The King Of The Kickboxers (1990) - A Review

 

Another classic martial arts movie starring Loren Avedon.

The King Of The Kickboxers (also known as No Retreat, No Surrender 4 and Karate Tiger 5) is a Hong Kong/American martial arts movie released in 1990 starring Loren Avedon, Billy Blanks, Keith Cooke Hayabusa, Don Stroud, Richard Jaeckel, and Sherrie Rose. This movie was directed by Lucas Lo Yuen-Ming, with fight choreography by Tony Leung Siu-Hung.

From left: Prang (Keith Cooke Hayabusa), Jake (Loren Avedon), and Molly (Sherrie Rose).

In The King of The Kickboxers, Loren Avedon plays Jake Donahue, a cocky detective on the New York police force who has been chosen by Interpol to go undercover in Thailand to find the people involved in the making of snuff films. It seems foreigners are being killed in martial arts snuff films! At first, Jake is not that interested in the assignment, until he finds out that the killer of his brother is in the snuff films. Jake is now determined to find the killer.

Ten years earlier Jake's brother, a champion kickboxer, was killed by Khan (played by Billy Blanks) for winning a fight he was supposed to lose. Jake witnessed this (he was a kid at the time); and Khan even savagely beat him up, leaving him for dead. Jake wants revenge for his brother, so he goes to Thailand to go undercover and get hired to be in one of the snuff films Khan stars in. Jake finds out he is not strong enough to defeat Khan, so he asks a drunken former martial arts champion, Prang (played by Keith Cooke Hayabusa), to train him. After torturous training, meeting a woman (played by Sherrie Rose) who is wanted by Khan, and getting the attention of the talent agent, Jake finally gets his chance to avenge everyone Khan has hurt...

Billy Blanks as the undefeated Khan. Dee Jay from the Street Fighter games is based on this character!

The King Of The Kickboxers came out a year after Jean-Claude Van Damme's Kickboxer, and the influence is...noticeable. It's not a straight copy, though. Basically, this is Kickboxer with Hong Kong-style fight scenes. Loren Avedon plays the cockiest character yet in this movie. He has reason to be cocky, as he can defeat common thugs with ease, by himself in New York. When he gets to Thailand, he gets humbled in a fight by a Muay Thai fighter who admits to Jake that he is just an average fighter. That fighter tells him to find Prang, the man who almost defeated Khan. It is nice to see Jake go from cocky to humble and focused. When Jake finally faces Khan, you will definitely root for him to win.

Billy Blanks as Khan is one menacing dude! When I first watched this movie, I was shocked at how murderous his character was, as I had seen movies with Billy Blanks playing the hero previously. He is believable as the monster fighter that can't be defeated. Keith Cooke Hayabusa is great as the disgraced fighter Prang. When I first watched this, I thought it was weird that Prang was a master martial artist even though he was so young. Watching it again and really paying attention to everything, I understand the Prang character's circumstances more. Keith Cooke Hayabusa is another underrated martial arts actor who should've been in more movies. At least he played Reptile in the original Mortal Kombat movie and Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation!

The King Of The Kickboxers has a lot of fight scenes, and they rock!

The fight scenes in The King Of The Kickboxers are fun and plentiful! It is cool that in the fight scenes before Jake meets Prang, Jake is not as precise in his moves as you would expect (if you've seen Loren Avedon in his movies previous to this one). Loren is great throughout, and once again proves why he is one of the most underappreciated and underrated martial arts action stars of the 80s and 90s. Once Prang makes his entrance, that Hong Kong greatness shines through. Keith Cooke Hayabusa has quite the introductory fight scene! He does so many awesome, precise kicks and he is really fast. Billy Blanks is awesome in King Of The Kickboxers as well. He is powerful, has awesome kicks, and he floats when doing some of his spinning jump kicks. He is awesome, and he should've been in way more martial arts movies! Of course, the final fight between Jake (Loren Avedon) and Khan (Billy Blanks) is amazing. Worth watching the movie just for that scene. The power, the speed, the accuracy, and the stakes of the fight are top notch. Loren Avedon and Billy Blanks are just awesome.

So, if you like movies like Kickboxer, you will definitely like (or at least appreciate) The King Of The Kickboxers. The story is basically the Hong Kong version of Kickboxer. You gets lots of fight scenes, torturous training scenes, some comedy, and a hero you can root for. What more could you want? Do I think The King Of The Kickboxers is better than Kickboxer? I like them equally, but for different reasons. Loren Avedon, Keith Cooke Hayabusa, Billy Blanks, and Tony Leung Siu-Hung make an unbeatable martial arts movie combo. I miss those days of action cinema.

