Jean Claude Van Damme

Bloodsport

A well-oiled Jean-Claude Van Damme makes his starring debut in what may be one of the few kickboxing films to be based on a true story. The Muscles from Brussels plays Frank Dux, the first Westerner ever to win the extreme "whupfest" known as the Kumatai (a long-running, no-holds-barred fighting tournament in Hong Kong). While a bit deficient in the script department (to say the least), this undeniably exciting flick succeeds by letting Van Damme play to his strengths: namely, minimal acting and a lot of impossibly acrobatic splits while kicking people in the head. A guilty-pleasure testosterone blast of the highest order, with a memorable villain (the massive Bolo Yeung from Enter the Dragon), and a multitude of well-choreographed fight scenes. An embarrassed-looking Forest Whitaker cameos as a hapless (and non-kickboxing) cop. --Andrew Wright

Kung Fu expert Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a martial arts master who arrives in Hong Kong to compete in the Kumite a violent championship fighting contest.Running Time: 92 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 085393774424

Timecop

Pay no attention to the fact that Timecop is an insult to intelligent science fiction, and that it gradually succumbs to an acute case of the sillies. It is a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, after all, so check your brain at the door and enjoy this action flick set in the year 2004. Van Damme plays an officer in the Time Enforcement Police, assigned to prevent criminals from traveling to the past with the intent of altering the future. Ron Silver plays the evil politician who plots to retrieve a stockpile of gold from the Civil War to finance his latest campaign. The film is clever to a point, and entertaining if you can ignore the dumb jokes and inconsistencies. Best of all, it's an above-average vehicle for Van Damme (relatively speaking), who gets to kick some villainous butt and share a few scenes with Mia Sara, who plays the Timecop's wife. As Van Damme fans can tell you, this is one of the action star's better movies. --Jeff Shannon

Lionheart

Kickboxer

Van Damme Action Pack Quadruple Feature (Timecop / Hard Target / Street Fighter / The Quest)

4 Times the Action! Enjoy 4 action-packed films from Jean-Claude Van Damme in the Van Damme Fight Pack Quadruple Feature including Hard Target, Timecop, Street Fighter and The Quest.

Maximum Risk [Blu-ray]

Columbia Pictures Maximum Risk (Blu-ray) Prepare for Maximum VanDammage when action superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme is joined by sexy newcomer Natasha Henstridge ("Species") in their most explosive roles yet! Alain Moreau's (Van Damme) investigation into the death of his identical twin brother leads him from thebeauty of the south of France to the mean streetsof New York City and into the arms of his brother's beautiful girlfriend (Henstridge). Pursued by ruthless Russian mobsters and renegade FBI agents, the duo race against time to solve his brother's murder and expose an international conspiracy. Sparked by the erotic chemistry between Van Damme and Henstridge, spectacular stunts, and globe-hopping adventure, "Maximum Risk" is "vintage Van Damme" -Bob Ross (Tampa Tribune).

Street Fighter -- Collector's Edition

Cyborg

Jean-Claude Van Damme, a.k.a. "the Muscles from Brussels," had only a few movies to his credit when he played the hero in this lame postapocalyptic action flick from 1989. It's really just another martial-arts movie, dressed down with near-future trash and dirty sets that have "low budget" written all over them. Van Damme plays the protective escort for a half-human, half-cyborg woman whose programming contains a possible cure for a plague that's threatening to wipe out the entire population of Earth. But the woman is kidnapped by Van Damme's evil nemesis (is there any other kind?) while they are en route to her Atlanta headquarters. That leads Van Damme right into a lion's den of sadomasochistic torture and torment. If you've made it this far (and if you have, why?), you're probably a founding member of the Jean-Claude Van Damme fan club. To everyone else: Don't say you weren't warned--this is the kind of movie in which naming characters after electric guitars (Van Damme's character is named "Gibson Rickenbacker") qualifies as clever screenwriting. --Jeff Shannon

Jean-Claude Van Damme a.k.a. "the Muscles from Brussels" had only a few movies to his credit when he played the hero in this lame postapocalyptic action flick from 1989. It is really just another martial-arts movie dressed down with near-future trash and dirty sets that have "low budget" written all over them. Van Damme plays the protective escort for a half-human half-cyborg woman whose programming contains a possible cure for a plague that has threatening to wipe out the entire population of Earth. But the woman is kidnapped by Van Dammes evil nemesis (is there any other kind?) while they are en route to her Atlanta headquarters. That leads Van Damme right into a lions den of sadomasochistic torture and torment. If you have made it this far (and if you have why?) you are probably a founding member of the Jean-Claude Van Damme fan club. To everyone else: Do not say you were not warned--this is the kind of movie in which naming characters after electric guitars (Van Dammes character is named "Gibson Rickenbacker") qualifies as clever screenwriting. System Requirements:Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme et al. Director: Albert Pyun Edition Details: Region 1 encoding (for use in US and Canada only) Color Closed-captioned Widescreen AC-3 Theatrical trailer(s) Full-screen and widescreen letterbox formats Number of discs: 1 Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: R UPC: 027616656124

Universal Soldier (Special Edition)

Director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) fortunately brings some crackle to this otherwise unexciting sci-fi drama about two once-dead, biologically-regenerated soldiers (Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren) who turn against one another when Van Damme's character has memories of his previous life. Emmerich is typically only as good as his scripts, and this one is pretty flat. The two stars do exactly what you'd expect them to do and nothing more. The DVD release has a wide presentation, Dolby sound, trailers, notes, and Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh

Nowhere to Run

Poor Rosanna Arquette ended up in this Van Damme potboiler about an escaped convict who moves onto the farm of a widow (Arquette) and her two kids. Stuff happens: a cop who likes her gets jealous and beats up the Muscles from Brussels (but only after handcuffing him), there's a fire in the barn, bad guys are trying to drive her away, etc. The story was first developed by screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct) and the late director Richard Marquand (Eye of the Needle). Eszterhas wrote the script, but who knows what direction this story was originally going? Van Damme's best film is still Timecop, and this is a long way from the quality of that. --Tom Keogh

Columbia Pictures