Time travelers and a giant penguin? That's just
scratching the surface of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s greatest fights.
In 1993's "Hard Target", Van Damme plays drifter and former Force Recon Marine Chance Boudreaux.
In the film, he stumbles upon a shadowy enterprise that has the wealthy hunt homeless
veterans for sport, headed by the villainous Emil Fouchon. Determined to eliminate any loose ends,
Fouchon leads his men to pursue Natasha Binder — the daughter of a murdered veteran.
In one of Van Damme's most memorably bizarre demonstrations of his martial arts prowess,
he uses his lightning-fast reflexes to catch a rattlesnake lowering itself
behind an unaware Natasha. While many of his best fights pit him against fellow
martial artists and well-armed goons, his scuffle with the rattlesnake captures the
over-the-top sensibilities of "Hard Target" and sets up the movie's explosive showdown.
Of all of Van Damme's big screen team-ups, perhaps the most unlikely of them all was with
former NBA superstar Dennis Rodman in the 1997 action movie "Double Team." The film stars Van
Damme as counter-terrorism operative Jack Quinn, who recruits arms dealer Yaz — played by Rodman.
With his help, he sets out to take down terrorist Stavros. After Stavros targets Quinn's family,
the action shifts to Rome as the unlikely duo charges into the villain's trap.
Following a chaotic gunfight in the streets, Quinn enters a hotel where Stavros has been
keeping Quinn's pregnant wife. He faces both a gunman concealing a machine gun
in a large suitcase and a martial artist wielding a switchblade between his toes.
"Double Team" is one of the most bonkers showcases for Van Damme's action movie sensibilities,
and this Roman hotel scuffle exemplifies the film's status as something of a guilty pleasure.
The 1991 movie "Double Impact" has Van Damme pull double duty as twin brothers Alex and Chad Wagner.
"Alex he's your brother!"
"Brother? Why? Because he looks like me? I'm gonna change that…"
The twins were separated when their parents were murdered by the Triads.
Their mother was personally killed by Triad hitman Moon, and Chad avenges his
mother decades later. With Chad being the less violent of the two Wagner brothers,
he quickly finds himself alone and punching above his weight against the lethal Moon.
The hitman immediately establishes his physical dominance by throwing a fuel canister at Chad.
This changes when Chad is able to leapfrog over Moon as the latter attempts to charge him,
thus catching the killer off-guard while our hero goes on the offensive.
The 1995 action movie "Sudden Death" stars Van Damme as disgraced fire marshal Darren
McCord. When a Stanley Cup game in the Pittsburgh Civic Arena is targeted by terrorists pursuing
the Vice President, it's up to McCord to save the day while attending the game.
Of all the fights that he finds himself in, it's the very first that's the strangest and most
memorable of them all; our man goes up against a terrorist disguised as the Penguins' mascot,
Iceburgh. While the sight of Van Damme squaring off against the beloved ice hockey mascot is sure
to raise more than a few eyebrows, the fight sequence itself is surprisingly effective.
"Street Fighter" is admittedly one of the more ludicrous video game adaptations,
but its climactic fight still belongs on this list. Van Damme stars as Allied
Nations commander Colonel William Guile, who sets out to topple the fearsome dictator M.
Bison before the tyrant can unleash his genetically engineered super-soldiers.
Guile dominates Bison with his superior martial arts skills until the villain activates his
tech-equipped suit to gain the upper hand, forcing our hero to rethink his strategy.
This final bout is filled with the kind of campiness that makes "Street Fighter" watchable.
"You have made me a happy man."
"Next, I'll make you a dead one."
One Van Damme fight that lives on with particularly entertaining notoriety
is the bar brawl sequence from the 1989 martial arts movie "Kickboxer."
The film has Van Damme portray amateur kickboxer Kurt Sloane, who rigorously
trains himself to avenge his brother Eric after he is viciously maimed by Thai champion Tong Po.
Honing his body and mind under the tutelage of his mentor Xian Chow, Kurt has his first major
test when his trainer arranges a group of surly bar patrons to attack him while he's intoxicated.
As tonally grim as "Kickboxer" can be at times, the resulting bar fight provides much-needed
levity while giving Van Damme an opportunity to showcase his fighting skills. Drunkenly dancing
and showing off just how limber his body is, Kurt takes out the disgruntled patrons
with relative ease. 26 years later, Conan O'Brien would have Van Damme recreate the
fight sequence in the midst of an interview, cementing its prominence in the actor's career.
During the wonderfully absurd finale to "Double Team," Stavros lures Quinn and Yaz into a Roman
amphitheater. While Yaz is preoccupied with the various gunmen lurking around, Quinn fights
the main villain himself with his infant son dangerously close to the explosive showdown.
In addition to fighting a surprisingly jacked Stavros, Quinn has to contend
with a loose tiger around his son, all while being careful not to accidentally trigger any
of the landmines set around the arena. These prominent challenges make what could have been
a run of the mill battle into a genuinely memorable action set piece, complete with
a laughable product placement for Coca-Cola. As gleefully over-the-top as the rest of the movie,
the ending of "Double Team" blows up the stakes with a fittingly explosive spectacle.
One of the darker entries in Van Damme's filmography is the 2003 action movie "In Hell."
He plays convict Kyle LeBlanc, who's sentenced to life in a Russian prison after killing his wife's
murderer. Kyle learns that the warden pits the rival gangs against each other in fights to the
death while their jailers bet on the outcomes. After being regularly harassed and threatened by
his fellow inmates, he decides to enter the fights for himself, beginning with his primary tormentor.
