Jean-Claude Van Damme
Van Damme was born Jean-Claude Camille François van Varenberg in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium, to Eliana and Eugène van Varenberg, an accountant. “The Muscles from Brussels” started martial arts at the age of eleven. His father introduced him to martial arts when he saw his son was physically weak. At the age of 12, van Damme began his martial arts training at Centre National De Karate (National Center of Karate) under the guidance of Master Claude Goetz in Ixelles, Belgium. Van Damme trained for 4 years and earned a spot on the Belgium Karate Team. He won the European professional karate association's middleweight championship as a teenager, and also beat the 2nd best karate fighter in the world. His goal was to be number one but got sidetracked when he left his hometown of Brussels.
In 1976 at the age of sixteen, Jean-Claude started his Martial Arts fight career. Jean-Claude retired from martial arts in 1982, following a knockout over Nedjad Gharbi in Brussels, Belgium. Jean-Claude posted a 18-1 (18 knockouts) kickboxing record, and a semi-contact record of 41-4. He came to Hong Kong at the age of 19 for the first time and felt insured to do action movies in Hong Kong. In 1981, van Damme moved to Los Angeles. He took English classes while working as carpet layer, pizza delivery man, limo driver, and thanks to Chuck Norris he got a job as a bouncer at a club. Norris gave van Damme a small role in the movie Missing in Action (1984), but it wasn't good enough to get anybody's attention. In 1984, he got his first significant role as a villain named Ivan in the low-budget movie, No Retreat, No Surrender (1986). Then one day, while walking on the streets, Jean-Claude spotted a producer for Cannon Pictures and showed some of his martial arts abilities which led to a role in Bloodsport (1988). The movie, filmed in Hong Kong, was so bad when it was completed, it was shelved for almost two years. It might have never been released if van Damme did not help them to re-cut the film and begged producers to release it. They finally released the film, first in Malaysia and France and then into the US shot on a meager 1.5 million dollar budget, it became a US box-office hit in the spring of 1988. It made about 30 million worldwide and audiences supported this film for its new sensational action star, Jean-Claude van Damme.
His good looks led to starring roles in higher budgeted movies like Cyborg (1989), AWOL: Absent Without Leave (1990), Double Impact (1991) and Universal Soldier (1992). In 1994, he scored with his big breakthrough $100 million worldwide hit Timecop (1994). But in the meantime, his personal life was coming apart. A divorce, followed by a new marriage, followed by another divorce. It began to show up in his career when his projects began to tank at the box office: The Quest (1996), which he directed; Maximum Risk (1996) and Double Team (1997). The three films made less than $50 million combined. In 1999, he remarried his ex-wife, Gladys Portugues, and restarted his lost career to attain new goals. With help from his family, he faced his problems and made movies like Replicant (2001), Derailed (2002), and In Hell (2003).
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 56.389 |
Birthday | 1960-10-18 |
Place of Birth | Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Brussels, Belgium |
Also Known As | JCVD, The Muscles from Brussels, Jean-Claude van Varenbergh, Jean-Claude Camille François van Varenberg, Ζαν-Κλοντ Βαν Νταμ, Ζαν Κλοντ Βαν Νταμ, Βαν Νταμ, Жан-Клод Ван Дамм, 尚格·云顿, 장 끌로드 반담, |
1989
Cyborg
5.7/677
A martial artist hunts a killer in a plague-infested urban dump of the future.
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Cyborg
1993
Hard Target
6.365/1093
When a woman's father goes missing, she enlists a local to aid in her search. The pair soon discover that her father has died at the hands of a wealt...
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Hard Target
1989
Kickboxer
6.8/1326
If your enemy refuses to be humbled... Destroy him. Accompanied by his brother Kurt, American kickboxing champion Eric Sloane, arrives in Thailand to...
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Kickboxer
1999
Universal Soldier: The Return
5.9/1230
Luc Deveraux, the heroic former Universal Soldier, is about to be thrown into action once again. When SETH, the supercomputer-controlled ultra-warrior...
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Universal Soldier: The Return
1993
Nowhere to Run
6.346/676
Escaped convict Sam Gillen single-handedly takes on ruthless developers who are determined to evict a widow with two young children.
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Nowhere to Run
2001
Replicant
5.839/453
Scientists create a genetic clone of a serial killer in order to help catch the killer, teaming up with two cops.
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Replicant
1998
Legionnaire
5.734/517
Alain Lefevre is a boxer paid by a Marseille mobster to take a dive. When he wins the fight he attempts to flee to America with the mobster's girlfrie...
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Legionnaire
1996
Maximum Risk
5.756/473
Alain Moreau's investigation into the death of his identical twin brother leads him from the beauty of the south of France to the mean streets of New...
