Pretty straight-forward revenge flick

Rating: 7/10 (5 September 2009)

If you liked "Bloodsport", you'll like this one, because it's pretty much the same movie. Van Damme's out for revenge again, this time on some Thai dude who put his brother in a wheelchair. So he trains. And trains. And trains. A huge chunk of this movie is devoted to Van Damme kicking air or if we're lucky inanimate objects. Some of that stuff is actually pretty badass, like the scene where the usual wise trainer stereotype instructs him to take down a tree, but most of it just feels boring and overlong. The romantic subplot isn't any help either, around halfway I was just hoping they would bring out the fight already. So then they bring out the fight and it's actually quite good, well-choreographed and the climax is set up nicely. Only problem I'm having with the conclusion is that they shouldn't have made the villain talk. Or at least come up with something better for him to say. This movie is excellent within its genre, but obviously it's also very predictable.