The film was one of Van Damme’s collaborations with three of Hong Kong’s most iconic action directors. It’s a great foot/car chase, gritty, Friedkin-esque. It’s somewhat underrated, despite a meandering plotline, but the film opens on Van Damme being chased by a couple of rogue FBI agents through Nice. Not with critics, not with the box office, nor particularly with his fans. In 1996, Van Damme was at the double again with Maximum Risk. It was Van Damme’s biggest hit to date, leading him into a solid run that saw him make Universal Soldier and Timecop, cementing himself as a big studio name and well past his indie days. He poses more than Naomi Campbell during Fashion Week, but it works. Everything feels inspired by that period in John Woo’s catalogue, but more so it marks a good display of Van Damme’s graceful ass-kickery. Go figure, but this is an early 90’s Van Damme film, when his modus operandi was making fun films (now there’s a leaning toward grizzled misery which often doesn’t have the nuance to work, though The Bouncer is a successful attempt).ĭouble Impact features a great selection of villains from the chief slimy villainy of Alan Scarfe and Philip Chan, to the brawn of Bolo Yeung and the frightening looking amazonian goddess, Cory Everson (a former Ms Olympia). One is raised in Paris, one in Hong Kong, yet they both end up with exactly the same accent. Van Damme mixed things up a little with the Hong Kong-set Double Impact, and took on dual roles as Alex and Chad, twins separated at birth. Bloodsport, Kickboxer and Lionheart with a variation here and there, are the same film. He’d been known predominantly for high kicking fight to the finish tournament films at that point.

In 1991, Vane Damme released Double Impact. Why have just one Van Damme per film, when you can have two? As fans we wanted bang for buck and Van Damme also had another angle… Seagal had that gritty quality which made his action look the most like it might actually happen in a down and dirty bar room brawl. Stallone was ‘the actor’ and was shredded like a steel cable (and did the underdog thing well). Arnold had the most insane physique combined with quips. Van Damme of course had the balletic kicks. I was the weird kid that liked Dolph Lundgren.Įach titan had certain trademarks and something that gave them a distinct calling card. There was also the Jean-Claude Van Damme vs Steven Seagal rivalry too. Maybe you were secretly both, but on the playground you had to pick a side. You could be an Arnold Schwarzenegger kid or a Sylvester Stallone kid. Occasionally there were rivalries and camps.

Who doesn’t love an action star? Oi, put your hands down now! Still, for us that do, we all have our favourites. Tom Jolliffe looks back at Jean-Claude Van Damme’s dual role films…

Pam Plays Doubles by Jean MacGibbon