Universal Soldier Saturday: The Return & Regeneration

After revisiting 1992's fantastic Universal Soldier a couple of weeks ago to prepare for Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's Independence Day: Resurgence, I had the hankering to check out the further adventures of Luc Deveraux and Andrew Scott in what is one of the most unlikely franchises in film. Jean-Claude Van Damme has probably spawned the most number of sequels that he does not appear in of any star in history. Bloodsport, Kickboxer, Universal Soldier and Timecop have produced 11 further chapters not featuring the Belgian. Of course the original Unisol is a classic example of it's time and studio as the 90's were the golden age of big screen muscles, machine guns, martial arts and one liners. Carolco, the studio behind action blockbusters Rambo: First Blood, Part II and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, gave Jean-Claude Van Damme his first studio push with his biggest budget to date and a prime summer release date. Emmerich and Devlin crafted a handsomely produced chase flick with big stunts, guys, action and explosions. Both JCVD and Dolph get to shine as Van Damme's innocent yet wounded inner strength shines and Dolph's crazed Sgt. Scott is arguably his best performance to date. Released in July of 1992, Unisol would give Van Damme his largest opening up to that time and gross over $100 million worldwide.

In August of 1999, the high school version of myself went to see Universal Soldier: The Return, contributing to a weak $4.6 million opening weekend on it's way to a tepid $10.6 million total, about what the first film opened with 7 years earlier. It would ultimately be Van Damme's final headlining theatrical release. Upon re-watching, The Return comes off cheap, low brow, hokey and near chauvinistic with women being tied up, their boobs leered at, strip club fight scenes and the like. Bad heavy metal music accompanies every action scene and there's just not much class throughout. Story wise not a lot makes total sense as Luc is now a human after being an original Unisol, training a new army of them that are bigger, faster and stronger but not quite under control. Oh and he has a daughter. But for everything that doesn't compare to the original film, The Return manages to be an exciting flick with top notch action. Legendary stuntman Mic Rodgers directs for the first time and fills the 83 minute running time with flying jet skis, exploding trucks, huge guns, lots of scraps and plenty of Van Damme kicking. The Muscles From Brussels looks good and healthy here, brawny and muscular while still athletic as he jump kicks villains Bill Goldberg and Michael Jai White. His performance isn't quite as emotional or nuanced as the first film with a lot more flailing and mugging. While the original Unisol had a tacked on guitar heavy yet lyrics challenged credits song by Ice T's led Body Count complete with a video featuring Van Damme and Dolph, The Return sees Van Damme hanging out with Megadeth for their track Crush'Em.

Ten years later, Sony released Universal Soldier: Regeneration, an anomaly of the Direct To Video factory that stood out as a hands down excellent film. Rising from the ashes of jettisoned project The Smashing Machine, Van Damme returns in a reduced role as rehabilitated Universal Solider Luc. The main story involves the Unisol program going rogue with New Generation Units being used to kidnap the kids of local politicians and threatening to blow up Chernobyl. Whereas The Return lined up entertaining athletes like Goldberg and fitness model Kiana Tom along with martial arts expert Michael Jai White, Regeneration recruits MMA fighters Andrei Arlovski and Mike Pyle. John Hyams directs the unnerving affair filled with havoc, great action, stunts, explosions and a level of brutality that still shocks years later. Shot digitally, it's a bit muted and kind of blurry at times but using an abandoned steel mill in Bulgaria, Regeneration oozes a gritty real world authenticity. The flick ain't as fun or goofy as the first two films but instead is a dark and haunting affair. Van Damme, his face haggard and eyes tired, continues to show he can act with his expressions and emotional availability. Dolph turns up late in the film as a clone and gets some very heavy scenes that call back to his excellent and dramatic work in the first film. There's an eerie, John Carpenter-esque vibe to everything down to a low key, synth based score. I'd be interested to see what Hyams could do with a decent budget and strong script.

Next up, the most recent chapter in the series, 2012's Day of Reckoning. I wonder if the Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren-less Showtime TV films are on YouTube...

Summer Cinema: Independence Day Resurgence

Last Friday night we checked out Cinemark's Reserve Seating, where you sit in the top of the theater with reclining seats along with food and drink service. Or their version of AMC Dine-In or say Alamo Drafthouse. Unlike those other brands, at Cinemark, they want your orders in and done by the time the film starts which means no in-film refreshment refills. While the idea of eating and dranking during a flick seems like a solid notion, the execution across the board at any establishment has not been perfected. AMC's is awkward as you're paying the check during the film and there's no easy way to have your Stubs membership updated in the dark. But their menu is pretty big and food tasty enough with decent lighting so you can see what you're doing and still be in a movie. Alamo is a little more low tech in the sense of you write down what you want and a person runs by and picks it up. Cinemark was probably the worst of these dine-in experiences because it was so freaking dark it was difficult to eat/drink.

Anyways, 20 years later, Independence Day: Resurgence comes to us from original creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. After making their Hollywood splash with Carolco's Universal Soldier starring our guys Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, the duo would go on to bigger budgets and successes with 1994's Stargate and 96's mammoth hit Independence Day where Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman and crew defeated an alien invasion. Two decades on the film drops us into the new world of alien fused technology where man works on the moon and there's flying vehicles galore. With Will Smith not returning we get a trio of new young characters played by the likes of Liam Hemsworth, Jessie T. Usher and Maika Monroe are faced with a new invasion threat, bigger and badder than the last. Alas the writing and their improv skills are no match for Will Smith's original charm or chemistry with Jeff Goldblum.

Visually interesting and a little too fast paced for it's own good, Emmerich and Devlin blend the light disaster flick ensemble with all out sci-fi warfare. While the first relished in practical f/x composited with computer images, Resurgence looks great when it's on set and indoors but horrible when the action moves outside and everything is CGI. I also can't stand the fact that films no longer shoot outside. Whether it's ID4:R or Captain America: Civil War, it's glaringly obvious outdoor scenes are shot on greenscreen. It's nice to see Pullman back in the mix as the scarred former President but Brent Spiner's Dr. Okun, a kooky highlight of the first film, is near annoying comic relief this time out. The end is pretty open and indicates intergalactic war, so hey, sign me up for third. Resurgence isn't a great film but it has it's moments. Less fun than this summer's X-Men: Apocalypse but way more enjoyable and less frustrating than Warcraft. After a ho-hum $41 million opening weekend, the $165 million flick made up ground overseas and is nearing $200 million globally so only time will tell if we get that part 3.

