The first half was actually much better than the last.

Rating: 6/10 (4 May 2019)

"Kickboxer" is one of the early films of Jean-Claude Van Damme and like his older movies, it's pretty good. The set-up is good....the finale, however, is pretty predictable and cliched.
When the story begins, Eric Sloane has just successfully defended his kickboxing title. With nothing interesting to do at home, Eric decides to travel to Thailand to fight...bringing along his younger brother, Kurt (Van Damme), as his trainer. Eric is overconfident and gets his butt whipped in the ring...and the evil Tong Po refuses to quit when the fight is called...and leaves Eric paralyzed. Not surprisingly, Kurt wants revenge and seeks out a local guy to train him.
When it comes to the final big battle, the film throws in every cliche known to martial arts films. Po's boss is determined he's going to win and has Eric kidnapped and help prisoner until Kurt throws the fight. Additionally, evil Po rapes Kurt's girl. So, apparently paralyzing the brother isn't enough....and the film threw everything into this one.
The best parts of the film are the fighting sequences. While he's no great actor (and his accent and brother's are TOTALLY different), Van Damme has incredible skills in the film....and it's worth seeing for this reason alone. So, ignore the cliches and just enjoy.