{"id":28354,"date":"2018-06-26T20:47:18","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T00:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=28354"},"modified":"2018-06-26T22:49:02","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T02:49:02","slug":"lionheart-1990-mvd-rewind-collection-blu-ray-dvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/26\/lionheart-1990-mvd-rewind-collection-blu-ray-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionheart (1990): 2 Disc Special Edition [Blu-Ray\/DVD]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Whether you know it as \u201cL\u00e9on,\u201d or \u201cLionheart,\u201d or \u201cWrong Bet,\u201d or \u201cFull Contact,\u201d or \u201cAWOL,\u201d or \u201cLion,\u201d it\u2019s tough to argue that this is one of Van Damme\u2019s sillier roles. And this is a man who once played twins in an action movie vehicle (\u201cDouble Impact<\/strong><\/a>\u201d is the best Van Damme movie ever made, I\u2019ll argue that until I\u2019m blue in the face). \u201cLionheart\u201d is such an odd movie that I fondly remember loving back in 1990, but now in both versions, it\u2019s kind of a weird movie that skips through various sub-genres of action cinema that feel awkward. At one point it even feels kind of like a \u201cRocky\u201d wannabe.<\/p>\n

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After his long lost brother is burnt to death during a bad drug deal, Van Damme as L\u00e9on Gaultier, gets a letter from his sister in law, while in the French Foreign Legion. Despite wanting to go see his brother, his superiors insist that he finish his tour, but L\u00e9on goes AWOL and conveniently trudges through the desert for what seems like a day, and ends up at the docks of a steam ship that happens to be going to New York. There, L\u00e9on realizes he has no money and is having trouble tracking his sister down, and conveniently walks in to a group of homeless people staging fights and betting money. Using his massive martial arts skills, L\u00e9on with his new friend Joshua turn him in to a bonafide street fighting champion. He soon begins combating various warriors as a means of earning money for his family.<\/p>\n

Along the way he gets involved with evil wealthy people, seeks out the people that murdered his brother, and dodges two soldiers looking for him from the Foreign Legion. That\u2019s a lot of plot! While a lot of Van Damme\u2019s movies were more hyper violent and vicious movies, he also starred in a lot of movies that set him as a family man or someone fighting for a noble cause. This isn\u2019t a bad thing, but when you compare it with the dark and brutally violent \u201cDeath Warrant,\u201d this comes off kind of goofy every now and then. The whole idea is clumsy to begin with, and even begins to feel like a weird \u201cRocky\u201d clone with L\u00e9on overcoming the odds in a climactic final fight. There are also some odd plot holes; it\u2019s never quite clarified how he ends up in New York, and how he made it across the African desert in a mere matter of hours on foot without being detected.<\/p>\n

That said, the smaller details are less important and \u201cLionheart\u201d is a pretty okay ation movie about street fighting that\u2014you know–probably<\/em><\/strong> should have been called \u201cStreet Fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are various cuts of \u201cLionheart\u201d all over the world, but the MVD Rewind Collection supplies fans with two versions, the US theatrical cut, and the nearly two hours Director\u2019s Cut. Both feel pretty different tonally, and it\u2019s not a guarantee the Director\u2019s Cut is the definitive Cut at all. \u201cThe Story of Lionheart\u201d is a forty seven minute segment with a series of interviews with Van Damme and various others. \u201cInside \u201cLionheart\u201d with the Filmmakers and Cast\u201d is a twenty five minute continuation of the previous feature with more insight in to the production.<\/p>\n

\u201cLionheart: Behind the Fights\u201d is a ten minute look at the action scenes in the film, and there\u2019s an archival behind the scenes with candid footage and interviews. There\u2019s an interview with Sheldon Lettitch, co-star Harrison Page, and a Behind the Scenes look at the making of the audio commentary. There\u2019s a Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery, Five Promotional TV Clips summing up to ten minutes, and finally an audio commentary with Sheldon Lettitch, and Harrison Page. The latter is available on the extended cut only. Finally, there\u2019s a folded mini-poster is included in the keepcase.<\/p>\n