Genres

Visitors Review

annevejb 2012-05-25 21:34:32

I like this a lot.

The first ever Ashley, her playing Nicole, aged around 5.Her earliest scene with Lyon, the Belgian Van Damme, who also wrote thestory, spoke loudly of her going on to the role of the Annie of 1995.This being for over 18's who like stories with a chunk of hard violenceattached, not an obvious carrier for what I read as a girl pic, but itworks okay for me.I get the feeling that a lot of the story should have a personalrelevance to me, but that is a very individual thing. To me, the onlyflaw is that the DVD is widescreen trimmed down to 4x3. If I ever finda widescreen version then I will likely consider it as a must. MeantimeI am glad that I have this Ashley.

callanvass 2012-05-25 11:58:15

Van Damme's 2nd best, right behind Bloodsport, it's a brilliant martial arts film, with surprisingly excellent performances, and one hell of a final fight!

This is Van Damme's 2nd best, right behind Bloodsport, it's a brilliantmartial arts film, with surprisingly excellent performances, and onehell of a final fight!. All the characters are fantastic, and the storyis awesome! plus Van Damme is simply amazing in this!. This is mostdefinitely one of Van Damme's best performances, and while the endingwas really cheesy, it still left me with a smile on my face, plus VanDamme and Harrison Page had fantastic chemistry together!. The fightbetween Van Damme and the Scottish guy, is really good, and I found theopening quite disturbing, plus Deborah Rennard is very impressive asCynthia the tricky bitch!. This is one Van Damme's most popular filmsand rightfully so, and while Van Damme has never been known for hisacting ability (at least around this time), he gave an excellent actingperformance! plus, I couldn't believe Ashley Johnson played thedaughter!. This one really works on story a lot of the time, however ifyou want fantastic fight scenes like you usually do in a Van Dammefilm, you will get that as well, plus it's very well made and writtenas well!.The fight choreography is just excellent, and I loved the where all thefights were set! plus, the final one is one of the most brutal andviolent I have ever seen, and I absolutely loved it!. Yes it has someweak fight scenes, however the good ones far outweigh the bad, and allthe characters are extremely likable, plus Van Damme's crying scene wastop notch, as it was perfectly done unlike the one he had in Kickboxer.This should be higher then 5.2 in my opinion, and while I wish theygave Brian Thompson more to do, his presence was still appreciated!plus I must give credit to Lisa Pelikan she was great as the widowedwife, as she was full of emotion!. The scene where Van Damme, beats upthe guy on the boat is just great ("what's it gonna be?, it's going tobe simple, wham!), and it had a really cool fight scene in the desertas well, plus if you don't blink you can notice Billy Blanks as one ofVan Damme's victims near the beginning. This is Van Damme's 2nd best,right behind Bloodsport, it's a brilliant martial arts film, withsurprisingly excellent performances, and one hell of a final fight, andI say Go see it now! you shouldn't regret it if your a Van Damme fan(like me).The Direction is fantastic!. Sheldon Lettich does a fantastic! job herewith great camera work, awesome angles, using cool locations and justkeeping the film at an extremely fast pace.The Acting is excellent!. Jean Claude Van Damme is amazing as alwaysand is amazing here, he is extremely likable, tough as ever, kicks thatass, had fantastic chemistry with Harrison Page, gives one of his bestperformances, and you care for his character, this is most definitelyone of his best early performances, and I loved the look on his face atthe end, so intense! (Van Damme Rules!!!!!!!!!). Harrison Page isfantastic as Van Damme's manager Joshua he steals a lot of the scenesand had a lot of spunk, I loved him!. Deborah Rennard is extremelyconvincing as the tricky bitch, she did great. Lisa Pelikan is great inher role as the widowed wife I liked her lots. Ashley Johnson isactually good as The daughter and had a great scene at the end. BrianThompson is good in what he had to do, which wasn't much, I stillappreciated his presence though. Abdel Qissi is great as Atilla, he wasquite menacing. Rest of the cast do fine Overall Go see it immediatelyyou shouldn't regret it if your a Van Damme fan!. ***** out of 5

2012-05-25 10:44:21

where's the letterboxed edition

5 stars for the movie but only one star for the company releasing it. Much like "timecop" another terrific Van Damme movie, there's no letterboxed edition. Why do they do this to us? The horror...the horror...

