Lionheart

Summary

“Wrong bet!”

In 2018, MVD Rewind Collection announced itself quickly as one of the most enjoyable cult labels for film distribution with their release of the JCVD classic Lionheart. For people my age who grew up in the Eighties and Nineties, many of the films that MVD has championed have been a true blast from the past. As the label continued to grow from their Blu-ray roots to also crafting 4K UHD releases, speculation arose amongst collectors as to whether or not they would ever give any of Van Damme’s films the 4K treatment. Thankfully, our wishes were fulfilled earlier this year when the company announced they would release Double Impact and Knock Off on 4K. Both of those releases were fantastic, so I held hope that we would see more JCVD in 4K UHD soon. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long. MVD has just now released both Death Warrant and Lionheart in 4K UHD. These are two of Van Damme’s better early films, and make for an excellent double feature that encapsulates the totality of Van Damme’s 1991 output. As soon as my copy of Lionheart arrived, I invited over one of my best friends and we watched the picture with my oldest son.

The film begins with a drug deal gone wrong in Los Angeles. A man trying to purchase cocaine is covered with gasoline and set on fire by a street gang. At the hospital, his wife and child sit in the hallway completely distressed. The burnt up man on a gurney cries out for “Lyon!” Serving a sentence in the French Foreign Legion in Djibouti, Lyon (Van Damme) receives word that his brother has been severely burnt. He has not received word for two weeks since the incident. Seeking to be released temporarily, Lyon asks to be excused temporarily to take care of his brother’s family, but his superiors refuse. Lyon dramatically escapes from the camp and goes AWOL. Stowing away on a boat, Lyon makes his way to New York. In New York he sees a street fight with people gambling. He finds his way into a fight and handily defeats his opponent. This draws the attention of Joshua (Harrison Paige,) a fast talking street hustler that offers to be his manager. Lyon tentatively agrees on the condition that he can save up money from the fights to help his sister in law and niece in Los Angeles. Joshua introduces Lyon to the wealthy fight coordinator Cynthia (Deborah Reynard.) Lyon finds himself a competitor inside the world of high stakes underground fighting for the pleasure of the upper class. 

Lionheart is classic early Nineties action filmmaking. There was a time in our country where we would pour into the theaters or into our respective video stores to watch yoked up people with thick accents kick ass in the name of the good old U.S. of A. Those days are behind us now and have been replaced with a deluge of computer generated garbage. Long gone are the days of slow motion kicks between two muscular dudes fighting it out in an emptied swimming pool. It is really too bad. We didn’t know how good we had it.

More so than Cyborg or Black Eagle, this film (alongside Bloodsport and Kickboxer) was the film that helped make Van Damme a household name. Co-written by Van Damme and directed by co-writer Sheldon Lettich, who had previously written Bloodsport, Lionheart is Van Damme’s love letter to America. It stands out as being an action movie where the lead character’s moral values are beyond reproach. He is not interested in sex. He is not interested in gains for himself. The character has only one mission: to provide for his niece and sister in law. Van Damme injects a lot of his feelings about America at the time into the film. The viewpoint of America as a land of opportunity is a beautiful notion that is seemingly rarely highlighted in film anymore to our own detriment. That notion has been steadily replaced by snark and cynicism. Look, I know I am waxing philosophically on what could be considered a somewhat cliche action film, but it is important to look at these films as a time capsule of how people felt in a specific moment.

Lionheart was released in theaters right before video games like Street Fighter II, Streets of Rage, and Final Fight would inspire a craze of video games and B-movies about martial artists protecting themselves on the dangerous streets of urban America. I remember this craze as a kid and I ate up every moment of it. Then and now it appeals to me. Ironically, if this movie had been called Street Fighter, it would have made perfect sense. Unbelievably, just a few years later, instead of using a script similar to Lionheart, Universal Studios would adapt the video game in a truly silly way. All the homework was done for them. Why did they botch the formula?

Lionheart is an action film that works for numerous reasons. Van Damme delivers one of his better performances in the film. You can see his sincerity in every frame. He will have you rooting for him from the beginning. Harrison Paige is a great foil to Van Damme’s character, injecting a lot of humor into the film in a natural way that fits just right. Sheldon Lettich’s direction is very similar to what you might expect from an early Van Damme film: slow motion kicks, crowd shots during fights, etcetera. That serves the film well and despite how many cliches the film has, it also has some surprising moments. Most notable is the final fifteen minutes of the film which has a surprisingly touching finale that I know I did not expect and helps the film to rise above some of its more cliche moments. There is also a really hilarious shopping sequence that is not as insane as the dancing scene in Bloodsport, but it still gave me a good laugh.

