Jean-Claude Van Damme's movies may offer a lot of excitement but no one can claim they're realistic. The human body could never withstand the kind of punishment his character Lyon takes in this picture, much less what he dishes out to any of his opponents. Probably the only accurately staged fight here was the very first one in the underground garage when Lyon dispatched his opponent with a single blow to the crotch. That would actually have done the job for real.You know, there was a real creepy scene there at the swimming pool fight when Lyon smacked the guy so hard he splattered blood on a blonde spectator. She licked the blood off her finger! You think maybe she hadn't heard of AIDS all the way back in 1990? And how about that Attila? To me he looked like a young Gorilla Monsoon when he first hit the WWWF in the early Sixties. So much so that I thought it could have been Monsoon's son, but checking the credits his name is Abdel Qissi. Still, I don't think I'd mess with the guy.Well there's only one reason to catch a flick from Van Damme or contemporary Stephen Seagal, and that's for martial arts mayhem that's never far removed from any scene. Seagal is more in the vein of actual street fighter, whereas Van Damme's technique on screen requires a lot more choreography. Which the camera loves, making it look like he's delivering the same roundhouse kick three or four times when he only did it once.

I've never been a fan of van Damme (I'm die-hard Bruce Lee). This is one of his 'more human/humane' films. He goes to help family in distress. That's fine. He has compassion and empathy, and is probably a nice guy.However even 20 years ago I didn't like his fight choreography, and I like it less now. You can see the fighters telegraphing their moves. vD is so SLOW... He's like baby elephant. By the time he's completed one round house manoeuvre his opponent t could have ended the fight. His movement sequences are illogical. His opponents made to look stupid.But the final fight scene takes the cake. vD is supposed to have a BROKEN rib; not merely cracked but broken. He is being beaten up by this Attila idiot. Spends half the fight having his broken rib bashed repeatedly. Then he ends up making moves that would tax a fully fit and healthy martial artist. Leg movements intense and rapid. He should have been bleeding out and in agony, not winning the fight. Even for vD fantasy fight choreography this was Alice in Wonderland stuff.This film gets 5 for the human story. The rest even by vD ropey standards was pure bunkum...

When he learns of his brother near death(I won't give away the means - let's just say, this grabs you right from the start), Lyon(Van Damme, playing to his strengths as a silent, imposing physical presence, reserved and driven; he also wrote the story, and it's clearly a personal project) deserts from the French Foreign Legion to make it to LA to help out his family, including his sister-in-law, Helene(Pelikan, determined and dignified). After earning his way to the US via labor on a boat, he has to get some money to get to them. How does someone accomplish that without ID and whilst fleeing the military? Well, he soon finds an illegal street fight...This is a bleak, gritty film. Yes, our lead's a badass, but he takes beatings and has to suffer to make his way. We're largely spared the extreme endurance and ability of these star-vehicles. Tense, ambient exploration of the underground environment, where one is at the mercy of one's contacts, and gladiatorial battles for the amusement of rich people from various countries is a way of life. The one glimmer of light and humanity through it all is his cute niece, Nicole(Johnson, optimistic and curious; a tremendous talent, and not only for her age).All of the acting is good or better. He befriends Joshua(Page, an injured retiree from the field) and works for Russell(Thompson, as usual a powerful figure - at least when he's given as little dialog as here) and his employer, Cynthia(Rennard, a sensual organizer). The female roles in this hold their own - fiercely protective of their loved ones, not needing "rescuing", and barely objectified(yes, one scene with bikinis... and still, it might be more the men who are there for us to look at, given all the half-naked guys taking each other on) without their sexuality being gone. Every character is a human being. Martial arts are great, choreography and execution. Technical aspects are average. The running time is 100 minutes without credits, or 104 with.There is a lot of bloody violence, some disturbing content and brief male nudity in this. The DVD comes with trailers for Rent a Cop, Larger than Life and Moving Target. I recommend this to fans of the star, action flicks and/or realistic, credible depictions of the shady sides of modern society. 7/10

"Lionheart" is one of those rare movies that are so clichéd you can know it by heart without even having seen it. Nobody watches Jean-Claude Van Damme movies for their deep characters and inventive plots, but "Lionheart" is literally just "Bloodsport" with a less cool title. Van Damme joining an obscure fighting circuit, befriending a wacky sidekick, being chased down by his government, having to beat a grotesquely evil fighter that killed all his previous opponents, deja-vu anyone? "Kickboxer" was pretty similar too but at least those makers had the decency/insanity to have the characters fight with broken glass, this movie just totally phones it in. Van Damme also has to do quite a lot of drama scenes in this one, and let's just say I get why he's not on Broadway. Doesn't this movie have anything going for it then? Well, moving the action to LA was a pretty good idea, and the ending fight is pretty exciting too (mainly due to the cheesy audience reactions). That's all I've got though, sadly. Actually seeing "Bloodsport" again would be a much safer bet.