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Maximum Risk
1999
Inferno
6.133/298
Eddie Lomax is a drifter who has been in a suicidal funk since the death of his close friend Johnny. Riding his motorcycle into a small desert town wh...
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Inferno
2007
Until Death
5.9/205
Anthony Stowe is a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin—and everyone hates him. After a serious accident, he is placed into an induced coma, but emerges...
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Until Death
1988
Bloodsport
7/1758
U.S. soldier Frank Dux has come to Hong Kong to be accepted into the Kumite, a highly secret and extremely violent martial arts competition. While try...
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Bloodsport
1994
Street Fighter
4.585/1399
Col. Guile and various other martial arts heroes fight against the tyranny of Dictator M. Bison and his cohorts.
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Street Fighter
2008
The Shepherd: Border Patrol
5.9/185
A Texas cop battles ex-navy seals who are trying to traffic drugs from Mexico into the USA.
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The Shepherd: Border Patrol
1994
Timecop
6/1110
An officer for a security agency that regulates time travel, must fend for his life against a shady politician who has a tie to his past.
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Timecop
1995
Sudden Death
5.977/681
When a man's daughter is suddenly taken during a championship hockey game – with the captors demanding a billion dollars by game's end – he franticall...
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Sudden Death
1996
The Quest
6.153/675
Ghang-gheng, the ancient winner-take-all competition in which the deadliest fighters from around the world employ the most spectacular feats of martia...
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The Quest
1992
Universal Soldier
6.293/1622
An American soldier who had been killed during the Vietnam War is revived 25 years later by the military as a semi-android, UniSols, a high-tech soldi...
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Universal Soldier
1990
Lionheart
6.5/986
Lyon Gaultier is a deserter in the Foreign Legion arriving in the USA entirely hard up. He finds his brother between life and death and his sister-in-...
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Lionheart
1997
Double Team
5.136/726
A CIA agent is interned for failing to kill an international terrorist. Escaping from his island exile, he teams up with a flamboyant arms dealer and...
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Double Team
1991
Double Impact
6.111/1006
Jean Claude Van Damme plays a dual role as Alex and Chad, twins separated at the death of their parents. Chad is raised by a family retainer in Paris,...
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Double Impact
1986
No Retreat, No Surrender
6.204/523
Young Jason Stillwell moves with his parents to Seattle, where local bullies harass them without mercy. Jason's father Tom does not believe in violenc...
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No Retreat, No Surrender
2006
The Hard Corps
6.1/235
An Army veteran assembles a team of bodyguards to protect a former boxer. Complications arise when the boxer suspects his sister may be romantically i...
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The Hard Corps
2008
JCVD
6.6/489
Between his tax problems and his legal battle with his wife for the custody of his daughter, these are hard times for the action movie star who finds...
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JCVD
2009
Universal Soldier: Regeneration
5.6/439
When terrorists threaten nuclear catastrophe at Chernobyl, the world's only hope is to reactivate decommissioned Universal Soldier Luc Deveraux. Rearm...
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Universal Soldier: Regeneration
2004
Wake of Death
6.1/235
Ben Archer, an ex-mob enforcer, seeks revenge against a ruthless Chinese kingpin responsible for his wife's brutal murder. When Archer joins forces wi...
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Wake of Death
1998
Knock Off
5.3/342
A fashion designer and his CIA agent business partner must join forces to stop a group of terrorists from smuggling explosives in counterfeit jeans du...
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Knock Off
2001
The Order
5.1/237
When Rudy, an artifacts smuggler, goes to Jerusalem to rescue his kidnapped archeologist father, he faces deportation by a scheming police chief. Now,...
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The Order
1990
Death Warrant
6.222/526
The Canadian policeman Louis Burke is assigned in a jail to investigate the murders of prisoners and jailors. When in jail, Louis, using his outstandi...
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Death Warrant
2002
Derailed
5.1/256
NATO operative Jacques Kristoff (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is summoned into action—on his birthday, no less—to track down Galina Konstantin (Laura Harrin...
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Derailed
1988
Black Eagle
4.932/220
One of the US Air Force's most modern tactical aircrafts, an F-100 with a new laser guidance system, crashes into the sea near Malta - a region where...
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Black Eagle
2011
Kung Fu Panda 2
7.018/6870
Po and his friends fight to stop a peacock villain from conquering China with a deadly new weapon, but first the Dragon Warrior must come to terms wit...
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Kung Fu Panda 2
2006
Second in Command
5.528/159
Armed insurgents attempt a coup d'etat in a troubled Eastern European country, and the president flees to the U.S. embassy for protection. When the U....
