Responsible Martial Arts Flick Receives Bad Marks

Rating: 5/10 (2 February 2009)

Van Damme wrote this story to demonstrate that it takes a long long time to achieve the level of expertise that one needs in order to compete in a contest such as featured herein. The lion's share of film time is devoted to the rigorous training Kurt (Van Damme) receives in preparation of the upcoming bout with Tong Po. The story begins in the beginning, takes a hiatus to demonstrate the instruction necessary to get to the climax, and then runs straight into the climax.
The problem is that most casual martial arts fans don't CARE about the training or character development. They just want action action action and then in the ending finale, they want action, with maybe a little story thrown in. If that is what you're after, this isn't that kind of film. This also isn't an intelligent film or anything Oscar-worthy, but if you want your teenager to see what is required to hone those tai kwan do classes into something real and formidable, plug this one in and explain the level of dedication one must invest to achieve that goal.
If for no other reason, watch it for that.
I don't know. I can't really say this is the most enjoyable of Van Damme's work. Frankly, I liked Cyborg and Bloodsport much more.
This rates a 4.6/10 on the movie scale.
This rates a 5.8/10 on the martial arts scale from...
the Fiend :.