In The Bouncer, Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as Lukas, a tough nightclub bouncer struggling to raise his 8-year-old daughter. One day, Lukas loses control during an altercation with a client and ends up in jail, while his daughter is taken away from him. Things take an unexpected turn when Interpol recruits Lukas to bring down a Dutch ringleader operating from Belgium in exchange for his daughter’s custody.
Directed by Julien Leclercq (The Assault, The Crew) and charged with intense action, The Bouncer is a must-see for fans of tough, gritty cinema that pulls no punches. Like the rest of the directorial credits of Julien Leclercq, The Bouncer (also known as Lukas) is set in a gritty, urban, almost noir-esque world. The settings and storylines focus on the downtrodden and the ignored, and this film is no different.
What is different is to see Jean Claude Van Damme in this world.
This film is unlike the colorful action extravaganzas an audience has come to expect from Van Damme.
It is a far cry from films like Universal Soldier, Street Fighter or the ‘amazing’ Double Team. More recently, Van Damme has become known for a more meta-type of film/TV, by playing himself in JCVD, or a slightly more humorous version of himself in the TV series Jean Claude Van Johnson.
What he isn’t known for is a gritty, down to earth French film, which The Bouncer tries to present itself as.
The first time combination of Leclercq with Jérémie Guez was influenced by the gritty, down to earth style of French urban cinema from the last few decades, with hints of Le Haine (1995) and Un Prophète (2009) to name but a few, permeating through The Bouncer.
Over the shoulder camera angles allows the audience to feel central to the action, part of the fight scenes and linked emotionally to central characters.
