First things first - if you've already got the three films in this set - Kickboxer, Universal Soldier and Replicant - from the previous Artisan/Lion's Gate releases, then this set will be of no use to you whatsoever unless the generic cover art gets you all hot and bothered. Lion's Gate has, with this Jean-Claude Van Damme Collection release, simply repackaged three catalogue titles and bundled them up in one handy-dandy and affordable package.

Rant over. Here's what happens in the movies:

Kickboxer:

One of Jean-Claude's first hits, Kickboxer finds him cast as a dude named Kurt who is pretty tight with his brother, Eric, who just so happens to be one of the best kickboxers in North America. When Eric wins his latest match, a journalist asks him if he'd consider going to Thailand to take on some of the real deal kickboxers that live there - before you know it, Kurt and Eric are on the next plane to Bangkok.

After tooling around in the city for a while, Eric finds himself throwing down with Thai champion Tong Po. Despite the fact that Kurt cautions his brother against getting into the ring with this killing machine, Eric knows what he must do, and what he must do is get his ass kicked hard. Just as Kurt submits, Tong Po gets in one last cheap shot and Eric finds himself paralyzed for life. Kurt gets pretty annoyed at this and so he decides to get revenge - the only problem is, he sucks at kickboxing. Thankfully, after hooking up with an older Marine in the area, Kurt meets a local kickboxing master who takes him under his wing and trains him in the fighting arts. A few months later, Kurt's master tells him he's ready, and so off he goes to track down Tong Po and make him pay for what he did to his brother...

A fairly simple tale (basically, Jean-Claude gets mad and then beats everyone up!) of a man avenging his fallen brother after doing a whole lot of training and uncomfortable looking groin stretches, Kickboxer is pretty entertaining stuff. Van Damme has made better films but this one is still a decent effort with a few stand out fight scenes and some good, strong, fast pacing. The scenery is well shot and the fight choreography is quite strong. If the ending is somewhat retarded, well, sometimes that's the only way to end movies like these and action fans can let it slide. There's really little more to analyze here - for what this film sets out to be, it works. Not a classic, but regardless, it's a good popcorn film and a decent time waster.

Universal Soldier:

What do you get when you team action stars Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV) and Jean Claude Van Damme (Bloodsport)with big explosion movie director extraordinaire Roland Emmerich? Universal Soldier, that's what! One of the biggest, dumbest, and most enjoyable blow'em up real good science fiction/action movie hybrids of the early nineties.

Our two lunkhead leads are a pair of soldiers named Scott (Dolph) and Luc (Van Damme) who were killed will serving in active duty back in the Vietnam war. The American government keeps them in some sort of suspended state so that when the timing is right they can bring these two fine specimens of manhood back to live as the ultimate super soldiers that will in turn be used to fight terrorism.

A reporter named Victoria (Ally Walker) gets wind of who these guys really are and after following them around for a while and keeping tabs on them, she figures out their past. Her camera man ends up dead at the hands of Dolph Lundgren and it's up to Van Damme to overcome his 'programming' and set things right by taking him down and saving the girl and the world from the psychopath that Dolph has become.

Dolph Lundgren shines in the way that only he can shine as the ear collecting psychopathic soldier gone wrong. He chews his way through the scenery with reckless abandon, blowing away everyone else on screen. Though he lacks charisma and doesn't really have a whole lot of true acting talent, he makes the most out of the clichéd script and suits the role and tone of the movie perfectly. Van Damme, likewise, is good in his role. He's a little bit noble and a little bit arrogant as usual, but at the end when he starts to kick people in the head, all is forgiven. In short, the action comes first. The acting is fine for what this movie is (a bigger budget B-movie with lots of shoot outs and explosions) but it really isn't the point of the film. Anyone renting or buying this movie is doing so because they want to see these two titans of bad action films go head to head and wreck lots of stuff in the process and on that level alone, Universal Soldier really delivers.