Craption! Showdown In Little Tokyo

Robert Rodriguez's El Rey Network strikes again with an evening that included Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee classic Showdown in Little Tokyo and the Swedish made ode to the 80's, Kung Fury. Cleaned up, El Rey's presentation looked way better than my full screen DVD from Warner Brothers that had a cardboard case with a plastic snap mouth. It was also uncut so titties and baddies getting slashed, stabbed, shot, kicked and exploded in hardcore 80's yet released in 90's style along with cursing galore glory. I remember buying the flick from a video game store and my non-action movie friend not understanding why Dolph was wearing a kimono style outfit with headband and machine gun.  In college, a neighbor was a huge Dolph fan and we quoted SILT constantly, he even had a similar leather jacket to Dolph's shoulder padded, kind of short, 90's style outerwear. At the time, the film was dumped by studio Warner Brothers and written off as a by the numbers rip off of Lethal Weapon. But in true Craption! fashion, Showdown In Little Tokyo has become a cult favorite and remains one of Dolph's most enjoyable films.

Set in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo, Dolph plays Sergeant Chris Kenner, a raised in Japan by missionaries who get killed by a Yakuza assassin now living like a Samurai in Southern California guy. A violent group of Japanese mafia dudes in zoot suits and driving convertibles show up, harassing local businesses for protection money, running clubs, dealing drugs and chopping off the heads of hot chicks who like to get high. After Kenner takes out a group of thugs who interrupt his breakfast, we're introduced to his new partner on the Asian task force Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee, View In Peace), a smart ass Eurasian kid who grew up in the valley with a dentist dad and only took up martial arts to appease his mother. The two mismatched cops bicker about upper body strength, fighting form and being polite. Shit gets serious when Kenner finds out the leader of the invading Yakuza is Funekei Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), the man who killed his parents! Now on a blind mission of revenge, Kenner forgets all of his calm, cool and collected Samurai wisdom and just wants to shove a red hot poker up Yoshida's bum. Murata joins the crusade on the condition they do it right as they fuck up Yoshida's drug network while picking up disgraced club singer turned Kenner love interest Minako Okeya (Tia Carrere).

Directed by Commando's Mark L. Lester with a script by Stephen Glantz and Caliope Brattlestreet, Showdown is pure 80's and 90's over the top, cliche ridden action/martial arts cheese that makes little sense but is also extremely entertaining. David Michael Frank's awesome synth meets guitar soundtrack is also a nice touch of the era. Lundgren and Lee have great chemistry with Kenner being the stoic muscleman who knows about the ancient ways of Bushido, is honorable to a near fault, builds log cabins and can flip cars while Murata is a sheltered, easygoing guy who likes to fight, can do back flips off cocktail tables, wouldn't mind a Porsche and just wants to work in Malibu. There's a terrific cast involved with just about every Asian actor/stuntman you could want. Joining Tagawa you get Toshishiro Obata (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Phillip Tan (Tango & Cash), Simon Rhee (Best of the Best), Roger Yuan (The Perfect Weapon), Gerald Okamura (Big Trouble In Little China) and Steve Park (In Living Color).  The great Terry Leonard (Raiders of the Lost Ark) handles stunts with a crew that includes Jeff Imada (Big Trouble), James Lew (Best of the Best) and Al Leong (Die Hard) while Chuck Norris disciple Pat E. Johnson (The Karate Kid) helped choreograph the fights.

There's plenty of action and muscle on display as we get Dolph showing off his most jacked and defined physique in tank tops and plenty of shirtless scenes while kicking and throwing perps across rooms, flipping a classic car, jump kicking over a moving one and pressing his way out of a crushed other. Lee shows off his nimble martial arts acumen with a style reminiscent of his famous father's bouncing fluidity but still all his own. Lots of gunfights throughout with bad guys shooting a million times and missing while Dolph fires once and finds his mark. A traditional kendo style sword fight in the streets of Little Tokyo wraps things up, after Kenner gets shot through the chest and then the bad guy inexplicably blows up...and there's even a training montage with an oiled up Dolph practicing his sword play and jump kicks. There's plenty of one liners, bad jokes and awkward dialog delivery throughout about dick size, hearing someone coming and having the right to be dead but luckily the script doesn't veer into any super cheap Asian cracks. While the villains might be typical movie gangsters, the near genetically perfect blonde hero wants to be Japanese and is assisted by a half Chinese sidekick and a Hawaiian love interest.

Studio Warner Brothers was reportedly very high on the reported $8 million dollar film, hoping to capitalize on Dolph's Rocky IV heat and being Brandon Lee's first American film. Lester had already directed the Arnold Schwarzenegger hit Commando and action movies featuring larger than life heroes/physical specimens who used guns and martial arts to beat the bad guys were in demand thanks to Stallone, Arnold, Seagal and Van Damme. However early test screenings sucked the support from the film and smelling a loser, WB recut the film down to 79 minutes and only released the film theatrically in the United States, Mexico, Italy, Israel and Hungary. Reviews were mixed with the action, violence, sex and buddy theatrics praised or looked down upon. Opening in only 140 theaters, Showdown would gross $2.3 million bucks in America while it ranked #9 on Hungary's Top 10 of the year. In an interesting bit of Dammaged Goods coincidence, Showdown opened on August 23rd of 1991, the same weekend as fellow Craption! study Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man.

Showdown would be the end of Dolph's career as a theatrical leading man after post Rocky IV roles in Masters of the Universe, Red Scorpion, The Punisher and I Come In Peace failed to ignite the box office. Lundgren would bounce back as the villainous Sgt. Andrew Scott in Carolco's mini-Terminator sci-fi/action/karate effort Universal Soldier opposite the up and coming Jean-Claude Van Damme. At only 26 years old, Brandon Lee was on his way after co-starring with David Carradine in a Kung Fu TV movie and low budget films from Hong Kong and South Africa. Deals with Fox and Carolco were signed and post Showdown starring vehicle Rapid Fire would be a solid showcase for him while grossing a respectable $14 million at the box office. Lee's next film, The Crow, would be a dramatic change of pace for the martial arts actor playing a murdered musician who comes back from the dead to make things right. Lee was sadly killed in an on set accident involving a dummy bullet stuck in the barrel of a prop gun.The film was finished using stunt men and digital effects and grossed a sturdy $50 million bucks upon release, spurring several sequels and a TV show.

As years pass, Dolph has always been complimentary of Lee's work and Showdown experienced a rise in popularity following his death. The film has lived on with action aficionados to become a bit of a cult classic with the scene of Japanese businessmen eating sushi off of naked women being particularly remembered.  A Showdown or Lee question always seems to pop up during Q&A while  Lundgren's cameo on Comedy Central's Workaholics hinged on one of the character's asking about the sushi scene.

