It looks like Jean-Claude Van Damme fans will only have one last chance to see him in an action movie. Earlier in 2022, the actor said that his next action movie, What’s My Name, will be the last he ever appears in as an action star. He will play himself in the movie and the story will be inspired by "real elements" of his life.
What's My Name sounds very familiar to one of his highest-rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes, JCVD. That movie also saw Van Damme play a fictional version of himself. At the end of his career, Van Damme’s most critically acclaimed roles are often semi-autobiographical, as he seemingly tries to escape the world of B-grade action movies that his career eventually spiraled into.
10 The Last Mercenary (2021) – 58%
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The Last Mercenary gave Van Damme a chance to spoof the action movies that he made for two decades. In the movie, he plays a government agent known as The Mist who returns to to help his son, who has been framed for a crime he didn’t commit.
Van Damme is fully game here, able to make fun of himself and show how genuinely funny he is. Rotten Tomatoes critics praised Van Damme in the movie, calling him “self-aware” and praising his line delivery as “weary good humor.”
9 Hard Target (1993) – 60%
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While Bloodsport made Van Damme a star, it was Hard Target that really made the critics pay attention. This movie was a loose remake of the classic The Most Dangerous Game, with John Woo making his Hollywood debut with this action flick.
Van Damme plays Chance Boudreaux, a veteran without a home who helps a woman find her missing father in New Orleans. With Woo’s direction and Lance Henriksen as the bad guy, critics praised the film, saying Woo presented Van Damme in as reverent a manner as Sergio Leone did Clint Eastwood.
8 The Expendables 2 (2012) – 67%
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Sylvester Stallone had a brilliant idea when he rounded up his fellow '80s and '90s action heroes and put them all together in a big-budget action movie. It only made sense that when The Expendables 2 rolled around, Van Damme would the fray.
What was great was that he showed up as a bad guy named Jean Vilain, and it's no surprise that he was part of the best action scenes in The Expendables franchise. Van Damme proved he was still as funny, being self-aware of why he was famous. As one Rotten Critics reviewer said, it was a “wild and crazy blast from the past.”
7 Minions: The Rise Of Gru (2022) – 70%
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If there is one thing that Van Damme has going for him other than his fighting skills, it is his distinctive voice. Thanks to that, he is perfect for voice roles in animated movies. Van Damme ed the Despicable Me cast for its latest installment, Minions: The Rise of Gru, playing a character named Jean Clawed.
Van Damme was a member of the Vicious 6 who had a mechanical lobster claw on his right arm. One Rotten Tomatoes critic said the movie was“enlivened by the talented voice cast,” and surely Van Damme was a part of that.
6 Enemies Closer (2013) – 79%
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Enemies Closer is another later-year Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, releasing in 2013. What was unusual about this movie was that it gave Van Damme a chance to play the villain in an action movie. He stars as Xander, the leader of a gang who wanted to retrieve some drugs lost in the forest.
Tom Everett Scott and Orlando Jones play the heroes, former enemies turned allies, but Van Damme really stole the show when he appeared alongside the movie’s stars. It's rare for the action star to play a villain, making this a must-see for fans.
5 The Bouncer (2018) – 80%
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The Bouncer was a 2018 action movie that was darker and a little more serious than most Van Damme fare. In the movie, he plays a bouncer named Lukas, who ends up forced to protect his daughter when his own actions put a target on her head.
Van Damme eschews the humor that he brought into later roles and took on a darker and rougher edge here. There isn’t anything in The Bouncer, but it showed that Van Damme still had a lot to offer action movies, even in his later years.
4 No Retreat, No Surrender (1986) – 80%
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The oldest Jean-Claude Van Damme movie that Rotten Tomatoes critics loved was his 1986 movie, No Retreat, No Surrender. This was a breakout movie for Van Damme and the first American movie that Corey Yuen directed.
The movie pays tribute to Bruce Lee, with a fictional version of the martial arts master appearing as a ghost. Van Damme plays a karate student named Jason Stillwell who defends his dojo from a villainous group that wants to take them out.
3 Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) – 80%
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The highest-rated animated movie that Van Damme lent his voice to was Dreamwork’s Kung Fu Panda 2. In this movie, Van Damme took on the role of Master Croc, one of the kung fu masters that Lord Shen conquered.
The sequel was a huge improvement on the original. The animation was impressive, and the story was a bit darker, more mature, and more satisfying. Critics praised the animation and said the movie “never loses sight of its objective: fun, fun, fun.”
2 JCVD (2008) – 84%
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JCVD was the movie that convinced fans Van Damme was more than self-aware of his reputation. In this movie, he plays an over-the-top fictional version of himself, struggling with a career decline and then finding himself in the middle of a bank robbery in Belgium.
With people knowing him as action hero Jean-Claude Van Damme, the actor has to figure out how he can deal with the situation. He delivers an emotional and self-deprecating performance that might be the best acting of his career.
1 Kickboxer: Retaliation (2018) – 92%
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In what might come as a surprise, the highest-rated Jean-Claude Van Damme movie on Rotten Tomatoes is Kickboxer: Retaliation. This movie sees Van Dammeeturn to one of the franchises’ that made him a household name, but in a very different role.
This time around, Van Damme plays Durand, a coach to a younger fighter, Alain Moussi’s Kurt Sloane. The movie is a huge improvement over the previous, Kickboxer: Vengeance, with one Rotten Tomatoes critic calling it “A stylish and enjoyable fight flick with just enough tongue-in-cheek content to keep us smiling.”
