The latest Jean-Claude Van Damme film is a major departure from the international action star’s body of work, and it’s not just because he’s playing himself.

While JCVD, by writer-director Mabrouk El Mechri, begins in a familiar action sequence-with even more assailants than unique mechanisms for their dispatch-it could hardly be called an action movie. The opener, with all its gloss and glory, is revealed at once comically and startlingly as a movie set. Van Damme plays himself, now a character, acting in his own film-within-a-film and complaining about being old and having to do long takes.

From here, the film is a lot more talky and a lot less violent. It is an odd narrative and relatively unbelievable. The true goal of this film is to shuck the “Muscles from Brussels” like an ear of corn, peeling away the tough layered leaves while always searching for the gold inside. This task begins with Van Damme the character. The understanding of the audience that they are viewing a scripted film brings this issue immediately to the forefront. JCVD does nothing to promote suspension of disbelief. Instead, the opening scene offers up the expected, now self-aware character on a platter.

JCVD‘s first real obstacle is that any actor could be playing the character of Van Damme in a mockumentary, himself included. But this film does not want to be precluded from cinematic relevance beyond a simple laugh. The next task at hand is to somehow dismantle Van Damme the movie star with his bad boy persona from the flesh and blood living man. This is a tricky second step, but it is crucial for reaching the final goal of extrapolating from the concrete individual person, who happens to be an actor, some genuine universal humanity applicable to any audience.

The setting for the film is modest, taking place primarily on one street corner. The basic plot is that Van Damme is present in a post-office bank while a robbery takes place. At first people suspect the movie star is living out one of his roles, but the issue gains some complexity early on. JCVD is not an exemplary crime drama, heist film, martial arts movie or comedy. It is instead a fairly good mesh of all the above. Fans’ reactions to Van Damme within the film, as well as the local authorities, are welcome gags often met with laughter.

Even the editing is used successfully for humor. The opening scene carries the brunt of the martial arts quota, but thanks to the editing again, even this relatively brief section can carry significant weight for the film. The opening shot is all one long take with what must have been not only meticulously choreographed action, but camera movement as well. It’s Rambo meets Children of Men, and the effect is certainly enjoyable.

The worst part of the film is the actual bank robbery plot. The bad guys are little more than that-a cliche so far gone it’s hard to take them seriously as a plot detail. The saving grace here is, surprisingly, Van Damme’s acting.

The best part of the film is also the best way to define it. JCVD is hyper self-aware. It goes beyond the film-within-a-film to show multiple scenes of narrative impossibility. One man stands tall delivering a bitter monologue, his own eulogy, even after having been shot through the head.

Another scene shows alternate realities juxtaposed with the now credible “true” world of the film to garner some greater meaning. Most importantly, for the entire film is the in-depth soliloquy delivered by none other than Van Damme himself as he attempts to account for his life. It is a worthwhile break in the fourth wall that pays off big even as the action star musters a few tears. This aside successfully unifies the character Van Damme with the flesh and blood individual, at least in part, which is still impressive.

JCVD needs to be viewed on its own terms. It defies the genre not because it has stumbled upon some fascinating new narrative turn, but because it is a very strange piece of cinema by any standards. Theatrical at times, JCVD is overwhelmingly post-modern in its allusions to the French New Wave. Though not an action movie, it’s a lot of fun to watch, and Van Damme proves he can act.

FILM BITS

Director: Mabrouk El Mechri

Running Time: 96 Minutes

Rating: R

Now playing at AMC Loews Piper’s Alley.