Review of Lionheart (1990) by Sam E — 01 Mar 2011

Lionheart is one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's more emotional roles. After news reaches Lyon (Jean-Claude Van Damme) about his brothers attempted murder, he escapes the service of the French Foreign Legion and heads to America to be by his side. Once he arrives, his brother passes on and Lyon is left to look after his brothers family. To support them, he begins to compete in various underground matches under the watchful eye of fight promoter Cynthia (Deborah Rennard) and his friend Joshua (Harrison Page), while eluding two fellow Legionaires who are trying to bring him back for desertion.

As with many of Van Damme's films, there are a lot of familiar faces among the cast. The final fighter he faces, Attila The Hun (Abdel Qissi), also plays The Mongolian in The Quest. While fellow Legionaire Mustaffa (Michel Qissi) makes steady work as Tong Po in the Kickboxer films; he is also brother to Abdel Qissi. Another fighter that Lyon compete's against in the pool scene is Paco Christian Prieto, who makes an impressive display of the fighting style Capoeira in the action film Only The Strong as druglord Silverio. Each battle scene shows Van Damme's prowess as a martial arts fighter, but lacks depth unlike his previous films in Bloodsport and Kickboxer.

The film feels like a photoshoot for Van Damme, with fights being over much too soon and opting more on his acting than any other. Yes, we needed the guy to show more improvement in that department, but with a film that's supposed to be about tournaments, there's little of that going on. We don't even get to see Lyon find out who murdered his brother. He completely forgets about his death and moves on to his bare-knuckle fights. I guess the writers couldn't fit too much drama into the screenplay. Lionheart is still a well-rounded film with a young Van Damme in top form.