Mark 2012-05-24 21:50:29

Van Damme at his best

This was a great movie, Jean-Claude Van Damme was his usual fighting self. Every fight seen,I was into even though I knew who the winner was gonna be almost everytime.The acting and fight scenes make up for the pretty obvious storyline most of the way.But overall it was a good action movie. With a great leading actor.

daniel peric 2012-05-20 15:02:53

What a surprise

This is easily Van Damme's best Movie.So much better then the doublepump triple twirl kick Movie's like Kickboxer and Bloodsport,thoughthis Movie does contain some of those moves as well.It's a wonder whyVan Damme didn't do more of these types of Movies.From start to finishthis Movie had the family feel,and I thought Van Damme acted verywell,and in my opinion had an excellent supporting cast,mainly HarrisonPage,it could be argued that he was the real star of the film and againI must wonder why his career didn't take of after this.A veryunderrated actor who has somehow flown under the radar ofHollywood.Even if your not a Van Damme fan rent this movie,you will bepleasantly surprised.

nyugrd 2012-05-20 00:11:05

Wonderful movie

This movie is a great movie. It is entertaining, and its subtlecommentaryon the America of George Bush the First is very insightful. The homelesssuffer while the corrupt rich laugh at their agony - sometimes we don'twantto acknowledge what this country has become but that doesn't make it lesstrue.Jean-Claude and the rest of the cast do one helluva job at telling a greatstory, a good morality tale.

2012-05-15 06:23:03

Brilliantly crosses over to drama!

Let me start by saying that I don't go for action-adventure movies. I was reluctantly dragged to this one by my boyfriend yet came away singing its praises. Wow!!! Most AA movies are mere vehicles to showcase the star's martial-arts prowess; this movie does much, much more. It crosses over into the mainstream and has a plot which is much more riveting than the so-called blockbusters Hollywood churns out. The characters are believable and rouse genuine emotions. To wit: Jean Claude's tears when he is informed of his brother's death. How could that not melt your heart? And the genuine and desperate need of his sister-in-law and little niece -- who can't empathize with that?This is the only AA movie that would score huge points with feminists because unlike every other movie in its genre, LIONHEART is very female-dominated. The genuinely powerful people are not Jean Claude or any of his competitors, even the Goliath he ultmately battles. They are the niece and the sister-in-law, and, of course, the lady he works for in the fighting world. These are the people who call all the shots and control every aspect of this movie.The score is wonderful, too, especially the piece that is played while Jean Claude covertly watches his sister-in-law and niece walk to school one morning.Because this movie crosses over so brilliantly, I think it could very accurately be categorized as a drama. The ending is a complete tearjerker!

2012-05-14 21:12:36

Lionheart stars the international superstar

Jean-Claude Van Damme in another high-kicking, action-packed adventure that only Van Damme does so well. Expect everything to come full force in this 1990 action film that will have you pumped up for more. Whoever says wrong is calling this brotha a damn liar. I don't care what anyone thinks of my reviews, but Van Damme was one of the better action heroes of his time.

2012-05-13 19:10:15

best Van Damme movie there is

Jean Claude is a great action star and he proves it in this movie. Go boy JCVD 4 Life! Must have for van damme fans.

2012-05-13 00:18:27

Excellent

The action scenes are fantastic. Van Damme is just too good.

2012-05-05 00:00:43

Lionheart - wrong bet

This review is from: Lionheart (DVD) If you like Van Damme, this is one of his older but better movies.

JohnRouseMerriottChard 2012-05-04 09:45:44

JCVD doing what he does best.

