Lionheart: Extended 4K Review (MVD Rewind Collection)

Lionheart (aKa Wrong Bet, A.W.O.L.: Absent Without Leave, Leon and Full Contact) is a 1990 action film co-written and directed by Sheldon Lettich (Double Impact, The Order, The Hard Corps, Perfect Target, Legionnaire, Bloodsport, Rambo III, and The Last Patrol). It was co-written by Jean-Claude Van Damme (Darkness of Man, The Eagle Path, Legionnaire, The Order, and The Quest). It was produced by Eric Karson (Angel Town, Nemesis, The Octagon, Black Eagle, and Opposing Force). It was independently funded so it was sold to various distributors all over the world so that’s why it has so many different titles. Universal Pictures originally handled the distribution for the United States. The film was a success and it earned $24,078,196 worldwide! It was actually filmed after 1990’s Death Warrant but it got released before it. This is second time Michel Qissi played a villain to Jean-Claude Van Damme. The previous collaboration was as Tong Po in 1989’s Kickboxer. A sequel was announced a long time ago but it still hasn’t happened yet. Lyon Gaultier (played by: Jean-Claude Van Damme from Bloodsport, Kickboxer franchise, Cyborg, Double Impact, Hard Target, Kill Em All franchise, The Expendables 2, Street Fighter, Knock Off, Timecop, Universal Soldier franchise, and Black Eagle) is a paratrooper in the French Foreign Legion stationed in Djibouti, North Africa. He gets bad news that his brother was involved in a deadly incident from a drug deal gone wrong. He is burned alive & suffers third-degree burns. He begs them to let him leave to see his dying sibling before he’s gone but they refuse. So he is forced to abandon his post & escapes on a boat going to America. He arrives in New York City and that’s where he meets Joshua (played by: Harrison Page from Bad Ass, Carnosaur, JAG, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and Sledge Hammer!). He organizes fights for money and Lyon needs some quick cash. After bring impressed with his fighting ability Joshua see a chance to make big money with his new friend. He introduces Lyon to underground fight promoter Cynthia (played by: Deborah Rennard from Dallas, Gang Related, Kazaam, Freddy’s Nightmares, and Land of Doom) and her assistant Russell (played by: Brian Thompson from Cobra, Joe Dirt, Fright Night 2, Doctor Mordrid, DragonHeart, Alien Nation, Hired to Kill, and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation). She decides to sponsor him and after he defeats her champion she wants to work with him some more. He turns her down and he says he has personal business in Los Angeles. She offers to set up fights there if he ever changes his mind. Sgt. Hartog (played by: Voyo Goric from Rambo: First Blood Part II, Alligator II: The Mutation, Little Nikita, Universal Soldier, and The Evil Inside Me) and Moustafa (played by: Michel Qissi from Bloodsport, Kickboxer 1/2, Bloodmatch, The Last Kumite, Extreme Force, and Terminator Woman) from the Foreign Legion go to the United States to track him down since the LAPD wouldn’t do anything about it. He finds out that his brother died and he’s devastated that he couldn’t be there. He tries to see his sister in-law Helene (played by: Lisa Pelikan from Jennifer, Ghoulies, Julia, 10,000 Days, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Return to the Blue Lagoon) but she wants nothing to do with him. He decides to take Cynthia’s offer to make some more money for his struggling family. He competes against various fighters at all kinds of different locations. He introduces himself as a stranger to his niece Nicole (played by: Ashley Johnson from Growing Pains, The Killing, Blindspot, Jumanji TV series, Fast Food Nation, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and What Women Want) since he wasn’t welcome in their home. He gets Joshua to give them a fake insurance check so they can be taken care of. Lyon and Cynthia start to get a little too personal so she gets jealous when she finds out about Helene. Lyon finally comes clean about the money to Helene and finally gets to tell Nicole that he’s actually her uncle. The Legionnaires continue to track him down but they agree to let him do his last fight before bringing him in. Cynthia is out for revenge and she sets Lyon up the most dangerous fighter around the undefeated Attila the Hun (played by: Abdel Qissi from The Quest The Last Kumite, Denard Anatomy of An Antihero, and The Order). She bets against him and she knows exactly what this destructive monster does to all his opponents. Can Lyon somehow survive the Legionnaires, Cynthia, and the brutal Attila???? Lionheart isn’t your typical Jean-Claude Van Damme feature or action film. This was the basically first time that Van Damme actually had a real legit solid supporting cast in his early career for his own project which includes Brian Thompson, Harrison Page, Michel Qissi, Abdel Qissi, Lisa Pelikan, Voyo Goric, Deborah Rennard, Ashley Johnson, Billy Blanks (The Last Boy Scout), Jeff Speakman (The Perfect Weapon), Kamel Krifa (Universal Soldier), George McDaniel (The Last Starfighter), Ash Adams (Puppet Master 4), Dennis Rucker (An Officer and a Gentleman), Stefanos Miltsakakis (Cyborg), Lew Hopson (Dead Heat), Lawrence Bender (Intruder), Scott Spiegel (Skinned Alive), Christopher M. Brown (Class of 1999 II: The Substitute), Stuart F. Wilson (The Rundown), Mark De Alessandro (Under Siege 2: Dark Territory), Paco Christian Prieto (Hard Time franchise), and Lonnie Burr (Hook). It honestly made him step up his game when