The Bouncer

The Bouncer is an extremely grim & gloomy dark tale of a single father who works nights at sleazy clubs as a bouncer but can't wait to get home to see his daughter.

This is a very dark story, realism is splashed all over this Drama/Thriller & van damme gives probably his greatest performance of his career!!!

I like most grew up watching his 80's & 90's action films & have always been a huge fan of his as i am of Schwarzenegger & Stallone, so IT'S really nice to see van damme in a way long overdue dramatic role with serious acting even though it's another straight-to-dvd B-movie it's made with depth & character.

Van damme play's Lucas as a very lost & damaged man who only lives for his daughter.

The music is sometimes sad & dreary, it suits the gritty & grim tone perfectly as does the cinematography that captures the depressing surroundings.

A fantastic performance from van damme & a good solid gritty & violent story, just the ending ruined it abit for me but this is way better than most direct to dvd films & a million times better than nearly all of steven seagal's dvd flicks.

As all my action heroe's have aged & I've gotten older too, i see now that Van Damme is the best actor of those old school action stars & find that Van Damme gives the best performances in his films even if their low-budget B-movies & i find Van Damme to be the most down-to-earth of those guys & has become my favourite action star.

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.

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.

Under directions of Julien Leclerc, Jean Claude Vandamme can focus being an actor and working with this simple and efficient scenario. Nothing new but a good suprise, with intersting charachter: not talkative, with a huge pass and constrainted to do some dirty work. it's been a very long time and i thought i could never say that i'd like a movie of Jean Claude vandamme Again. Whish the best for future project :-)!!!

Jean Claude is at his best here. It's good to see him working with professionals, cameramen, actors, producers. You can see here the true Van damme, the character is well played , acting, action, father, old timer, it's all there. Hope we see more of this. Sometimes slow (like French cinema) but overall, I had a great time