Average, somewhat dull early Van Damme flick.

Rating: 5/10 (10 October 2007)

Kickboxer starts as Eric 'The Eliminator' Sloane (Dennis Alexio) is crowned the World kick-boxing champion, he decides he needs a new challenge & sets of for Thailand where kick-boxing is very popular. Eric & his brother Kurt (Jean-Claude Van Damme) head for Bangkok where he intends to prove himself to be the best by fighting hard as nails 'Tiger' Tong Po (Michel Qissi), Eric gets his wish but soon realises they play dirty in Thailand & Tong beats the crap out of him & just to rub salt into the wound breaks Eric's back which leaves him permanently paralysed & wheelchair bound. Eric's brother Kurt isn't happy about the situation & convinces an old Muay expert Xian Chow (Dennis Chan) to teach him the art of kick-boxing so he can gain revenge on Tong for his brother...
Kickboxer is one of those rare films which is credited has having three director's, producer Mark DiSalle (who also is listed in the credits as playing a 'U.S. Reporter') & David Worth with a very young looking JCVD credited as 'fight scenes director' as well, I personally have never seen a film where three separate director's are credited during the opening credits, never. It's then perhaps a surprise that Kickboxer turned out as coherent as it did, I'm not saying it's a great film because it's far from a great film & it isn't even particularly good by JCVD standards but it ain't too bad & passes the time harmlessly enough. The by-the-numbers script by Glen Bruce is just so clichéd & predictable, a man sets out to avenge a family member/friend who has had some sort of injustice inflicted upon them & in that respect Kickboxer is nothing new. Also it's far too predictable, I mean is there really anyone out there who doesn't think that JCVD will defeat Tong Po & avenge his brother? I didn't think so. So what Kickboxer is all about are the fight scenes of which there are not enough, JCVD only fights on four occasions although I admit they are pretty good sequences. The rest of the time is mostly spent watching him get trained by some crazy old Chinese dude in scenes that reminded me of similar ones in The Karate Kid (1984)! It moves along at a reasonable pace & it passes the time but the character's are thin, it's predictable & it's nothing new.
Director's DiSalle & Worth do OK with the talky bits while I have to admit JCVD does really well with the fight scenes, the choreography is actually rather impressive with brutal looking fights & kick-boxing scenes. The punches & kicks seem to have impact thanks to them being well staged & clever camera placement & I suppose JCVD's knowledge of martial arts & film-making comes in handy in this respect. Some of the Thai scenery looks quite nice & the early montage of Thai prostitutes & sex shops sets the tone for this lads flick. The violence isn't too strong, it's not overly sadistic or graphic. I was disappointed they didn't make use of the ropes wrapped around their hands with shards of broken glass stuck to them in a scene that is openly parodied in Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), I mean one punch from those & it would have ripped your opponents skin to shreds.
With a modest sounding budget of about $1,500,000 Kickboxer looks alright, the locations look nice enough I suppose & it's competently made. Apparently JCVD got paid $70,000 for this, it certainly wasn't for his acting ability though.
Kickboxer is an OK time waster if you like martial arts type films or are a huge JCVD fan, if any still exist. I didn't think it was one of his best but nowhere near his worst, it's just very average predictable middle of the road stuff. Successful enough to spawn four sequels none of which featured JCVD, Kickboxer 2: The Road Back (1991), Kickboxer 3: The Art of War (1992), Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor (1994) & Kickboxer 5 (1995) although they seem to have stopped making them now.