Pre(miere): Skin Trade w/ Dolph Lundgren and Tony Jaa

May 4th is dubbed Star Wars Day because, May the Force be with you, get it? This year, the week of May 4th brings us new movies from the likes of Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Arnold Schwarzenegger! Yours truly is working with Magnolia Pictures and The Egyptian Theatre for the Los Angeles premiere of Skin Trade. Written, produced and starring Dolph Lundgren, Skin Trade takes real world topic human trafficking and turns it into a dramatic action movie. The supporting cast is immense with Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Peter Weller and Ron Perlman showing up as well. If you're paying attention, that's He-Man and The Punisher, Ong-Bak, Spawn and Black Dynamite, Buckaroo Banzai and Robocop and then Hellboy all in one 96 minute flick.

Lundgren began working on the script for Skin Trade years ago after hearing a story about Mexican immigrants who died after being left in a van somewhere along the border. The flick is now the story of a NYC cop who hunts a vicious gangster to Thailand and teams up with a local detective to destroy human trafficking syndicates. Tony Jaa plays the Thai detective while Jai White shows up as a mysterious suit clad type who can fight, Weller as some kind of federal agent boss and Perlman as the gangster. Shooting in Thailand last year under director Ekachai Uekrongtham, the action flick boasts explosions, helicopters, martial arts and car chase mayhem galore. Skin Trade hit The American Film Market and it was quickly announced that Magnolia had purchased North American rights.

The film received an extravagant release in Jaa's native Thailand and Dolph just showed the movie in Australia while there for repertory screenings of Universal Soldier and Rocky IV along with appearing at a couple of conventions. Magnolia is running the show on this one with a media day in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, 5.5 before the premiere on Wednesday where more media and the red carpet await. Reviews have been positive thus far with the simple yet engaging story backed by some big action pieces and fights. Like many of Magnolia's acquisitions, Skin Trade became available on VOD and iTunes preceding a small theatrical release. After it's Hollywood premiere, Skin Trade will play at the Sundance Cinemas on Sunset the same weekend as Arnold's limited release zombie drama, Maggie.

A small number of general admission seats are available for the Skin Trade premiere so head over to Fandango to pick them up and see it on the big screen the way it was meant to be experienced. Dolph and Tony are expected to attend, hopefully with co-stars Peter Weller and Michael Jai White stopping by if they're in town. See you there!

Dolph Days: Keeping Up

"Like none of this shit ever happened? It happened! And it doesn't just go away. 

You just can't walk away, do you hear me?! 

Do you hear me? (holds up necklace made of human ears)"

That's our boy Dolph Lundgren as Sgt. Andrew Scott in the 1992 classic action karate flick from Carolco, Universal Soldier. If you'll recall, Dolph Night at the Egyptian screened two of Mr. Lundgren's most well known works, Unisol and Rocky IV. Come April and Dolph is hitting Australia for a double feature tour featuring the same line up. Fans in Sydney, Melbourne and on the Gold Coast can meet the big Swede and see him on the bigger screen on his week long tour that also includes appearances at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo alongside other genre favorite actors, artists and writers.

For the stateside fans, Dolph popped up on Comedy Central's 90's loving Workaholics as himself looking oh so suave in a blazer, deep v-neck shirt and white pants. Dolph appeared throughout the episode in the forms of a life size standup doing karate and various photos in an obsessed fans computer slideshow. A burning question about Showdown in Little Tokyo ended the episode which also included references to Jean-Claude Van Damme and Unisol. TV viewers may also catch the Iron Man in a new Fox event series based on film series for older cinematic tough guys The Expendables. Details are scarce at the moment besides star Sylvester Stallone producing and hoping to reel in some TV icons of action. I'm not sure why they don't just use Dolph, Terry Crews and Randy Couture's characters as a base then add a guest star or five each episode.

On the film front, a new trailer and a poster for Dolph's passion project Skin Trade hit the web recently showcasing an awesome cast that includes Tony Jaa, Michael Jai White, Peter Weller and Ron Perlman. So that's He-Man, Ong-Bak, Spawn, Robocop and Hellboy all in the same 90 minutes! Inspired by real life human trafficking, Skin follows Dolph's detective as he interferes with a gangster's business then teams up with a Thai cop to exact bloody, high kicking, explosive and bullet riddled revenge. The trailer looks solid with lots of practical stunts, martial arts and a terrific cast. Magnolia releases the film on VOD in late April followed by a theatrical release Friday, May 8th. Horror flick Shark Lake just finished shooting, World War II men on a mission flick with Luke Goss and Mickey Rourke War Pigs is in post-production and a small role in action thriller 4GOT10 alongside Michael Pare, Johnny Messner and Danny Trejo recently wrapped.

If that still weren't enough, Dolph was interviewed for the upcoming The Art of Masters of the Universe coffee table book from Dark Horse hitting shelves on April 15th that will take a deep look at the phenomenon of cartoons, comic books, toys and the live action movie.

Van Dammage: C'est la Steve McQueen

"He told me you should spend less time training in the gym and more time training your mouth...He believes I have a shot at being not just an action star but a French Steve McQueen!"

     Jean-Claude Van Damme's career advice from director Peter Hyams

After bursting onto the scene with 1988's low budget martial arts cult classic Bloodsport, Jean-Claude Van Damme's starred in a string of cheap, money making beat'em ups like Cyborg, Kickboxer and Death Warrant.  After being paid $25,000 for Bloodsport, 4 years and 6 movies later, he'd land a cool $1 million for 1992's explosive sci-fi tinged thriller Universal Soldier, nearly the budget of of his breakout film.  The sub-$20 million dollar Carolco flick co-starring fellow muscular and kickboxing European Dolph Lundgren was hoped to be Van Damme's breakthrough into the mainstream.  By the early 90's Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were firmly ensconced as Hollywood's kings of the action film; with the mysterious Aikido master and supposedly former C.I.A. operative Steven Seagal coming up fast behind them after impressing Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz and being backed by Warner Brothers from the get go in handsome hits like Above the Law and Marked for Death.  1992's "Die Hard on a battleship" Under Siege would gross a huge $83 million.  Universal Soldier would open up # 2 with Van Damme's first $10 million dollar weekend on it's way to a respectable $36 million in the states and over $100 million worldwide. 

