The Jean-Claude Van Damme cult classic Lionheart gets a 4K UHD Upgrade Edition loaded with special features.
The Film
I still remember the first time I watched Lionheart. Opening weekend, packed house with my dad at a Sunday Matinee. By its end, the theater erupted into applause. So many mustaches, jean shorts, and mullets were on their feet cheering on Jean-Claude Van Damme as Leon. The film worked hook-line-and-sinker for its target audience. It was an announcement. The rise of JCVD from a fourth-tier action star to a bona fide star on the rise.
Six days from release, French Foreign Legionnaire Leon (Van Damme) risks everything to go AWOL to help his brother after a violent attack on his brother in America. The journey finds Leon desperate for money and forced to fight in an illegal street fight run by Joshua (Harrison Page). Joshua both helps and endangers Leon’s journey and eventual attempts to help his brother’s family. Forced to do the only thing he knows that will help his brother’s family, Leon begins to fight in illegal fighting tournaments at various locales in and around Los Angeles. Scheming fight promoters, Legionnaires in pursuit, and even his own manager all conspire against Leon.
Lionheart remains one of Van Damme’s best films. It’s parse, streamlined story (taken very liberally from Walter Hill’s classic Hard Times), its emotional beats, its action, and its adroit use of Van Damme all contribute to the success of the picture. It’s co-writer/director Sheldon Lettich’s work that pushes this standard by-the-numbers fight picture beyond the standard low-budget action fare. The utilitarian style of direction that Lettich employs recalls director Walter Hill’s own lean, economical style. By going with this approach to the direction and fight choreography, we get a film that feels of the era and more like a film from the 70s or even earlier.
Yes, Lettich and Van Damme’s (he was the co-writer) script relies heavily on Hill’s Hard Times as its inspiration. Not a bad thing, as both actor and director have seemed to learn the right lessons from Hill’s movie. Rather than a terse story of “men being men”, they have written an emotional story of triumph and sacrifice for family. Leon does not fight for glory or even the money per se; he fights for survival. Not just his own survival but that of his brother’s wife and daughter.
Lionheart is almost timelessly sentimental. In the best way possible, it feels as though Lettich and Van Damme want to make the fighting version of The Grapes of Wrath, adding a happy ending with a healthy dose of early 90s capitalism. There is an honest, socially conscious aspect to the film that separates this from anything in the era. It’s done without any sort of grandstanding that doesn’t take it to laughable territory like Segal’s On Deadly Ground four years later.
At its core, Lionheart is an earnest throwback to a forgotten Hollywood Golden Age tradition: the crowd-pleasing Depression-era fight film. The troupe may be old, but Lettich manages to put a shiny new coat on it, reimagining it for the 90s B-movie action crowd. The result is a crowd-pleasing A-Picture on a B-movie budget.
The Transfers
The 4K UHD has a Director-Approved 2025 4K 16-Bit Scan & Restoration of the Original Camera Negative of the extended “A.W.O.L. Cut” of the movie presented in HDR. The 35mm-shot film looks gorgeous on 4K, with none of the insert-shot issues that plagued the original Blu-ray release. This all-new transfer is a near-flawless presentation of the film. There are hardly any defects throughout the entire runtime of the film. The image is crisp, sharp, and without defects. The action film gets a huge uptick in vibrancy and detail because of the HDR encoding. Another huge win for MVD Entertainment’s Laser Collection.
The Extras
They include the following;
- NEW! Audio Commentary by Director Sheldon Lettich moderated by Heath Holland
- Archival audio commentary by Sheldon Lettich & Harrison Page
- ‘The Story of ‘Lionheart’
- ‘Inside ‘Lionheart’ with the Filmmakers and Cast’
- ‘Lionheart: Behind the Fights’
- ‘Making of’ featurette
- Interview with Sheldon Lettich
- Interview with Harrison Page
- ‘Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary’ Archival featurette
- Original Theatrical Trailer
Note: The Lettich/Holland commentary track appears on the 4K UHD disc; the Lettich/Page track and all of the other special features appear on the Blu-ray disc.
