In 2016, Prime Video perplexed fans of the Muscles from Brussels with their curiously named comedy-drama Jean-Claude Van Johnson. For fans of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s classic martial arts movies, this show presents the actor as they’ve never seen him before. Van Damme employs many of the same moves that made him famous, but with the outward artifice of his stylized characters peeled back to hilarious effect. Even the biggest Van Damme fan would it that his legend has been built on kitsch exploitation cinema, and Jean-Claude Van Johnson delivers a fitting send-up of the action star’s career.

The show includes countless references to Van Damme’s best movies, with the added bonus that it deconstructs what makes them so special. The Muscles from Brussels is at his best when taking center stage as a martial arts performer in carefully choreographed set pieces, and Jean-Claude Van Johnson revels in the stylistic indulgences of his classic feature films for comic purposes. For instance, a scene where a gang leader holds his enforcers back so they can each fight Van Damme one at a time, to avoid making the scene too “confusing” for viewers, is right on the money.

Jean-Claude Van Damme Plays A Fictionalized Version Of Himself In Jean-Claude Van Johnson

The Show Presents Van Damme As A Secret Agent Called Van Johnson, Whose Acting Career Is A Front

The reason for Jean-Claude Van Johnson’s bizarre show title is its ingenious premise. It takes after various celebrity-themed mockumentary-style comedies — from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s Extras and Life’s Too Short to Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm — in having its lead actor play a fictionalized version of himself. The difference with this show, however, is that its fictional depiction of Van Damme’s life is presented in the style of one of his movies.

What’s more, far from being just an extension of Van Damme’s cameo appearances in various movies and TV shows during the latter part of his career, Jean-Claude Van Johnson flips the script on his real-life persona. According to the story of the show, Van Damme isn’t even his real name, and his acting work is merely a front for his real job as an international spy.

Why Jean-Claude Van Johnson Is Van Damme's Best Performance

He Balances Between The Dual Aspects Of His Role With The Best Acting Of His Career

In playing a warped version of himself throughout Jean-Claude Van Johnson, the Muscles from Brussels draws on the very best of his martial arts work in cinema while laughing at himself at the same time. He effortlessly switches between his dual role as fake jaded movie star and real secret agent, brilliantly subverting the artifice of his make-believe action characters in one of the streaming age’s best meta jokes.

As a result, Jean-Claude Van Johnson stands up to the best of Van Damme’s modern movies, combining exaggerated splits and spinning kicks with slapstick comedy and self-effacing humor. It stands apart from pretty much any other TV show out there as a satirical take on the lives of Hollywood action stars, particularly in the way it deliberately blurs the lines between performance and parody, movie and mockumentary, and, ultimately, fiction and reality. Van Damme rises to the challenge of driving the meta storylines, which intertwine throughout the series, putting in his best-ever acting performance.

Why Jean-Claude Van Johnson Was Canceled After One Season

Amazon Was Moving Prime Video In A Different Direction

Despite its success as a work of comedy, 2021 movie The Last Mercenary saw Van Damme return to the type of performance he gave in Jean-Claude Van Johnson.

The show will go down in history as a lost gem that proves that the Muscles from Brussels has comic chops.

ittedly, this French-language release isn’t quite as funny or ingenious as the Prime Video TV series. Indeed, Van Damme may never top Jean-Claude Van Johnson during the remaining years of his career. The show will go down in history as a lost gem that proves that the Muscles from Brussels has comic chops, as well as brawn and brilliance as a martial artist.

Source: Deadline