Jean-Claude Van Damme stars a bouncer and single father who’s just trying to make ends meet. A cop approaches him to narc on the owner of the club, who is obviously into some shady shit. Pretty soon, his boss has him running “errands”, and he quickly works up the ranks and becomes his bodyguard. Van Damme eventually learns the hard way the criminals are more trustworthy than the police.
The Bouncer is an ideal kind of vehicle for Van Damme at this stage of his career as it allows him to flex both his fighting and acting muscles in equal measure. He does a lot with a little as he relies less on dialogue (which is quite sparse) and more on his weary reactions to the predicaments he finds himself involved in. I think this is definitely the kind of role Van Damme should be taking nowadays. His performance is easily the best thing about the movie, and one only wishes the script was a bit tighter. It’s also unfortunate that no one else in the cast even comes close to matching the level of his performance.
In terms of action, the film is a bit of a mixed bag. The highpoint is the scene where Van Damme interviews for a bouncing job. All the applicants must fight each other in all-out brawl, with the last man standing receiving the job. One or two more sequences of this caliber would’ve easily put this into *** territory. It’s just a shame the car chases and shootouts weren’t done with the same kind of flair.
Director Julien Leclercq favors long handheld tracking shots from behind Van Damme, which gives it a gritty feel of an independent movie. By doing so, it winds up having a foot in both the independent drama and the DTV action worlds. It ultimately never quite figures out which way it wants to lean. Because of that, the film doesn’t ever really catch fire, despite the spark Van Damme brings to the role. That said, The Bouncer remains a solid effort, all things considered.
AKA: Lukas.
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