MovieChat Forums > JCVD (2019) Discussion > Belgian Remake of 'Dog Day Afternoon'?--...

Belgian Remake of 'Dog Day Afternoon'?--Spoilers

posted 13 years ago by dcavalli
9 replies | jump to latest

Let's see:

1) A hostage crisis at a post office (where wire transfers can be sent and received, thus making it similar to a bank).

2) The event quickly turns into a media circus that draws a huge crowd that sympathizes with the suspected bank robber (Van Damme).

3) The police chief attempts to negotiate with the robber via the telephone.

4) The police set up their headquarters in a nearby business.

5) The police enlist a relative of the suspect to try to talk some sense into him.

6) One of the robbers has long, dark hair reminiscent of John Cazale from "Dog Day Afternoon."

It appears that the producers just reworked much of the plot of "Dog Day Afternoon" and set it up as a vehicle for the real-life Jean-Claude Van Damme, whose film career has suffered, has become a bit of a joke (much like Steven Seagal), has personal, legal, and financial problems.

Since it would mostly be in French and Jean-Claude wouldn't kill anybody and do very little karate, maybe it could pass itself off as an "art" film.

The monologue, breaking the fourth wall scene was pretty good. Though cliched, the film does offer a look at how an action star (i.e. Van Damme, Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Seagal, Vin Diesel, et al) would react in a real life situation in which he was confronted with either armed criminals or terrorists.

Van Damme is scared and quite cautious when dealing with the three hostage-takers. To his credit, he (or his character in this film) shows concern for his fellow hostages. Van Damme uses his celebrity only to try to get them released and not really to benefit only himself. He tries to use his brain to get out of this.

It's not a bad or a great film, but worth a viewing only to see a genre actor do something a little different. I would compare it to Seagal's performance in "Executive Decision" (1996), in which everyone expects his character to save the day but, in fact, dies in the middle of the film. By the comparison, I mean that Seagal chose to do something a little different, as a supporting character who is not the center of the film and makes an early and unexpected exit.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dcavalli 13 years ago

Try watching both films again, but without the weed.

[–] shortbread226 13 years ago

Excellent comeback.

My point was all you did was list things that happened in both movies. A remake is a retelling of a plot. The two movies do not have the same plots. They are both about hostage situations but by your reasoning if you can list 5 comparisons from two movies then one is a reworking of the other even if it is something as superficial as two characters looking similar.

The movies are both centered around hostage situations. So what? A lot of movies are. And in nearly every hostage situation movie someone involved talks to a single negotiator. They demand cash (or possibly something else like the release of political prisoners) and an escape usually by airplane. The negotiations are drawn out the police find information about the people inside if they know who they are and use that information to there advantage and so on and so on. Why? because all of that is probably what would happen in a hostage situation.

I also don't see the point in posting in a discussion board if you are going to snipe at anyone who has a different opinion but i suppose thats the internet for you

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What you just read was probably a bit of a rant. Sorry

[–] dcavalli 13 years ago

I appreciate honest discussion and welcome disagreement. Though your tone was one of hostility and condescension. So I replied in kind.

1) I use the word "remake" quite loosely. If you Google "JCVD" and "Dog Day Afternoon," you will see that many people noted the similarities between both films. Remake is more neutral than "rip-off" and less fan-boy than "homage."

2) You described my noting that the one of the robbers has his hair style like John Cazale's character in "Dog Day Afternoon" as "stupid." Yet if you check "movie connections" for "JCVD," the resemblance of the two actors' hairstyles is noted. Again, if you use Google, you will notice that a lot of people also noted this very similarity.

3) I went beyond simply comparing "JCVD" to "Dog Day Afternoon," noting how the former film is a commentary on celebrity and exploring how a real-life action star would respond in a real hostage drama.

[–] shortbread226 13 years ago

To be fair I can only base what i said in my first post on what you said in your first post.

My comment that the aggressive robber looked like John Cazale being stupid was not because I didn't think he did. It was because you claimed it lent support to your claim of a remake. Whether it was deliberate or not by the filmmaker it had nothing to do with the film being a remake.

I still don't think remake is the right word no matter how loosely you use it. In my view a remake is a reworking of a previous plot. At best you could say it was very possible that the writer was inspired to create the situation he did by watching DDA. However the angle the film takes, the storylines and characters are completely different. JCVD is it's own movie where as something thy is a remake, even in the loosest sense, will owe plot points, character arcs and storylines to it's base material.

The reason I didn't brig up anything you said in the second half of your post is because I agreed with it and had nothing to say about it. I wasn't selectively ignoring it, it was just irrelevant to what I wanted to post

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What you just read was probably a bit of a rant. Sorry

[–] MrBigglesworth999 12 years ago

It seems to me that the truth is somewhere in between.

No, JCVD is not a remake of DDA but I was reminded of "Dog Day Afternoon" when I watched it, especially with the John Cazale lookalike. You may wish to add a point 6 similarity:-

6. The John Cazale lookalike is shot in the centre of the forehead in both movies and little blood appears.

I'm sure that the JCVD makers watched DDA and "lifted" a few ideas from it. But all movie-makers do that.

[–] snookafly2000 10 years ago

I noticed that bullet hole perfectly dead center just like DDA. That bank robber had to be an homage to Cazale. He even looked like he was wearing a '70s style jacket. Cazale wore suit in DDA, so they weren't really dressed the same, but I think the jacket was the same burgundy-ish color.

[–] Nerd_in_Norway 9 years ago

The first FIVE points listed in the original post will fit DOZENS of robbery/hostage-movies in the last 50 years. Not to mention several episodes of numerous tv shows dealing with the same type of hostage situation.

Several of these could be claimed to resemble each other even more greatly than JCVD, because JCVD actually throws something ORIGINAL into the mix, with the whole idea of an innocent celebrity being blamed for the situation. The Al Pacino-character in DDA *WAS* guilty.

Just because the filmmaker here might have included a tribute to DDA through the J.Cazale-like appearance of one of the robbers (as well as his demise) doesn't mean in any way that it is a rip-off or remake of DDA. Sheesh.

[–] henrimaine 7 years ago

JCVD certainly has some plot similarities to Dog Day Afternoon. But clearly, the main thing in JCVD is not the hostage situation but Van Damme's personality. There's nothing like that in Dog Day Afternoon. If they ever made a movie about the real Al Pacino taking people hostage in a bank - now that would be similar to JCVD.