I often find myself bemused by some real harsh reviews of the betterVan Damme films since they always deliver what is expected. Why forinstance would someone who has seen Kickboxer, Bloodsport or Timecop gointo a viewing of Lionheart and expect it to be the Citizen Kane ofkung fooery ?. Jean Claude Van Damme movies pretty much do what theysay on the tin, along with Seagal, Norris, Sly and the big AustrianOak, there is a market they have cornered, and although I wouldn't beso foolish as to say that all their respective output is viable qualityentertainment, i do say however that in amongst the collective outputare films that shine quite brightly, and sadly many viewers seem intenton ignoring the quality pop corners and collectively call the outputgarbage.Lionheart is one such film that is sadly undervalued across this site.Lyon Gaultier is serving in the Foreign Legion when he hears that hisbrother has been fatally set on fire during a drug deal gone wrong, hissuperiors in the Legion are less than sympathetic to his request toleave the service to visit his dying brother, in fact they choose topunish him by way of getting his mind right, Gaultier is having none ofit and deserts. On arriving in America, skint and with no home to callhis home, Gaultier spies a bare knuckle contest and sees this as anopportunity to make some cash to hopefully get to L.A. to see hisbrother, this brings him attention from Cynthia, a glamorous pimp ofunderground no holds barred fights. Along with his self appointedmanager, Joshua Eldridge, they agree to fight for Cynthia's syndicateas long as Lyon needs the money. Sadly Gaultier's brother dies andleaves his woman and child with a ream of debts and the prospect ofbeing homeless, this drives Gaultier on as he desperately wants to helpthe pair of them out, but hot on his tail is the Foreign Legion heavieswho are intent on bringing him back to serve his time in the service,can Lyon complete all he hopes to achieve before being taken away ?.Containing great fight sequences and beating a true emotional heart,Lionheart more than fulfills the genre viewers needs, 7/10.

2012-05-02 08:03:38

one of the best Van Dammes

this was a great martial arts movie.Although not as good as Bloodsport,its still very good.this movie has a very rare combo:fighting and a plot.so,get it,everyone,or at least rent it

2012-05-01 16:42:23

One of the best movie ever!!!

I love this movie. Van Damme must fight for his family. He must collect money in order to help his ex girlfriend. This movie have beautiful scenes, great music , awesome acting. If u like these horrible action movies with much violence, none meaning, then dont watch it. This is more a drama then action. Its really about friendship, the end scene is REALLY SAD!!!!!!!!!!! -:) TEAR JERKING NUMBER 1. The sadest scene Ive ever ever seen in a movie. Much more emotional then al these stupied romantic comedies that hollywood produce. THIS IS A REAL MOVIE! -:)

Mr Ben 2012-04-27 18:14:56

Dumb film-making at its lowest - 26%

1990 was not a good year for films. In the random sample that is mycomments list, three films stand out - "Die Hard 2", "Hard To Kill" and"Robocop 2" all pretty much of a much-ness but catch the eye onlybecause they are completely unmemorable in any way. Except "Hard ToKill" which is so bad that Steven Seagal should never be forced to workagain. Seagal is one of many acting tough men who seem to make the samefilm each time and another is the Muscles From Brussels, Jean-ClaudeVan Damme. An adept kick-boxer and terrible actor, Jean-Claudecontinues to plow his own field and make movies that only a smallselection of movie-goer has any interest in. What kind of person goesto the cinema to watch J-CVD in action? His family, that's who. I canhonestly say that I have only ever watched him on TV and so it wastonight, where "A.W.O.L: Absent Without Leave" was added to the list ofpoor films from the start of the Nineties.Van Damme plays Leon (or Lyon, depends who's saying it) who is a Frenchsoldier in the famous Foreign Legion in northern Africa. Upon hearingthe news that his drug-dealing brother was attacked in LA, Leon decidesto head to America and be with what's left of his family. But theLegion don't like this attitude and Leon is forced to desert andstowaway on a ship to the States. Once there, he finds himself caughtup in a vicious fighter tournament run by the sexy-but-evil Cynthia(Deborah Rennard). Leon progresses through the tournament with the helpof his homeless bum manager Joshua (Harrison Page) but the Legion arenever far behind...Apparently, the story was cooked up by Van Damme himself and thissurprised me a little. First of all, there is little story to speak of- a guy fighting other guys of increasingly size and ability is prettymuch the basis of most beat-em-up video games. Secondly, I wassurprised that Van Damme could write. He doesn't strike me as being thebrightest star in the sky but there is little excuse for this simplevanity project. Van Damme is also a dreadful actor. It's no great shockthat his best film by far, "Universal Soldier", had him playing amonotone cyborg because this is about the limit of Van Damme's range.Things like emotion and dialogue are lost to him - emotion meanspulling faces and dialogue is just stuff to say. Anything else throwshim. Consequently, he is acted off the screen by Page as thestreet-smart brains behind Van Damme's brawn. But nothing really makesmuch sense. Van Damme's commanding officer at the Legion is apparentlyGerman instead of French (which must come as a bit of a shock to therest of the garrison!) and at no point is the whole tournament set-upexplained. It just is and we're forced to accept it, like everythingelse.I could go on but I imagine that you probably can fill in the blanksfor yourself. "A.W.O.L." is neither interesting, entertaining orstimulating unless there is absolutely nothing else on TV. Even somecommercials show more imagination and flair than this nonsense. Clunkydialogue, woeful soundtrack (all synth and soft-porn sax) and a generallack of anything interesting cripple this before it even gets going.Jeez, he doesn't even bother going after the punks that nailed hisbrother! He spends the film trapped in the fight circuit instead ofrighting wrongs and dishing out some justice like a normal hero would.This film is, to paraphrase Van Damme himself, ugly and stupid. I'dwatch something from 1991 if I were you...

