Kickboxer (1989)

Kickboxer (1989)

Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dennis Alexio, Dennis Chan, Rochelle Ashana, Michel Qissi (as Tong Po), Haskell V. Anderson III, Lee Ka-Ting
Director: Mark DiSalle, David Worth
Action Director: Jean-Claude Van Damme

Following the success of Bloodsport, producer Mark DiSalle's follow-up film would be another Van Damme collaboration, one that was similar to that movie in a lot of ways. Both films would be filmed in Asia with a Hong Kong crew helping behind the scenes and a handful of Hong Kong veterans in important supporting roles. They also center around matches between Van Damme and a powerful, undefeated opponent. There is an element of vengeance in said matches, although revenge is the central crux of the entire film, as opposed to Bloodsport's Third Act (extra) motivator.

In a lot of ways, this feels like a remake of Van Damme's own No Retreat, No Surrender, especially in terms of structure. The movie begins with Eric Sloane (heavyweight kickboxing champion Dennis "The Terminator" Alexio) winning the ISKA champship in the United States. While talking to the press after the fight, one of the reporters suggests he go to Thailand, the birthplace of kickboxing, to fight their champ. An arrogant Sloane thinks that's a good idea and hauls his younger brother, Kurt, off to Bangkok to challenge Tong Po (Michel Qissi, Bloodsport).

Despite Kurt's misgivings about Eric fighting in a circuit that is far more brutal than your average ISKA match, that hot s*** Eric goes ahead with the fight, and gets his spinal column snapped for his troubles. Kurt is beside himself with rage and starts looking around for a Muay Thai school that will accept him as a student. A former special forces operative Winston Taylor (Haskell V. Anderson III), who had been a spectator at the match that left Eric a cripple, suggests he train under the tutelage of Xian (Dennis Chan). Kurt is willing to give it a try and, against all odds, Xian agrees to take Kurt as his student.

Kurt spends the next several months undergoing rigorous training that often borders on outright torture. But he does become a kickboxing dynamo as the time passes, which he proves in the ring. Tong Po's manager, local crime boss Freddy Li (Lee Ka-Ting, of Legend of a Fighter and Dragons Forever), agrees to set up a match between Kurt and Tong Po. But like most movie bad guys, he's willing to do a few underhanded things in order to stack the odds in his man's favor.

Much like No Retreat, No Surrender, this movie starts with our character (a novice martial artist) witnessing a loved one getting crippled by the main villain. The hero then befriends a black person in a new setting (Seattle in one film, Bangkok in the other). The second act is mainly a single long training sequence involving the protagonist and an Asian master (Bruce Lee in one, Xian in the other). The final act mainly revolves around the final showdown (in the ring) between the main protagonist and the villain.

Like Bloodsport, this movie is about Van Damme fighting in the ring, although it represents a variation on the tournament sub-genre of martial arts movies. It isn't so much about a single tournament involving dozens of fighters whittling each other down until the final match. Instead, it is about individual fighting matches (less Olympics-style elimination matches and more Las Vegas championship bouts). In an elimination-style tournament, the inclusion of various fighters of different styles helps makes up for the monotony of the locale. In a match-oriented fight movie, the fights may go to the main character as he moves up the ranks, but it also may become repetitive soon. So an emphasis on training helps keeps things interesting until we get to the Main Event.

The training scenes are nice and varied and more or less constitute what I would call a "complete" cinematic training sequence. This means that it has three main sections: general physical conditioning, exercises a little more specific to the style being learned, and the style's techniques themselves. Kickboxer gives us all three of those. For the former, we have Van Damme running, getting coconuts dropped onto his stomach, and getting his legs forced into the splits. For technique-specific exercises, we see him kicking a palm tree and performing forms underwater. Finally, we see Van Damme practicing his footwork with Xian in a variety of situations, plus form work.

The fight sequences are credited to Jean-Claude Van Damme, with additional credit given to John Cheung (Police Story II and Bloodsport) and Jon H. Epstein for the stunt coordination. This is the example of static JCVD punching bag choreography, and people who love the complex exchanges of Hong Kong films will likely look down on this approach to fight choreography (see the old Stuntpeople review site for an example--they said that their 1/5 rating meant that the action was as bad as a Van Damme film). But...Van Damme probably gets his all-time physical showcase in this movie. His flexibility is cranked up to 11 here and this arguably features the best demonstrations of his patented jumping spin kicks. Once Kurt Sloane gets the chance to unleash against Tong Po at the end, you'll agree that Van Damme has rarely been better.

Complementing him is long-time friend Michel Qissi as Tong Po. Qissi had previously played the Brazilian fighter Suan Paredes in Bloodsport, memorable for the gory way in which his character is dispatched. Here he plays a particularly fearsome opponent, one who is arguably even crueler and stronger than Bolo Yeung's Chong Li. Both fighters are about as sadistic, although what we learn about Tong Po out of the ring suggests that he's an utter monster. While Tong Po doesn't get the showier displays of footwork, he nails the brutality of the sport with his knees, clinches and elbows. Considering his character as a whole, it's no wonder that the makers of the sequels to this movie would want to bring him back as a Sloane Family arch-enemy, although it got pretty silly by the time Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor came around. Tong Po as a Central American drug lord? Come on, people!

Lee Ka-Ting, a seasoned action director and actor, had previously served as Bloodsport's co-choreographer and graduated to a supporting role as one of the main villains. Meanwhile, Dennis Chan had mainly been in supporting actor in films of diverse genres like The Lunatics; Cherie; and Welcome (1985). Readers here might remember him as the waiter in Heart of Dragon and the director of Wushu: The Young Generation. This feels like it was a meatier role for Chan than it was in a lot of his Hong Kong films. He plays it with just enough quirkiness to make his character endearing and memorable. Chan would reprise the role as Xian in the first two sequels, Kickboxer 2: The Road Back and Kickboxer 3: The Art of War. Those would star Sasha Mitchell, best known as Cody from "Step By Step," as David Sloane, the youngest brother nobody ever talks about. Filipino actress Rochelle Ashana (Sword of Bushido) enchants as Xian's niece, Mylee. She makes a nice romantic pairing with Van Damme.

Despite the negative reception from critics, this is one of the Van Damme movies to watch. I would say that the only thing that dampens my excitement for this film is knowing the direction that Cyborg director Albert Pyun took the series once he was hired to direct the sequel. I can't say that I'm a fan of that approach, although at least they kept the series focused on the Sloanes...I guess?