it came to his acting. He always loved to compete with others so he didn’t want to get showed up by anyone that he shared the screen with so he put it all into this complicated character. If anyone ever claims that JCVD can’t act, they need to check this out to be proven wrong. It was much more than just intense fighting in Lionheart. It was about doing the right thing, redemption, friendship, and family which added to it’s full script. Lyon would do anything to save what he loves which includes him risking his own life to do it. It’s not afraid to give the audience the feels during some scenes because it’s really emotional at spots. Lionheart took JCVD to a completely new level when it came to being a global superstar. After this, he was making hit after hit but this early 90’s action feature really put him on the map in the mainstream. It out on the world on notice that he could actually perform well if given the right material and proper support. Now after saying all that, it’s still a bad ass flick with lots of great violent fights, bloody battles, and graphic hand to hand combat choreography. I really enjoyed the various locations, production design, and different approaches on each competition shown here. This ranks as one of Van Damme’s absolute best efforts after all this time and it honestly still holds up great with quality replay value to it. The MVD Rewind Collection has given Lionheart the proper home video treatment that it truly deserves. They continue to get their hands on more of his work from the past. They always give it the respect and the highest possible quality that it needs. This brand new 4K upgrade blows away the all of the previous versions especially the older Universal disc. It’s currently streaming on Tubi, Fawesome, Plex, Pluto TV, and Amazon Prime if you want to revisit it sometime. Lionheart is underrated, it delivers on everything that the viewer would want from something like this. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss the high definition presentation and special features from the MVD Rewind Collection. This 2160p (1.78:1) transfer for the extended cut with HDR10 is one of the highest quality looking releases from the boutique label so far. It’s from a brand new 4K restoration from a 16-bit scan of the original camera negative. It’s definitely the best that Lionheart has ever looked anywhere. It features the Imperial Entertainment logo at the beginning instead of the Universal Studios one. I think it really adds to the retro vibe of MVD Rewind. It features a English: LPCM 2.0 track on the UHD. The score and soundtrack are way better than what you would expect for this type of film. It has loads of action and violence so it really shines when it comes to the audio. The Extended Cut (110 minutes) looks a little different plus the quality changes on the additional scenes so it’s pretty easy to tell what wasn’t in the theatrical version (104 minutes). It features two different audio options English: Dolby Digital 5.1 and English: Dolby Digital 2.0 which actually are both different from the other cut so you have plenty of choices when it comes to the sound for this disc. it’s enhances the more chaotic scenes in this production. This longer version sounds excellent. It also has English, French, and Spanish subtitles included on here. The Theatrical version (1.85:1) is on the Blu Ray disc. All kinds of informative bonus material has been added besides getting two cuts of film already. For those wondering the extended cut is little over 5 minutes longer than the theatrical version. Speaking of that extended version, you get an archival Audio Commentary with director Sheldon Lettitch and actor Harrison Page. They talk about the many names this film has had in different countries. The director points out that version is the German cut known as Leon. They point out and they chat about the additional scenes that weren’t in the United States release. Sheldon Lettitch brings up he wrote a similar project for Sylvester Stallone at one point. They talk about the cast and crew featured in the production. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Sheldon Lettitch used several of their friends in this. They joke about the popularity from the ladies for this feature for some reason. It’s one of their favorites and they seem to love it so much. They bring up a scene that was improvised. They talk about JCVD really using his acting chops for the first time in Lionheart. Harrison Page jokes about them randomly giving him chicken for a scene that originally wasn’t in the script. They mention some of the locations used in this. Sheldon Lettitch brings up a extended scene and explains why it was cut from the American version. One of the heads from Universal apparently hated it and they thought it was too over the top. They chat about the various different fighting styles used in the movie. Sheldon Lettitch brings up that JCVD accidentally got hit and hurt during one of the fights. JCVD had lots of creative input on this project. They talk about the producers hiring a orchestra to do a big score for Lionheart. It has a few moments of silence but it’s a pretty good audio track with lots of detailed information and inside stories about this feature. It has a brand new exclusive “Audio Commentary” with director Sheldon Lettitch that’s moderated by Heath Holland. This is a killer companion piece to the other one. It has enough additional information and stories to make it worthwhile for another revisit into the highly popular Lionheart. “The