Lionheart (1990) - Retrospective / Review 

I was 8 when I seen this movie. My uncle took me on my birthday. This movie will always have a special place in my heart.

I’ve just got to tell you, you’re the kind of reviewer that I love. You don’t spend your time trashing anyone’s craftsmanship but rather give us insight into all the aspects of the production of the film. Thumbs up to you. Greetings from a happy subscriber

"The whole bet's on Attila!" "WRONG BET."

next JCVD retrospective should be Double Impact

Hey Oliver Thanks for mentioning my video. Your reviews are really awesome. And Lionheart is probably one of my favorite movies ever!

"That dude gon' kill yo' ass, Lionheart. Don't you know that?" I loved this movie back in the day, JCVD was the man. I've checked and haven't seen it, could you do "Double Impact?"

scene where he gives the lil homeless girl and her mom money always gets me all chocked up even to this day.

One of Van Damme's more underrated films during his purple patch of the late 80's and early 90's, probably his best performance too and more heartfelt efforts as well for a action film anyway. Had a great buddy partnership with Harrison Page as Joshua, as his manager. The female villain wasn't great, but the action scenes especially the last one was fun. Not up there with Bloodsport or Universal Solider as Van Damme's best but deserves a watching.

This is one of my favorite movies. Lyon's nobility to no end fighting for his family, his friendship with Joshua, and the score really gave the film so much emotion and set it apart. Great reviews Oliver, I enjoy your retrospectives nearly or as much as the films themselves which is really saying something.

A 30 minute examination of Lionheart? I love it! Great job! I had forgotten about how much I used to love this movie.

One of my favorite JCVD too . I think it’s one of his best overall. The story , score and characters are really good . “Ole Joshua “ and the family drama really adds to it . Plus it’s cool to see JCVD kicking A$$ in dad jeans 😎.

These reviews are fantastic. I've been watching all of them, even the ones for the films I haven't watched. Keep it up mate!

the soundtrack its really great , I don't know how many times I watch this movie when I was a kid , this is one of my favorites JCVD movies

JCVD is great I love how they always have to explain his accent. Death warrant is my favorite example.

Replicant was one of those direct-to-DVD movies that was actually pretty decent Van Damme film

Lionheart was one my favorite martial art films of the 90s. I rented several times on VHS. In fact I rented the movie so many times the clerk at the VHS rental store referred to me as lionheart.

Thanks for reviewing this one. I still get goosebumps and teary-eyed after rewatching Lionheart.

I always look forward to the trailers you put at the end. This one is my favorite

really glad they went with the orchestral score.

This was the best surprise today. No idea we were getting a new retrospective and another Van Damme at that!

Hard to find review like ur these days

this is a hugely underrated movie, great characters and a lot of great moments also quite emotional as you get invested in Lyon who is a bit naive and just trying to do the right thing

I watched this movie so many times as a teenager, I absolutely love this movie and probably my favorite Van Damme film, lm looking forward to watching the Quest retrospective after this

Harrison page in his legendary role, maybe one of the finest acting scenes esp the ending & his superb lines /emotions, I'm not joking..

Awesome review bro it's one of my favorite movies ever

Glad to see another review. In the last few months you became my no.1 favourite reviewer, even ahead of Redlettermedia which is saying a lot because I followed and liked their content for years now. Fantastic, professional work. Keep it going.

I LOVED this Movie as a Kid, still do.

For the uncut version, you can now get the MVD Collection blu-ray which contains both the theatrical cut & uncut version

His peak film, period. Best overall fights, interesting story, good child actor to pull at the heart strings, fun buddy film with Joshua (faster swearer in the world), and an excellent score.

man we used to geek when we saw the trailers for a new Van Damme movie. i remember this one well. we would call everybody telling them. miss the late 80s early 90s

Khiladiyon ka Khiladi had it's inspiration in it, I saw Lion Heart in early 2Ks on AXN in India. That was a great time.

Great review Oliver. However, I think that Replicant was one of his better direct2dvd movies and certainly better than some of his cinematic releases in the mid to late 90's (Knock Off, Double Team, Universal Soldier: The Return). Double Impact would make a great review.

Nice work Oliver I'm always really impressed with your vids really well put together and well researched you are deffo one of my fav reviewers on RU-vid

A lot of people rank this as his best movie. Well, back then at least. I think it's due to the variety of fights he has although personally, I always loved Kickboxer

So many titles. In Italy, ironically, came out as "Lionheart: Scommessa Vincente (=Winning Bet)"

thanks for putting the spotlight on a title I've completely forgotten, your reviews never dissapoint.

