Jean-Claude Van Damme kicks his way into Kiev with Netflix film

Popular U.S. streaming platform, Netflix, will shoot its first movie in Kiev, Ukraine's culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko has announced.

The Last Mercenary

is a Netflix action comedy which will star Jean-Claude Van Damme, the iconic Belgian-born actor and bodybuilder known for his martial arts movies. Van Damme will play the role of a mysterious former secret service agent, who must return to France when his estranged son is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by a bureaucrat and a mafia operation.

The film is directed by Jean-Claude Van Damme and will be produced by Apple Tree film studio and Ukrainian Vlad Riashyn, who is also the founder of Russian-Ukrainian production company, Star Media.

The 1980s-style action movie will star Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla and Samir Decazza and features both English and French dialogue.

Filming is already underway in France, and minister Tkachenko says that shooting will go ahead in Kiev and Paris until Autumn.

Kiev is an ideal backdrop for films, particularly due to its unique architecture. /Lucky Person/CFP

Why Kiev?

One reason could be that Ukraine's 16.6 percent cash rebate for local and international film and TV production shooting has been launched this year. The government incentive was approved in 2017 and aims to make the country a hotspot for the entertainment industry.

Ukraine is also considered to be a relatively inexpensive shooting location and is home to over 200 production companies, film studios, and post-production and visual effects facilities.

Ukraine's landscape is diverse - ranging from highlands to lowlands. In contrast to the vast mountain ranges, the capital city is famous for its Gothic, Byzantine and Baroque architecture.

Kiev's charms have also made it an attractive location for other projects, including the latest

Mission:Impossible

film and Coldplay's music video Trouble in Town

. Renowned companies such as Apple and Three UK have also chosen the city as the backdrop for commercials.

What can Kiev expect from the "Muscles from Brussels"?

A Jean-Claude Van Damme film would not be complete without flashy moves and intense fight scenes. /Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/VCG

Jean-Claude Van Damme is a cultural icon.

Ahead of his time filming in Ukraine's capital, here are some of the things that the city can expect from the screen legend.

A Jean-Claude Van Damme film would not be complete without his thrilling moves, particularly his 360-degree leaps, and karate kicks. Van Damme also frequently performs the splits in his movies, and once even went viral for performing the classic move between two Volvo trucks to a song by Enya.

Famous for his lightning fast moves and martial arts style that encompasses speed, agility and graceful strength all at once, Van Damme's fight scenes are so intense that the Ballet-trained fighter refuses to film in the U.S. for fear of getting sued.

He was the inspiration for the character Johnny Cage from the game Mortal Kombat. One of Cage's signature moves is doing a split while punching his opponent, a move that Van Damme's character, Frank Dux, is known for in the film

Bloodsport.

Some of Van Damme's most iconic movies include

Cyborg, Kickboxer

and Lionheart,

to name just a few. Could this latest Netflix blockbuster also become a cult classic?

A release date hasn't been announced yet.

Although filming is slowly restarting across Europe, current coronavirus restrictions are both impeding filming processes and pushing back release dates across the industry.

However, the upcoming months are sure to be interesting for Kiev as the city forms the backdrop to a film that looks to revive the golden age of 80s action movies in the era of online streaming.