Reviewed by David Williams

No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1989/1990) - A Review

 

Really underrated martial arts action movie.

No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (also known as No Retreat, No Surrender 3, Kick-Boxer 2, and Karate Tiger 3) is a Hong Kong/American martial arts action movie released in 1990. It stars Loren Avedon, Keith Vitali, Rion Hunter, Luke Askew, Mark Russo, Joseph Campanella, and Wanda Acuna. No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers was directed by Lucas Lo Yuen-Ming, with martial arts choreography by Tony Leung Siu-Hung.

Loren Avedon (left) as Will and Keith Vitali as Casey. These brothers make quite the team.

In No Retreat, No Surrender 3, Loren Avedon plays Will Alexander, a martial arts instructor who has a strained relationship with his brother Casey Alexander (played by Keith Vitali) and father John Alexander (played by Joseph Campanella). Casey is a charismatic CIA agent, and John is retired from the CIA. Will is not cool with his family being in the CIA. Though John is retired, he is still tracking down Franco (played by Rion Hunter), a terrorist he was not able to capture before he retired. Unfortunately, John is killed by Franco at his home, and Will finds his dead body. Casey finds Will crying over their dead father's body, and Will vows to find their father's killer without his help.

Will and Casey then start their search for their father's killer in their own way. Will infiltrates Franco's terrorist group (with the help of his martial artist friends), while Casey uses his CIA colleagues and former lover, Maria (played by Wanda Acuna) to gain intel on where Franco is. Naturally, Will and Casey's paths cross, and they end up having to work together to get out of a huge international incident and to finally get Franco...

Rion Hunter as Franco is a great final boss!

Once again, No Retreat, No Surrender 3 is a stand-alone movie, not connected to the previous No Retreat, No Surrender movies. This time, the movie is about revenge with a bit of political intrigue. Family drama goes on throughout the movie as well. Loren Avedon plays the more conflicted, introspective Will; whereas Keith Vitali plays the charming and charismatic Casey. Both actors play their roles well and are believable as their characters. Loren gets to show off his dramatic acting skills while Keith gets to show off his more suave and comedic side. In fact, Casey is a bit of a James Bond type of character. Rion Hunter as Franco, the main villain, is pretty awesome. That guy is one pompous bad guy! Great performance from him! The plot is interesting enough, and there are some twists and turns in there that you won't expect. The soundtrack is also great, with Richard Yuen giving it that classic 80s/90s Hong Kong sound. [A bit of a warning, homophobic slurs are used in comedic fashion in one scene, which is unfortunate.]

The fight scenes are top tier!

The fight scenes in this movie are so good. Some of the best fight scenes in American movies at that time. Tony Leung Siu-Hung really needs more recognition as a fight choreographer! Loren Avedon kicks major butt in this! Will does a martial arts demonstration with his students where he totally destroys them. Later on, his friends greet him by attacking him at another martial arts school! He and his friends then stage a fight to get the attention of Bruno's secondhand man, and Will just destroys his friends in a bar! It's crazy! His fight against Mark Russo is amazing. They go hard with fast-paced punches and perfectly executed kicks. Keith Vitali has a rather violent fight scene at the beginning of the movie, and later on, a fight in a parking garage. Where Will destroys his opponents physically, Casey actually kills them. Highlights their difference in philosophies. Will and Casey do fight each other, but it is more comedic in nature. The final fight, though... One of the best American fight scenes ever! Rion Hunter as Franco is a monster in this scene. He is fast and powerful! Will and Casey have to pull out all the stops to defeat him... The choreography is superb! I used to watch the final fight so much back in the day. I just couldn't get enough of it!

In conclusion, No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers is an entertaining action movie. I think you should see it, for the final fight alone! The plot may be a bit cliched and the acting not always excellent, but the action is top notch. One of Loren Avedon's and Keith Vitali's best! I am a bit biased, though. Back in the 90s, I recorded this movie off of the American cable TV channel TNT (remember when TNT showed a wide variety of movies, not just the same 8 to 10  movies every month?) and I watched it so much! I studied that final fight scene (along with the mall fight in Police Story) on an almost nightly basis. Watching it again, years later, it still holds up and the fight scenes blew me away again! This movie means a lot to me, and hopefully anyone who reads this review will end up enjoying the movie as much as I do!

