LIONHEART: EXTENDED EDITION (1990)
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray 2-Disc Special Edition
Label: MVD Rewind Collection
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 109 Minutes 6 Seconds (A.W.O.L. Extended Cut), 104 Minutes 32 seconds (Theatrical Cut), 110 Minutes 17 Seconds (Leon Extended Cut)
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo (UHD, Blu-ray) and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (Blu-ray) with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.851), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Sheldon Lettich,
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, Brian Thompson, Ashley Johnson, Jeff Speakman
Lionheart (1990) is directed by Sheldon Lettich (Double Impact) and stars Jean-Claude Van Damme (Knock Off) stars as Lyon "Lionheart" Gaultier, a French Foreign Legionnaire stationed in Africa, who after receiving word that his drug-dealing brother, who lives in Los Angeles, has been set on fire by sadistic street thugs and is at death's door at the hospital. However, when his superior (George McDaniel, TV's Days of Our Lives) refuses to release him so he can see his brother, and attempts to throw him in a hot box as a deterrent, Lyon isn't having it, violently breaking out of the base and going AWOL. He arrives in the U.S. by way of a shady tramp steamer, but after having been mislead discovers that he's arrived on the wrong coast. Stranded in New York without a cent to his name ends up entering the world of underground street fighting to raise money to get to Los Angeles
With the help of former street-fighter Joshua Eldridge (Harrison Page, Vixen!) he climbs the ranks of the underground fight club, dubbed "Lionheart", catching the eye of fight organizer Cynthia Caldera (Deborah Rennard, Land of Doom) and her square-jawed right-hand man Russell (Brian Thompson, Cobra). She offers him a free trip to Los Angeles if he will continue to fight for her, and he reluctantly agrees, but upon arriving n L.A. discovers that is brother has already died from the injuries he sustained. When he tracks down his brother's widow Hélène (Lisa Pelikan, Ghoulies) and young daughter Nicole (Ashley Johnson, Otis), she wants nothing to do with him or the money he's offering to help pay the stack of medical debt the family has incurred. He continues fighting and trying to secretly help them through a insurance payout ruse, meanwhile having to evade a pair of the French Foreign Legion's security forces, Sergeant Hartog (Vojislav Govedarica, Alligator II: The Mutation) and Moustafa (Michel Qissi, Bloodsport), who have been tasked to bring him back to Africa to face court marshal.
The big draw here is the series of street fights Van Damme engages in, an oddball assortment of brute fighters in a variety of interesting locations, including by way of a dirty-fighting Scotsman, another brute inside a glass enclosed racquetball court, a poorly drained inground swimming pool, and another in a circle of cars with their headlights on, the ultimate fight taking place between Lionheart and a gigantic pony-tailed Samoan named Attila (Abdel Qissi, The Quest). The fight sequences are quite entertaining, lots of people getting thrown through panes of glass, nut punches, and Van Damme's patented roundhouse kicks, splits, flexibility and reverse spin-kicks with plenty of slow-motion finishing moves.
This flick also offered a side of Van Damme I've not seen previously, as I previously discussed in past review for whatever reason, in my youth I avoided certain action flicks and Van Damme was on the list. I've only now been catching up to his work thanks to the MVD 4K restoration and reissues, and I've seen his action and comedy chops, but this time around his character has a softer side, he's really looking out for his widowed sister-in-law and kid, and he has some decent chops for it, too, color me slightly surprised, giving the flick an emotional core I was not expecting. The fight sequences are still bad-ass though, perhaps not the best staged or most impactful of his career, but it all comes together rather entertainingly.
Audio/Video: The A.W.O.L. extended cut of Lionheart arrives on 4K Ultra HD from MVD with a Director Approved 2025 4K Scan & Restoration sourced from a 16-Bit Scan of the Original Camera Negative framed in in 1.78:1 widescreen, in 2160p Ultra HD with HDR10 color-grade. The film look solid, with appreciable film grain, strong blacks and accurate looking colors throughout. Audio comes by way of English LPCM 2.0 Stereo as do the Theatrical cut. The extended Leon extended cut gets both the original 5.1 DVD remix and 2.0 stereo audio options in lossy Dolby Digital. The dialogue fares well in the mix, while the score by John Scott (Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes) hits the late-80s notes of action and schmaltz quite well, and is well-represented in the mix.
Extras on the 4K UHD disc which only includes A.W.O.L. extended cut, plus a new Audio Commentary by Director Sheldon Lettich moderated by Heath Holland of the Cereal At Midnight YouTube channel for the extended A.W.O.L. cut. The Blu-ray includes both the original 104 -min Theatrical Cut plus the 110-min extended Leon cut, the latter of which includes the 2015 Audio Commentary by Sheldon Lettich & Harrison Page. We also get some substantial archival extras, including some 2018 featurettes from the previous MVD Blu-ray edition by way of the 48-min The Story of 'Lionheart (2018), 26-min Inside Lionheart with the Filmmakers and Cast (2018), 10-min Lionheart: Behind the Fights (2018) featuring director Sheldon Lettich, producer Eric Karson, and actors Jean Clade Van Damme, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, and Brian Thompson.
Ported over from the 2105 German Blu-ray are the 9-min Archival Making of featurette, 26-min Archival Interview with Sheldon Lettich, 13-min Archival Interview with Harrison Page, and a 5-min Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary Archival featurette, plus the Original Theatrical Trailer.
The 2-disc 4k UHD/Blu-ray arrives in a dual-hubbed black keepcase with a Reversible Wrap with basically the same key artwork but the option to display it with wither the MVD Rewind Collection or 4K LaserVision Collection branding with different spine numbers to correspond. This release also includes a Limited Edition Slipcover that gives it the look of a worn/bubbled CED video disc. Inside there is a Collectible Lionheart “4K LaserVision” Mini-Poster that has the retro/worn looking the look of a CED (Capacitance Electronic Disc) video disc with a bubbled-label.
Special Features:
- Director Approved 2025 4K Scan & Restoration (2160p 16-Bit Scan of the Original Camera Negative) of the extended “A.W.O.L. Cut” of the movie presented in 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio in HDR
- Audio: LPCM 2.0 Stereo (4K + Blu-ray) and 5.1 Surround (Blu-ray)
- NEW! Audio Commentary by Director Sheldon Lettich moderated by Heath Holland
- Archival audio commentary by Sheldon Lettich & Harrison Page (4K & Blu-ray)
- 'The Story of 'Lionheart' (47:38)
- 'Inside 'Lionheart' with the Filmmakers and Cast' (25:51)
- 'Lionheart: Behind the Fights' (10:18)
- Archival 'Making of' featurette (8:53)
- Archival Interview with Sheldon Lettich (25:52)
- Archival Interview with Harrison Page (13:05)
- 'Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary' Archival featurette (5:40)
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- 5 Promotional Clips (7:01)
- MVD Trailer Reel: Black Eagle (1988), Return of Swamp Thing (1989), Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978)
- Collectible Lionheart “4K LaserVision” Mini-Poster
Reversible Cover Artwork (with original Rewind artwork on the reverse side)
- Limited Edition Slipcover (First Pressing Only)
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