Story of Lionheart” directed by Richard Schenkman (Went to Coney Island on a Mission from God… Be Back by Five, Angel 4: Undercover, The Making of The Linguini Incident, The Making of Double Impact, The Making of Black Eagle, The Making of Savannah Smiles, Jah No Dead: The Making of Rockers, We All Descend: The Making of Terminus, and I Spit on Your Grave: Vengeance Is Mine) is a little over 47 minute documentary. It features interviews with writer/director Sheldon Lettitch, producer Eric Karson, star Jean-Claude Van Damme, actors Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, and Brian Thompson. First off, I think this was the first time that I’ve ever seen Jean-Claude Van Damme actually come back and talk about one of his older films as an extra so that alone is super impressive. They chat about how the project started. They talk about the origin of the story. They mention how they met Van Damme. Van Damme talks about his first experience with Sheldon Lettitch, They bring up that it had various titles all over the world and how confusing it was. They chat about how popular Van Damme was becoming before this and that this early 90’s feature actually made him a legit star. Van Damme signed a two picture deal with Imperial Entertainment and this was the final one from that contract after doing Black Eagle earlier. Deborah Rennard says she was glad to finally play a villain after only being known as the good girl before that. Brian Thompson talks about his character and his background story. They talk about Harrison Page’s killer audition that got him the part. Harrison Page says his father was the inspiration for his performance. He talks about how they made Los Angeles look like New York for the locations. They mention for being an action film it has some really emotional stuff in it. They talk about it getting released overseas before America. They said it came out the same day as Above the Law there and it was directly competing against that. They chat about the film having success all over the world. They mention how it stands out from all of the others and it’s not your typical action flick from back in the day. “Inside Lionheart with the Filmakers and Cast” is almost 26 minutes. It features interviews with writer/director Sheldon Lettitch, producer Eric Karson, star Jean-Claude Van Damme, actors Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, and Brian Thompson. They all chat about each other and their appreciation for their work. They mention how they got their roles in the film. They bring up how this feature had a better cast than what Van Damme was used to so it elevated his performance in this. They talking about working with the director and the producer on this independent production. Van Damme didn’t want to do the splits in this like every other film he did. They talk about how this was something different for the action superstar. “Lionheart: Behind the Fights” is a little over 10 minutes. It features basically everyone from the previous exclusive extras on here. They talk about Van Damme doing all his own fights, setting them up and stunts. They mention the other people they brought in to make the battles as good as possible. They go over various action scenes in the feature. They bring up some of the fighters used in the film. Archival “Making of” featurette is almost 9 minutes. It covers all the same stuff as before and it has some of the same familiar faces as the other features on here but they are much younger in this. It does mention that Hard Times was a inspiration for this film. Archival “Interview with Sheldon Lettitch” is almost 26 minutes. He talks about how he got started on making films. He chats about his short that lead to all kinds of opportunities. He brings up that he introduced Van Damme to various people to help out his career. Later on Van Damme would return the favor and got him this directing gig. He talks about being a marine. He chats about projects that he wrote. He talks about Lionheart getting distribution in the states. He talks about believing in Van Damme’s acting ability when no one else did. He says Cannon was originally going to do Double Impact but they changed their mind on it. Archival “Interview with Harrison Page” is 13 minutes. He talks about his experience on the film. He mentions using his emotions in it. He chats about working with the director. He discusses the fight scenes. He says someone actually thought he was homeless on the set. He chats about how he got into acting. “Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary” is almost 6 minutes. It shows them recording the audio track that’s featured on this release. It’s a cool little inside look into making an extra for the home video release. It also has promotional material like 5 TV clips, Almost 5 minute Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery, and the original Theatrical Trailer for Lionheart. Last but not least, you get trailers for other MVD Rewind Collection related releases which include Black Eagle, Return of Swamp Thing, and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. It comes with an awesome limited edition retro slipcover, reversible artwork, a Blu Ray copy, and a collectible mini poster. I can’t recommend this release enough, it’s one of most loaded JCVD films ever so it’s a must own for any Van Damme or action fan when it comes to their collection. MVD Rewind Collection keeps on KILLING it when it comes to home video and upgrading these catalog titles. It’s available everywhere on July 28th, CHECK IT OUT!!!!