Lionheart (1991) Universal/Action-Drama RT: 105 minutes Rated R (graphically violent fight scenes, strong language, brief rear nudity) Director: Sheldon Lettich Screenplay: Sheldon Lettich and Jean-Claude Van Damme Music: John Scott Cinematography: Robert C. New Release date: January 11, 1991 (US) Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, Lisa Pelikan, Ashley Johnson, Brian Thompson, Voyo Goric, Michel Qissi, Abdel Qissi. Box Office: $24.3M (US)
Rating: ***
For all the times I knocked JCVD’s lackluster acting skills, the truth is he does have one decent performance under his black belt. He’s not bad in Lionheart, a combination fight flick and family drama starring “The Muscles from Brussels” as a legionnaire who goes AWOL to help his sister-in-law and niece after his brother is murdered in the mean streets of L.A. He raises money by getting involved with an underground street fighting ring. Funny, he never asks about their health insurance plan.
It goes down like this. The brother is set on fire by a street gang in a drug deal gone bad. In the hospital, he keeps calling for his brother Lyon (JCVD) who’s serving a stint in the French Foreign Legion after taking the rap on a drug-smuggling charge for his younger brother. The wife/sister-in-law Helene (Pelikan, Ghoulies) sends a letter asking Lyon to come home to see his dying brother. His superiors refuse to grant him leave, so he escapes into the North African desert on foot. He eventually makes his way to New York on a tramp steamer. With no money, Lyon sets out looking for a way to get to the other side of the country.
He lucks out when he happens upon a street fight being conducted by a motormouth named Joshua (Page, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls). He promises Lyon big bucks if he defeats his opponent which he easily does. Dubbing him “The Lion” (based on his name), he takes him to meet a wealthy woman named Cynthia (Rennard, Dallas) who arranges underground fights for the city’s elite. He takes part in another brutal fight, for which she renames him “Lionheart”, and wins enough money to get him and Joshua to L.A.
Unfortunately, Lyon arrives too late. His brother has died and his family has a huge stack of bills to pay. He stops by Helene’s apartment to offer his help only to be harshly rebuffed by his sister-in-law who blames him for what happened to her husband. Realizing he needs to raise some serious money, he agrees to allow Cynthia to sponsor him on the underground fighting circuit where he quickly proves to be unbeatable. He insists on keeping their relationship strictly professional despite the fact she has clear designs on him.
Meanwhile, a couple of legionnaire officials come to the US to bring Lyon back to face a court-martial for desertion. They have Helene’s apartment building staked out in case he shows up. With Helene refusing his help, he sends his winnings to her in the form of insurance checks from a non-existent policy taken out by her late husband. With the money, she’s able to buy a bicycle for her cute little moppet of a daughter Nicole (Johnson, Growing Pains). Eventually, Cynthia has enough of Lyon refusing her sexual advances and decides to set him up to lose big to an animal-like opponent named Attila (boxer Abdel Qissi) after which she will turn him over to the Legion authorities.
Forgive me for saying it, but Lionheart is a JCVD movie with a heart. What he’s doing, he’s doing out of love for his family. It’s a change of pace for the action star. Most directors would have him go after the creeps that murdered his brother. Instead, director Sheldon Lettich (Double Impact), who co-wrote the screenplay with JCVD, dismisses this storyline quickly. It becomes a non-issue. I have to admire Lionheart for taking such a huge risk. The typical JCVD fan lives for revenge plots like the one I just described. They might not be so eager to see their hero go soft over a child and her widowed mother. The strange thing is JCVD actually pulls it off. I know it’s not saying a lot, but it’s his best performance to date. Of course, it’s the closest to a performance he’s ever given. It’s not Oscar material, but it’s nice to see a tender side of the action star. I was actually moved by the end.
Let’s set aside the mushy stuff and talk about what JCVD’s fans really care about. There is plenty of cool fight action in Lionheart. He gets to show his stuff in parking lots, racquetball courts and partially empty swimming pools. He kicks a lot of asses. The final fight against Attila is exciting although it falls short of his match against Tong Po in Kickboxer. BTW, Tong Po player Michel Qissi reunites with JCVD as one of the legionnaires pursuing his character.
Page, a Russ Meyer regular who also appeared in Vixen, is good as fast-talking Joshua, a hustler with a heart of gold. Brian Thompson (Cobra) is fine as Cynthia’s right-hand man; I’m disappointed he doesn’t get to show off the full range of his bad guy-playing skills. Pelikan has some strong moments as the angry, grieving widow who ultimately softens when she realizes what Lyon is doing for her and Nicole. Speaking of the kid, Johnson does good work. She’s cute without being cloying. Rennard is pretty wooden as Cynthia, the prototypical rich bitch used to getting what she wants, acting petulant and vindictive when she doesn’t.
It sounds weird to describe a JCVD movie as sweet, but that’s exactly what Lionheart is. Sure, it has the usual violence and repellent bad guys, but it takes a back seat to the family drama at the center of it all. Like I said, it’s not your typical JCVD actioner. It’s nice to see him try something different. There may be hope for him as an actor yet.