Long wanting to leave his pure kickboxing image behind, Van Damme followed Unisol with romantic action western Nowhere to Run showcasing a softer, more sensitive side.  Instead of flashy kicks and splits, we got rough and tumble fisticuffs, a motorcycle chase and JCVD hanging out with a widow and her two kids.   Nowhere To Run's $22 million dollar gross would reverse Van Damme's 5 movie upswing.  The Bulging Belgian would make up for Nowhere's lack of expected excitement with Hard Target, an $18 million dollar hardcore action movie from Universal Studios that marked the stateside debut of legendary Hong Kong maestro John Woo.  Armed with a silver shotgun, duel pistols and a horse while rocking a greasy mullet, Hard Target mustered up another $10 million opening en route to $32 million total.  Universal became confident that with a decent budget and promotional push, Van Damme could break the $50 million dollar mark and into the upper echelon of cinematic tough guys.

Timecop, a script by Mark Verheidan and Mike Richardson based on their Dark Horse Comic, became the vehicle meant to push Van Damme into the A-List.  Largo Entertainment funded while Universal handled distribution.  Having long worked with novice directors, JCVD sought out the experienced hand of Peter Hyams, responsible for well received flicks like 2010, Outland and Running Scared but after a few misfires needed a hit.  At first reluctant to meet with Wham Bam Van Damme, knowing him only as a "karate guy", Hyams was won over by the star's personality, charm, sense of humor and vulnerability.  Armed with a $28 million dollar budget, $3.5 going to the star, the Timecop production headed to Vancouver with known and talented co-stars like Mia Sara, Ron Silver and Bruce McGill in tow.  The film opens in a 1994 where time travel is possible.  Cut to 2004 and former Washington D.C. street cop Max Walker (Van Damme) is now a Time Enforcement Commission officer who travels to the past to bring back illegal time jumpers.  After his wife Melissa (Mia Sara) is mysteriously killed in 1994, grizzled, hardened and slightly mulleted 2004 Max faces off with diabolical Presidential candidate Aaron McComb (Ron Silver) who is traveling back in time to raise $50 million bucks for his election campaign.

Like Arnold, the man Van Damme was most compared to early in his career, sci-fi tinged action seemed to work for our guy.  Cyborg, Universal Soldier and Timecop were all notable entries in his career while guys like Stallone hit and missed (Demolition Man was great, Judge Dredd was enjoyable but an expensive dud) and Seagal never even tried.  Timecop would be Van Damme's classiest and most ambitious film to date as we go from the Civil War to 1994 to 1929 and end up in 2004 without missing a beat.  Striving to be accepted by the mainstream as an intelligent action movie, TC kept trademarks like high kicks, splits and a butt shot while mixing in big sets, special FX, explosions and onscreen scuffles involving future guns, knives, wrenches and axes.  Never the hyper physical specimen or oddity Arnold was deemed, Van Damme is a slim yet pumped up 180 pounds in the picture having kept in shape visiting a crowded, downtown Fitness World on a daily basis.  Van Damme's unmistakable French-Belgian accent is commented on but not explained, a possible first as he was born in Los Angeles but raised in Belgium in Kickboxer, from French Canada in Death Warrant, a New Orleans native in Unisol and Hard Target, etc.  With a dead wife as motivation, Van Damme's acting hits new heights along with the budget and his mix of determined duty mixed with sensitive sorrow was a surprise to Hyams.  Some of the science and time travel elements don't quite add up; a painful and harrowing rocket pod ride racing towards a brick wall sends you to the past yet a simple click of a button brings you back to the present.  The end climax kind of slumps as 1994 and 2004 versions of Max battle thugs in and around the house during a rain storm, much of it in the dark as per Hyam's usual under lit D.P. style.

Before the release of the film, Van Damme was confident Timecop would be a hit; believing in the story, dialogue, acting, cast, FX and director.  The once hesitant Hyams described Timecop as a joyous experience and looked forward to working with Jean-Claude again.  Premiering on September 16th, 1994, Timecop would be Van Damme's first # 1 opening, grossing $12 million movie bucks then claiming the top spot in it's 2nd week on the way to a $44 million total and over $100 million worldwide.  Van Damme looked to broaden his image again with the PG-13 rated Street Fighter based on the worldwide video game phenomenon.  While the Christmas of '94 release saw Van Damme collect a career high $7 million dollar salary, the film was destroyed by fans and critics alike and it's box office take was $10 million less than Timecop even without the restricted rating.  Follow up pairing with Hyams, 1995's "Die Hard at the Stanley Cup" action thriller Sudden Death looked once again to put Van Damme into a mainstream affair and while critics were kind, grosses were half of Timecop's.  The Real JC...VD would further take the reigns of his career for his 1996 goodbye to the martial arts genre, The Quest; writing/directing/starring in the 1920's set mini-epic but dwindling grosses saw him going straight to video a few years later. Hyams would hammer out decent if unspectacular thrillers The Relic, End of Days and The Musketeer before crashing with 2005's tumultuous production and big budget flop, A Sound of Thunder.  The duo reteamed for 2013's low budget actioner Enemies Closer with Van Damme playing a violent, over the top, clown haired vegan villain.

Timecop would return as a short lived television series on ABC in 1997 but failed in the ratings resulting in only 9 of the 13 ordered episodes airing.  Van Damme would later call the producers idiots for selling the rights to TV instead of giving him a film franchise.  A direct to video sequel did follow in 2003, The Berlin Decision, starring Jason Scott Lee.  In 2013, it was announced that Timecop would join Kickboxer and Bloodsport as Van Damme less reboots.  The film remains his biggest hit and among his most enjoyable efforts with it's mix of scope, inventive action, story and a surprisingly hot (to 12 year old me) sex scene.

Dolph Lundgren: Train Like An Action Star - Be Fit Forever

Dolph Lundgren has always been a motivation in my work out methods.  While I'm not nearly as tall as the guy, he's always been an impressive mix of size, definition and flexibility in flicks like Rocky IV, Masters of the Universe, Red Scorpion and especially Showdown In Little Tokyo.  His 1986 workout tape Maximum Potential has found it's way into my routine more than a few times and it's still frigging hard to keep up with.  Coupled with consuming copious amounts of interviews, making-of's, documentaries and the like over the last at least 20 years, his new book was still a breath of fresh air.

In a way, it's kind of like Maximum Potential, just expanded.  That one hour video went over warming up, stretching, body sculpting, meditation and nutrition.  Fit Forever was a very quick read as I devoured it in just a couple of sessions.  Not strictly a workout manual, the book gives you some brief yet in depth essays from the man himself where he talks surprisingly candidly about his abusive father, his struggles as a sickly youth, getting into trouble, growing stronger and finding solace in fitness and sports.  Not solely a meathead, Lundgren achieved his Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering and studied abroad in places like Australia and the States, all while continuing his hardcore, old school karate training and becoming a champion. 

