Lionheart (1990)

 Lionheart (1990[1])
Aka: A.W.O.L.; Wrong Bet

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, Lisa Pelikan, Ashley Johnson, Brian Thompson, Abdel Qissi, Michel Qissi
Director:  Sheldon Lettich
Action Director: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Frank Dux, Michel Qissi

Lionheart in some ways feels like a return to form for Van Damme, after the prison thriller Death Warrant. The movie revolves a man who gets involved in an illegal fighting circuit, which is only one or two degrees removed from the Kumite or muay thai matches set in ancient tombs. On the other hand, as director Sheldon Lettich (writer of Bloodsport and director of Double Impact) has said in interviews, the main protagonist's reasons for fighting are drastically different. This is ultimately what becomes the true heart of the film and gives Van Damme opportunities to stretch his acting muscles.

We open with a French cokehead, François (Ash Adams) running afoul of his suppliers in the less-savory parts of Los Angeles. The poor bâtarde gets doused in gasoline and immolated for his troubles. He eventually will succumb to his wounds, which is probably for the best: I can't imagine anyone wanting to continue living with the degree of disfigurement that he was looking at had he actually survived. Unfortunately, that leaves his wife, Helene (Lisa Pelikan, who played the titular character in Jennifer, which was "Carrie but with snakes"), in a lurch: even in 1990 were medical bills unreasonably high and her salary boxing fruits and vegetables will simply not cut it.

Sometime in between François's object lesson in the dangers of flammable materials and his eventually passing, we visit his brother, Lyon (Van Damme), a member of the Foreign Legion serving in Djibouti. François receives a letter from Helene informing him of his sibling's accident and requests a period of leave to see his brother (and presumably help his sister-in-law put things in order). His superior turns him down and Lyon has no choice but to beat up everybody at the outpost and make a break for it. He escapes to the nearest port, where he goes to work on a merchant ship bound for the States.

Lyon eventually finds himself on the streets of New York with no money, no identification, and no idea how he'll make it to Los Angeles. In a stroke of (morbid) luck, he stumbles upon on what must be one of the earlier incarnations of bum fighting. He volunteers for the next fight, easily dispatching a monster of an opponent (James Brewster Thompson, who was in the Japanese film Gunhed). This gets the attention of the "promotor," former pit fighter Joshua (Carnosaur's Harrison Page). Joshua sees potential in Lyon and realizes that in order for him to get to L.A., he'll need to fight for more than a hundred bucks or so at a time. So Joshua takes him to see Cynthia (Deborah Rennard), a real hotshot in the high-stakes fighting circuit. The ease with which he defeats his opponent, Sonny (Jeff Langton, of Final Impact and FutureKick), convinces Cynthia that there's some potential to Lyon "Lionheart" Gaultier.

Lyon and Joshua go to Los Angeles, where he learns of his brother's recent death. Attempts to meet with Helene are fruitless: she blames him for his brother getting into drugs and wants nothing to do with him. However, Lyon realizes that Helene and her daughter, Nicole (Ashley Johnson, of the sitcom "Growing Pains"), are but a hair's breadth from being tossed out on the street. So he decides to go back to fighting in order to raise money to help them find a better life. But the Foreign Legion's agents (including Michel Qissi) are on his tail, and rich-and-powerful people like Cynthia can't always be trusted.

While there are a number of well-choreographed fights that pepper the film at regular intervals, it is the interactions between Lyon and Joshua, plus Lyon and his extended family, from which the film's heart stems. Lyon is not fighting for revenge and honor, but to help his family and take them out of the mean streets of Los Angeles. Joshua, a washed-up has-been who ekes out an existence promoting fights within the dregs of society, develops feelings of loyalty for his "protégé." A lot of it has to do with the sympathy he feels for Lyon's cause, but much of it is driven by the fear that Lyon will be betrayed by Cynthia as he had been years before. As the film progresses, the foursome--Lyon, Joshua, Helene and Nicole--become their own unconventional family.

Van Damme is pretty good as Lyon and gets to demonstrate more real (and deserved) emotion as the film progresses. The standout actor, however, is Harrison Page as the fast-talking, foul-mouthed Joshua. Equally funny and poignant, Page gives Van Damme someone to play off and gives an increasingly heartfelt performance as it becomes clear just how much Cynthia wants to screw them both over. I wonder if it was a fluke that in Kickboxer; Death Warrant; and this film, Van Damme's main friend in an African-American. And like in Death Warrant, said character ends up supplying the film with its best performance.

Once again, Van Damme himself choreographed the fights, with assistance from Frank Dux and Michel Qissi. The first fight scene sets the tone for the rest, with Van Damme taking out a numerous legionaires, including Billy Blanks. It's a nice fight with Van Damme tussling with numerous opponents at once; it's no Jackie Chan, but it's good by Van Damme's standards. His one-on-one matches pit him against a variety of fighters, including a brawny wrestler (Over the Top's Magic Schwarz) and a capoeira expert (Paco Prieto of Only the Strong). The best of these fights is the one against a Scottish brawler set in a car garage where the specators' cars form the fighting ring. That is the most balanced in terms of both fighters' skills, fight length, and showcase for Van Damme's fantastic footwork.

The final fight give us a particularly bloody brawl between him and Abdel Qissi (Michel's brother), a Moroccan boxing champion. As Abdel doesn't have much in the way of kicking skills, their fighting is mainly punching, punching, and more punching. Van Damme does get in a decent kick or two, but doesn't unleash the aerial boots until it's time for Van Damme to stop getting punished and come out on top. He does a lot of jumping roundhouse kicks (as opposed to his usual jumping spinning heel kicks). The fight is actually shorter than I remember it being, and it would be even shorter if the editors didn't repeat every punch from three or four angles. Abdel Qissi is an intimidating opponent, although lacks the "eeee-vil" factor of Tong Po and Chong Li.

Back in 1995 or so, I picked up an issue of Black Belt Magazine that had an article about the best martial arts movies of the 1990s (up to that point). It was from that article that I became familiar with Jackie Chan--no fewer than four of his movies made it onto the list[2]. Lionheart was included on account of its fighting and emotional depth (relative to many Hollywood MA films of that time). I have to say that I agree.

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[1] - The film came out in American theaters in January 1991, but had already seen release in Europe the year before.

[2] - The movies on the list are (in no particular order): Lionheart; Double Impact; Showdown in Little Tokyo; Iron & Silk; Marked for Death; The Perfect Weapon; Police Story III: Supercop; Armour of God 2: Operation Condor; Drunken Master 2; City Hunter; Once Upon a Time in China; and Yes, Madam! (yes, they got the release date wrong on that one).