In honor of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s newest movie currently in post production, known as “J.C.V.D”.
I’d like to look back into some movie titles that were launched through his past successes. Keep in mind that I was a pretty big fan of Van Damme until he virtually disappeared for a period of time and returned only to work on straight to video movies. Rumors floated around about drug problems, marriage, etc… I can’t confirm them so they won’t be discussed here.
1.) Kickboxer, released in 1989. This was one of the first few JCVD movies I had ever purchased on VHS.
It was also the first time I saw a nut punch executed in a martial arts movie. Isn’t there anything that’s sacred? So after the success of Kickboxer, the production company that owned the rights to it got greedy. A sequel was planned to star JCVD but for some reason(probably cost effectiveness), Sasha Mitchell took his place.
Wait a minute! That’s Cody from Step-by-Step! Last I heard, he was charged for domestics abuse. I guess this was before those court dates. Anyway, as mentioned by the Bad Movie Knight’s blog Sasha was actually quite a good and cheap replacement for JCVD. Sasha went on to do several sequels for the Kickboxer line-up. Starting with Kickboxer 2: The Road Back, whereever it led it was probably to a better place. Sasha Mitchell subsequently starred in Kickboxer 2,3,4
What few people know is that there was a Kickboxer 5 movie. The production studios must have wised up and decided, the name branding may have become a curse. So instead of actually calling it Kickboxer 5, they dubbed the movie “Redemption” and starred one of my favorite martial artists, Mark Dacascos. Sadly, the storyline was the same non-sense that led to Kickboxer 2. Apparently the lead actor from the previous movie had died in the hands of their newest villain.
Michel Qissi returned each time(Kickboxer 1 & 2) to play the villain Tong Po. He was probably the only remaining original cast member since the first movie. What’s surprising is that Michel Qissi played a Thai character, all the while being a Brussels nationalist. The producers put several layers of latex on him to get the “oriental” look. He was also very good friends with Van Damme and had done another movie with him. Which leads us to the next movie…
2.) Bloodsport, released in 1988. This was back when Van Damme starred in a string of movies with similar “Karate Kid”-esque themes where some old wise highly skilled martial artist imparts his training & wisdom on Van Damme’s charaters.
My favorite scene in this movie was the ending. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Although I have never taken hallucinogenics before, I’d assume this is what it would feel like(skip to 6minutes and 44secs into the clip):
And once again, a barrage of sequels followed suit. Mostly straight to VHS movies that starred some mediocre celebrities. Out goes Van Damme, in comes Daniel Bernhardt in a series of Bloodsport wannabe sequels.I never did bother watching the sequels. But something tells me the training scenes became rather redundant.
3.) Cyborg, released in 1989:
“Set in a post-apocalyptic future where starvation and disease are plaguing the few remaining inhabitants of Earth. Scientists are close to discovering a cure for the plague that is sweeping the country. Gibson Rickenbacker is a strong fighter who leads a group to Atlanta to gain information needed for the cure, along the way attempting to avoid the villains.” According to IMDB.
The sequels to Cyborg was actually quite surprising. Many of us were impressed by Angelina Jolie in her action pack roles in Mr&Ms Smith, Lara Croft, etc… but I’ll bet a lot of people don’t recall her performance in Cyborg 2!
That’s not all, apparently Cyborg 3 was a movie as well. Although I watched Cyborg 1 & 2, I felt sequel number 3 would be left best untouched. Almost like how spoiled milk in the fridge should be left undisturbed. But deep down knowing how it will wreak when you toss it in the recycling bin.
4.) Universal Soldier was released in 1992
What’s really funny about this movie is that the plot has to do with a group of soldiers who were dead and brought back to life in “Cyborg” form. They had been programmed to be ultimate killing machines. But something went wrong. The chips in their brain were “Short Circuit“-ed. Which sounds remarkably like another movie plot that had gone on to produce several sequels. One of which, Van Damme actually returned to star in.
Universal Soldier 2 & 3, never even made it into the movie category. The were both TV movies which are just a par under the Straight to Video category.
The tagline: Prepare to become obsolete was quite appropriate. Even with big bad wrestling star Goldberg, the movie didn’t do great. And unfortunately for Van Damme, a new crop of martial arts actors slowly began arriving on the scene. He(Van Damme) literally prepared to become obsolete.
5.) TimeCop was released in 1994. To its credit I thought the concept was pretty good. Possibly ahead of its time, pre- “Stargate” era.
Timecop only had 1 sequel and it starred Jason Scott Lee, the dude who played adult Bruce Lee in “Dragon, the Bruce Lee Story“. But surprisingly it took 9 years to come up with this sequel. Timecop 2 aka Timecop: The Berlin Decision was produced in 2003.
Conclusions:
There you have it. All 5 spinoffs, All from Van Damme Movies
- Kickboxer had 4 sequels.
- Bloodsport had 3 sequels.
- Cyborg had 2 sequels
- Timecop had 1 sequel.
- Universal Soldier had 3 sequels.
A total of 13 sequels that well.. if you had the time to sit down and watch would probably cause a hemorrhage in your brain.
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