X
- 2016
- TV-MA
- Amazon Prime
- 2016
- TV-MA
- Amazon Prime
Summary Jean-Claude Van Damme unretires and works as a private contract killer under the name Jean-Claude Van Johnson after he runs into his ex (Kat Foster) in this comedy written by David Callaham.
Created By: Dave Callaham
- 2016
- TV-MA
- Amazon Prime
- 2016
- TV-MA
- Amazon Prime
Jean-Claude Van Johnson
Season 1 Premiere: Aug 19, 2016
60
7.2
Where to Watch
Summary Jean-Claude Van Damme unretires and works as a private contract killer under the name Jean-Claude Van Johnson after he runs into his ex (Kat Foster) in this comedy written by David Callaham.
Created By: Dave Callaham
Where to Watch
All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
60
40% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
60% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 15 Critic Reviews
60
40% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
60% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
In celebrating who Van Damme was at the peak of his career and who he is after his long fall from grace, about which the actor has been brutally honest, Callaham and Van Damme grant this series a balance of absurdity and gentle earnestness, even allowing it to end on a warm existential note.
The series has something of a “True Lies” feel, with its plot winking at itself. There is plenty of action and suspense and even a “Timecop” twist. J-C, though, is a different sort of action-figure, filled with more self-doubt and regret then you usually see in the movies. But even with that, the series smartly never takes itself too seriously.
Van Damme--older, wiser and slower, also wrinkled, hunched and melancholy--salvages an otherwise fascinating, uneven mess.
The full series, run by Dave Callaham and directed by Peter Atencio, is a weird ride, living in an uneasy space of parody, satire, homage, and straight-ahead drama.
The whole international-spy thing gets repetitive fast. Kat Foster is awfully appealing as her own sort of intelligence agent whose cover is that she’s Van Damme’s hairdresser--it’s easy to see why the action hero still pines for her. That on-again, off-again romance isn’t very sustaining, however. The show is likable--no more, no less.
The six-episode season gets increasingly outlandish, eventually including time travel, doppelgangers and a machine that controls the weather. It’s not quite enough to transcend the mediocre comedy, thin characters and rote fight scenes, but at least it’s more entertaining than another assembly-line D-level action movie.
Though clearly inspired, the overlapping cartoonish approach to this promising "return" proves to come from creativity that is clearly limited, instead of liberated.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 42 User Ratings
7.2
67% Positive
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
21% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
12% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 42 User Ratings
7.2
67% Positive
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
21% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
12% Negative
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company:
Initial Release Date: Aug 19, 2016
Number of seasons: 1 Season
Rating: TV-MA
Awards
Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
• 1 Nomination