The first of two Audio Commentaries is an all-new track by Director Sheldon Lettich, moderated by Heath Holland, which opens with introductions before discussing how important Lionheart is to not only JCVD’s career but the style of 90s action film. Some of the details include: minus a few stock shots in NYC, the entire film was shot in Los Angeles and Las Vegas; the first day of shooting, which was at the Van Nuys Airport, and what he was feeling on that day; the context in which he met JCVD and eventually collaborated on this film; an aborted Stallone French Foreign Legion film he wrote that Stallone never made; the autobiography that Lettich wrote; the process of scouting of all the various locations; the inspiration they took from Walter Hill’s Hard Times; a larger discussion throughout the track of the construction and design of the various fight scenes in the film; a larger discussion about the various other films that Lettich wrote and/or directed; a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film and often how they were cast in the film; and much more.
The second Audio Commentary is an archival track by Sheldon Lettich & Harrison Page. The duo opens with introductions before diving into the various titles of the film, including Leon, Wrong Bet, Full Contact, A.W.O.L., and, of course, Lionheart. Some of the details include a discussion of the two different projects Lettich and Van Damme collaborated on that were about the French Foreign Legion; the various scenes that were cut from the US Cut of the film; the audition process for stunt performers for the fight scenes;
; a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; a larger discussion of the various fight scenes – how they were put together; the various locales around Los Angeles and Las Vegas where they filmed the production; and much more.
Lionheart: The Inside Story (47:28) – is an archival making-of featuring interviews with Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sheldon Lettich, Producer Eric Karson, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, and Brian Thompson. This is what you want in a making-of documentary. Much like the Rewind Collection of Black Eagle release, this doc leaves no stone unturned. There is an honesty here that makes for a fascinating look at the making of what is the movie that really cemented Van Damme as an Action Star. The doc focuses primarily on the script and production of the film.
Inside Lionheart with the Filmmakers and Cast (25:52) – is an archival (produced for the prior MVD’s Blu-ray release) 26-minute documentary that complements The Inside Story focuses more on the scripting, but adds much about the post-production process, release, and reception of the film. One of the most interesting moments is Karson and Lettich discussing how the Negative Pickup informed the politics of the film being re-titled in almost every region from the very horrible title Wrong Bet to Leon to A.W.O.L. to Lionheart in the US.
Lionheart: Behind the Fights (10:18) – is an archival featurette from MVD’s Blu-ray release that complements the prior two documentaries. The 10-minute doc focuses on the development and execution of the fight choreography that Van Damme and Frank Dux (of Bloodsport infamy) created for the film. Fight choreography oftentimes gets the short shift on special features, making this a welcome addition. The only minor complaint is that it isn’t long enough! One would have been even happier if this was double or even triple in length.
‘Making of’ featurette (8:52) – The Archival Making Of featurette is an EPK straight from 1990 with the “Trailer Guy” doing the voiceover explaining everything in all its retro goodness. This making-of is one of the true delights of this set and well worth taking a look at with a healthy amount of b-roll footage and interviews with the cast and crew.
Interview with Sheldon Lettich (25:51) – is an archival interview from a German release. Some of the topics discussed are how he began in the industry as a cinematography student at AFI and how that transitioned over to writing and directing; how being in the Marine Corps helped him with his writing and directing, which eventually led to co-writing Rambo III with Sylvester Stallone and other films; his first impressions of the first cut of Lionheart as a first-time director; working on non-action films; advice for new directors; and much more.
Interview with Harrison Page (13:04) – is an archival interview from a German release. Some of the topics discussed are the preparation Page had done for the role and the audition; working on the two highly emotional scenes in the film; working with director Sheldon Lettich; what does he love about working in the action genre; roles he would like to play he hasn’t tackled yet; and much more.
Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary (5:39) – an archival featurette looks at the opening moments of the beginning of the audio commentary by Lettich and Page.
Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery (4:45) – the gallery consists of production stills, behind-the-scenes photos set to the score of the film.
5 Promotional TV Clips (6:35) – is a clip package given to TV Stations.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for Lionheart (2:06); Black Eagle (2:13); Return of Swamp Thing (1:27); Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (2:11);
The Final Thought
MVD Entertainment continues to give us some of the great cult titles in beautiful 4K UHD editions. Highest possible recommendations!!!