Lionheart (1987)

A young knight set out to join King Richard's crusaders comes across a black prince who trades in slave children. The knight promises to save the children and lead them to safety.

The Dark Prince vs The Lord of the Orphans

Lionheart was a bit of a disappointment, considering the historical theme of the movie and the presence of Gabriel Byrne among others, though by no means is it a terrible movie.
The story unfolds as the Third Crusade a.k.a. the Kings' Crusade (1189-1192), is about to head to the Holy Land for a showdown with Saladin's forces.
A young (a little too young) knight disgusted with the purposeless wars and killings taking place in Brittany and Normandy decides to find King Richard II, the Lionheart, as he journeys through France and join his crusade. It's not long before he comes across orphaned children in need of protection from slavers roaming the area, led by a fallen knight and crusader calling himself "The Dark Prince."
In short, the setting is good, the plot is average, the dialogues and the costumes are below average, the acting/casting is really bad, while the battle scenes/tactics are just terrible.
Though the potential for a good movie was definitely there it fails to take off, primarily due to the writers and the poor acting and casting.
If you interest lies with the Crusades, start off with the 1954 movie King Richard and the Crusaders, and then proceed with Kingdom of Heaven.
In a nutshell, it's an ok movie and that's about it; no masterpiece here...
July 22, 2007

Interesting failure undone by bad casting and editing

Lionheart - The Children's Crusade was an interesting find in a bargain bin at a video shop - a medieval epic that I'd never even heard of from the director of Patton, produced by Coppola and with music by Jerry Goldsmith. Looking it up on the IMDb, not many others have either: it only seems to have played a week in Detroit! Why? Well, the obvious reason is it's not very good.

Its got a solid script about a disgraced young French knight who finds himself leading a bunch of abandoned children to the Holy Land to join King Richard's crusade and coming up against Gabriel Byrne's disillusioned crusader turned child-slave-trader. But it often looks like chunks are missing, and the kids are pretty awful: Eric Stoltz very effeminate and uncharismatic as the lead, Dexter Fletcher irritating as the lovable Artful Dodger type and Nicola Cowper a one-woman petrified forest as the love interest - I've never, ever seen an actress stay as rigidly immobile or as impervious to emotion as this gal. It's like watching a beautifully made up corpse in early rigor mortis for 105 minutes. Only Deborah Moore seems to give it a bit of wellie as a tomboyish female whose far more manly than the hero.

Bits of it do work, and Byrne's dark knight character is genuinely interesting and gets all the best dialogue, but the main interest is Jerry Goldsmith's astonishingly good score, one of the best I've ever heard for an epic even if it disappears towards the end. Worth a look but set expectations on low. August 8, 2005

A beautiful coming of age story

I saw Lionheart on my local channel and instantly loved it. I bought the video but was disappointed that it wasn't on DVD. Eric Stolz and Nicola Cowper had great chemistry together. It was a heart-warming movie of young people coming of age.

In a time when children were seen as exploitable resources and could be sold off or abandoned, here we see a young knight throw off the confines of his "class" and take the responsibility of leading a group of Paris orphans to the Holy Land. As he tells one of his friends "Do not bow to me. I am no man's Lord."

The class barriers between nobility and peasant are broken down as the group journeys south to find King Richard. Love becomes a more powerful force than social status. Robert and Blanche,(the Knight and the Circus Girl) become the Father and Mother figures to their charges. So too the headstrong and rebellious female knight at last finds a man worthy of her (how can I love a man who cannot stand up to me?) in the form of Michael (Blanche's brother). The characters find their strength, courage and love in the face of fear, death and pursuit. The villian (Gabbriel Byrne) gives a solid performance as the Black Knight.

It is more than just a flash- in- the- pan knight's tale. As a Literature Teacher, I think this movie has many levels to it. The thematic expressions delve into love, greed, compassion, inhumanity, gender relations, class relations, slavery, and the impact of the Crusades (historical, religious,economic and social)on Europe. It is a refreshing glimpse into the deep human drama that can be played out on the most humble of stages. May 18, 2005

A Piped-Piper Kind Of Story

I really enjoyed this movie. It had a very uplifting theme, and feel good ending that made you smile. I'm not going to go over what its about exactly, but speak of what made me like it so much.

What spoke to me about this movie is the overall feeling and theme. Its an idea, a concept about hope and the human spirit. Like a dream of Camelot, or the dream of American it is rag tag bunch of children whose future is no brighter than the moment they are living in reaching for something else despite all odds, and living in the darkest circumstances of their lives. Its about knights, and dreams and hope when you have no tangilbe reason to hope. Its about desperate need to find something better, even knowing you are bound to fail. It is an overall idea, concept, tacked onto the legend of Richard The Lionheart.

It's pied-piper kind of story. If you like fairy-tales there is also that feel about it. If you like Knights tales you definately get that from it in a somewhat different manner. If you like tales of the human spirit and faith that is also there. Overall it made me smile. It made me feel good watching it, and I like Eric Stoltz who is the lead. There is none of the heavy darkness that you find in many of the Knight like tales we find today. It is fun, light hearted movie. August 26, 2002

A Piped-Piper Kind Of Story

I really enjoyed this movie. It had a very uplifting theme, and feel good ending that made you smile. I'm not going to go over what its about exactly, but speak of what made me like it so much.

What spoke to me about this movie is the overall feeling and theme. Its an idea, a concept about hope and the human spirit. Like a dream of Camelot, or the dream of American it is rag tag bunch of children whose future is no brighter than the moment they are living in reaching for something else despite all odds, and living in the darkest circumstances of their lives. Its about knights, and dreams and hope when you have no tangilbe reason to hope. Its about desperate need to find something better, even knowing you are bound to fail. It is an overall idea, concept, tacked onto the legend of Richard The Lionheart.

It's pied-piper kind of story. If you like fairy-tales there is also that feel about it. If you like Knights tales you definately get that from it in a somewhat different manner. If you like tales of the human spirit and faith that is also there. Overall it made me smile. It made me feel good watching it, and I like Eric Stoltz who is the lead. There is none of the heavy darkness that you find in many of the Knight like tales we find today. It is fun, light hearted movie. August 26, 2002

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