Review of Bloodsport (1988) by James C — 20 Jan 2013

Jean-Claude Van Damme makes his starring debut as Frank Dux. Frank is an American soldier who goes AWOL from his army duties in order to enter the Kumite (also spelled Kumatai). The Kumite is an illegal underground Martial Arts tournament in Hong Kong.

Dux is a skilled fighter, who was trained by Senzo Tanaka. There is a great deal of love and respect between master and student. Tanaka was originally more concerned with training his son, but after he dies Tanaka makes the difficult decision to continue to train Frank. Frank now wishes not only to enter, but to win the Kumite tournament to honour his master.

However, Frank has more than just the tournament to contend with. The Army are unhappy with the situation and send two American officers to bring him home to the United States and there is also an attractive reporter involved who wants his help to get inside the Kumite in order to do a story on the tournament. Frank has his hands full, but is determined to walk away having done no less than his best.

Bloodsport is not a movie of the highest quality. The cinematography, acting, script and obvious dubbing are all pretty poor. But having said that, I did enjoy watching the movie.

As the story builds and you see each round of the tournament you cannot help but feel the tension increase. I have been known to make sexist comments from time to time and here comes a great example. I think it's very much a "man's" movie. Maybe it's the testosterone, maybe its traditional gender roles, but when men watch films like Bloodsport we cannot help but feel "pumped up". From the I.T. geek to the meat-head Bouncer, we are all united when it comes to fighting movies. When the biceps flex, the punches are thrown and the blood flies ... we like it.

Coming back to the movie (before I get too carried away) I did feel excited as it came to its climax.

I think what stops bloodsport from becoming a bad movie is the charisma of the actors. Don't get me wrong, no one in this film can deliver a line for toffee, but they have charm and charisma. This was Van Damme's first movie and I feel he came to grips with things rather well. He has started on the first rung of the ladder to becoming one of the big names in Action movies. The road will never see him become a great actor, but will see him become a star.

The main bad guy in Bloodsport is Chong Li (Bolo Yeung). Bolo came to Bloodsport with a lot more cinematic experience than Van Damme. Although Yeung looks, well, young in Bloodsport he is actually 42 and has starred in over 60 movies by this point - most notably as Bolo in Enter the Dragon. Though Bloodsport was a breakthrough movie for him too as he had received little recognition outside Asia before this. He plays a good part in Bloodsport, he really does have the demeanour, swagger and face of a villain. Although he's quite short he is an ex-champion body builder (he held the title of Mr. Hong Kong for over 10 years) and is heighly skilled in mixed Martial Arts. Did I say short? I meant compact, sorry Bolo.

Other notable actors include; Forest Whitaker (who plays Rawlins rather well), Leah Ayres (who plays Janice, the attractive journalist) and Donald Gibb (who plays Ray Jackson). Donald Gibb looks like a man mountain in Bloodsport, maybe that's because he stands at 6 foot 4, maybe it's because he appears in most scenes with Van Damme and Bolo Yeung, who are both about a foot shorter than he is.

Bloodsport is your typical "man's" movie, my Dad would love it. It would look at home amongst other similar movies from the late 80's and early 90's like; Commando, Tango & Cash, The Last Boy Scout, Hard to Kill, No Holds Barred and Universal Soldier. Like these other movies it is not the acting, the script or the cinematography that makes them enjoyable or memorable but the cheese, the charisma, the energy, the bustle and the spirit. Ladies and Gentlemen ... welcome to the action Genre.