KICKBOXER (1989)

KICKBOXER (1989)

Tagline: If your enemy refuses to be humbled...Destroy Him!

(Action, Sport, Swift Kicks To The Ribcage) [R]

The only way you'll find him is inside the ring, and you ain't good enough!

In this one, Eric thinks he’s the greatest kickboxer ever and he goes to fight in Thailand. He ends up getting paralyzed. His brother Kurt wants revenge on the guy that did it. He doesn’t feel like he can beat his enemy without learning Muay Thai style fighting. A former special forces member named Winston helps Kurt find a man willing to teach him, but will it be enough?

First off, it’s weird to see a no-smoking sign anywhere in an 80s flick. I may have mentioned this before, but probably as early as the age of 5 my dad was taking me to Phoenix Greyhound Park. That place was nothing but beer, a floor full of betting stubs and smoke. It was freakin amazing. Heck, you could smoke in nearly every restaurant and even on planes back then. Anyway back to the movie. What people might not know about this movie is that it sparked a series and a reboot that is still going on. This is the only one from the 80’s and it’s the only one of the original series that Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in. KICKBOXER 2 would come out in 1991, followed by 3 in 1992, 4 in 1994, and REDEMPTION: KICKOXER 5 in 1995. Jean-Claude Van Damme would join the reboot that started in 2016, which now has 2 films of its own with a 3rd planned. So yeah, there are 7 of these things made with an 8th planned. 

It was pretty common in the 80s movies to make things worse by sticking up for someone who straight-up told you to leave things alone. Kurt is one of those guys who will just kick random people in the face no questions asked. This movie has a very THE KARATE KID feeling to it. I am not gonna lie, Jean-Claude Van Damme (TIMECOP) who plays Kurt, and Haskell V. Anderson III (A CIVIL ACTION) who plays Winston are fine in this, but the rest of the acting is rough.

I have seen some complaints about the soundtrack, but I thought it was pretty fantastic. I could have seen it be worked into a ROCKY movie back in the day. This is also kind of patterned like a ROCKY movie in that there are only 4 fights in the entire thing. Two of them are very short. The rest is mostly a giant training montage for Kurt who is trying to master Muay Thai.  This doesn’t mean it’s bad by any means, it’s actually pretty entertaining overall with some comedy added in. The comedy is mostly handled by Dennis Chan (THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS) who plays a character named Xian who is essentially a Mr. Miyagi type, and Haskell V. Anderson III who plays Winston as mentioned earlier. 

Speaking of some of the actors in this, I should also bring up Rochelle Ashana who plays Mylee. I liked her as a character, but the acting just wasn’t all that great. Having said that, Rochelle is no joke, she has done stunts for films like BLADE, ESCAPE FROM LA., and FRIGHT NIGHT PART 2 on top of her acting career that spanned 10 years from 1986 to 1996.

Pacing-wise this thing works overall, I certainly didn’t hate it at all and anything that reminds me of better movies is going to win points just for trying. I will say that in spite of the praise for the fighting sequences, I didn’t find them to be all that great in comparison to other ’80s flicks. I will say that I don’t think I would ever even attempt to try the splits like Jean-Claude Van Damme does in this movie. The director did a pretty solid job with this overall. 

Overall this thing gets a 4 out of 7. A better story than wanting revenge, because your arrogant brother got his butt kicked, would have helped (yes ROCKY IV is different, fight me), but it’s got some entertainment value outside of the fighting as well. 

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