Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Lionheart Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 14, 2018

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.

That burning starts the film off with a memorable visual, even if the context of what’s going on isn’t overly explained. The brother does have enough lifeforce left to scream out his brother’s name (though whoever did the subtitles for the release might want to have their hearing checked), at which point the film segues to Djibouti, where Lyon is busy being harangued by his superiors. When it turns out they have withheld the information about his brother, Lyon indulges in a little fist- and kick-centric payback and then hightails it out of there. (The film once again kind of elides at least some aspects of how exactly he ends up on a steamer from North Africa to the United States, but in a film like this, “little” plot points like that are best left by the wayside.)

Lionheart is in some ways a pretty rote vengeance film, even if one of the obstacles that Lyon encounters is figuring out who exactly may have been responsible for his brother's death. Along the way, though, he deals with his brother's widow Hélène (Lisa Pelikan) and her adorable daughter Nicole (Ashley Johnson), a little girl who almost instantly captures Lyon's heart. And in fact, despite a (once again) rote plot point hooking Lyon up with an underground fighting ring run by beautiful if dangerous Cynthia (Deborah Rennard), it's the family angle of this film which arguably ends up resonating more fully than any of the fight scenes.

Van Damme has sometimes been accused of being a bit on the wooden side, even if his athleticism in fight scenes can't be seriously argued with. But he manages to show a somewhat sweeter side in this film (look at that big crocodile tear running down his face in screenshot 1 for one example of some of the "range" the actor offers in Lionheart), and it's that "kinder, gentler" quality that perhaps ironically ends up giving Lionheart some of its edge.

Lionheart Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Lionheart Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Cut (1080p; 1:44:59) and Extended Cut (1080p; 1:50:17) are both included on the disc.


• The Story of Lionheart (1080p; 47:28) is the first, and longer, of two really fun sets of interviews and production data. This includes Karson, Lettich, Van Damme and several others.


• Inside Lionheart with the Filmmakers and Cast (1080p; 25:50) continues with many of the same interview subjects and offers more enjoyable reminiscences.


• Lionheart: Behind the Fights (1080p; 10:18) focuses on some of the action scenes in the film.


• Making of Featurette (480p; 8:52) is an archival piece with candid footage and interviews.


• Interview with Sheldon Lettitch (480p; 25:52) is another archival piece with text questions (in both English and German, kind of oddly) followed by Lettitch on screen answering them.


• Interview with Harrison Page (480p; 13:04) is another one like the Lettitch interview, with bilingual text questions followed by on screen answers.


• Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary (480p; 5:39) has some footage of the commentary being recorded.


• Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery (480p; 4:45)


• Five Promotional TV Clips (480p; 1:29, 1:03, 1:26, 1:15, 1:24)


• Trailers includes Lionheart (480p; 2:06) and some other MVD Rewind titles.


• Audio Commentary features Sheldon Lettitch and Harrison Page (available on the Extended Version only)

Additionally, a (folded) mini-poster is included in the keepcase.

Lionheart Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.