Jean Claude Van Damme stars in this action tale of a Legionere gone AWOL to sort out his families financial problems (by way of bare knuckle fighting of course). This is probably J C Van Damme's best film in terms of overall pace and plot although the dialogue and acting are still fairly clunky at times.
The action is good although I found the final fight rather disappointing, as the end opponent wasn't really that good and had some ludicrous side burns that just made me laugh (this movie is worth seeing to laugh at this guy alone). If this film had had someone with the presence of say Bolo Yeung who stared with Van Damme in Bloodsport it would have improved the movie no end as some of his opponents are a little bland. But to be honest thats just nit picking in what is a pretty fun piece of action cinema. Support acting is good Harrison Page as the manager with a heart and Lisa Pelikan as the hard up sister do well with little material. Deborah Rennard is OK as the hard nosed promoter super b**ch who just happens to look fantastic in the tiny skirts she is given to wear (does every fight promoter turn up to meetings in a bikini!?).
Overall there's not a lot to say about this movie if you like action films you'll like this, it's not ground breaking but it does what it needs to good action, reasonable plot and Van Damme's best acting performance to date. 6/10 Note - In the UK this is known as AWOL but it variously known as Lionheart and the full AWOL: Absent With Out Leave in other regions
The action is good although I found the final fight rather disappointing, as the end opponent wasn't really that good and had some ludicrous side burns that just made me laugh (this movie is worth seeing to laugh at this guy alone). If this film had had someone with the presence of say Bolo Yeung who stared with Van Damme in Bloodsport it would have improved the movie no end as some of his opponents are a little bland. But to be honest thats just nit picking in what is a pretty fun piece of action cinema. Support acting is good Harrison Page as the manager with a heart and Lisa Pelikan as the hard up sister do well with little material. Deborah Rennard is OK as the hard nosed promoter super b**ch who just happens to look fantastic in the tiny skirts she is given to wear (does every fight promoter turn up to meetings in a bikini!?).
Overall there's not a lot to say about this movie if you like action films you'll like this, it's not ground breaking but it does what it needs to good action, reasonable plot and Van Damme's best acting performance to date. 6/10 Note - In the UK this is known as AWOL but it variously known as Lionheart and the full AWOL: Absent With Out Leave in other regions