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Second in Command
2003
In Hell
6.5/504
A man must survive a prison where hardened criminals battle to the death for the warden's entertainment.
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In Hell
2010
Full Love
7/7
Military veteran and former mercenary, FRENCHY works as a taxi driver, and hiding in Bangkok, picks up a beautiful female passenger who will change hi...
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Full Love
2011
Assassination Games
6.267/375
Brazil is a contract killer, willing to take any job if the price is right. Flint left the assassin game when a ruthless drug dealer’s brutal attack l...
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Assassination Games
2012
Corporal vs. Napoleon
3.5/33
Napoleon has decided to declare war to the world. When he approaches Moscow, the Russian military tries to outfox him: they send a beautiful woman to...
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Corporal vs. Napoleon
2012
The Expendables 2
6.341/6533
Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge put...
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The Expendables 2
1984
Monaco Forever
3.6/15
An American jewel thief in Monaco encounters various characters while trying to set up a robbery.
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Monaco Forever
2012
Dragon Eyes
5.254/171
In St. Jude, drug dealers and corrupt cops have destroyed an urban neighborhood. But newcomer, Hong, has the fighting skills and moral vision to save...
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Dragon Eyes
2014
Swelter
5/96
Ten years after their casino heist, four escaped convicts trace their former partner to a desert town, where he is now a lawman with no memory of his...
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Swelter
2012
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
5.5/411
After his wife and daughter are murdered in a home invasion, a widower named John now finds himself up against an army of Universal Soldiers in relent...
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Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
2012
6 Bullets
6.145/334
An ex-mercenary known for finding missing children is hired by a mixed martial arts fighter whose daughter has been kidnapped.
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6 Bullets
2012
U.F.O.
4.276/172
A group of friends awake one morning to find all electricity and power shut off and an immense alien aircraft hovering in the air above their heads. S...
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U.F.O.
2013
Welcome to the Jungle
5.043/403
A company retreat on a tropical island goes terribly awry.
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Welcome to the Jungle
2013
Enemies Closer
5.303/173
After a major shipment of drugs goes missing on the US-Canadian border, forest ranger and former Navy SEAL Henry is plunged into survival mode when th...
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Enemies Closer
2003
Dans la peau de Jean-Claude Van Damme
7.8/5
If you want to find out how it is being Jean-Claude Van Damme.
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Dans la peau de Jean-Claude Van Damme
1995
Top Fighter
6.4/9
Welcome to the world of the martial arts. A voyage for the times of the martial arts cinema, from the beginning in China in the 6th Century A.C. by a...
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Top Fighter
2016
Kickboxer: Vengeance
5.028/392
Eric and Kurt Sloane are the descendants of a well-known Venice, California-based family of martial artists. Kurt has always been in older brother, Er...
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Kickboxer: Vengeance
2015
Pound of Flesh
5.6/217
In China to donate his kidney to his dying niece, former black-ops agent Deacon awakes the day before the operation to find he is the latest victim of...
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Pound of Flesh
1990
The Best of the Martial Arts Films
8.827/26
The most explosive barehanded combat sequences ever filmed. An electrifying video of martial arts mastery and mayhem. This program takes a behind-the-...
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The Best of the Martial Arts Films
2016
Kung Fu Panda 3
6.9/5775
While Po and his father are visiting a secret panda village, an evil spirit threatens all of China, forcing Po to form a ragtag army to fight back.
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Kung Fu Panda 3
1984
Breakin'
6.8/141
A struggling young dancer joins forces with two breakdancers and together they become a street sensation.
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Breakin'
2011
Beur sur la ville
4.3/102
25-year-old Khalid Belkacem has failed at everything: college education, summer camp instructor's permit, driver's license, and even his BCG. He never...
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Beur sur la ville
2006
Heist School
5.9/70
Five high school students plans to steal University Entrance Exam booklets.
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Heist School
2018
Kickboxer: Retaliation
5.409/280
One year after the events of "Kickboxer: Vengeance", Kurt Sloan has vowed never to return to Thailand. However, while gearing up for a MMA title shot,...
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Kickboxer: Retaliation
1979
Woman Between Wolf and Dog
5.6/7
Lieve is a Belgian woman who marries just as World War II is beginning. When the Germans invade, her husband goes off to fight them, but he swiftly re...
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Woman Between Wolf and Dog
1984
Street of the Damned
5/31
In a desolate Paris suburb, no one dares challenge crime boss Hagen, who rules his turf with an iron fist. That includes his former friend Chet, who v...
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Street of the Damned
2014
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
7.228/151
A documentary about the rise and fall of the Cannon Film Group, the legendary independent film company helmed by Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yor...
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Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
2017
Kill 'em All
5.1/108
After a massive shootout, a mysterious stranger arrives at a local hospital on the brink of death. Then, a foreign gang brazenly comes to the hospital...
