The Bouncer

Van Damme does well in these types of roles and even with the ease of a mostly French dialogue, he shines through when he's quiet and just painting a portrait of his character with the pain in his eyes and the tired look on his face.

Pretty straight forward plot. Van Damme, a club bouncer with a mysterious past, quickly finds himself unlucky and stuck between a rock and a hard place. All he really cares about is his daughter but the world just keeps getting in his way.

The action is unspectacular but in an artistic way. The fights are physical, gruelling and full of blunt force hits more than martial arts or fancy maneuvers.

If you're a JCVD fan you'll appreciate this film for what it is. And with a roughly 90min runtime, it's easy to get quickly invested and checked back into the world on a Saturday afternoon.

Decent pacing, simple story with a bit of action and a little bit of heart.

If you like Van Damme, this is a nice flick for you. Like his fellow "warriors" Schwarzenegger and Stallone he shows that he can actually do more than just fist- and gunfights. Well aged, so to say.

Lukas is no new Bloodsport or Lionheart and the story really provides nothing new but good acting and a good production make Lukas very entertaining with a good shot of nostalgia - recommended, if you like to watch a new Van Damme.

Van Damme has improved as an actor majorly, he needs to continue this European movie making streak and leave the usual hollywood action crap behind, this is a nice movie with better acting than story but still better then what he has done in the past decade. Watch it, won;t be disappointed.

So the out-of-luck tough guy falls in with the bad guys, and has to sustain his sweet lil' daughter, eh? Usually, such a story would be a recipe for disaster, especially when the movie stars a former action hero who's too old do any real action.

To my everlasting surprise, this one is neither cheesy nor predictable or boring. It's simply a very good movie. The slower approach results in a realistic appeal, even though it suffers from the "blockbuster" orange-and-teal color grading. The gunshots sound like the real thing - and cars don't explode on impact.

At the end I was saddened that it only runs 90 minutes. Highly recommended for the JCVD's performance alone, let's hope they keep this coming.

This movie delivers solid action and drama that reminds us of the good ole' 90's. Van-Damme's acting is great and down to earth, as he portrays a broken family man who lost his wife and struggles to provide for and protect his daughter by any means. Unlike classic Van-Damme, this movie is dark and realistic, and the action builds up nicely. It doesn't overdo anything, and gradually delivers more and more suspenseful scenes. For Van-Damme fans it's a must, but otherwise a satisfying action flick (except the rather indecisive ending). I'd recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys heavy characters and hard boiled suspense. That being said, it's not any superficial action-fest for teenagers with a short attention-span.