His workouts are split up into various sections that range from quick, no equipment, no excuses routines to full on split workouts for the gym.  It's comprehensive yet not too dense so it shouldn't scare anyone away.  Lundgren also gives reader a look at some of his movie workouts utilized for Rocky IV and The Expendables and his reasoning to why it would help build his character.  This is a big improvement on pal Stallone's book, Sly Moves, which was a total disappointment with nary a movie preparation routine and we get Stallone telling us to do incline presses.  Bro, you did not get in Rambo shape by doing solely incline presses...

The book itself is gorgeous, hardcover with thick pages and lots of photos.  Lundgren gives shout outs to sports and fitness legends like Muhammad Ali, Stallone, Steve Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Terry Crews.  No mention of frequent co-star Jean-Claude Van Damme though.  That's one thing about the book, I wish it were longer and given Dolph's quick memories on some of his awesome movies like Universal Soldier, I Come In Peace, The Punisher, etc and how his he trained for those iconic roles.  There's also several sections on self defense where you can learn to take people out with palms to the face and knees to the balls if necessary.

The big man is actually holding a signing this weekend in beautiful Huntington Beach in Orange County at Barnes & Noble.  If you're local, get there!

Dolph Lundgren Friday: Podcast

For any of you beautiful people who attended Dolph night, many thanks.  For any of you who were unable to attend, the full post Universal Soldier Q&A is now up in podcast form via Nerdist and Humans From Earth.  Be sure to listen to the end or fast forward and hear my shout out, heh heh.  Before the film, I welcomed the audience to Dammaged Goods' 2nd full on live event, did trivia and prizes that included a 1992 promotional button, a signed VHS and custom tee shirts.  Then, Dolph and his manager/Unisol producer Craig Baumgarten joined me on stage for a few minutes to talk the origins of the project and working with Jean-Claude Van Damme. 

Check out the blurry video!

 

Hard at work on the next live event and it's shaping up nicely.  Fans of 80's and 90's action will not be disappointed as the potential films and star will be very familiar to any Van Damme, Arnold, Stallone and Dolph aficionado.  See you then!

Van Dammage: Arnold Belt

"He makes sense when he talks.  He doesn't talk with complicated words, he's direct.  You look into his eyes, they are good.  He will never try to hurt you or take advantage of you.  He's too busy and too rich, he has his own focus, his own mission.  He's not looking at how your arms are so big and the way you dress.  He's above all that.  I like him a lot."

Jean-Claude Van Damme on Arnold Schwarzenegger

When Jean-Claude Van Damme's movie career first started picking up steam, he was immediately compared to the established Austrian Oak.  It was easy to see why of course as Arnold was king of the action film along with Sylvester Stallone.  But with a European heritage and background in bodybuilding, surface comparisons were easy to make between The Muscles From Brussels and The Schwarz.  I'm not sure if the two interacted much on the 1986 Mexico set of Predator when JCVD was playing the original creature before dropping out.  Jesse Ventura gives Van Damme a shout out in one of his books, saying he was impressed with the young martial artist and thought he had a promising career ahead.  After JC left Predator and the suit was redesigned, the two would meet again on the set of Red Heat where Van Damme was unknowingly sitting in star Schwarzenegger's chair.  Cut to the Hoover Dam location of Universal Soldier in 1991 where by now Van Damme was a million dollar leading man opposite Dolph Lundgren in his first big budget studio effort and Arnie showed up with former bodybuilding champion/best friend Franco Columbu to wish co-star Ralf Moeller a happy birthday.  Apple juice and cigars flowing, the duo continued to build their rapport and when producers of Arnold's big budget summer release The Last Action Hero were looking for stars to cameo, Jean-Claude Van Damme answered the call and received a quick, speaking part while Chevy Chase, Damon Wayons, Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick among others were silently seen.

While the two stars might share vague similarities in the sense they're both European white guys who lift weights and do action movies, the likenesses more or less stop there.  Van Damme was always flattered to receive the comparison but knew he was his own man with his own plan.  Besides, it's better to be compared to a king than a pauper, right?  Whereas Arnold broke into the mainstream with his mix of hyper masculine physique, looming presence and boisterous sense of humor, Van Damme always played it a bit quieter and a bit more sensitive.  Arnold's first signature roles showcased him as unstoppable barbarians and cybernetic killing machines in Conan and The Terminator while Van Damme burst into the scene playing a mentor honoring karate fighter and revenge seeking kickboxer in Bloodsport and well, Kickboxer.  As Arnold was usually meting out violence with a sword or sub-machine gun in hand, JCVD was busy kicking people in the face and doing the splits.  Whereas Arnold had a square, muscular jaw and a physique that was difficult to hide, Van Damme's smaller stature and baby face made him less menacing and more apt to aspire to be a romantic, dramatic and comedic leading man.  As Van Damme's profile grew, his films became more action oriented than martial arts driven and put him into the same cinematic turf as Arnold and Sly.  While we never saw Van Damme mow down a field of baddies with a machine gun or win a war, hybrid action/martial arts flicks like Timecop, Hard Target and the pure action, Die Hard style Sudden Death attempted to bring him into the full mainstream to unfortunate diminishing results.  As the era of the 80's and 90's action movie came to a close, Arnold was the last man standing who never went Direct to Video and after a few under performers, left the business on a high note with Terminator 3's $433 million dollar worldwide gross.

Today, Arnold's return to film has produced solid flicks like The Last Stand, The Tomb and Sabotage but he's only struck box office gold in small cameos in The Expendables franchise.  Since his last starring role wide release in 1999's Universal Soldier: The Return, Van Damme has kept his filmic output to a minimum compared to DTV factory Steven Seagal and for the most part has challenged himself as an actor in dark and serious efforts like In Hell, Wake of Death and Until Death before playing himself in 2008's meta-mockumentary breakthrough JCVD which earned the Belgian his highest praise to date.  Subsequent branching out included a voiceover role in Kung Fu Panda 2, a return to the big screen as the villain in The Expendables 2, playing dumb in ensemble comedy Welcome to the Jungle and finishing up his directorial effort Full Love/Soldiers/The Eagle Path.

I like Conan:

Van Dammage: Leg Meat Perfection

In honor of the huge success of Dolph night, today's Van Dammage is a double pump of Jean-Claude Van Damme reflections and wisdom from the Universal Soldier experience:

"I was surprised by the power of his legs, he has powerful legs 

cause he's got big meat.  He's got long legs."

