Lionheart (1990)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Sheldon Lettich

Writers (WGA):

S.N. Warren (earlier screenplay)
Jean-Claude Van Damme (story)

Release Date:

11 January 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Honour or revenge, he has no choice...

Plot:

Lyon Gaultier is a deserter in the Foreign Legion arriving in the USA entirely hard up. He finds his...

Plot Keywords:

Foreign Legion | Kilt | Ex Prize Fighter | Martial Arts | Injured Ribs

Cast

Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Léon Gaultier
Harrison Page	...	Joshua Eldridge
Deborah Rennard	...	Cynthia
Lisa Pelikan	...	Hélène Gaultier
Ashley Johnson	...	Nicole Gaultier
Brian Thompson	...	Russell
Voyo Goric	...	Sgt. Hartog (as Voyo)
Michel Qissi	...	Moustafa
George McDaniel	...	Adjutant
Eric Karson	...	Doctor
Ash Adams	...	François Gaultier (as Jason Adams)
William T. Amos	...	Drug Dealer
Roz Bosley	...	Nurse
Dennis Rucker	...	Irish Legionnaire (as Dennis Wayne Rucker)
Billy Blanks	...	African Legionnaire

Also Known As:

Wrong Bet (Australia) (USA) (working title)
A.W.O.L. (USA) (working title)
A.W.O.L.: Absent Without Leave (UK)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Germany:18 (video premiere) (cut) | Germany:18 (re-release) (uncut) | Australia:M (DVD rating) | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-18 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16 | Australia:R

Filming Locations:

Jean, Nevada, USA

Company:

Guild

Goofs:

Factual errors: A.W.O.L. actually stands for Absent Without Official Leave.

Quotes:

Lyon: Sometimes life is... is... ugly. And stupid. And mean.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Manta, Manta (1991)

Soundtrack:

NO MERCY

Up there in Van Dammage's top five flicks!

Before we head off down critical trail, lets be charitable. This is a Van Damme flick - more or less its own genre, certainly sufficiently signposted for the unwary to avoid if this is not their comfort zone. Now I have to admit to a certain bias - we have almost every film Van Damme has ever made, and for the most part, on simply an entertainment scale, Jean Claude delivers the goods. (Even as late as REPLICANT)

This offering - known pretty much EVERYWHERE but the US as WRONG BET (By far the better title when you watch it) is value for money. You wanna see classical acting? go study Laurence Olivier's HENRY V. You fancy mind bending sci-fi...hell, Kubrick's 2001 ain't never gonna be topped. You want to laugh yourself senseless? go watch a Renny Harlin flick...but you want to see some serious hurting on screen...let Van Damme loose.

I am tiring of the incessant complaints that Van Damme can't act! Did he ever say he could? How many of his detractors could do any better? Could John Wayne? did anyone ever want to SEE him being anything BUT John Wayne? JCVD does a half decent job here I have to say and it strikes me as a case of "let him who is without sin" etc etc when it comes to assassinating his thespian talents.

This film has plenty going for it......namely action, conviction and courage. In the genre in which it finds itself necessarily categorised, I believe a 7 is in order!