I enjoyed this one. The fight scenes are plentiful and well executed. The very early 90s was when JCVD's career really began to take shape. "AWOL" or "Lionheart," is slightly reminiscent of the Charles Bronson film "Hard Times." The similarity, is that Van Damme competes in these highly illegal but exceptionally dangerous (aren't they usually?) fights against all comers from all walks of life. After the turds he had been producing beforehand, JCVD finally came up with a winner!!

I grew up as a fan of JCVD but watching this over again now in my late 30's I've got to say this is truly a good movie with good musical scores to accompany the emotions. It's not easy to understand the efforts in fighting to keep a family above grounds especially if you haven't a family of your own to provide for. Lionheart helps us to remember that there is still beauty in life worth fighting for even when life isn't fair and fills up with such ugliness. It's what we make of it, either we hide away in the dark or run into the light even if it means going AWOL. This is truly a movie I would keep close to heart, to fight when that's all you can do to keep all that you have left.

Movie Review: "Lionheart: Leon" (1990)Improving with every role given to him since his hit movie "Bloodsport" (1988), when near-future career-peaks are ahead with "Hard Target" (1993) directed by John Woo, martial-arts-actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, at age 29, arrives as character "Lyon" in the streets of New York, fighting his way to chances to change his unless forfeit life as Military traumatized veteran for the better, when director Shelton Lettich, known for being second unit director for Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather: Part 2" starring Al Pacino and Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (1982) starring Harrison Ford, directing to the best of his abilities an original-conceived story by actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, who then shares not only in up to three well-paced hand-to-hand combats his physical acting advantages, when nemesis blonde New York upper class woman Cynthia, performed by Los Angeles born-original Deborah Rennard, tightens the imaginary noose around Lyon's neck with suspense dwells throughout the picture of raising stakes with every fight given to Lyon, when this action-movie tends to satisfy with simple gestures of following a profession for living and holding tight to the value by supporting the people closest to one's heart.Copyright 2018 Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC

"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.