Being 6'5", Dolph Lundgren has always seemed larger than life on the big screen.  Throw in the muscles and athletic prowess and you have a comic book style superhero who doesn't need a costume.  I've always loved some of his signature moves like the step in sidekick we saw in flicks like Showdown In Little Tokyo and Universal Soldier where you feel like he could send some poor goon through a frigging wall.  I Come In Peace features a beautifully thrown and cringe inducing spinning back kick as Lundgren's Houston detective stops an armed robbery with his feet.  Apparently it looks so good because the actor missed his mark and Dolph slipped coming in so the kick made contact and knocked the guy down.

"When you make a film as a director, you do the best you can. Because time is in the issue.  

So you do the best you can.  But then you will always feel sorry.  

Something is missing always because perfection exists.  Somewhere."

That sentiment sums up my experience with Dolph Night and part of my life philosophy in general.  Guys like Arnold, Van Damme and Dolph showed me that self belief comes from self improvement so whether that's changing yourself physically or learning a new skill, we can only move forward when we challenge ourselves and know what we are capable of.  While things can always be worse they can also always be better.  I have to work on simply enjoying the moment as the days and weeks leading up to Dolph Night were tiring and filled with frustration due to my day job.  I tried my best to keep my mind clear and focus on what was arguably one of my life's most successful personal accomplishments but it was hard for me to relax as I kept thinking everything could fall apart at any moment.  Of course it didn't and a great time was had by all but I couldn't help but see all of the flaws of the evening instead of all of the great things that were happening.  Now that I've had a few days to reflect, I can learn from the evening and come back stronger for next time while giving myself a little credit.  Onto Live Event # 3!

Ask Me (Another) Question: Universal Soldier w/DOLPH LUNDGREN

I gotta tell you, it's a bit of a trip and I hope someone has video of it but to be standing in front of a crowded theater and be joking with one of your child to adulthood idols, I can't even describe it.  I've got a big mouth but every time I'm on a microphone people can't hear me.  So I had Dolph himself shoving the mic in my face and telling me to speak up, good times.  While introducing the flick we learned that Andrew Davis was fresh off directing Gene Hackman in The Package and wanted to turn Universal Soldier into an elaborate, political, European set revolution story that saw Unisols Luc Deveraux and Andrew Scott in bit parts.  Baumgarten balked and Davis said the young producer was about to get fired.  The next day, Davis was gone.  Roland Emmerich and writer Dean Devlin produced 30 pages of treatment in 2 days and the movie was back on track.  Dolph talked about making his character a bit off the wall and discussing with Emmerich his ideas like throwing grenades and squawking like an Indian or celebrating like a baseball pitcher.  His impression of Emmerich chain smoking then saying "very interesting, I like it" in a German accent was hilarious.  Dolph did an English accent next when telling a story about the first day shooting with Jean-Claude Van Damme.  The scene called for The Bulging Belgian to kick a gun out of Dolph's hand and on the first take, JCVD kicked hard and the gun went flying.  Dolph was a little shocked at the full bore take but shook it off.  Next take, same thing.  That's when Dolph's English karate instructor simply said, "knock him out" if it happened again.  That message was relayed to stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong whose eyes got wide as did Van Damme's when he was told.  Next take?  JC delivered a pillow tap of a kick.  The rest of the shoot went great and the two have co-starred in an additional 3 films.

We had a section of seats reserved for Dolph and Craig's party while Dammaged Goods had an entire row behind them.  Sitting behind Dolph while watching the opening of Universal Soldier?  There's only a few things left I need to accomplish in my cinema fan life.  You could tell he enjoyed the movie, the warped sense of humor and brutal 90's violence as he laughed and whispered to his friends as the memories came back.  The print was a bit soft at the start but got better throughout.  The story of two soldiers in Vietnam who kill each other but are brought back to life by "hyper accelerating dead flesh" 25 years later as super soldiers part of the Universal "Unisol" Soldier program then face off once again when their memories return, Unisol is a prime example of what made the 90's action era so great.  The film looks big with great production value from the rain soaked jungles of Vietnam (a converted golf course in Arizona), the Unisol introduction scene at the Hoover Dam with high falls and rappelling face down the huge dam to the giant, mean looking, expanding Unisol truck to the destruction of just about every location via machine gun fire, explosions or bar fights, Universal Soldier packs a punch but still has room for laughs and even a quiet dramatic beat or two.

Universal Soldier is definitely one of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph's best films.  It's a real movie with a decent budget and a talented crew.  Germany's Roland Emmerich was hungry to show what he could do in America and really pushes it as the film is more or less an exciting, prolonged chase scene.  Beyond that, the film contains one of JC's best performances and maybe Dolph's greatest in his career.  Van Damme is youthful, innocent and funny while Dolph is just plain crazy and sickly hilarious.  From the necklace made from human ears to the sudden bursts of violence balanced with evil yet comedic brooding, Dolph delivers a fantastic performance.  The supermarket scene where Sgt. Andrew Scott talks about "kicking or kissing ass and busting heads" has always been one of my all time favorite moments in this or any film.  I had to jump out and catch the D-train so I missed their epic rain and fire filled clash but escorted Dolph back into the theater and got to watch him watch Van Damme kick him into a combine and throw the switch.  Again, hilarity.

Geoff and I had discussed some talking points since we really wanted to make the night and Q&A a tribute to Dolph's inspirational life and awesome career.  They took the stage and were recorded for the Humans From Earth podcast and Dolph was simply wonderful.  Funny, smart, animated and gracious.

- Stallone was so famous around Rocky IV that he needed a police escort.
- When Dolph's boxing boots were the wrong color scheme, Stallone flipped out, called the Adidas factory in Germany, had them open over the weekend, make new boots and ship them to Vancouver for Monday's shooting.
- On way into Rocky IV, was on the arm of Grace Jones, after the film people are looking at him and now she's on his arm.  Life changed completely in 90 minutes.
- Back in the day directors didn't have video village of monitors and just had to know what they were doing and Emmerich was a great director.
- John Woo sat behind 8 monitors chain smoking and direction consisted of walking up to Dolph, getting really close, then walking away.
- Back in his day, you had to do more yourself and could only have a stunt double for long shots.  Today, a good actor with a good stunt coordinator and 4 doubles can be an action hero.
- Cites Stallone, Chuck Norris, Arnold, Clint Eastwood and Robert Mitchum all had real life experience and played characters closer to their personalities and skills as "tough guys".
- Sly had made Drago a sympathetic villain and the call to play All-American hero He-Man was difficult and a lot of pressure.  Almost froze wearing costume that was the size of a stamp and couldn't go out in public because of his mullet hair extension.
- Has liked working out since a teen and it's part of the business, also keeps him young.
- Likes producing, on it from day one and get to shape the project unlike a director or actor who sometimes just get the call and show up.
- Skin Trade came from reading an article years ago about a van full of women being brought to America from Mexico, abandoned and suffocated to death.  Wrote the script never thinking it would be made but just finished in Thailand and in post production.
- Sex Trafficking is 3rd biggest criminal enterprise in the world behind drugs and guns.
- Craig Baumgarten came up to discuss more about Skin Trade and the great cast: Tony Ja's first English speaking film, Michael Jai White, Ron Perlman and Peter Weller.
- Weller had a comical fit on last day of shooting as all of the stars were on set and Weller came late and got the smallest trailer.

