuse. The scene which was captured in one take drags you into the movie and leaves you somewhat shook as you regard this infallible, heroic, martial arts icon as he stares down the lens dropping inspired truth bombs… everywhere! You should watch this movie if you are a real JCVD fan who wants to see him peel back his muscles to reveal a little vulnerability.
2 – Universal Soldier 1992
If I had access to this movie right now, I would abandon this blog post and go watch it! I’ve got so much love for Universal Soldier and the awesome pairing of Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. Rocky IV is a huge favourite of mine (urmm obviously the epic training montage!) and even though Lundgren has maybe three sentences of dialogue in the entire film, I loved his portrayal of the boxer Ivan Drago. So, watching him in Universal Soldier as a sadistic dead soldier brought back to life as a science experiment with superhuman strength (I know I know but bear with me!) AND throw out witty one lines that still crack me up today, is a winner! Jean Claude plays the compassionate and kind super soldier Luc Devereaux who not only suffers with PTSD but needs to kick the crap out of Lundgren’s characters who has gone on a rampage to kill everyone and make a pretty necklace out of their ears!
Do you hear me?!
At a time when action movies were slowly winding down to be more mainstream i.e less violent, it was strangely enticing to see Universal Soldier still blow a budget on the more 80s approach to sci-fi films with blood, gore and explosions truly owning its 18 film rating. You should watch this movie to appreciate Dolph Lundgren making a murderous villain funny, and for Van Damme inexplicably running through walls!
1 – Bloodsport 1988
Due to the fact that I generally will wreck the head of anyone I watch this film with because I know the story almost word for word, I rate Bloodsport as being Jean Claude Van Damme’s best movie of all time. A big shout I know, but the last fighting scene between Van Damme (Frank Dux) and the awesome “look at my giant pecs” Bolo Yeung (Chong Li) still genuinely gets me excited over 30 years later. Bloodsport was supposedly based on a true story, but people have since debunked this ‘truth’ and everything to do with an illegal Kumite martial arts contest. Whether the story of an American fighting in the Kumite is real or not, doesn’t bother me. Because I’m simply here for the superbly choreographed action scenes and Van Damme’s epic war cry!
It is cool to see real martial artists in the film convincingly look like they are actually fighting and contact is being made. Rather than a fake, over exaggerated bitch slaps by a stunt double. The success of Bloodsport firmly positioned Jean-Claude as a huge breakthrough martial arts star. You should watch this film for the final Kumite battle, the training montage and overly dramatic flashbacks. Cult classic Bloodsport needs to be a firm favourite for any martial art movie enthusiast. Real talk.
**I also should mention Death Warrant and Cyborg which are classic Van Damme movies in their own right, but didn’t quite make my list. So don’t @ me! :)