Lionheart

One of my favorite movies ever, but I have to admit that it's beginning to lose some of its lustre by today's standards. The fight scenes - as adrenaline-rush as they may be - really seem too slow and staged to be believable (seriously, who's going to just stand there and stare at you while you throw a spinning back-kick?) but they were good watching back in the day. This is undoubtedly my favorite JCVD movie, simply because the acting (by **everyone** including JCVD) was at least a fraction better than any of his other films; also the storyline, while quite a stretch, was still believable enough. He was already a skilled and hardened fighter when he reached NYC, and (unlike some of his other movies) didn't need to learn 30 years worth of martial arts in 30 days with a little old man somewhere. Aged as it is, I still give this an "8" just for the fight scenes, the storyline, and the supporting cast. They were all great in this movie.

"Sometimes life is... is... ugly. And stupid. And mean." Fighting to pay off the medical bills of your dead brother and supporting your sister-in-law financially so she and your niece have better life. Jean-Claude truly has a heart of gold. Lionheart/Wrong Bet is one of the earlier Van Damme films and it is damn entertaining. I only remembered the final fight, his manager played by Harrison Page and that the villain was this lady who totally wanted to make van Damme her boytoy. Anyway what you get are loads of kicks, a shot of Van Damme's butt, 80s soundtrack galore, van Damme escapes the French Foreign Legion, van Damme has this very dramatic look for 90% of the film, a montage with van Damme trying out some outfits, rich people betting on fights, van Damme helping poor people and a happy ending. If you like Jean-Claude van Damme be sure to check out Lionheart/Wrong Bet. If you like cheesy early 90's/late 80's movies, you can bet you will not be let down by this one.