Lionheart is a fun concept for first time watching, and for infrequent rewatching, but if you see it too often this movie becomes simplistic and drags on a bit – especially the fight scene at the end, and the sobbing scene that follows it – so leave it a good few years between each viewing.
This movie was also released under the names AWOL: Absent Without Leave (in the UK) and Wrong Bet (in Australia & Oceania).
Cast
Van Damme is his usual self – good acting and exhibiting his trademark moves. But we don’t see any fun training scenes or learning scenes, he just begins as a decent fighter fleeing the French Foreign Legion to see his dying brother, then fighting to earn money to help his brother’s widow & child.
Decent supporting actors include Harrison Page who does a good job as Van Damme’s hustling manager from the streets, who was the organiser of his first paid fight and climbed the ladder with him. Deborah Rennard also did well as the higher level fight manager who has a crush on Van Damme’s character; and Brian Thomson did alright as her head of security. Ashley Johnson also did alright as Van Damme’s brother’s widow. There were no really bad performances – the whole cast was of a decent standard. Vojislav Govedaricaty was also very convincing as the legionnaire sergeant who followed Van Damme to America in order to escort him back home; and Michel Qissi (born Mohammed Qissi) played the sergeant’s accomplice, also tasked with bringing Van Damme back.
Good to see Michel Qissi get a role here, as he also played Tong Po, the main adversary in Kickboxer (1989) just one year prior to Lionheart, although he’s unrecognisable as the same person. He also had a minor role as a competitor in Bloodsport (1988) the year prior to that – again, that was a totally different look. It really looks like three different people. Michel also came back to play a minor role in Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016), which was the first official sequel to the original (the four Kickboxer movies in between were not affiliated with the original and did not feature Van Damme). Meanwhile, Michel Qissi’s real life brother, Abdul Qissi did quite well as the final boss adversary in Lionheart. Abdul later went on to play Khan, the final boss adversary in The Quest (1996), and he also had a minor role in The Order (2001).