Renowned action star and martial artist, Jean-Claude Van Damme, returns to form in a trailer for the Netflix film, The Last Mercenary. The Belgian kickboxer and martial artist turned actor, famously known as “The Muscles from Brussels," starred in a number of action flicks during the 1980s and 1990s, including Timecop, Street Fighter, Nowhere to Run, and his dual role in Double Impact. More recently, JCVD has appeared in the Kung Fu Panda and Expendables franchises. To date, Van Damme’s movies have grossed over 1.7 billion dollars worldwide.
From writer/director, David Charhon, The Last Mercenary will be Van Damme’s first leading role since 2019’s We Die Young. As a French-language action-comedy, the upcoming Netflix movie will be a slight departure from his usual roles. The Last Mercenary stars Van Damme as Richard Brumère, a former French secret service special agent turned mercenary. The film finds the character back in the game when his estranged son is falsely accused of a crime, and his life becomes threatened by the mob. Van Damme’s return to the action genre started filming in August 2020 and now the first look at the film is here.
Netflix unveiled the first official trailer for the French-language Jean-Claude Van Damme-starrer also known as Le Dernier Mercenaire. Other than the Belgian action star, The Last Mercenary features a predominantly French cast in Alban Ivanov, Samir Decazza, Assa Sylla, Éric Judor, Miou-Miou, Patrick Timsit, Valérie Kaprisky, Michel Crémadès, and Djimo. Watch the first trailer for The Last Mercenary below:
Van Damme already boasts an impressive filmography, and now he will be able to add a major Netflix production to the list. This will also be his first action-comedy role, and based on the trailer, it looks like The Last Mercenary will provide Van Damme ample opportunity to show off his well-known martial arts skills alongside his comedic sensibilities.
Since it has been so long since Van Damme was at the apex of his action career, and The Last Mercenary is being billed as a comedy, the project is drawing comparisons to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action genre satire from 1993, Last Action Hero. It seems Van Damme will be following in these footsteps and poking fun at himself in The Last Mercenary, rather than opting for more serious revenge thrillers which he built a career on.
Source: Netflix
