Lionheart - MVD Rewind 4K

The Ultimate Van Damme Movie

One of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s classics, Lionheart, gets the 4K treatment from MVD Rewind this week. Any fan should add it to their collection as MVD always gives Van Damme movies the love and care they deserve. 

Lionheart has always been a fan-favorite due to its simplistic structure that retroactively feels like an adaptation of a fighting videogame (I have no doubt that this film influenced the creation of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat). I’ve always liked it, but I considered it middle of the road in the overall filmography. Watching it four times (I know, I need help) for this, it occurred to me that it might be the ultimate Van Damme movie due to the inclusion of so many mainstays in his films, and that could also explain why it’s a favorite of so many. 

The basic premise is certainly familiar as Van Damme is on a mission to help his brother. The brother is set on fire at the beginning during a drug deal, so the assumption would be that JCVD would be out for vengeance when he arrives. Surprisingly, aside from asking the doctor about it, he lets it go and instead focuses on helping his brother’s widow and child. But the catalyst of the story is still the familiar brother plotline used before and after this film in movies like Kickboxer and Maximum Risk. 

Of course, there’s the tournament-fighting aspect prevalent in many Van Damme classics. 

There’s also the AWOL plot point that was also used in Bloodsport, with two men constantly looking for Van Damme. This film also features him as a member of the French Foreign Legion, which he and writer/director Sheldon Lettich would revisit in Legionnaire.

Harrison Page provides the comedic relief as Van Damme’s guide in this world, which is similar to Kickoxer.

Speaking of Kickboxer, Tong Po actor Michel Qissi appears here (he was also in Bloodsport). Qissi’s brother Abdel plays Attila, and he would go on to play the big bad in The Quest, and show up in The Order, as well.

As Lettich gleefully points out in different special features segments, this is the first time Van Damme shows his bare ass on screen, and it certainly wasn’t the last.

Lettich is a Van Damme mainstay, too, working on Bloodsport (along with Frank Dux, whom Bloodsport is based on and who also worked on The Quest). Lettich went on to direct Double Impact, The Order, and The Hard Corps.

The Quest borrows a lot from this film beyond Dux and Qissi. That film also features Van Damme on a steamer ship (though it’s more period accurate in that one), and it also takes the “fighter from another country wearing a stereotypical outfit” gimmick from this with the Scottish fighter and fucking runs with it (the dude from Spain in The Quest is dressed as a bullfighter, for example). 

Then there’s the obvious Van Damme mainstay of broken English (“He was not enough strong!”). But that can’t be helped in any of his films.

There are only a few things missing that would make this the perfect encapsulation of Van Damme. He doesn’t do the splits. He does a much more toned down version of the roundhouse kick. And his brother isn’t his twin. If JCVD had played his doomed brother at the beginning, and if he had done the splits before hitting that dude in the balls (another similarity: punches to the balls!), then this would have been perfect. 

This is all a bit tongue-in-cheek, but a movie featuring so many common elements from Van Damme’s films makes it a fun, nostalgic watch. It’s easy to see why this is the favorite of so many. As for me, I appreciated it more this time around, though it’s still not among my all-time favorites.

Transfer

The blu-ray already looked great, but this 4K transfer provides the best experience for the film, restoring some of the grain and giving it an ‘80s feel right at home for such a movie. I did notice some imperfections here and there, but this is still the best way to watch the movie.

Special Features

The only new special feature is a moderated commentary with Sheldon Lettich. Lettich is always nice and candid in these things and that’s the case here. It’s not revelatory or anything, and I think I prefer the one he did with Harrison Page for the previous release (which is also included on this release’s blu-ray disc), but it’s certainly better than most commentaries these days which consist of two bloggers fanboying out about the film.

The main takeaway from this new commentary is how much of the film was ad-libbed, like most of Harrison Page’s shit-talking and the “I don’t know if I want fight you or fuck you” line. And he talks about how producer Lawrence Bender ended up in the movie. Bender was meant to just be a rich prick extra, but (surprise, surprise) he ad-libbed some stuff and ended up being a small part of the plot. 

The rest of the special features are from the blu-ray release a few years back, but this is the first I’ve seen of them, so I’ll give my two cents. 

There is a making-of doc that is largely talking head interviews from Lettich, Van Damme, and others. The odd thing about it is that there are a couple more featurettes that are taken from the same interviews used for the making-of. It would’ve been better if they had just made the doc feature length and included everything in one place. Regardless, there are plenty of good stories about the film that any fan would be interested in.

Oh, and I always enjoy the settings the interviewees choose, but Van Damme takes the cake, sitting in front of a fireplace and inexplicably having a rocket on his desk. 

There are a few archival promotional featurettes, as well, that are always interesting just for nostalgia’s sake.

The aforementioned commentary is on this disc and it’s the one to listen to if you’re picking between the two.

Speaking of the commentary, the most unique special feature is an outtake from the recording with Lettich and Page kind of warming up before it starts. I liked this just to see what one of these commentaries looks like behind the scenes.

It isn’t exactly a special feature, but the theatrical cut is only available on the blu-ray disc as the 4K only includes the international cut. 

On the physical side of things, this gets the usual MVD treatment with a slipcover with a distressed poster look, a reversible cover for the plastic case, and a mini-poster.

Overall, casual fans will probably be happy with the previous release. But if you’re like me, and if you’ve read this far I’m assuming that’s the case, then the upgrade to 4K is worth it.

Random Thoughts

The “international cut” is better but it’s not night and day. There are some cuts that are less jarring with the original footage still intact. Overall, it’s the version I would prefer to watch.

Does Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat exist without Van Damme movies like this?

Especially that first fight under the bridge. Dudes wearing hardhats while watching a street fight is right out of Street Fighter II. 

I’ve never understood betting when it’s just a guy holding a fist full of cash taking bets without writing anything down. How the fuck does he ever pay out properly?

“Let’s do lunch some time” is not nearly as good a taunt as “I don’t know if I want to fuck you or fight you.”

The dude on roller skates taking bets during the Scottish dude fight is fucking hilarious. And you know Harrison Page ad-libbed that “Hey, don’t fall down on them skates, boy!” line.

Just saying “Scotland” does not justify a dude wearing a kilt for an underground prize fight.

Van Damme does a lot of cold acting in this. By that I mean he acts like he’s cold a lot, which usually just means holding his collar up (even though his sleeves are rolled up). It makes sense in the New York scenes, but he does it once in the L.A. segment, too, going jogging in the morning with a hoodie on and even blowing hot air into his hands. I’ve never been to L.A., but I just don’t think this is a thing, especially during the time of year in which he just had a fight in a half empty pool with most of the audience in bathing suits.