“A.W.O.L.: Absent Without Leave” has more alternate titles than any other film I can think of it as it is also known as “Lionheart”, “Wrong Bet” and “Full Contact”. It’s a surprisingly entertaining action film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme (“Universal Soldier”, “Hard Target”) given its sappy story.

In this film, Van Damme stars as Lyon, who makes a daring escape from the French Foreign Legion in order to help his brother’s family in Los Angeles. Lyon arrives with virtually no means to help his struggling relatives after his drug-dealing brother was murdered by rival gangsters so Lyon finds himself entering the underground fight scene in order to get the cash to help them.

Van Damme is no good in the emotional scenes but is fantastic when he’s punching and kicking people. Harrison Page is okay as Lyon’s self-appointed manager, Joshua. Lisa Pelikan (“Ghoulies”) is alright as Lyon’s sister-in-law. I like the various opponents that Lyon fights even though many of them have little to no lines. Abdel Qissi is fitting for Lyon’s final opponent, Attila, and has a similar presence to that of Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV”. Deborah Rennard is mediocre as the organiser of the fighting network.

“A.W.O.L.” features some very impressive action sequences as we see Van Damme fight one man in a squash court and another in a swimming pool. I didn’t care much for the emotional scenes but I think there are enough fighting scenes throughout to maintain the film’s entertainment value. It isn’t a terrific picture by any means but if you want to see a film where Van Damme engages in a number of brutal fights then I think this film will satisfy you. Most of the time Van Damme disappoints but here, the fights are good enough to make the film stand out from his generally average filmography. I still prefer “Sudden Death” and “Universal Soldier”.