Is anyone else waiting to hear a “haha” when it comes to a second Lionheart movie? Jean-Claude Van Damme has definitely not been idle throughout the last decade or so when it comes to drumming up more interest for his brand and getting himself back into the mainstream. But after revisiting one of his other movies, Universal Soldier, and bringing Dolph Lundgren back and bringing Scott Adkins in, some of them seem a tad, well, overdone. Lionheart was one movie that seemed to have a pleasing ending to it, as everything was wrapped up neatly with a bow and the Foreign Legion members that were assigned to bring Leon in actually let him go so that he could stay with his family. So where’s the hook for another movie? Did Attilla come back for a rematch? Did Leon find out that he didn’t have any marketable skills and decide to keep fighting?
That seems like the only way to really run with the movie unless they’re going to find another angle to work. Lionheart was made during the peak of his popularity and even in the 90’s wasn’t something so special that it made too many headlines. It was a JCVD movie, and one in which people got to see him kicking, punching, and giving his customary yell when he got really steamed. But it was basically a movie about a man that found out about his brother being killed back in America and escaping the Foreign Legion to come take care of his brother’s widow and his niece. He got caught up in street-fighting and started making money and once he got noticed the fights got bigger and the money started rolling in. Once he was given a fight with the top dog of the underground sport he wasn’t expected to win since he was smaller and presumably weaker. But in true JCVD fashion he got mad, and when he got mad those kicks came faster, the punches hit harder, and his wounds didn’t seem to matter anymore. And then, because he’d been through so much, the guys assigned to take him in finally just let him go. That sounds like a wrap, right?
This isn’t the first movie he’s come back to though. Like it was mentioned above he came back for another Universal Soldier, this time playing the bad guy. He also came back for another run at the Kickboxer franchise, this time as the trainer, Durant. Of course he’s the baddest guy there since he’s the master and can’t be beat. He even gets to take on George St. Pierre and put him through a table. But Lionheart really seemed like it was all said and done. So why now? Why come back and reopen a movie that ended on a happy note? A lot of people might say money, but that doesn’t seem like the motivation. After all he’s being doing movies for a while now even if they’ve been straight to DVD. He’s even been in the second Expendables movie as the main bad guy. But why Lionheart?
