Nostalgia Kinky

The MVD Rewind Collection continues its terrific 4K/Blu-ray combo line with three kicks to the face, in the form of a trio of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s classic star vehicles. Covering the two-year period that kicked off the nineties, Death Warrant, Lionheart and Double Impact all receive fine audio and visual upgrades via these new 4Ks, and the fact that all of the archival extras are also included will make these fairly essential purchases for fans of the Van Damme.

Death Warrant (1990)

I’ve been pretty excited to watch the new MVD Rewind Collection of Jean-Claude Van Damme 4K releases for one pretty simple reason: I’ve never seen a Jean-Claude Van Damme film. Well, that’s mostly true. I suppose I have seen the Van Damme in a film or two, but I have never sat down with one of his star vehicles. I began with Death Warrant , Van Damme’s 1990 prison-set action hit, which looks and sounds quite swell on MVD’s new 4K and Blu-ray.

Death Warrant is pretty much exactly what I expected. It is as silly as it comes, but this is a pretty fun fight film. Featuring the first screenplay by comic book staple David S. Goyer, Death Warrant focus on an undercover cop in a violent prison is nonsensical, but honestly, who cares? Nobody is watching Jean-Claude Van Damme in Death Warrant for its intricate plotting. 

Honestly, my biggest problem with Death Warrant is that it wastes too much time on its story. The film’s best moments occur during its fight scenes, full stop. This includes the film’s rather terrific finale, which features the Van Damme going up against a rather frightening Patrick Kilpatrick, who is like the energizer bunny of action movie psychopaths.
Bubba just won’t die.

Death Warrant features a strong ensemble, including childhood favorite Cynthia Gibb, who I crushed so hard for in Youngblood half a decade before this. Benson is even in this, as Robert Guillaume also appears. As for Van Damme? Yeah, I can see why he was a star. Charismatic and handsome, he does exactly what he’s supposed to here and does it well.

Death Warrant hits hard but this is lightweight stuff. This is the kind of film you turn on during a Pizza and beer Friday night. While I wish they’d just ditched the story for 90 minutes of flexing and punching, as an 80s/90s action film, this is just fine. MVD’s collection features three interviews from Scorpion’s old Blu-ray, including one with a still lovely Gibb. A collection of Van Damme trailers, a photo gallery, and a poster are all available in this two-disc slip-covered edition. Goofy but kind of fun.

Lionheart (1990)

My introduction to the films of Jean-Claude Van Damme continues with Lionheart (1990), the earliest in the trio of MVD 4Ks celebrating the Van Damme’s career. Containing two cuts of the film, along with a Blu-ray disc housing hours of older archival material, this MVD 4K set is a muscular winner. 

Lionheart is a pretty fun throwback actioner, featuring an overly earnest story by Van Damme himself. Stylistically, this film bleeds the late eighties in every frame, but its naively charming story about an ex-French Foreign Legion officer fighting in America to save his late brother’s family feels straight out of an impoverished thirties fight film. It’s silly but sort of sweet.

The first feature from filmmaker Sheldon Lettich, Lionheart isn’t exactly great art, but it certainly doesn’t try to be. Like Death Warrant, this is a pulpy popcorn film, and Lettich handles the material just fine. Slasher cinematographer Robert C. New gives the film a nice and at times moody look as well. This is good. 

I must admit that while I liked Lionheart, I can easily see a film I might have loved here. Sadly, the 110-minute run-time weighs the film down at every turn. Hearing the director mention during one of the set’s interviews that his original cut was well over two hours shows off his inexperience in that period more than anything else. There’s not a universe where Lionheart should be running more than 85 minutes, and it’d be so much stronger.

As it is, this nice-looking low-budget film has a great cast and the Van Damme is charismatic and handles the acting side of things just fine. All of the fight scenes are handled with great panache and skill. It’s just a shame that there is so much unnecessary plot and too many characters. Lionheart could have been a lean and mean cinematic fight machine, but there’s just too much plot for a story deserving more brevity.

Featuring hours of archival extras, MVD’s new 4k/Blu-ray set is terrific, and I can’t imagine fans of the film being unhappy with this slip-covered collection that comes with a poster. I enjoyed Lionheart more than Death Warrant, but the film’s length makes it feel like a lightweight forced to fight out of division.

My introduction to the films of Jean-Claude Van Damme concludes with the mostly entertaining Double Impact (1991), the final MVD Rewind Collection 4K I recently watched. Directed again by Lionheart filmmaker Sheldon Lettich, Double Impact features the Van Damme playing two roles, ensuring that the film’s title isn’t selling anyone short. Looking splendid on this new 4K, Double Impact is the most packed Van Damme MVD title, with hours of archival supplements on the bonus Blu-ray. 

Double Impact, co-scripted by Van Damme, again shows off his affinity for classic Hollywood B-movies and even serials. While this rather enduring choice gives the film a sweet edge, it doesn’t automatically turn this into any sort of great work. Regardless, Double Impact is a pretty fine early nineties crime/fight film, complete with some New Jack Swing on the soundtrack.

The best thing about Double Impact is Van Damme himself. I like this guy onscreen. He’s got real charisma, unlike so many of his action peers from the period. Van Damme’s performances show off that obvious love for early Hollywood good and bad guys. There’s a goofy genuineness about Double Impact that I liked a lot.

Technically, I thought this was the best of this MVD 4K batch. A big part of that is due to the work of the great cinematographer Richard H. Kline, photographing one of the final films of his career here. This is the same man behind classics like Body Heat (1981) and the 1976 King Kong. Guy was a heavyweight and Double Impact is a nice-looking production. 

All that good stuff aside, damn, is this film ever too long again. Does Lettich have an assured 110-minute clause in his contracts? Like Lionheart, Double Impact would be much stronger around ninety minutes or shorter, but all in all this is harmless fun with some great fight choreography throughout. 

Double Impact has a crazy number of extras, all of which appeared on the original Blu-ray release. We’re talking a two-hour documentary, an hour of deleted scenes, interviews, BHS material, and so much more. A poster and slipcover are also included in this wonderfully comprehensive package.

-Jeremy Richey, August 2026-

Order Links:
Death Warrant
Lionheart
Double Impact