I remember my dad taking me to see this movie, great feeling and memory tied to this movie.

This is my mom's favorite Van Damme movie. The scenes with the little girl and Van Damme are great. I remember my mom crying towards the end when Van Damme told his niece that he wasn't going to stay only for the legionaries to let him go at the end. Double Impact was another film where we saw how good Van Damme can be with dialogue as Chad and Alex were both polar opposites of each other.

Oliver Harper, you sir, are an outstanding gentlemen for your work on these retrospectives. I enjoy watching them and your knowledge and dedication are like no other. I just wanted to express my gratitude. Please continue to produce more of these!

Watched this on VHS all the time as a kid and loved it, has a special place in my heart.

Brian Thompson is most remembered for his role as the nightslasher in cobra.

Saw that one in the theatres when i was a kid.. How time fly's.

LOVE the channel man, don't know how you did it but every time I hear the music it instantly gives me a 80's/90's feel.

I grew up on van dame vhswatching him with my pops. he will always be a legend, very underrated actor in my opinion.

Great work, Oliver!! You should do a retrospective review for Double Impact. It was my favorite Van Damme movie as a kid.

I love your reviews! I grew up on jcvd movies they have a spot in my heart for ever so I can really appreciate all the great trivia and facts you bring to your reviews

Van Damme's best film. Makes me cry every time I watch it.

Love your vids...your vids take me back when i was a child...when my dad would take us to the local home video...he would always bring home a a Jcvd movie

Just watched this on Amazon Prime. Made my day. Please review Double Impact and Nowhere to Run

i was under 10 yrs old when I first watched this movie I was probably 4 when it came out lol but man the combination of Joshua and Juan Claude still brings tear's to my eye's, it was and is still incredible acting in my opinion, maybe because I was young and I didn't understand life it still brings back memories and instill at a early age to never give up and that family was more important than anything. great story, I wasn't too much into the fighting but I love your take on the comparison on what was out at the time vs Lion Heart. Ill def check out Street Fighter 2 lol sounds like a good laugh, I'm just happy people still praise this film. GREAT BREAKDOWN and awesome detail to uncut option's.

I saw this for more than 20 y ago, and I looked at maybe 3 times at least. I liked it, I remember atmospheric music. Good film, the product of his own time, and gengre :)

My 2nd favorite JCVD movie after Bloodsport.

This looks like a pretty solid film. Growing up in the '90s, I avoided most Van Damme films because they just seemed like quick, cheesy cash-ins. Thanks to your reviews though it looks like I've got a few legit ones I need to check out.

one of my fav movies of all time

Jcvd best movies were his first low budget movies. His legend lives and dies with these movies. He really made it big.

You may be the best film and soundtrack reviewer on RU-vid.

Excellent review Oliver, keep up the great work.

Great Retrospective/Review Oliver, this one really took me by surprise. I didn't see a Preview of this on RU-vid anywhere. Anyway this movie looks pretty good. Score sounds epic and grand for such a small scale story, Van Dam's acting still shows signs of improvement in the early days, and the story seems action packed and emotional. May want to check this one out.

Seems like every final fight in a JCVD movie plays out exactly the same. He starts off getting his ass kicked for a few minutes until he makes a miraculous comeback.

Your reviews are the best, keep up the good work!

Fun fact: The actor who plays Ty in the 1990 arcade game Pit-Fighter is one of the guys in the first fight under the bridge. Given the similarities between the game and the film, it's a hell of a coincidence.

Great review mate, one of my favourite van damne movies, his best I think! This is how streetfighter should be more like. Great work!

One of my fave Van Damme movies this one, to me it'll always be A.W.O.L though. It''s funny you mentioned the connection between this and SF II as, as a youngster discussing how you could make a decent Street fighter movie I would use this film as an example lol. Another great review. :)

They should have definitely kept the part with Cynthia visiting him in the hospital and seeing that he has an injury. Because she seems to know that there is something wrong with him and sets up all the bets at the end of the movie. I never understood how she would assume Van Damme had an issue. And how Attila knew to hit him in the ribs.

Great episode Oliver, this was one of my favorites movies growing up and by far, the best Van Damme's movie of all times

I love your passion Oliver harper, please keep it up!

