Review of Kickboxer (1989) by Kai82 — 20 Nov 2021

A really fun and enjoyable martial arts B movie. It is the kind of movie that will be hated by critics but loved by a loyal fan base. Of cause it is no Godfather movie, Shakespearean play or Oscar material and it never tries to be.

If you have a soft spot for B movies that are enjoyable and well made this is a must see (especially for martial arts fans). It follows the “No Retreat, No Surrender” formula where the underdog trains to become better than the unstoppable bad guy.

As a side note: This and “No Retreat, No Surrender” were marketed as “Karate Tiger 1 and 3 in my country. As I see overlaps in the story structure and both have Jean Claude van Damme it makes a bit of sense even if this has nothing to do with Karate.

In my childhood this was a must see in my age group and universally liked. Today we say it is a “Turn your brains of popcorn movie” and it is a good one. The story follows the brothers Eric and Kurt Sloane.

Eric is the Kickboxing champion in the USA and Kurt his coach / cornerman. After Eric successfully defends his title with ease he wants a new challenge and want to compete against Thailand's champion as Kickboxing started there.

He however never expected an opponent like Tong Po who crushes him in the fight with ease and left him with heavy injuries. Kurt wants revenge but knows he is absolutely under-prepared and has to train.

This is the set up of the story. It is the martial arts underdog story we love in so many incarnations. It works and entertains well for genre standards. They do also more than needed and I like that too.

The fights are well done and impactful. For its time it was really good. It is garnered with some humor. Another part of my enjoyment were the characters. Jean Claude van Damme was at the beginning of his career in this movie and I think his role as Kurt helped to establish him.

He works well and delivers the fights. Michel Qissi as Tong Po is a menacing opponent. He is like a grim force of nature that crushes anything in his way. He just delivers with his look, posture and expression.

Now to Eric Sloane who is played by legendary Kickboxer Dennis Alexio. He also delivers his role even if not being a professional actor. Dennis Chan as Xian Chow fully sells the role as wise and incredible martial arts master.

I will also praise Ka Ting Lee as Freddy Lee, Hakell Anderson as Winston Taylor and Rochelle Ashana as Mylee. For genre standards we got a real good cast. Now to the elephant in the room. Today it is viewed by some as having racist stereotypes.

To be fair I can see this but say if they want to go for full racism they failed. They would have done far more back then without troubles. It is just an entertainment movie and back then the standards were different.

Overall this is a good martial arts movie of its time and really enjoyable. Just expect a popcorn movie and not an art film to avoid disappointment.