X
- 1991
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 1 h 48 m
- 1991
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 1 h 48 m
Summary An Ex-French Soldier (Jean-Claude Van Damme) begins participating in underground street fights in order to make money for his brother's family.
Directed By: Sheldon Lettich
Written By: Stefani Warren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sheldon Lettich
- 1991
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 1 h 48 m
- 1991
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 1 h 48 m
Lionheart
41
6.2
Where to Watch
Summary An Ex-French Soldier (Jean-Claude Van Damme) begins participating in underground street fights in order to make money for his brother's family.
Directed By: Sheldon Lettich
Written By: Stefani Warren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sheldon Lettich
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
41
10% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
60% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
30% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
41
10% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
60% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
30% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
I found myself enjoying Lionheart, mostly because Van Damme is appealing and easy to root for. I like the steady, oddly unjudgmental look that crosses his face when he's about to beat someone to a pulp. [12 Jan 1991, p.C3]
By never fessing up to its own bloodlust, Lionheart is, at bottom, chickenhearted.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 18 User Ratings
6.2
44% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
50% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
6% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 18 User Ratings
6.2
44% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
50% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
6% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
But there are kicks a-plenty besides the times J-C flings his tootsies of terror at opponents. [14 Jan 1991, p.6D]
Although it's possible to enjoy isolated sequences of LIONHEART, this is not one of martial arts superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme's better kick-ass vehicles. Sleekly produced and densely plotted, it lacks the excitement of the earlier Van Damme flicks which had a less calculated aura about them.
Being able to kick people in the head, at least while they’re standing up, is no negligible talent--though Lionheart is a pretty negligible movie. It has that grotesquely off-scale exaggeration of many post-'80s action movies.
Van Damme, who has nonetheless made eight films in six years, including "Bloodsport," "Cyborg" and "Kickboxer." His looks are memorable but his acting skills stunningly limited, confined mostly to the flexing, seething and pouting realm. Should anyone be in the market for an all-new Hercules, Mr. Van Damme might at the very least take a number. But when it comes to even the minimally dramatic events of Lionheart, he's in over his head.
Van Damme himself, a graduate of the blank-stare school of acting, is so without emotional inflection on the screen that his most affecting moment in this film, if one is to judge from a preview audience's reaction, is when he drops a bathrobe for a couple of seconds of magnificent gluteal exposure.