If you have not seen Lionheart, you are missing out. MVD’s 4K release of the film is a cause for celebration with a great looking 4K presentations. This is one of the more enjoyable reissues that we will see this year, and it certainly lived up to my lofty expectations.

Video

For MVD Rewind’s 2018 release of Lionheart, they used an MPEG-4 AVC codec of a 2K restoration from the original camera negatives of the Theatrical Version of the film. On that Blu-ray, they included an Extended Edition which added in bout five minutes of footage (which were in lower quality.) For MVD’s 4K edition, they have opted to upgrade the Extended Cut (A.K.A. the AWOL Cut.) This was the right call, but there is a trade off on the audio that I will discuss below. The AWOL Cut looks fantastic in 4K since it was restored from a 16-Bit scan of the original negative. I was extremely happy with the 2018 2K scan, and this is a huge leap forward. Color timing is exceptional and fine detail is very well defined. There is occasionally some noticeable grain, but even that has been resolved as well as one could hope. This is the best this film has ever looked and fans are going to love all the attention to detail that went into this presentation.

Audio

MVD Rewind has provided an English LPCM Stereo Track for the AWOL Cut from the original recordings for the 4K edition. A Dolby Digital 5.1 track and LPCM Mono track can be heard on the included Blu-ray version (which is the same disc as the MVD Rewind 2018 release.) When I said that there was a trade-off by choosing to update the AWOL version to 4K, the tradeoff was the loss of the 5.1 lossy track and LPCM Mono track. Honestly, the leap forward in video quality makes up for the lack of sound options, but it is worth mentioning. To sweeten the deal, MVD also recorded a fresh Audio Commentary with Sheldon Lettich exclusive to the 4K edition. As for the stereo track – this was 1990 surround for a mini-budget independent action film, so be prepared to hear some canned punch and kick sounds that will sound vaguely familiar to you. I thought the film sounded pretty good on my system, but don’t expect any miracles here. Fans should be pleased with the clarity of the presentation.

Supplements:

4K Disc:

Audio Commentary by Sheldon Lettich for the AWOL Cut

Blu-Ray Disc: This disc is the same as the 2018 MVD Rewind release, so I am copying those features from before.

Theatrical Cut (This includes the different audio options)

Extended Cut – the extended cut of the film includes about five minutes of additional footage. When it appears the quality drops to standard definition briefly.

Audio Commentary by Sheldon Lettich and Harrison Paige – recorded for the European Blu-ray release, the director and star discuss the film and their memories on set. This track is only for the extended cut.

The Story of Lionheart – Jean-Claude Van Damme, Eric Karson, Harrison Paige, Deborah Rennard, Brian Thompson, and Sheldon Lettich discuss their work on the film in this excellent and comprehensive piece produced exclusively for this release.

Inside Lionheart – Sheldon Lettich, Deborah Rennard, Brian Thompson, Eric Karson, and Harrison Paige wax philosophically about why the movie worked and why it got such a dynamic performance from Van Damme and the other actors on the film. Van Damme discusses his memories from the shoot.

Lionheart: Behind the Fights – the same peanut gallery discusses the fights in the film. I loved Jean-Claude talking in the third person about the fight scenes. This made me happy.

“Making of” Featurette 

Interview with Sheldon Lettich – an extended interview from a DVD release of the film with the writer and director of the film.

Interview with Harrison Paige – an extended interview from a DVD release of the film with the co-star of the film.

Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary – Harrison and Sheldon in the audio booth as they begin to record the commentary on the European Blu-ray.

Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery

5 Promotional TV Clips

Trailers are included for: Lionheart, Black Eagle, Return of Swamp Thing, and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 3.75/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Lionheart remains one of my favorite MVD Rewind releases, so I was beyond excited to see it get the 4K treatment. Lionheart is a classic Van Damme action film that has a lot of heart. When I first viewed the film, I could not watch it without almost overwhelming amounts of nostalgia for my younger years and a beautiful time in this country. I am not sure if you will feel the same feeling, but if you do, Lionheart will be worth the price of admission. I recently showed the 4K edition to my oldest son and best friend. It is still a fantastic action movie. The 4K scan is very well done. For the 4K edition, MVD chose to update the AWOL cut, which runs five minutes longer. This was the right call, but there was a trade-off. In order to do so, they lost a couple audio options. That said, the included Blu-ray (identical to the 2018 MVD Rewind disc) has the Theatrical Cut with those missing audio options. To sweeten the deal, MVD has added a brand new audio commentary with Sheldon Lettich for the 4K disc. Overall – I believe they made the right call. The included supplements on the Blu-ray are excellent. If you are a fan of these types of films, I would move Lionheart to the top of your list for purchase in 4K. Highly recommended!