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Kill 'em All
2018
Black Water
5.6/237
A deep cover operative awakens to find himself imprisoned on a submarine. With the help of a fellow prisoner and an amateur agent, he must race agains...
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Black Water
2014
The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films
6.3/20
Cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus relive the creation, rise and fall of their independent film company, Cannon Films. This documentary recounts t...
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The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films
2015
Jian Bing Man
5.2/61
Beijing, the present day. Popular TV personality Da Peng is invited by gangster businessman Wang Hai to make a film in which he will invest. Wang insi...
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Jian Bing Man
2018
The Bouncer
6.297/335
A tough nightclub bouncer struggling to raise his 8-year-old daughter is forced to go undercover after an unfortunate event.
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The Bouncer
2019
We Die Young
6.847/314
Lucas, a 14-year-old boy inducted into the gang life in Washington D.C., is determined that his 10-year-old brother won't follow the same path. When a...
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We Die Young
1993
Last Action Hero
6.453/2588
Following the death of his father, young Danny Madigan takes comfort in watching action movies featuring the indestructible Los Angeles cop Jack Slate...
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Last Action Hero
2019
The Making of Double Impact, Parts 1 & 2
6/1
Jean-Claude van Damme, Sheldon Lettich and more discuss the 1991 film "Double Impact" from inception to reception.
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The Making of Double Impact, Parts 1 & 2
2022
Minions: The Rise of Gru
7.342/3371
A fanboy of a supervillain supergroup known as the Vicious 6, Gru hatches a plan to become evil enough to join them, with the backup of his followers,...
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Minions: The Rise of Gru
2004
Universal Soldier: A Tale of Two Titans
4/3
Biography style segment that gives us some interesting background information on Van Damme and Lundgren. Though they come from different parts of Euro...
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Universal Soldier: A Tale of Two Titans
2004
Guns, Genes & Fighting Machines: The Making of 'Universal Soldier'
10/1
Retrospective documentary on the making of the film Universal Soldier (1992).
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Guns, Genes & Fighting Machines: The Making of 'Universal Soldier'
2020
JCVD's Day Out
8.8/6
Action superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme tries to avoid spreading Covid-19 on his day out.
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JCVD's Day Out
2019
In Search of the Last Action Heroes
6.952/31
The most comprehensive retrospective of the '80s action film genre ever made.
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In Search of the Last Action Heroes
2021
The Last Mercenary
6.459/595
A legendary secret service agent comes out of hiding and returns to France to help the son he's never met get out of trouble.
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The Last Mercenary
2021
Monsieur Jean-Claude
0/0
Jean-Claude Van Damme is back, and this time it's personal. Seventy-two photograms constructed from a 35mm trailer of JCVD's opus The Quest (1996). Re...
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Monsieur Jean-Claude
2021
Haters
3.738/65
Internet humor star Thomas the Lama gets out of hand in a video. He becomes the target of all haters and his life falls apart. To win back his girlfri...
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Haters
What's My Name?
0/0
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What's My Name?
Silent Kill
0/0
A hidden treasure in the Congo has been found by a group of mercenaries. They will bury it and all agree to meet back at the same spot in three years...
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Silent Kill
2024
Darkness of Man
6.9/46
Russell Hatch, an Interpol operative who takes on the role of father figure to Jayden, the son of an informant killed in a routine raid gone wrong. Ye...
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Darkness of Man
2023
Jean-Claude van Damme: Karate King
7.265/17
An American low-budget action film celebrated an unexpected worldwide success in 1988: "Bloodsport". With its, the world of film fans and martial arts...
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Jean-Claude van Damme: Karate King
Dolph
0/0
Dolph's life and his rise to becoming a treasured action star.
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Dolph
Kill 'em All 2
0/0
Phillip and Suzanne are retired from the spy game, living peacefully off the grid. That's until their whereabout are discovered by Vlad the vengeful b...
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Kill 'em All 2
Le Jardinier
0/0
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Le Jardinier
An escaped prisoner hiding from authorities, Sam always manages to be in the wrong place at the right time. Risking his hard-fought freedom, he aids a beautiful young widow against a ruthless developer who wants her land.
0/0
Actor, Jean-Claude Van Damme
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An escaped prisoner hiding from authorities, Sam always manages to be in the wrong place at the right time. Risking his hard-fought freedom, he aids a beautiful young widow against a ruthless developer who wants her land.
1994
Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor
4.931/101
David Sloan must travel to Mexico to save his wife from a savage international terrorist.
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Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor
2013
Days of Reckoning: The Making of Universal Soldier 4
0/0
Feature length candid look into the making of the film "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning."
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