Lionheart (1990) 4K UHD Review

MVD Rewind

4K UHD Release: July 28, 2026

Video: 1.85:1/2160p (HDR)/Color (A.W.O.L. cut); 1.85:1/1080p/Color (theatrical and Leon cuts)

Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo (A.W.O.L. and theatrical cuts); Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 (Leon cut)

Subtitles: English SDH (A.W.O.L. cut); English SDH, French, and Spanish (theatrical cut)

Run Time: 109:06 (A.W.O.L. cut), 104:32 (theatrical cut), 110:17 (Leon cut)

Director: Sheldon Lettich

Upon receiving news that his brother has been seriously injured in Los Angeles, Lyon Gaultier (Jean-Claude Van Damme) deserts the French Foreign Legion from a remote outpost in North Africa. Fleeing from two of the Legion's security force members, who have orders to bring him back at any cost, Lyon reluctantly turns to the illegal, bare-knuckles underground fighting circuit to raise the money he needs to help his brother's family. (From MVD’s official synopsis)

Belgian martial artist and actor Jean-Claude Van Damme’s meteoric career hit its stride with Newt Arnold’s Bloodsport in 1988 and peaked around Roland Emmerich’s Universal Soldier and John Woo’s Hard Target (1992 and ‘93, respectively). Between those, there was a quick series of films released that more or less used that first hit as a template. Everyone outside of the biggest Van Damme fans would be forgiven for confusing these titles, especially Bloodsport, David Worth’s Kickboxer (1989), and Lionheart (1990), which was directed by Sheldon Lettich, who, as a writer, defined the Bloodsport template in the first place.

Lionheart is the result of not fixing what is not yet broken. It doesn’t stand out against the pack, but does what it is meant to do with respectful efficiency. It is, at the very least, a good example of the kind of star-driven, R-rated B-movie that briefly dominated A-list theaters during the late ‘80s and early ’90s. The supporting players and extras are goofy cultural stereotypes, there’s a pop music fueled makeover montage, an uneven theme about poverty in the wake of Reaganonics, and plenty of equal opportunity body-oogling, including the requisite and gratuitous Van Damme butt shot (the only actual nudity in the film). 

While the fights are lacking the intensity and creativity we’d see from Bloodsport or Tsui Hark’s Knock Off (1998) – Lettich is a point-and-shoot type when it comes to coverage and coordinator Rick Avery (working with Van Damme) is better equipped to choreograph brawls than elaborate martial arts spectacle – there are still a lot of them. Van Damme himself delivers one of his better early acting performances, in part because Lyon isn’t the loquacious type, but also because he is surrounded by reliable scene-stealers, including Deborah Rennard and Brian Thompson as ritzy antagonists, Harrison Page as the corner man/sidekick, and a very young little Ashely Johnson (aka: Ellie from the Last of Us video games).

Video

Lionheart debuted on DVD and Blu-ray via barebones Universal discs. MVD premiered their Blu-ray edition (a two-disc set with a DVD copy) in 2018, utilizing the same transfer as the Universal disc. This new collection is the film’s 4K UHD debut and includes three cuts – an extended version that they’re calling the A.W.O.L. cut (despite the title card reading Lionheart) in 2160p, the theatrical cut in 1080p, and a hybrid source even more extended version that they’re calling the Leon cut (again, despite the Lionheart title card), also in 1080p. This review mostly pertains to the UHD and its new, director approved 4K, 16-Bit scan/restoration of the original camera negative. The box mislabeled the 4K transfer as 1.78:1, but it is in the correct 1.85:1.

The images on this page are taken from the included Blu-ray, which features a 1080p version of the new master (one clue is that it is correctly framed at 1.85:1). They’ll give you an idea of what the full 4K version looks like, but, if you want a more direct comparison, check out this caps-a-holic page. This is, in all, a very nice transfer that accurately reproduces the inherent grit of the footage without sacrificing clarity or the sharpness of important details. Some shots are grainier than others, usually based on location and lighting (for instance, exteriors are fuzzier and grittier than interiors), but the HDR upgrade helps mitigate the issue and there are no signs of DNR enhancement. Print damage is minor, but persistent, in the form of tiny black and white flecks.

Audio

The 4K disc’s extended cut comes fitted with the original English (with a bit of French) stereo soundtrack in uncompressed LPCM 2.0. There’s a bit of funny lip sync here and there, but the overall sound quality is balanced with good elemental separation. Composer John Scott’s big and brassy score is a major highlight that doesn’t get in the way of dialogue or effects. The music is uniquely erratic in terms of genre, flopping awkwardly, but charmingly between John Williams-esque adventure ballads, noir-infused jazz motifs, and funky grooves. There are also, of course, several suboptimal ”Eye of the Tiger” type pop-rock ballads peppered throughout for flavor.

On the Blu-ray, the theatrical cut is also presented in LPCM 2.0, while the hybrid cut has 5.1 DVD remix and 2.0 stereo options, but in compressed Dolby Digital.

Extras

Disc 1 (4K UHD)

• A.W.O.L. extended cut (109:06, 4K)

• Commentary with Sheldon Lettich – This new director’s commentary, moderated by Serial at Midnight’s Heath Holland, explores the making of the film, its influence, early development and changes to the script, the locations, Van Damme’s career, and the careers of other cast & crew members.

Disc 2 (Blu-ray)

• Theatrical cut (104:32, HD)

• Leon hybrid extended cut (110:17, HD)

• Commentary with Sheldon Lettich and Harrison Page – This 2015 commentary with the director and actor overlaps with the new track quite a bit, but is generally livelier, thanks to Page’s energy and Lettich being ten years younger at the time (he actually contradicts himself a few times between tracks and interviews). Lettich has more to say about the various cuts of the film, as well.

• MVD 2018 Blu-ray extras

  • Lionheart: The Inside Story (47:28, HD) – Mislabeled The Story of Lionheart on the menu, this extensive making-of featurette includes interviews with Lettich, Van Damme, producer Eric Karson, and actors Page, Deborah Rennard, and Brian Thompson.

  • Inside Lionheart with the Filmmakers and Cast (25:52, HD) – More interviews with Lettich, Karson, Van Damme, Rennard, Thompson, and Page, who offer up a few additional behind-the-scenes anecdotes (I’m honestly not sure why this and the previous featurette weren’t edited together into a larger documentary).

  • Lionheart: Behind the Fights (10:18, HD) – The cast and filmmakers breakdown the choreography and other technical aspects of the action scenes.

• 2015 German Blu-ray extras

  • Interview with director Sheldon Leittch (25:51, HD)

  • Interview with actor Harrison Page (13:04, SD)

  • Video footage from Lettich and Page’s commentary recording (5:39, SD)

  • Behind-the-scene image gallery (4:45, SD)

• 1991 EPK featurette (8:52, SD)

• Promotional clips

  • No Rules (1:29, SD)

  • Bad Neighborhood (1:03, SD)

  • Scottish Foe (1:26, SD)

  • I'll Fight (1:15, SD)

  • I'll Beat This Guy (1:24, SD)

• Theatrical trailer

• MVD trailer reel – Black Eagle (1988), Return of Swamp Thing (1989), Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978)

The images on this page are taken from MVD’s 4K remastered BD – NOT the 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Note that there will be some JPG compression.