Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

classicsoncall Jean-Claude Van Damme's movies may offer a lot of excitement but no one can claim they're realistic. The human body could never withstand the kind of punishment his character Lyon takes in this picture, much less what he dishes out to any of his opponents. Probably the only accurately staged fight here was the very first one in the underground garage when Lyon dispatched his opponent with a single blow to the crotch. That would actually have done the job for real.You know, there was a real creepy scene there at the swimming pool fight when Lyon smacked the guy so hard he splattered blood on a blonde spectator. She licked the blood off her finger! You think maybe she hadn't heard of AIDS all the way back in 1990? And how about that Attila? To me he looked like a young Gorilla Monsoon when he first hit the WWWF in the early Sixties. So much so that I thought it could have been Monsoon's son, but checking the credits his name is Abdel Qissi. Still, I don't think I'd mess with the guy.Well there's only one reason to catch a flick from Van Damme or contemporary Stephen Seagal, and that's for martial arts mayhem that's never far removed from any scene. Seagal is more in the vein of actual street fighter, whereas Van Damme's technique on screen requires a lot more choreography. Which the camera loves, making it look like he's delivering the same roundhouse kick three or four times when he only did it once.

Adam Peters (62%) Without doubt one of my favourite early(ish) Van Damme movies that is so much more like Street fighter the video game than the actual Street fighter film. This is nuts and bolts late 80's early 90's action B-movie fun right from the very beginning. Van Damme is on physical top form with some impressive moves from the many fights featured, the story is good simple action movie stuff, and even though this is clearly a lowish budgeted film it's always watchable and entertaining. Performance wise this isn't anything of course worth speaking of, but Harrison Page is good fun as the sleazy manager, while Deborah Rennard gets plenty of screen time wearing some of the periods' more curious fashions. Overall any true of Mr Damme should certainly check this out.

Prismark10 AWOL also known as Lionheart shows us Van Damme just on the cusp of hitting stardom. By this time he had a loyal following for what were low budget martial arts films that got a loyal following on VHS and did well in the fledgling satellite movie channels market.Lyon Gaultier (Van Damme) escapes his post in Djibouti with the French Foreign Legion when his brother is set on fire by drug dealers in LA. His brother's wife rebuffs him and and two agents are pursuing him to drag him back to the Foreign Legion.Once in the USA he stumbles into the underground fight scene which he quickly becomes successful at and soon enlists a street hustler as a manager, Joshua (Harrison Page) who gives him the nickname Lionheart.His success attracts the attention of a fight promoter Cynthia (Deborah Rennard) who gets Lyon for several no holds barred street fights. However it seems the real action is on the side bets and although he is her champion she is not averse to betting against him.Lyon in the meantime is trying to get money together for his sister in law and his niece for which Joshua is used to inform them that its proceeds from an insurance policy.The film has several good action sequences allowing Van Damme to display some of his signature moves. You have fight scenes set in an underground car park and more memorably in a half empty swimming pool. The combat scenes are well choreographed with even some humour thrown in in the final segment.The storyline is rather so-so and the script is just about passable. If in doubt the writers put some cursing in. Van Damme's acting would get better in time but here its still weak. You can see how even a few years later Dolph Lundgren would out-act him in Universal Soldier.Still there is enough fight scenes allowing Van Damme to excel at what he does best. Rennard best known for years as JR Ewing's loyal secretary Sly in Dallas provides sassiness as the scheming fight promoter.

slightlymad22 I know this movie as "A.W.O.L Absent Without Leave" but I have also seen it called Wrong Bet and Lionheart. This was one of the first movies I saw in 1990 knowing who Jean Claude Van Damme was, after previously seeing "Blood Sport" and "Kickboxer". Along with those two this helped set him on the road to stardom. Watching it today, I still think it is one of his best performances and best movies in general. Sure it's cheaply made and some of the acting is a bit dodgy but it's a lot of fun.Plot In A Paragraph: Leon Gaultier is a deserter from the Foreign Legion arriving in New York . He finds his brother at death's door in L.A and his sister-in-law without the money needed to pay for medical care for her husband and to maintain her child. To earn the money needed, Gaultier decides to take part in some very dangerous under ground fights. Whilst Van Damme is the star, Harrison Page steals the show as his friend/manager Joshua, I think he is fantastic. Having previously starred opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sly Stallone, Brian Thompson stars opposite the new action star in the block (at the time) Deborah Rennard does a fine job as Cynthia.