Dolph said he would do some signing so we didn't need to whisk him away.  As soon as the Q&A ended, wow, a rumbling herd rushed Dolph so we moved to the lobby where things could be a little more orderly.  Dolph was great as he signed and took photos for quite a while.  Getting him out of there was a bit nuts as there was still a mob after him and I was one of those guys who walks in front of celebs clearing the way and saying stuff like "get back" or "we're done" and "don't get hit by a car".  All in it was a crazy, fun, memorable and educational night that I still haven't quite processed yet as I had to be back at work the next morning at 8:30AM.

Thanks Dolph, Craig, Lori, Grant, Christian, Tammi and Geoff.  Victory!  We'll do it again soon.

Ask Me a Question: Universal Soldier w/DOLPH LUNDGREN

WOW.  What a night.  My brain hasn't quite computed everything yet but I'm told Dolph Night was a rousing success, we had a great enthusiastic crowd and the D-Man was awesome.  I'll put up a full post later but thank you to everyone who showed up last night.  The American Cinematheque, BeyondFest, Humans From Earth and Dammaged Goods all worked together like a movie bro Expendables to make for one hell of a night.  Now let's rewind.  The night started off running around getting things set, anticipating Dolph and producer Craig Baumgarten's arrival.  I had posted up outside in the courtyard where several Dammaged Goods, StalloneZone, VanDammeFan and plain ol' action fans introduced themselves and I handed them a custom shirt for the night.  Later inside, I look up and one of the guys who got a shirt said, "he's here!" and there was Dolph, in all his muscular, suave and cool guy glory.  He, Craig and their party actually arrived early so we whisked them away to chat about the evening and I got to hear some stories about Carolco, the production and original director Andrew Davis' script that was ultimately rejected.

Dolph, fan, custom shirt!

Then it was time.  Grant and Geoff from the Egyptian Theatre and Humans From Earth gave us a lowdown of what's coming up, that the first HFE podcasts are up and then it was my turn.  I welcomed the crowd and told them how my first movie in theaters was 1987's Masters of the Universe starring none other than Dolph Lundgren and that I'd been a lifelong fan ever since.  So it was a pleasure and kind of bewildering to be in a giant, beautiful, historic theatre about to watch him on the big screen.  As a thank you, I had prizes but you had to earn them!  Up for grabs were an original 1992 Universal Soldier button, a VHS signed by Dolph and Craig and a custom shirt for the night.  I was really sweating it if my questions would be too hard but the audience knew that Dolph did Kyokoshin karate, Sgt. Andrew Scott's designation was GR-13 and that Roland Emmerich directed the movie.  Then Dolph and Craig came up to say hello to the audience and I asked them what first memories came back to them when they heard Unisol was being screened.  Craig elaborated on the Andrew Davis debacle while Dolph regaled the audience with the story of threatening to knock Jean-Claude Van Damme out on their first day.

More later...

Where Were You In '92? Dan VS Dave & MTV Sports!

With all this recent talk of Image Comics, Universal Soldier, Tim Allen and the sort, it's just been a 1992 tinged June here at Dammaged Goods.  Let's take it back to that glorious year with some random ass popular culture nuggets starting with a subject that doesn't get much love here: sports!  Remember Dan VS Dave?  Sure you do, Rebook ran ads for 8 months hyping up the rivalry between decathletes Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson as they prepped for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.  From Greek with deka meaning ten and athlon meaning feat, decathletes compete in a traditionally 2 day event that sees them run, jump and throw in the 100 metres, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 metres, 110 metre hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1500 metre.  With such a variety of athletic prowess, strength, agility and quickness involved, Reebok dubbed the campaign the search to find the world's greatest athlete.

Dan and Dave were both top ranked decathletes and expected to medal at the Olympics.  With Reebook losing ground to Nike, the sports apparel giant embarked on a $25 million dollar ad campaign to break their way into the growing track and field demographic.  However things didn't quite pan out as Dan O'Brien failed to qualify for the Olympic games after being unable to clear the pole vault opener.  The ads were then modified to show Dan cheering Dave on.  Then Dave Johnson suffered a stress fracture in his foot and against doctor's advisement, went on to compete and win the bronze medal.  In 1996, Dan would win the gold medal in Atlanta but nobody made commercials about that did they?  Drafting off of Reebok's massive campaign, Ryder Trucks would employ the duo for a parody of their rivalry to hock rental trucks.

Now let's talk about sports, MTV style.  Remember Rock n' Jock?  Where celebrities, entertainers, actors and musicians played modified versions of basketball and softball?  Where else could you see MC Hammer, Tone Loc, Keanu Reeves, George Clooney, Daryl Strawberry, Mark McGuire, Jose Canseco, Dean Cain, Pamela Anderson, Derek Jeter, Kevin Costner, the casts of Baywatch, Melrose Place and Beverly Hills, 90210 etc being coached by the likes of Sammy Hagar and Dan Cortese?!  Cortese was a college athlete with a Broadcasting degree and was an MTV staple in the 90's with his extremmeeeeeeeeee personality and homeless athlete chic with his long hair usually being held in place by a beanie or bandana.  MTV Sports traveled the globe to bring audiences the best in extreme sports of the time like mountain biking, sky diving, skateboarding and snowboarding for 5 seasons.  Cortese segued into acting starting off with a small part in Stallone's 1993 futuristic actioner Demolition Man as a singing piano player at a high end Taco Bell.  Yup.  And he's fantastic.

