Review of No Retreat, No Surrender (1986) by Adam L — 21 Dec 2012
Lending to the early careers of Jackie Chan, Tsui Hark, and Hwang Jang-lee the mid-'80s found influential producer Ng See-yuen momentarily setting his sights on the American market via the trend-setting martial arts family drama "The Karate Kid" (1984), which proved that white boys could fight (under the tutelage of seasoned Asian martial artists).
Devoid of everything that made its inspiration work "No Retreat, No Surrender" might have faded into oblivion had this domestically made/foreign assembled knock-off not used a number of stereotypes (ranging from the silly to the downright offensive) that it's worth seeing at least once as a history lesson that may produce more than just a little nervous laughter.
Bruceploitation actor Tong Lung (credited by his given Korean name Kim Tai Chong) is Sifu or rather Sensei Lee -- see what we mean? -- one last time and then-unknown Belgian martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme is the white boy's laconic mean-spirited Russian adversary.
This review of No Retreat, No Surrender (1986) was written by Adam L on 21 Dec 2012.
No Retreat, No Surrender has generally received mixed reviews.
Was this review helpful?
