The sad decline of Jean Claude Van Damme

A brief Sunday update here. This weekend I've mainly been thinking about the death of the eighties action movie. Whatever happened to films like 'Kickboxer' and 'On Deadly Ground'? It seems like all the main action movie stars of that era basically went bat-shit insane at around the mid 90s mark, consigning that type of movie to the scrap heap.

I think the majority of the blame for this can probably be laid at Steven Seagal's feet. His pseudo-spiritual arrogance led him to make a series of atrocious movies where he seemingly refused to obey the costume department and just wore his own clothes. He also got so fat he couldn't do stunts (cue many shots of his feet during chase scenes) and was involved in possibly one of the most bizare news stories ever. Apparently a dead fish was left as a threat on a news reporter's car and Steven Seagal was implicated. A dead fish? As a threat? At least a horse's head in your bed is quite scary. Not many people decapitate horses and it does leave you wondering how they sneaked it into your bedroom. But a fish on your windscreen? What the hell does that prove? Watch out, Steven is a fish killer. He just murders a fish, he'll leave a dead trout on your windscreen, without a second's hesitation. I don't even think this is in any way an illegal act. I also can't imagine that walking around with a stinking fish carcass, just in case you need to 'send a message' makes you a badass. In my head I have a picture of Seagal creeping up to the car in the dead of night, slipping the fish under the windscreen wiper, screaming "RUN!" and the camera then cutting to his feet as he makes a deceptively slow get away.

Anyway enough about Steven, I wanted to highlight Van Damme's equally acrimonious decent into insanity. Jean Claude has always loved dancing. I have picked three videos which symbolise his, and the whole genre's sad decline, expressed solely through his love for dance. First we have him as a young, hip, potential future star. Look at those moves:

Then Van Damme at his peak. Click the link to see this timeless scene from Kickboxer. Finally, the end. Possibly the exact moment in time when it became clear he would never make a Hollywood blockbuster again:



Sad times. FC