While at times it does border on self parody in a couple of scenes, the movie starts off at a breakneck pace and doesn't let up until the end, when the inevitable show down between the two leads finally happens. Along the way, as Van Damme uncovers more about the world he's living in, he's shot at, chased down, and hunted like a dog. This allows Emmerich to build up the anticipation for the showdown as we find out more about their respective situations and as we see Lundgren fall deeper and deeper into the abyss of insanity. While from a technical perspective this probably sounds corny (and it is), on a purely 'action movie' level, it works fine. It sets the characters up for what the audience wants and it entertains along the way. So while it may be hard to forgive Emmerich for what he did to Godzilla, it's easy to remember him for Universal Soldier because despite its very obvious shortcomings, logic gaps, and goofy script it provides a great movie to escape into for ninety minutes and in the end, that's really what matters most to me in a film. Universal Soldier is the very definition of big dumb macho fun.

Replicant:

The third film in the set finds Van Damme in a double role cast alongside creepy Michael Rooker from Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer! Rooker plays a Seattle cop named Jake Riley who has spent the last three years of his life hot on the trail of a mass murderer named The Torch (Van Damme). Just before Riley's set to retire, The Torch starts up again and a government group hires him to come on board and help them put a stop to the killings. Their plan? To create a clone of The Torch out of some DNA that they scored from one of the killer's last crimes, and use that clone to beat him at his own game. Riley's on board to help train the clone in the ways of The Torch, and once they get over a few initial hurdles, the pair work together to bring The Torch to justice.

Obviously influenced by a certain Ridley Scott movies based on a certain Philip K. Dick novel, Replicant is derivative but fun. Seeing Van Damme play the bad guy is interesting and he does a fine job of sleazing it up, and it contrasts quite nicely with the naïve, newborn baby-ish clone that he also plays. In short, you get to see two very different sides of him here and while his range is rather limited, he handles things here quite admirably. Rooker does a good job with the material as well. He tends to play surly tough guy types well and his performance here is no exception. It doesn't top his work on Henry but nor should it be expected to as it's a very different film. He and Van Damme have good chemistry and they work well together on screen.

The most interesting aspect of the film is how Riley essentially tutors the clone in the ways of the actual person that he has been cloned from. Though the clone has a psychic link with the man he's been spun off from, he still needs that gruff guiding hand that Riley ends up providing him and in a strange way, it's very much a child-parent relationship. Though action movies use ploys like this fairly often (look at the relationship between Bruce Lee and his teacher in The Chinese Connection or between Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law in Death Rides A Horse) Replicant takes it even further by making the clone so childlike. The script, while still dependant on set pieces and action movies clichés, doesn't do a half bad job of exploiting this side of the story and taking advantage of Van Damme's strengths, letting him emote more than really act.

When the end credits start to roll, the film is certainly an action movie first and foremost and so many of the dumb clichés that the genre is famous for are upfront in the film. Under the surface, however, Replicant proves to be a little smarter than it probably even realizes, which is always a nice surprise.

Video:

Kickboxer:

Visually speaking, this 1.33.1 fullframe transfer is really nothing to write home about. Iffy aspect ratio aside (shouldn't this be 1.85.1?), it's clean enough and the quality isn't bad but there is some obvious edge enhancement in a few spots and some mild print damage here and there. Again, it's watchable despite the framing issue but it's far from remarkable.

Universal Soldier:

The anamorphic 2.35.1 widescreen picture is crisp and sharp with a nice, high level of detail present from start to finish. Black levels are strong and stable and the color palette used in the film is reproduced accurately and it looks quite natural. There is some very mild print damage that appears in the form of the occasional speck on the print that was used for this transfer but other than that, everything is in very good shape. Edge enhancement is only visible in a few scenes and even then it's not too distracting, and I didn't notice a single solitary compression artifact during the entire running time of the film. Flesh tones look lifelike and natural and the rain, fire and smoke effects are all rendered properly without breaking up.

Replicant:

Replicant is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85.1 in a strong transfer that is enhanced for 16x9 sets. Color reproduction is good and while there is a bit of grain here and there, aside from that the picture stays clean and clear throughout the duration of the movie. You might pick up on a bit of edge enhancement here and there but mpeg compression is never a problem and for the most part, the movie looks just fine on this DVD.