6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Lyon Gaultier is a deserter in the Foreign Legion arriving in the USA entirely hard up. He finds his brother between life and death and his sister-in-law without the money needed to heal her husband and to maintain her child. To earn the money needed, Gaultier decides to take part in some very dangerous clandestine fights.
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Ashley Johnson, Brian Thompson, Ash Adams, Jeff SpeakmanSport | 100% |
Action | 93% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
BDInfo verified.
English, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Let’s face it — none of the films released thus far under the MVD Rewind banner, and, frankly, none that will probably ever be released by the imprint, is likely to be a Best Picture Academy Award nominee (let alone a winner), and yet there’s been a certain charm in even the lowest rent of offerings. That said, even given the questionable inherent quality of some of the MVD Rewind outings, there have still at times been some quite winning supplements included with many of the MVD Rewind releases, and one of the better ones among MVD Rewind’s relatively recent releases was a great interview with Eric Karson, the director of Black Eagle. Karson is a guy who has obviously had a long career in the movie business and who isn’t shy in the interview about stating how he kind of stumbled into a career involving martial arts films. Karson is back in another appealing supplement included on Lionheart, this time as producer, and in fact there seems to be a bit of subtext (unless I’m reading something into things, which I very well could be) between Karson and the director of Lionheart, Sheldon Lettich, another longtime pro who is also featured in the “making of” featurette included on this Blu-ray as a supplement. Perhaps a little surprisingly, Jean-Claude Van Damme also shows up in this particular bonus item, and even those who may not feel Lionheart deserves even what limited reputation some fans have given it may enjoy hearing the differing memories of several of the production staff with regard to the 1990 film. One of the kind of funny things that is mentioned is how Lionheart was released under a variety of titles in different markets (and in fact the Extended Version included on this release sports one of them, namely Leon), perhaps at least in part due to the fact that there was another film called Lionheart that had been released not all that long before this film (in 1987, to be exact), and which some may argue had a more impressive pedigree than the film currently under review, including an Academy Award winning director (Franklin J. Schaffner of Patton fame). Lettitch in fact talks about various initial ideas coming from both Van Damme and himself which might have made the title Lionheart at least a little more in line with Schaffner’s film’s setting of Crusade era adventures, but what really seemed to interest Letttch in particular was the French Foreign Legion aspect which plays into this Lionheart, since the title character, who actually has a good old fashioned name, Lyon Gaultier (Jean-Claude Van Damme), escapes from the confines of the Legion in order to avenge the hideous burning of his mortally wounded brother.
Lionheart is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Rewind with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While there is some chunkiness in the grain field and a resultant lack of clarity at times, overall this is one of the nicer looking transfers from MVD Rewind, at least in its theatrical presentation. While the entire opening sequence (which includes optically printed credits, which I'm assuming play into this) is a tad rough looking (see screenshots 6 and 7), a roughness that does in fact intrude at times later even without any optical attached (see screenshot 18), generally speaking detail levels are quite good and the palette looks nicely warm. Some of the dimly lit material (as in the steamer scenes) features contrast that is arguably on the anemic side, leading to some more lack of fine detail, but the many brightly lit moments really pop with considerable authenticity. The Extended Cut is perhaps understandably more heterogeneous looking, and it in fact seems to be cobbled together from different sources, as evidenced by sudden shifts in color temperature, clarity and grain structure, as well as some fairly large damage in the form of long (and long lasting) vertical scratches and even a pretty huge tear or two. With regard to grain, the Extended Version does look like it may have had a bit of noise reduction applied, as there's much less of the chunkiness seen in the Theatrical Version.
Lionheart's Theatrical Cut boasts a nice sounding LPCM 2.0 track that offers good support for the film's dialogue, effects and generically effective score by John Scott. There's perhaps surprising energy in the low end here, despite the lack of a true surround mix. The Extended Cut offers 2.0 and 5.1 mixes in Dolby Digital. The surround mix here does open up expected elements like ambient environmental sounds and the score, but it didn't quite pack the punch I personally wanted to hear in the mid and lower ranges.
There's no denying that Lionheart is just kind of flat out silly on its (slightly tear stained) face, but for Van Damme fans it's a chance to see their butt kicking idol in a more reserved, family friendly environment (at least at times, because Van Damme does of course kick some serious butt in the film). For those considering a purchase, MVD Rewind has provided a release with generally solid technical merits and some very enjoyable supplements.
1996
Special Collector's Edition
1988
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2011
1988
Karate Killer
1976
1989
1989
2008
2018
2015
1990
1993
2008
1987
2010
2020
25th Anniversary Edition | Choice Collection
1992
Theatrical & Director's Cut | Limited Edition
2006
Choice Collection
1989