Jean-Claude Van Damme is truly one of the greatest action stars who has ever lived and a genuine martial artist who has brought his incredible fighting skills to numerous action-packed movies. While Van Damme got his big break in the cult favorite Bloodsport, this was just the tip of the iceberg as he showcased his Dan black belt skills in karate and champion kickboxing talents across his vast filmography. Although Van Damme has excelled in villainous roles and had plenty of great cameos over the years, he’s also never been against repeating himself.
Following the success of Bloodsport, there was a healthy appetite for more of the same from the man dubbed The Muscles from Brussels, and Van Damme certainly gave viewers what they wanted. Later roles in beloved favorites like Universal Soldier and Timecop indeed helped solidify his action star status, but before gaining those parts, he first repeated the appeal of Bloodsport with another martial arts movie that essentially retread many of the same beats.
How Lionheart Compares To Bloodsport
Van Damme was carving out his cinematic persona with these movies
While Van Damme gained major notoriety for playing the real-life fighter Frank Dux in the highly fictionalized story of Bloodsport, Lionheart tapped into the same kind of topics through the story of the French Foreign Legionnaire stationed in Africa, Lyon “Lionheart” Gaultier. Having deserted the United States, Lyon found himself entering an underground fighting circuit to raise money for his murdered brother’s family. With the same kind of illegal fighting rings as those seen in Bloodsport, it was impossible not to immediately make the connections between the two films.