Lionheart (1991)

Very well executed

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

One of my all time favorites.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

AWOL also known as Lionheart shows us Van Damme just on the cusp of hitting stardom. By this time he had a loyal following for what were low budget martial arts films that got a loyal following on VHS and did well in the fledgling satellite movie channels market.Lyon Gaultier (Van Damme) escapes his post in Djibouti with the French Foreign Legion when his brother is set on fire by drug dealers in LA. His brother's wife rebuffs him and and two agents are pursuing him to drag him back to the Foreign Legion.Once in the USA he stumbles into the underground fight scene which he quickly becomes successful at and soon enlists a street hustler as a manager, Joshua (Harrison Page) who gives him the nickname Lionheart.His success attracts the attention of a fight promoter Cynthia (Deborah Rennard) who gets Lyon for several no holds barred street fights. However it seems the real action is on the side bets and although he is her champion she is not averse to betting against him.Lyon in the meantime is trying to get money together for his sister in law and his niece for which Joshua is used to inform them that its proceeds from an insurance policy.The film has several good action sequences allowing Van Damme to display some of his signature moves. You have fight scenes set in an underground car park and more memorably in a half empty swimming pool. The combat scenes are well choreographed with even some humour thrown in in the final segment.The storyline is rather so-so and the script is just about passable. If in doubt the writers put some cursing in. Van Damme's acting would get better in time but here its still weak. You can see how even a few years later Dolph Lundgren would out-act him in Universal Soldier.Still there is enough fight scenes allowing Van Damme to excel at what he does best. Rennard best known for years as JR Ewing's loyal secretary Sly in Dallas provides sassiness as the scheming fight promoter.

I've never been a fan of van Damme (I'm die-hard Bruce Lee). This is one of his 'more human/humane' films. He goes to help family in distress. That's fine. He has compassion and empathy, and is probably a nice guy.However even 20 years ago I didn't like his fight choreography, and I like it less now. You can see the fighters telegraphing their moves. vD is so SLOW... He's like baby elephant. By the time he's completed one round house manoeuvre his opponent t could have ended the fight. His movement sequences are illogical. His opponents made to look stupid.But the final fight scene takes the cake. vD is supposed to have a BROKEN rib; not merely cracked but broken. He is being beaten up by this Attila idiot. Spends half the fight having his broken rib bashed repeatedly. Then he ends up making moves that would tax a fully fit and healthy martial artist. Leg movements intense and rapid. He should have been bleeding out and in agony, not winning the fight. Even for vD fantasy fight choreography this was Alice in Wonderland stuff.This film gets 5 for the human story. The rest even by vD ropey standards was pure bunkum...

Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a guy named Lyon who deserts from the French Foreign Legion to come to America and help his brother's widow and daughter. They're broke and about to be evicted so Lyon becomes an underground fighter called Lionheart to make money for them. The action is good, although most of the fights are forgettable. Van Damme kicks the teeth out of anything that moves, including a goon named Attila. His acting is decent, even though his accent still gives rise to some chuckles at times ("Ellen, you and Neekal, we family. You my only family!"). Harrison Page is lots of fun as Van Damme's foul-mouthed homeless buddy. Predictable and all that, but still a good time. Action fans should like it. It's one of Van Damme's best.

Francois Gaultier is murdered by drug dealers and leaves behind his wife Helene (Lisa Pelikan) and daughter Ashley (Nicole). Upon hearing of his brother's death, Lyon Gaultier (Jean-Claude Van Damme) deserts the French Legion in spectacular fashion and rushes to the United States to take care of Helene and Ashley. But in order to care for his brother's family, Lyon must (you guessed it) don the name "Lionheart" and participate in some truly brutal fights in order to win enough money. This in a nutshell is the set up for "Lionheart," a film that is not about anything in particular, but is instead vehicle for Jean-Claude Van Damme to show the world why he is so good at karate.The chief strength of Lionheard is its ability to make full use of Jean Claude Van Damme's Lyon Gaultier and Deborah Rennard's Cynthia. This film does an effective job at exploiting JCVD's beautifully choreographed karate and of course displays much of his sculptoresque physique. In addition, Deborah Rennard's Cynthia may be a stereotype of a femme fatale, but she makes for an interesting stereotype nonetheless. Rennard portrays a character that combines snobbery with sexuality and, to a menacingly degree, has an unscrupulous tendency to use people (in fights) until they are a spent force. Now if those elements do not make for an interesting villain, I do not know what does.But Lionheart also makes the huge mistake of taking itself too seriously. When a film becomes serious, the acting has to be of a high standard. Otherwise the film comes across as pathetic and it is impossible to excuse its flaws by saying that it was just a campy film with a lot of cornball. In Lionheart, the film-makers approach Lyon Gaultier's relationship with his sister-in-law and niece with a straight face, which would have worked except that Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lisa Pelikan and Ashley Johnson are not good at playing serious roles with the result that their relationship comes across a phony. Thus Lionheart as a sentimental piece gets crushed under the weight of its pretensions for being a serious film. Lionheart would have been better off sticking to the action sequences and trying to be fresh version of "Bloodsport" (1988) which was a far better JCVD vehicle.5.7/10