Kickboxer: Retaliation

***Kickboxer: Retaliation*** is an American martial arts film directed and written by Dimitri Logothetis. The film stars Alain Moussi, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Christopher Lambert, Ronaldinho, Mike Tyson, and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.

## Plot

It has been eighteen months since Kurt Sloane killed Tong Po and
avenged the death of his brother Eric. Now a professional mixed martial
artist, Kurt defeats Renato Sobral using a move he calls the "Hurricane Armbar", a hurricanrana
 into an armbar. Kurt has been plagued by nightmares where he and his wife Liu are on a train and he finds himself fighting on the train which ends with him falling into water and possibly drowning. After the
fight, Kurt is met by two U.S. Marshals who inform him that he must return to Thailand to be implicated in the death of Tong Po. When Kurt
asks to see one of the Marshal's badges, he is tasered.
Awakening in a prison in Thailand, Kurt meets Thomas Tang Moore, the mastermind behind the underground tournament where Kurt, Eric, and Tong Po have competed. Moore tells Kurt that when Tong Po was defeated, he
was to remain there as the new champion, but instead with Kurt returning
 home, Moore needed to find a new champion. Moore offers Kurt to fight the new champion, Mongkut, a 6'8" 400-lb. fighter. Kurt finds himself
taunted by Crawford, Tong Po's former right hand man who is working for Moore. Moore offers Kurt $1 million to fight Mongkut, but Kurt refuses.
Stuck in prison, Kurt finds himself under constant threat from various
prisoners, in which he then finds himself whipped by the prison guards
each night. During one encounter, Kurt runs into Briggs, an American
boxer who soon bonds with Kurt and even offers him a way to go through
the pain from the whippings. Kurt also soon learns that his Muay Thai
teacher, Durand, is now training some of the prisoners, but reveals that for his troubles, he has been blinded. Durand and Briggs soon help Kurt
 undergo training along with fellow prisoners Big Country, Fabricio, Ronaldo, and a huge convict whose size nearly matches that of Mongkut. Durand goes to one of Mongkut's training sessions only to learn the
fighter is a product of bioengineering by Ivy League graduate Rupert,
who has developed a combination of adrenaline and steroids, thus making
Mongkut virtually invincible except for one small weakness: a glass jaw.

Moore, realizing Kurt still will not accept the offer, decides to
take drastic measures and finds Liu at the train station. Having bribed the same police officers she had accused of corruption to find Kurt, she gets additional help from old friend Gamon. However, Moore's goons, led
 by Somsak, have kidnapped Liu and that night, Crawford shows Kurt a video of Liu. Kurt decides to take the fight with Durand, Briggs, and
the other prisoners training him. When Moore offers to take Kurt out of
prison and in a private facility, Kurt agrees but only if his "team" continues their training and Moore agrees. Gamon joins in on the
training and Kurt recognizes Somsak. Moore talks to Crawford about a
test fight, to which Moore agrees and Kurt goes to a local nightclub
where he and Durand once again meet Joseph King, whose last fighter
decimated Kurt. Kurt faces King's new champion Moss while Durand
distracts an onlooker and steals his cell phone to call his son Travis.
Kurt defeats Moss and make a narrow escape with the help of Travis.

The next day, Kurt finds Somsak and chases him. After fighting more
of Moore's men, Kurt catches up to Somsak and demands to know where Liu is. Liu has been hiding in Moore's apartment. Kurt, Gamon, and Travis
take on Moore's men with Kurt facing Moore's two female valets in a room
 full of mirrors only to defeat them, finding Liu and rescuing her. When
 O'Keefe, Moore's right hand man, leads an ambush to stop the group, Mongkut arrives. He is about to hit Kurt when Liu steps in and Mongkut
hits her hard in the stomach, knocking her unconscious. An angry Kurt
tells Crawford to tell Moore he will face Mongkut anytime and anywhere. Liu is comatose in the hospital for a few days until she wakes up and
learns Kurt has taken the fight. She fully accepts his decision.

The fight is set at the old Muay Thai temple with both Kurt and
Mongkut ready to fight. Mongkut proves to be too much for Kurt and
mid-way through, Mongkut throws Kurt to a statue, virtually killing him.
 When it is believed that Kurt has died from his injuries, Liu finds
Rupert's suitcase of adrenaline and uses a needle to revive Kurt.
Awakening, Kurt finds a second wind and despite getting some of the
upper hand, Mongkut once again throws Kurt towards a statue and this
time, takes him to a nearby fountain to drown him. Kurt imagines himself
 once again drowning as he did in his dream, but overhears the voices of
 Liu and Durand, prompting him to "swim out". Kurt grabs a chain and
wraps it around his fist, enabling him to match Mongkut punch for punch. Using his skills, Kurt gets the upper hand and knocks Mongkut out. When
 Mongkut comes back up, Kurt resorts to taking Mongkut down with the
chain, wrapping it around his neck and choking him out, resulting in
Mongkut's neck breaking. Kurt has won and is surrounded by Durand, Liu,
Gamon, and Travis. Hearing the news that Kurt has beaten Mongkut, Briggs
 is seen smiling in his prison cell.

An end credit sequence shows outtakes, following by an epilogue of
Kurt once again in the MMA ring as he prepares for his next fight
against Mauricio Rua.

## Cast

* Alain Moussi as Kurt Sloane
* Jean-Claude Van Damme as Master Durand
* Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Mongkut
* Mike Tyson as Briggs
* Sara Malakul Lane as Liu
* Christopher Lambert as Thomas Moore
* Ronaldinho as Ronaldo
* Jessica Jann as Gamon
* Sam Medina as Crawford
* Steven Swadling as Joseph King

## Franchise & Sequel

The movie is a sequel to the 2016 film *Kickboxer: Vengeance*, which itself is a remake of *Kickboxer*.

On August 31, 2016, producer Rob Hickman announced the name of the third and final installment of the trilogy as *Kickboxer: Syndicate.*