Reviewed by David Williams

No Retreat, No Surrender 2 (1987) - A Review

 

The unexpected sequel to a martial arts classic. It goes in a very different direction!

No Retreat, No Surrender 2 (also known as No Retreat, No Surrender 2: Raging Thunder and Karate Tiger 2) is an American/Hong Kong martial arts action movie released in 1987. It stars Loren Avedon, Cynthia Rothrock, Max Thayer, Matthias Hues, and Hwang Jang-Lee. No Retreat, No Surrender 2 was directed by Corey Yuen Kwai, with martial arts choreography also by Yuen, and assisted by Mang Hoi, King Lee King-Chu, and Ma Chin-Ku.

Loren Avedon as Scott Wylde. Loren really kicks butt in this movie!

In No Retreat, No Surrender 2, Loren Avedon plays Scott Wylde, an American martial artist who goes to Vietnam to visit his fiancee Sulin (played by Patra Wanthivamod). Sulin comes from a wealthy family, and her father was involved in a war conflict. The night of their date, Sulin is kidnapped, and Scott finds out that he's been framed for her entire family's (except her father's) murders! He escapes custody and finds his friend and master  Mac Jarvis (played by Max Thayer), a Vietnam veteran and arms dealer. Together with his helicopter pilot Terry (played by Cynthia Rothrock), they go to Cambodia where Sulin is being held by Yuri (played by Matthias Hues), a Soviet General who leads an army of Vietnamese soldiers.

Cynthia Rothrock (as Terry) giving Matthias Hughes (Yuri) a piece of her mind!

As you could probably tell by the plot description, No Retreat, No Surrender 2 is a sequel in name only to the first movie. Kurt McKinney and Jean-Claude Van Damme were supposed to star in this, but Van Damme was concerned about the safety of filming in the Cambodian jungle. He persuaded McKinney to drop out of the movie as well. Schedules never lined up for McKinney and the filming, so he left the project. Loren Avedon was then hired to take on the lead role, and the script was changed accordingly (though it is said that this was originally supposed to be a totally different movie not related to the first No Retreat, No Surrender).

Whereas the first movie was like The Karate Kid or Rocky IV, this movie is more like Rambo or the Missing In Action movies. There is a lot of of military combat in this, in addition to the martial arts fight scenes. Loren Avedon does well in his debut film. His acting gets better as the movie goes on (though there is a lot of awkward dialogue he has to say), but his fight scenes are top-notch. He is a really underrated martial arts movie star. I called him the 'Caucasian Jackie Chan' back in the day. Cynthia Rothrock is also great in this; she gets a lot of dialogue and she gets to show how much of a butt kicker she is. Max Thayer as Mac Jarvis is great in this; best actor in the movie and he's pretty funny. Matthias Hues is properly menacing as the final boss, and you really hate him for the jerk he is! The story is kind of basic, but hey, we're here for the action, aren't we?

The fights in this are fast and hard-hitting!

The fight scenes in No Retreat, No Surrender 2 are the best thing about this movie. Then again, if you enjoy military combat, gunplay, and explosions, you'll be greatly satisfied. The action is a bit more violent than in the first movie, but it isn't graphically gory. Loren Avedon has some great fight scenes; the kidnapping scene is our first introduction to his prowess. A fight at the temple is also great! His final fight scene against Yuri is awesome as well. Yuri is a powerful monster, and Scott has to use everything he has to defeat him. Cynthia Rothrock has a fight against the legendary Korean superkicker, Hwang Jang-Lee. Though the fight is pretty short, it is awesome. Matthias Hues does well as the powerful Yuri, even though he is not a trained martial artist. That's the greatness of Hong Kong choreography back then, they make non-martial artists look credible without editing and camera tricks.

So, should you watch No Retreat, No Surrender 2? I would say, yes. It has the debut of the great, underappreciated Loren Avedon, it has Cynthia Rothrock kicking butt, it has crazy Hong Kong martial arts fight choreography, and it has lots of guns and explosions. It has something for everyone! Just remember, this movie has nothing to do with the first No Retreat, No Surrender. As an aside, it was nice to see this movie again after not having seen it since the late 1990s. It's better than I remembered!

Reviewed by David Williams