Summary
- Van Damme's fight scenes showcase his martial arts expertise and dexterity.
- Many of his fight scenes rely on his characters' own skills and improvised weapons.
- Van Damme has starred in over 60 movies, showcasing his fighting prowess and martial arts mastery.
Jean-Claude Van Damme's movies contain some incredible fight scenes, but some rank higher than others. Van Damme is known for his martial arts expertise. Viewers will often see him using his dexterity in order to kick his opponents as well as dodge incoming blows. Many of his fight scenes don't involve weapons, with Van Damme's characters relying on their own skills and whatever is around them to win the day.
Van Damme has also starred in other franchises, like The Expendables 2 and the second and third installments of the Kung Fu Panda movies. In all of them, his fighting prowess and martial arts mastery have been showcased in fight scenes.
10 Final fight with Bison from Street Fighter
Van Damme digs deep in order to win
Street Fighter
Cast
Raul Julia
Ming-Na Wen-
Damian Chapa
- Release Date
- December 23, 1994
- Main Genre
- Action
Based on the video game series of the same name, Street Fighter stars Van Damme as Colonel William Guile. Guile faces off against General M. Bison, a former drug lord who took multiple hostages in the beginning of the movie. Rather than pay the ransom, Guile chooses to find Bison and place him on trial. In the final scene between the two, Bison initially overpowers Guile after he survives being electrocuted. Guile, however, manages to kick Bison away from him and into a monitor wall. The wall explodes, killing Bison and leaving Guile victorious.
9 Face-off with McComb's men in Timecop
A time-travel influenced fight
A sci-fi action film, Timecop follows Max Walker, an agent for the Time Enforcement Commission (TEC), played by Van Damme. The TEC was founded to control time travel to avoid major changes in the timeline. In 2004, Walker learns that the overseer of the TEC, Senator McComb, has been abusing time travel to make money for his presidential campaign. Walker is sent back to 1994 and ends up in a face-off with McComb and his men. After a lengthy fight, which includes Walker using a wrench to defeat some of the henchmen and a man getting his arm frozen then kicked off, Walker narrowly escapes back to 2004.
8 Saving Natasha from muggers in Hard Target
A series of kicks from Van Damme sees the would-be muggers soundly defeated
In Hard Target, Van Damme stars as Chance Bordreaux, a former Marine who has found himself homeless. He saves Natasha, a woman looking for his missing father, from being mugged and assaulted. He uses his Marine training and his pre-existing martial arts abilities to defeat the five would-be muggers. He takes out three with a few effective kicks and throws the fourth through the window of a diner. The fight ends after he breaks the arm of the last remaining mugger over his shoulder and sends him to the ground.
7 Chad and Alex fight each other in Double Impact
The twins face off during their first meeting
Van Damme stars as twin brothers, Chad and Alex Wagner, who were separated after the death of their parents. When the two first meet 25 years later, they don't get along. Alex's girlfriend, Danielle, mistakes Chad for Alex, leading to a confrontation between the brothers. The fight ranges all around the room, with Alex eventually grappling Chad and sending them both through the wooden railing and to the floor below. It is a relatively short fight compared to others in Van Damme's works, but the fighting skills of two Jean-Claude Van Dammes makes it worth the watch.
6 Fight in the law office from Maximum Risk
Van Damme fights an unknown assailant in a burning office
Maximum Risk sees Van Damme playing twins for the second time in five years, although for a much shorter period of time. He plays Alain Moreau and Mikhail Suverov, brothers separated at birth. After Mikhail's death, Alain sets out to discover the truth about his now-deceased twin. He goes to the office of the lawyer who adopted Mikhail but finds the place on fire. Alain is then attacked by a Russian man and the ensuing fight has Alain nearly thrown out of a window. He manages to swing back into the room and throws the man into the fire before getting the adoption papers and leaving.
5 Final fight with the Sandman in Death Warrant
A long-awaited face-off that ends in victory for Van Damme
The main villain of Death Warrant is a serial killer who calls himself the Sandman. After the Sandman kills his partner, Detective Louis Burke, played by Van Damme, confronts and shoots the serial killer. Over a year later, Burke goes undercover in a prison to solve a series of murders. The Sandman arrives at the prison as a new inmate and eventually has a showdown with Burke. The Sandman initially overpowers Burke, but Burke is able to get back on top after pushing the Sandman into the open boiler. When the Sandman emerges, horribly burned, Burke's ensuing kick sends him into a valve stem where he eventually dies.
4 Last fight in Lionheart
Van Damme beats the odds
Lionheart sees Van Damme as Lyon Gaultier, a French Foreign Legion soldier who deserts in order to see his dying brother in Los Angeles. Arriving in New York City with no money, Lyon s an illegal fighting ring and is dubbed "Lionheart". He continues fighting even after seeing his brother in order to his sister-in-law and niece.
Lyon's final fight is against Attila, a merciless fighter who likes to give a false sense of hope before ultimately defeating his opponents. Lyon, suffering from a broken rib, is easily taken down but rises back up after learning that his friend bet against him. He handily defeats Attila, but spares the man's life.
3 Fight with Carla at the Stanley Cup in Sudden Death
A Pittsburgh Penguins-sponsored fight between Van Damme and Iceburgh
Sudden Death takes place during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks. Most of the action takes place within the Penguins' Civic Arena, so Van Damme's character, Darren McCord ends up fighting the mascot. Carla, a member of a terrorist organization planning on blowing up the arena, disguises herself as Iceburgh in order to kill Darren. The penguin disguise adds a weird sense of humor to the fight scene as McCord has to fend off the attacks of Iceburgh. He does win the day, however, burning Carla's hand in a fry basket and killing her by kicking her onto the dishwasher conveyor belt.
Karen Baldwin, one of the producers of Sudden Death, is married to Howard Baldwin, who owned the Penguins at the time. She wanted to have an action movie take place at the Civic Arena, as she thought it would be an interesting setting.
2 Final fight in Universal Soldier
Van Damme vs. Dolph Lundgren
Van Damme and Lundgren star as reanimated soldiers who were cryogenically frozen after an incident in the Vietnam War. Luc Deveraux and Andrew Scott, played by Van Damme and Lundgren respectively, are to be used in the UniSol program, an anti-terrorism unit. Deveraux re his past, despite the serum used to suppress those memories, and re how Scott went insane and killed innocent civilians, as well as their fellow soldiers.
In the final battle, Deveraux is losing due to Scott's use of muscle enhancers. Deveraux manages to take the rest of the enhancers from Scott and use them himself, putting them on an even playing field. Deveraux then kicks Scott onto the tines of a hay harvester and turns it on, killing him.
As of 2016, there were six Universal Soldier films made, with Van Damme starring in four of them.
1 Final fight in Bloodsport
Van Damme overcomes obstacles to win the Kumite
The part of Frank Dux in Bloodsport was Van Damme's breakout role. Dux, having been trained in ninjutsu by Senzo Tanaka, enters into the Kumite, an illegal martial arts tournament. Dux gains the attention of the former Kumite champion, Chong Li, after Dux breaks Li's record for fastest defeat of an opponent. The final fight of the film is between Dux and Li. Li cheats by crushing a salt pill and blinding Dux with it, as Dux had been winning. Dux, however, was trained by Tanaka to fight blindfolded, so he uses his other senses in order to defeat Li.
