Scene of the Week: Lionheart – Wrong Bet!
A 6’2″ beast of a man with wicked mutton chops and a head of hair that would make Gene Simmons blush doesn’t need much help to win a fight. But when the high-rolling moneymen want Lyon (JCVD) to throw the big fight and he won’t comply, they take matters into their own hands and send him to the showdown nursing some bad ribs. Let’s just say that by the time Lyon is finished with this fight, he’s going to be wishing he hadn’t run away from the French Foreign Legion.
Lionheart is among the top movies for Jean Claude Van Damme on about every list you read for him. He was in peak form at the time and still in the prime of his career. He’s also at his best when he has a solid bad guy to fight against. No Bolo Yeung in this one and Michel Qissi has a limited role so Michel’s big bro Abdel stepped up and put the beating on Van Damme for this one. You may also recognize Abdel Qissi as the big bad in 1996’s The Quest. He’s almost a full-on James Bond villain in this one and given the amount of character development and time on screen, I would say that Abdel did a great job of playing up his heelishness in Lionheart. Take a look and see for yourself!