decappa 2012-04-27 06:43:50

This Movie Defies Description

As far as action movies go, this one stands out among them. Everyaspect of this movie was clearly well crafted. The seamless editing,the acting, the expert direction and cinematography were all top notch.The soundtrack was moving and sentimental, without losing the harderedge required of the genre. The story is very closely related toShakespeare's Hamlet, where a French soldier must go AWOL to visit hisbrother in America who is either dying or in a coma. Just like inHamlet, the Frenchman is aided in his quest to become "King of theJungle" by a Moor named Joshua who speaks in a vernacular fitting ofhis race and culture. Finding out his brother is dead, and that it isall his fault for "Not being there" he vows to take revengence on thosewho are responsible. The problem is, he has also told Joshua that hewill not fight again. He must now use his vast intellect to outwit hisfoes by putting on a short play. The movie comes down to the wire andthere is a very surprising plot twist at the end that I won't spoil foryou here. All in all, this movie is a must-see. It is not surprising itwas over-looked by critics as it tackles tough, hard-hitting issueswith both grace and style.

2012-04-25 23:01:04

HIS BEST

This is the first movie I felt Van Damme really acted in. You know the plot from the other reviews but, his acting ability really came out here. I actually felt he didnt want to keep fighting but he had to for his niece and sister-in-law.Punch after bloody punch came in the climactic fight scene, where a giant of a man beats him down without mercy. Then he realizes he has to do it. He rises up on sheer willpower and gives his all for freedom! VAN-DAMME... VAN-DAMME, VAN-DAMME!

2012-04-25 00:43:51

An Oldie but a Goodie! Good movie for those new to Van Damme films

Whether you're a Van Damme fan or have never heard of him, you'll appreciate this movie. As always, there's plenty of kickbutt action but it also has lots of heart and a good story-line. Van Damme usually plays good guys (with the occasional evil twin), helping friends and family out of tough situations. The same goes for this film. He sacrifices his body through underground fights to financially and anonymously help his widowed sister-n-law and nephew. Great fighting scenes. Funny sidekick. Good acting, by all characters, pulls you into the story. Bottom Line: Golden Oldie that will win you over!

gridoon 2012-04-20 02:47:59

Routine but acceptable.

"Lionheart" is mostly routine genre fare: a series of mildly spectacular(ifthoroughly predictable) fight scenes, linked together by a tiresome (ifhonest) "emotional" plot. However, I've always found Van Damme much morelikable than most of his "antagonists", mostly because the violence in hismovies never goes over-the-top, and his likability makes this humdrumpicture acceptable.

GEO DEL 2012-04-19 16:51:00

what ! street figher the movie?

Is it just me or does this movie remind you of the street fighter game?this should have been the actual movie for the game saga,not the piece of trash they made in 1995'which also stared van damme.what an awsome flick,it really delivers what street fighting really is.Van damme is outstanding! this is probably one of his best movies ever.LIONHEART!!!!