Van Dammage: Like a Diamond

"It's going to be big, the Ben-Hur of martial art!  It will be filmed in Europe and China and show the philosophy of karate, the epic sweep of its past history.  We have friendship, relationship, pirates, we have Shaolin temples...I want to show something special, before hanging up on karate."
     Jean-Claude Van Damme on his directorial debut, The Quest

Depending on who you ask, the idea for The Quest came to Jean-Claude Van Damme either in a dream which he then woke up his wife to tell about or in a dingy Thai restaurant where JCVD was somberly eating and drinking alone.  Whatever the inspiration, The Quest was to be Van Damme's final goodbye to the genre that made him, the martial arts flick.  Since becoming a near overnight sensation thanks to 1988's high kicking, world warrior tournament classic Bloodsport, Van Damme always had higher aspirations than low budget karate movies.  Inspired by the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus, On the Waterfront and Ben-Hur, Van Damme has always wanted to go epic.  As his Hollywood profile grew, Van Damme attempted to go more mainstream, toning down his pure karate kicking antics in favor of big, Hollywood style shoot'em up, exploded up action as witnessed in Universal Soldier and Hard Target, which blended bullets and jump spin kicks.  Nowhere to Run featured nary a kick but many a punch'em up complete with love story and kids involved but was a bit of a misstep financially. 

After 1994's Timecop showcased explosions, splits and kicks in a classy way, Van Damme thought it was really time to shut down the karate machine.  1995's Sudden Death lacked any of his trademark high kicks, shirtless scenes or butt shots but still needed a throwaway line to explain his French accent (played semi-pro hockey in Canada).  A take on the popular Die Hard formula where one man takes on many to save the ones he loves, Sudden Death is all rough and tumble fights, gunfire, crashing helicopters, exploding cars and the like inside and outside a hockey arena.  The film performed worse than Van Damme's previous 3 releases.  Looking to take control of his own career, Van Damme announced he would be making the leap to the directors chair for The Quest, an epic martial arts film that would be his goodbye to the genre.  Hoping it to be Bloodsport, but bigger, JCVD approached Oliver Stone to direct who respected the Belgian for making his own way.  After describing the story and scenes, Stone politely declined stating that Van Damme didn't need him since everything was already in the actor's head.

The Quest was announced at the Cannes film festival in 1993 where Van Damme got the one up on Arnold's latest, Last Action Hero by placing a hot air balloon over the water and renting a yacht to throw a lavish party that attracted studio heads and super models.  Quickly selling millions of dollars worth of international rights, it looked like Van Damme's dream would be coming true.  The Quest follows Christopher Dubois, a street performer who steals from local mobsters and goes on the run but is then kidnapped by pirates before being sold off to muy thai fighters and embarking on a journey to enter a fabled tournament held in the Lost City in China where the prize is a dragon made of solid gold.  Van Damme looked to have real life boxer George Foreman, who was in the midst of a career comeback in the ring at age 45, to play his trainer in the film.  At some point that idea was jettisoned and durable character actor James Remar (The Warriors, 48 Hours) was brought in.  Van Damme always admired Sean Connery but settled for another former James Bond, Roger Moore to play a fancy yet shady con-man that helps him get to the tournament.  Names like Kim Basinger and Madonna were rumored to be on VD's wish list to play a spunky journalist but TV actress Janet Gunn ended up in the role.

Co-written by Steve Klein and Paul Mones based on a story by Van Damme and Bloodsport inspiration Frank Dux, The Quest is a polished effort and solid display of Van Damme's talent behind the camera, especially for a first time director.  Utilizing the 1920's setting, the film makes good use of urban and exotic settings from the streets of "New York", the jungles of Thailand and the arid desert of Tibet to create a romantic and exotic adventure filled odyssey with a golden sheen.  The trials of Van Damme include fist and feet fights on the streets, on a boat, during a pirate boarding and battle, on the beach and finally inside and outside the ring of the Ghang-Gheng.  Like Bloodsport before it, The Quest showcases fighters from around the world utilizing different fighting techniques like sumo, karate, savate, grappling, capoeira and boxing.  Sadly, the film can't quite top the fight scenes from Bloodsport which were fast, fun and brutal as they come off a bit repetitive and one-note with an overuse of slow motion that do little more than show off his glistening and striated muscles.

Post release, Van Damme would state he was not happy with the film as many pages of character development and training were removed to reduce costs.  Estimated to have cost $30 million dollars, Van Damme claims to have sold $20 million at Cannes which was an exaggeration according to producer Moshe Diamont.  Upon it's release, Van Damme would claim the film only cost $12 million which I'm guessing is a below the line figure.  Hitting theaters in April of 1996, The Quest would open in the #1 spot with a $7 million dollar gross on it's way to a tepid $21 million total and continue our man Van's career slide.  Worldwide the film brought in an additional $35 million for a $57 million total, far from the above $100 million grosses of Universal Soldier, Timecop and Street Fighter.  4 movies and 3 years later, Van Damme would be relegated to Direct to Video releases. 

Van Dammage: Legality

 

"Right now you can sue me because I use "fuck" three times. 

You can be mentally abused...You can sue for that. 

Absolutely.  You don't know.  I know."

 

     Jean-Claude Van Damme on America's sue happy society

Like winning the lottery, becoming a movie star cannot be easy.  All of a sudden people you've never met or spoken to in years are your best friend with their hands out asking for money.  JCVD states he lost 99% of his friends once he became famous.  His legal battles were well documented and made him an easy target for tabloids.  After his 90's success, a bodybuilding soldier sued Van Damme for injuries on Cyborg four years prior.  After an on set accident that saw VD strike the untrained stunt man in the eye with a prop knife, Van Damme went to see him on base to make sure he was getting checked out by Cannon's insurance.  But years later after Van Damme became a hot shot, the guy took him to court and settled for $400,000 clams. 

During the making of Universal Soldier, Van Damme was pulled over for driving 120 miles per hour on a deserted Arizona highway late into the night.  When the police officers recognized him, they warned him not to kick them in the face or they would shoot him.  During the mid 90's, with his ego and growing cocaine habit at all time highs, Van Damme found himself being sued by a woman claiming he forced her to perform sexual acts.  Then, former colleague and Bloodsport inspiration Frank Dux took Van Damme to court over payment and credit on VD's directorial debut, The Quest.  Van Damme denied most charges but was advised by his lawyers to simply settle.  This infuriated the bulging Belgian as in Europe, if you sue and lose, you have to pay.  But in America, one can be sued, have to address it and pay out even if innocent to avoid further issue.

Apparently, Van Damme agreed to do an infomercial for a piece of home gym equipment and during taping of his reality show, Behind Closed Doors, the Muscles From Brussels didn't know how the machine worked and turned to the camera to give a whole hearted speech about being honest and not a shill.  That's why Jean-Claude Van Damme is awesome and Mr. Bulletproof. 

"Vas-y viens te battre!" roughly translated, Come at me, bro!