Great review as always; if you ever get the chance, watch "Only the Strong". It's perfect 90s fighting cheese goodness!

I just made a Lionheart video myself and one of the commenters pointed me to your video. Great video, I just subbed!

I thought I had seen all his flicks of this vintage growing up, and thought I had not seen this till watching your video! So THIS is AWOL!

Such an outstanding soundtrack. One of my favourites.

Dude, you’re really good man. Thank you for this. One of my favorite movies

Hi Oliver I really like the review. This is one of my favorite Van Damme movies. It has a really good story and I love the score. I agree that the ending of the movie is very uplifting with the score. I think the fight scenes are good not as good as "Bloodsport". I think Van Damme was going for something different with his character in this movie. Notice how he gets beat up a lot in this movie and he doesn't do the splits or any of his trademark jump spinning split kicks and thanks for mentioning that the uncut version is worth getting. Anyway I Love The Movie and Great Review.

Yep, Oliver Harper would sure be good at writing essays, another comprehensive & informative review

Bless you Oliver.

Thanks Oliver. Please do a review of Fortress from 1992

Great Retrospektive Oliver. its always a Pleasure to watch your videos. I Remember that in the good old VHS Days this Movie was very popular in Germany in the Rental Stores. I was too young too see it at the Time but my father took me every weekend to the local Video Rental Store and they had many Copys from ,,Leon,, on the shelfs. I think Leon is one of Van Damme best Movies he made. Ok the Story is simple nothing new,but entertaining with good Fight Scenes. I heard that they made a Remake of it. Lets see

This review is deep. Great job!!!

great review as always. i loved this film and still do!!!

Doesn't the main theme sound like "I can wait forever", from Air Supply? Oliver, I try to share you channel every time I have the chance. You're doing such an amazing job. I've been watching and re watching your reviews for the last 2 months. Mostly of the movies u review are my childhood's favorites. Including Superman and Ghostbusters. Thank you so much and please do not stop your great work!

It was also known as Lion: The streetfighter.

Nice that you mention JCVD, which indeed demonstrates that JCVD can act. A precursor to that movie, where I detected this is "The Secret Adventures of Gustave Klopp" , aka Narco. in case you haven't check it yet. Best regards from Belgium and keep up your good work!

I watched this movie so much as a kid. I loved it so much. imo its one of the best van dam movies.

It's about time that you did another review. I really enjoy these and btw Black Eagle is a Sho Kosogi vehicle not Jcvd. :-)

Fun Fact: The Brazilian capoeira fighter in the pool scene (who also played the villian in Only the Strong) was banned from international competitions for (allegedly) purposefully killing an opponent in a match. After Lionheart, Van Damn was inspired to learn capoeira in Brazil where he met Mestre Ceasar (who also had a small part in Only the Strong) and was cast as a fighter in The Quest.

the music is indeed good and adds a lot to the movie.

The fights may not be that technical but you really feel the impact of the hits with the quick cut choreography and sound effects. Good review.

Great work as always :)

Last song when he came to see crowd is brilliant

Love your reviews

It's pretty safe to say that a small cameo in The Avengers wasn't Ashely Johnson's best-known role, even in 2016 when this video was made.

Ashley Johnson also voiced Ellie in The Last of Us :)

Lionheart is his Best movie. A lot of heart in it. I cry every time I see it. 😅

good stuff oliver!... i use to rent this movie all the time... i remember using my gi joes to recreate the fight scenes... good times lol

Gotta love those multi angle beatings in this flick....and I love it.

Another great retrospective. You should be hired to cut trailers, you rock!

This bye far is a movie that gives credit to Van Dam. forgetting the fighting of coarse just the fact of what he had to go through just to protect a family that basically hated him

Love your reviews Oliver and the impressive Van Damme collection. Have you ever thought of doing A Double Impact review? I love this film and it is my second favourite Van Damme movie aside from Bloodsport

Saw it as a kid, and still one of my favs of his.

Holy shit!! Are there any The Last of Us fans here? Lionheart is one of my favourite childhood movies, seeing your video puts me in a nostalgia coma lol You just made me realise that the child actress in Lionheart also voiced Ellie in TLoU which is my favourite videogame of all time (just played through it again recently) man... I still need some time to let that one sink in. No wonder Ellie is such a badass she learned from the one and only JCVD

😀 Oliver Harper is the best place to come and enjoy a classic movie review JCVD is the best lion heart great movie