Lionheart

1991 "When the streets are a jungle... There can only be one king."
6.2| 1h45m| R| en
Details

Lyon Gaultier is a deserter in the Foreign Legion arriving in the USA entirely hard up. He finds his brother between life and death and his sister-in-law without the money needed to heal her husband and to maintain her child. To earn the money needed, Gaultier decides to take part in some very dangerous clandestine fights.

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Reviews

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!
ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
paradux On the positive side, JCVD at his peak did not do very many "street fight" films so if you are a fan, this is as good as it gets.Also on the positive side, the film was immortalized in the A-list TV series SENSE8, so whenever in the far future you watch this, you are watching a piece of history.On the downside, 1. Too long.2. Terrible script. Characters do and say things that feel out of context and create a disconnect with the viewer.3. Editing and direction suspect, especially for the 1990s. The film "feels" like a 1970s action flick, erratic and disjointed.Bottom line, if you want to see the best street fight film of all time, the way it SHOULD be done, see HARD TIMES. If you want to see a film about a character who takes to the streets to settle a score, see BLOOD AND BONE.
ivo-cobra8 Lionheart (1990) was a real street fighter movie, It was also one of my favorite best Van Damme childhood movies. Beside Hard Target, Kickboxer, Universal Soldier, Bloodsport, Death Warrant, and Double Impact. This is in my opinion the best Van Damme movie since Bloodsport. I Love this movie to death, the movie, is sorta a spin off of Rocky, but it is completely different from that. This film has a heart, it is an underdog action drama about a men, who goes in to the gladiator fights and uses his martial arts to raise money, for his brother's family. Lionheart is about a legionnaire who escapes from France to come to US after he find's out about his brother who drug dealers torched him, on a fire alive and that he died. To support his family he goes in to a street fights into a illegal full contact sport for money. Definitely Van Damme's best promising action movie. I love this movie, this is the second movie I saw on VHS when I was a child. It is my childhood movie and I enjoy this movie so much to death! "When the streets are a jungle...there can only be one king." Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as a soldier drawn in the world of modern day of gladiators fighting for the amusement of the rich in this fast-moving action thriller. Upon receiving news that his brother in Los Angeles is seriously injured Lyon Gaultier (Van Damme) deserts the French Foreign Legion from a remote outpost in North Africa. Fleeing from two of the Legion's security force who have orders to bring him back at any cost. Lyon relecutantly turns to the illegal, bare-knuckles underground fighting circuit to raise the money he needs to help his brother's family. This riveting action-adventure combines the raw power and charisma of Van Damme with the exciting world of no-holds-barred street fighting.That is the main basic plot about this film. It does involve gladiator underground bare knuckle fights. Lyon the character Van Damme played wasn't only a Lionheart, he was also a good hearted human been. There wasn't any sex scene in this movie, Lyon gave money to a homeless mom and her daughter who where living on the streets. He never wanted to take any advantage of any woman. This is the first time Van Damme played a Legionnaire, 8 years later he started in Legionnaire (1998) in which Peter MacDonald (Rambo III) directed. Legionnaire was another Van Damme movie I grew up as a child. Honestly I like that movie and I love Lionheart to death! Van Damme is the king of the lions for me! The fight against Attila is one of the most epic fight scenes, I've ever seen. That fight to me personally felt a realistic. The punches and blood felt real. Another thing: I had no idea that Ashley Johnson who played Nicole Gaultier, Lyon's nice turned out such a beautiful babe! I didn't know she even played in Mel Gibson's What Women Want. She is the same year born as me, and she is gorgeous, wow. Brian Thompson played again a villain in here, but different type of a villain in this movie. He played Night Slasher in Cobra (1986) my favorite Stallone action flick. The man is very underrated actor, just like Gary Busey he is very underrated of playing the villain characters. Of all Van Damme's tournament movies this is one of the best up there with Bloodsport and Kickboxer. I love Kickboxer. I put Lionheart between Bloodsport and Kickboxer because of the awesome fight scenes, multiple fighter each different from each one another, Attila was a great final fighter. I love Tong Po fight more but this and Sandman fight in Death warrant comes very close. I love the soundtrack at the end fight. A Van Damme classic. This movie get's a 10 by me as a Van Damme classic action martial arts film, I have always enjoyed this movie.
slightlymad22 I know this movie as "A.W.O.L Absent Without Leave" but I have also seen it called Wrong Bet and Lionheart. This was one of the first movies I saw in 1990 knowing who Jean Claude Van Damme was, after previously seeing "Blood Sport" and "Kickboxer". Along with those two this helped set him on the road to stardom. Watching it today, I still think it is one of his best performances and best movies in general. Sure it's cheaply made and some of the acting is a bit dodgy but it's a lot of fun.Plot In A Paragraph: Leon Gaultier is a deserter from the Foreign Legion arriving in New York . He finds his brother at death's door in L.A and his sister-in-law without the money needed to pay for medical care for her husband and to maintain her child. To earn the money needed, Gaultier decides to take part in some very dangerous under ground fights. Whilst Van Damme is the star, Harrison Page steals the show as his friend/manager Joshua, I think he is fantastic. Having previously starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly Stallone, Brian Thompson stars opposite the new action star in the block (at the time) Deborah Rennard does a fine job as Cynthia.
namashi_1 Van Damme is a celebrated action-star, who's now very rightly so regarded as a legend. 'Lionheart' explores the potential Van Damme has, and I must say, this 1990 film is a must for Van Damme fans. 'Lionheart' stars Van Damme as a paratrooper legionnaire; when his brother is seriously injured he returns to Los Angeles to enter the underground fighting circuit to raise money for his brother's family.'Lionheart' works in parts. The Fight Sequences are Outstanding and all the credit goes to Van Damme. In terms of Writing, the film has some engaging moments that work on it's advantage. Sheldon Lettich's Direction, is plain ordinary. Van Damme is truly the best thing about 'Lionheart'. The actor performs well throughout, and is Outstanding when it comes to Action. He holds the film on his shoulders and does complete justice to his part. If you're a Van Damme fanatic, then 'Lionheart' is your best bet.