Van Damme's brawls throughout "In Hell" are perhaps the most
graphically violent and grim of his career, with the opening matches quickly setting
the tone for the movie. While his movies have always included their fair share of violence,
"In Hell" contains the goriest fight sequences in his extensive catalog.
Van Damme plays slightly against type as an antihero in the 1993 movie "Nowhere to
Run." He portrays Sam Gillen, a robber and escaped convict living out in the
wilderness. After befriending a single mother named Clydie and her children,
Sam faces off against a murderous real estate developer named Franklin Hale.
As he attempts to seize Clydie's land at gunpoint, Sam arrives in the nick of time
to stop this hostile takeover. A drag-out fight follows with Hale's right hand man, Dunston.
Sam and Dunston's brawl is a dirty, raw skirmish, and the fact that Van Damme's opponent isn't an
equally chiseled tough guy makes the fight sequence all the more visceral.
As rough around the edges as the overall film is, the climax to "Nowhere to Run" proves Van
Damme can deliver a fight that doesn't entirely consist of impossibly graceful martial arts moves.
The 1990 film "Lionheart" has Van Damme playing Lyon Gaultier,
a French legionnaire who deserts his unit after his brother is murdered in Los Angeles.
To help the family recover, Lyon enters the illicit world of underground fight clubs,
culminating into a showdown with the undefeated bruiser Attila.
Attila is a hulking brawler who takes the opening wave of blows,
tiring his opponent before brutally moving in for the kill with particularly sadistic attacks. Lyon
painfully discovers this strategy firsthand, but the former legionnaire is able to turn the tables
on his large enemy. Among Van Damme's more brutal fights, the battle in "Lionheart" gives the actor
the opportunity to get his hands dirty rather than just effortlessly kick around his opponent.
In a rare antagonistic turn, Van Damme menaces his
fellow action heroes in the 2012 blockbuster "The Expendables 2."
"Are you afraid of me?"
"No I'm not."
"You should be."
Portraying the aptly named Jean Vilain as a rival mercenary leading his own private army,
he ambushes the Expendables and ruthlessly murders their youngest recruit Billy.
The seasoned soldiers of fortune fight Vilain's forces across Europe,
leading to a climactic gunfight that erupts in a Bulgarian airport. Expendables leader
Barney Ross corners Vilain, resulting in a hand-to-hand brawl between the combat veterans.
Van Damme clearly relishes the opportunity to portray an outright villain,
and as his duel with Barney escalates, he more than proves he still has the moves.
For an excellent showcase of just how effective Van Damme can be as a bad guy,
"The Expendables 2" picks up whenever he is onscreen squaring off with the mercenary team.
Van Damme's most successful foray into the science fiction genre is the 1994 film
"Timecop," which is set in a world where time travel has been made possible. To prevent
crimes being committed across the timeline, the government forms the Time Enforcement Commission,
with Van Damme playing operative Max Walker. After learning that Senator Aaron McComb is
illegally using funds to finance his presidential campaign, Walker is hunted by McComb's men.
In one of the film's earliest fights, Walker's home is raided by assassins while he is sleeping
on the couch. Our hero awakens just in time to fight each of his would-be killers,
ending with Van Damme performing the splits as his final enemy accidentally electrocutes himself.
When it comes to protagonists in lone wolf action flicks proving their worth by defending
themselves from a home invasion, "Timecop" is one of the movies that predated the trend.
Van Damme's most frequent co-star was fellow action hero Dolph Lundgren.
The two actors first collaborated in the 1992 sci-fi action movie "Universal Soldier."
Van Damme and Lundgren star respectively as U.S. Army soldiers Luc Deveraux and Andrew
Scott — two men who killed each other in the Vietnam War but are resurrected and augmented
through genetic experimentation decades later. As the revived combat veterans acclimate to
their new lease on life, they begin to recall their past lives and reignite their deadly feud.
It's clear from the outset that Van Damme and Lundgren have an engaging onscreen rapport,
and the climactic skirmish with the two old enemies juiced on genetic
muscle enhancers helped spawn an entire action movie franchise. "Universal Soldier," however,
has the two action stars clash on screen while they were in their prime.
1989's "Kickboxer," takes place in yet another underground fight club — this one in Thailand.
Van Damme's character Kurt seeks revenge for the brutal beating of his brother Eric.
Facing off against the villainous Tong Po — the man who broke Eric's back — both Kurt
and his opponent have their hands tied up in roped gauntlets and are stuck with
nasty shards of broken glass. Believing Eric to be held captive by local crooks, Kurt is convinced he
has to torturously go the distance to ensure his brother's survival as he enters the ring.
Our hero endures the beating of his life — saved by the bell at the end of each round
as he lets the fight draw out. Once Eric reveals that he has escaped from captivity
and arrives at the fight to support his brother, a re-energized Kurt quickly puts
the hurt on Tong Po in one of the more brutal fights Van Damme has appeared in.
Van Damme's breakthrough performance as American soldier and martial artist Frank Dux in
the 1988 film "Bloodsport" remains a high point in his career. Deserting from the U.S. Army to
participate in a secret martial arts tournament known as the Kumite, Frank takes on waves of
opponents from around the world. Facing him at the end of this high-stakes tournament is past
champion Chong-Li, leading to a brutal brawl after Chong-Li savagely beats Frank's friend Jackson.
There's a lot going on in the climactic bout of "Bloodsport"
that makes it particularly memorable. Van Damme's role in the film catapulted him
into cinemas worldwide as the latest bona fide action hero.
"That hurts me just looking at it."
Much of Van Damme's career and fight sequences would have to contend with the high bar set by
"Bloodsport," and it remains the gold standard in his filmography.