5 Jean-Claude Van Damme Movies You Need to Watch Right Now

Jean-Claude Van Damme was the action guy you could bring home to mom and also watch do the splits while kicking a dude through a wall. Early 90s, he was everywhere: the accent, the looks, the butt shot at least once per movie. Then tastes shifted mid-90s, the drugs did not help, and his big-screen run cooled off. The difference is, he got clean, leaned into the craft, and quietly turned out a run of direct-to-video stuff that plays way better than people admit. He never stopped working, he jokes about himself, and by all accounts he is legitimately nice. Meanwhile, the films that built the legend still do exactly what they are supposed to do.

Five essential JCVD movies

• Bloodsport (1988): You cannot make a JCVD list without this. The wild part is the distributor, Cannon, thought they had a dud and stuck it on a shelf. After Cannon lit too much money on fire in 1987 on a few oversized flops, they needed product to push in 1988. So they rolled the dice on Bloodsport, and it ended up probably being the most profitable movie they ever made. Theatrically it did fine. On VHS, it exploded. Van Damme plays Frank Dux, a real-life martial artist with a very controversial rep, sneaking into an underground tournament called the Kumite. It is all iconic now: the power-ballad soundtrack, Bolo Yeung glowering as the big bad, and a pile of satisfyingly brutal fights.

• Kickboxer (1989): Not quite as polished as Bloodsport, but just as sticky in the memory. JCVD heads to Thailand to avenge his brother, who gets wrecked by a Muay Thai machine named Tong Po. The finale is the one with the fighters dipping their hands in oil, then broken glass, which is basically a mission statement for the movie. It even spawned a great spoof in Hot Shots: Part Deux where they go with hot fudge and candy instead. Also: this is the one where Van Damme dances. Yes, the GIF your brain just played is real and it rules.

• Double Impact (1991): We all yelled "Double the Van Dammage!" back in the day, because Van Damme playing twins felt like an event. It was everywhere — my gym teacher had the poster up for years. The movie is rewatchable comfort food: JCVD as Chad, a silk-underwear, ladies-man wimp, and Alex, a brooding, tough-as-nails fighter. Naturally Chad levels up into a badass, Alex learns to unclench, and we get two Van Dammes punching their way through Hong Kong. The line deliveries live rent free in my head: "Hong Kong? Uncle Frankie - we have a business to run!" and "I'd never wear silk underwear!" Producers clearly wanted a sex scene, so they tucked it into a fantasy sequence. Does it make sense? Not really. Do Jean-Claude and co-star Alonna Shaw look great? Absolutely.

• Universal Soldier (1992): This pick always starts an argument. I strongly considered Timecop, but a colleague of mine, John Fallon, who is a full-on JCVD superfan, talked me into Universal Soldier being the stronger movie. He is right. You get Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren as reanimated Vietnam vets turned super-soldiers tearing across America, with Dolph flat-out stealing scenes as a guy who never left the war behind — and accessorizes accordingly. The grocery store rant is legendary.

  "The war is out there, man."

  Years later, Day of Reckoning came along and flipped the table, and I would argue it is the best DTV B-action movie ever made. Van Damme is ferocious in it.

• Hard Target (1993): The peak. John Woo, one of the greatest action directors to ever do it, brings precision and swagger, and Van Damme delivers as Cajun drifter Chance Boudreaux, rocking a mullet that could co-star in Road House. The supporting cast threatens to steal the whole thing: Lance Henriksen chewing scenery like a five-course meal, Arnold Vosloo right there with him, Yancy Butler holding her own, and Wilford Brimley proving, long before Christopher Lloyd in Nobody, that late-career action grandpas can absolutely go.

Wrap-up

That is my five. What are yours? If we expand this to a top 10, what absolutely has to make the cut?