I really love Jean-Claude Van Damme. In action cinema’s heyday, while Arnold Schwarzenegger was undoubtedly God, Van Damme was the greatest of the Hollywood stars who actually had martial arts mastery. The only dude that really came close was Steven Seagal; but where Van Damme always had a sort of naive European charm to him, Seagal oozed sleaziness in an unpleasant way, helped in no small part by his refusal to cut off that ponytail.
Some kind soul has edited 393 Van Damme movie kills into one glorious video on YouTube for us:
My favourite Van Damme movie is Kickboxer. I know a lot of people prefer Bloodsport, and I did too when I was younger, but I’ve come to realise Kickboxer is the superior film in recent years. I may go into why in detail at some point, but for now, trust me.
In a previous blog I wrote about why reboot Kickboxer: Vengeance was so exciting. Sadly, Scott Adkins, Tony Jaa and director Stephen Fung all dropped out of the project, starting alarm bells ringing. Some images were released that look pretty sweet, especially Bautista as Tong Po, but then this first teaser dropped. It’s pretty bloody underwhelming.
However, the producers are so sure they have a hit on their hands that a sequel, entitled Kickboxer: Retaliation, is already in development. Alain Moussi is returning as Kurt Sloane in it and writer/producer Dimitri Logothetis is also onboard – no word on anyone else. I really hope the bosses are right, the first one is a massive hit and the above video is simply not a good teaser. Vengeance will be released next year, Retaliation the year after. Just to make sure you’re across all the Kickboxer franchise titles, the early ’90s sequels were The Road Back, The Art of War and The Aggressor.
Another modern take on a Van Damme classic is Hard Target 2. Adkins is the lead, it’s being directed by Roel Reiné (Death Race 2 and 3) and it continues the story of human hunting in the jungles between Burma and Thailand. Vinnie Jones and Yanin Vismitananda (Chocolate) are also set to feature. But it will be an Adkins vehicle for sure, and he is absolutely perfect for it – even despite not growing a mullet, if the first official still is anything to go by:
Adkins spoke to The Action Elite about how it looks to many like he’s picking up Van Damme’s torch: “I am very aware of the films I have done with Jean-Claude. I have done Universal Soldier, Assassination Games, The Shepherd, I was his henchman in The Expendables 2 and I realised it might look like I am following him around like a rash or something! I know there could be a bit of a backlash, like ‘oh this guy needs to stop doing the Van Damme films all the time’. But at the same time, being so inspired by Van Damme, it almost feels like the right thing to do as well. Listen, I am nowhere near as good as Jean-Claude, he was a trail blazer and trend setter but if anyone is going to be tapped as his successor, I am honoured if it’s me.”
In other Adkins news, the trailer for Undisputed IV: Boyka was promised as coming ‘very soon’ on November 25. Frustratingly, it’s not out yet. In another interview, Adkins says of choreographer and super cool fight film star in his own right Tim Man, “he actually pushed me to do more kicks in Undisputed IV than I’ve ever done in any movie… as well as giving me about ten NEW moves that neither Scott Adkins or Boyka have previously done, some moves which I’d never seen before in any movie, so that’s pretty cool!”
Amazing.
In the post where he teased the trailer, Adkins also smacked down a cheeky fan:
The man at the helm of the Undisputed sequels, Isaac Florentine, is for my money the second best real action director in the world today. The best of course is Gareth Evans of The Raid films. He’s recently finished the script for Blister, which moves into production early next year. It’s been described as a contemporary gangster film with nods to The Wild Bunch, which is supremely damn exciting.
The American remake of The Raid also appears to have been cancelled, or at least put on indefinite hold. No great loss there – fans can just watch the original two masterpieces again instead. Star Iko Uwais can be seen in various teaser pics of Headshot, an exciting project in the works from Evans’ VHS 2 co-director Timo Tjahjanto.
Chilean action flick Redeemer has been released on DVD after getting massive hype at last year’s Fantastic Fest. I’d say that hype was a little over-the-top, but it’s definitely got some amazing sequences in it that make it well worth your money. Lead star Marko Zazor is very impressive indeed in the frequent hand-to-hand combat scenes, but he also makes glorious use of guns, knives, baseball bats, pliers, meathooks and various other nasty instruments. There’s an overt Christianity to the film that adds a nice spice to things too.
The coolest trailer I’ve seen recently is for Viking. This just looks truly epic, with the nearly three-minute trailer filled to the brim with really, really good shit. Just watch it:
There’s a nice teaser out for an indiegogo project I think everyone should get behind. It’s a TV series called The Gate, with ass kicker Amy Johnston in the lead and The Raid 2‘s Cecep Arif Rahman as what looks like her main opponent. It’s helmed by Kellie Madison, whose work I haven’t seen, but I hear she does primo action. Johnston plays an enchanted MMA fighter skilled in Pencak Silat whose tragic past forges her into vigilantism, putting her up against a deadly Indonesian crime organisation that wants her dead.
Hitting cinemas this month is Ip Man 3. Donnie Yen is back, this time going up against bad guys including Mike Tyson. The trailer teases some sweet looking fights and also has the champion boxer/convicted rapist maximise his speech impediment for comedic value.
None of the above films were filmed in ‘Murica, or at least not entirely. So to make up for that, I’ll leave you with this final trailer that screams USA! USA! in an old-school Chuck Norris kind of way. It features good ole’ boys wasting terrorists, with a classic voiceover about a time coming in every man’s life he has to fight for honour and freedom, or something like that.
