Is this the most charming version of JCVD?

...I'm trying to think....

He's usually likable as the hero in most of his films. I can't think of one where he was supposed to be a "good guy" but came across as unlikable (opposite of some of Steven Seagal's movies, where he's supposed to be a "likable", "nice" guy, but ends up making you detest him).

Would I say Universal Soldier is the one where he has -- based on your description -- a boyish charm that makes him likable more than his other films? I suppose so. I guess it's the naivete of the character and the way he plays it opposite of his female co-star that really helps it stand out.

But I suppose you're right. In Double Impact the one brother is a sleazeball and the other is just kind of gullible. While in Street Fighter he plays up to a lot of the cheese'n'charm that came with playing Guile (though he obviously would have been better suited to play Johnny Cage in a Mortal Kombat film, but he obviously wasn't going to play second fiddle to an Asian guy at that point in his career), and Bloodsport was just more of a guy trying to fulfill his promise to his teacher, which was kind of recycled both for The Quest and Lionheart... and Kickboxer. I didn't really like the film Death Warrant at all, and Nowhere To Run was just kind of meh. He was a pure badass in Hard Target, though.

So yeah... I guess you're right.

It's funny how, even though his films are all written and directed by different people, there was a sort of through-line in all of them during his "golden age" of the 1990's. He was always likable and the films surrounding him consistently had a sort of addle-brained charm about them. Take LEGIONNAIRE for example, trying to be a serious desert anti-war movie like MARCH OR DIE but including as much of his kicks and fisticuffs that they could inject. The movie came off as a dumbed-down carbon copy and star vehicle version of the former but Van Damme charmed his way through much better than Terrence Hill.

I think his one exception during this period was HARD TARGET, which I consider his best film. It didn't have the consistent logical stupidity of his other films and maintained a generally more grim tone, though of course when the action scenes lit up it went so completely over-the-top that it basically became a fantasy movie. This should have been the blueprint for the rest of his career but unfortunately they generally followed the tone of TIME COP and it seemed like the only lesson they learned was to pair him with a Hong Kong director.

As he's aged, as most people do, his eyes got really narrow so he doesn't have that boyish innocence to him anymore. It's too bad as, even though he's a very limited actor, he's capable of some good performances here and there. I hear that he's actually a decent villain in more recent stuff like ENEMIES CLOSER.

Yeah I agree with everything you said, he was great in this. Van Damme can show emotion without having to say much which is a good quality to have as an actor. He doesn't chew the scenery like Christian Bale, he delivers understated lines that go a long way.

Ally Walker deserves a lot of credit as well. She got the best out of Van Damme and they both had great chemistry. Their relationship gave this film some substance so that it wasn't a brainless shoot em up.

He may not be a method actor, but he just has this almost unexplainable on-screen presence and charisma. It's why he was such a big star, he has 'it',