MovieChat Forums > Assassination Games (2012) Discussion > Jean-Claude was the reason this wasn't s...

Jean-Claude was the reason this wasn't so great

posted 12 years ago by cyguration
16 replies | jump to latest

I'm a JCVD fanboy...I've suffered through many of his DTV abominations (i.e., In Hell, The Shepard, Double Team *shutters*) but this movie would have been a lot better without him.

As a movie, on its own merits, this is actually a huge step up for JCVD. It actually had a plot with more thought put into it than an 8th grade writing project and the cinematography and production values were passably acceptable.

The problem, however, was that JCVD's acting was so freaking wooden and his line delivery was so passe that it actually became cringe-worthy at times. He didn't do anything with the lines to really make his character stand out...at all.

Adkins on the other hand...I really liked him as an actor in this film. He really wasn't indispensible or interchangeable the way JCVD was (they could have had Liam Neeson, James Purefoy, Ron Perlman or Sean Bean pull off a much more compelling performance with the same limited lines).

[Adkins] was a vulnerable tough guy who you really, really did feel for. It's very rare we get that kind of anti-hero in a movie that comes across as believable as he did in this film.

The biggest drawbacks was the limited set scopes (although the city hall scene near the end was well done) and the sometimes soap opera style camera shots in that cheap interpol room. Otherwise this was a good film that was sort of brought down by JCVD's hardened but unconvincing performance. Hopefully he grows his hair out some more and acts better in the Expendables 2.

[–] Ginnn 12 years ago

Yes I agree JVCD did not have much dialogue and still managed to be pretty wooden, an opportunity missed, a shame.

[–] bigBang8 12 years ago

If you were anywhere near a fan, you'd write nothing but good about JCVD. Personally I liked this a lot. One of his better performances. The only reason people even went to see this flick is because of Jean-Claude Van Damme.
This is one of those underrated movies, pure gold in it's category. Action were cool, acting better than expected... now story was very good also. The best part was to see him act as a some sort of anti-hero guy, with conscience. Good 'ol kicking ass and even knife throwing. 10/10

[–] cyguration 12 years ago

Yes, I agree that this movie is underrated. However, JCVD just acted tired and not really experienced with a conscience (i.e., see Robert Deniro's performance in Killer Elite).

I may be a fanboy but I'm not a blind fanboy and I must do my part as a fanboy to bring out the bad with the good in JCVD's movies. I think he did a much better job of acting in Wake of Death than he did here in Assassination Games. In Wake of Death he was a truly questionable character of moral standing and he had some good scenes with many of the cast.

Unfortunately, he seemed kind of like he was sleepwalking through a lot of Assasination Games, and he even threw out a few bad one-liners from his early 90s action movie days.

He should have been doing less one-liners and more acting expressions and showing more depth to his character, like Jean Reno in the movie 22 Bullets.

[–] bigBang8 12 years ago

Perhaps there is a reason to it, if you knew more about the character you would instantly dislike it, people like what they see. Not what's inside, i'm talking about movies.

[–] loggarin 11 years ago

The character was tired and without a lot of emotions, because he tried to block them out.

I don't see what Van Damme did wrong, you just whine a lot.

[–] hydra_100 10 years ago

I think this is his best movie to date. True Van Damme's acting is surely nothing to brag about but this roll, a kind of laid back roll is a nice change unlike the superhero roles of years past.

[–] bigwill55 12 years ago

The way that I look at it is that JCVD's character had no feelings or general emotion until the very end of the film. I think that the reason his performance was wooden was because he was trying to act like he had nothing inside him.

I like to think about two of the scenes in the movie to help make my point. ******SPOILERS******* One, the scene where the girl had just gotten the crap beat out of her in the hall. He told the guy to leave and didn't even bother to help the girl (at that point). He got pissed at her for making noise and came out to say "excuse me, I'm trying to practice." I thought this was one of his better lines and thought it to be a bit comical. Also, when Scott Adkins says to JCVD, "Ask yourself this. If you never really cared about anyone or anything, then were you ever really alive?"

That line puts things into perspective for me and you can tell that that it really hits JCVD's character.

I don't necessarily think that JCVD is a wonderful actor, but I thought he portrayed this character well based on it's background.

By the way, somebody here mentioned that we all saw this movie because of JCVD. I saw this movie because of Scott Adkins. Been a huge fan of his ever since I saw Undisputed II and I'm looking forward to seeing him in The Expendables 2.

[–] Mark-Dziamski 12 years ago

I totally agree with you, I wanted to see this movie completely based on Scott Adkins. Been a fan of his since Undisputed II as well, AWESOME fight scenes and loved how they made him the "good guy" in part III. I've been saying that Scott Adkins is the next better JCVD. Not to put down JCVD, I've been watching his movies since Cyborg when I was a kid and I'm still a big fan.

[–] bigwill55 12 years ago

It seems to me like Adkins is sort of JCVD's protege. I think that JCVD has a lot of respect for Adkins, with them being in this movie, The Shepherd and now The Expendables 2 and the new Universal Soldier film together.

I would really like to see Adkins in this type of role again, but starring as the main character. This guy is really talented and he's capable of doing a number of different accents well (love his British accent and he did well with the Russian accent in the Undisputed films as well as his American accent in Ninja).

Adkins was actually quoted to say this about his upcoming role in The Expendables 2: ". I'm excited to be reunited with my good friend Jean Claude Van Damme and I can't wait to take on Stallone and his Expendables. I may need some help though, so I'm bringing the spirit of Boyka along for the ride."

Apparently, Adkins is playing second-in-command to JCVD's mercenary group. How cool is that?

[–] Mark-Dziamski 12 years ago

Yeah I agree, I has reminded me a lot of JCVD. I haven't seen the Shepherd but I'll definitely have to check it out. I have to admit I was pretty excited to hear about the new Universal Soldier Film. I expect to see a lot of action in it. Ninja was an awesome flick too, I enjoyed the character he played. I hope he climbs the ropes to star in A movies pretty soon.

[–] estradajake 12 years ago

Okay, yeah it wasn't the best JCVD film, but it certainly wasn't a bad film. I think the lack of dialogue helped carry it a bit for him.

[–] blackstone454 12 years ago

I enjoyed this quite a bit.

I think JCVD'd delivery was...good, actually, because this is a character who didn't care about anything or anyone...He was like a robot...Something happened when he let that girl die...

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Personal insults have no place in smart discussions.

[–] KopCity 10 years ago

u suffered?? U dont like In Hell?? ur A weirdo.

[–] laplante-co-672-297856 10 years ago

Gonna disagree with you...

JCVD was supposed to be this world-weary assassin, too long in the game and emotionally empty inside. As he was sharpening his knife, he reveals to the girl that he no longer gives much thought to the meaning of life.

I thought he did it very well... better than a beatle-browed Stallone did in Rambo IV where Rambo was at a similar stage in life.

Just about every 80s JCVD movie featured "emoting" with bug-eyed over-the-top hysterics as he went up against the villain who killed his sensei/brother/best friend/dog/whatever... He can do emotional stuff. This role called for something more subtle.

His acting here is actually finely calibrated and reminded me just how much he was wasted in The Expendables where all he had to do was sneer a lot.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] hydra_100 9 years ago

His best acting movies minus the kicks. Nowhere To Run, In Hell and Assassination Games and Breakin' <<< lol j/k