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| Bloodsport |
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  (6/10)
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Runtime: 92 m |
| Public Rating: 8.17 (52 votes) |
Director: Newt Arnold |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Action |
Year: 1988 |
| Writer(s): Christopher Cosby, Mel Friedman |
| Distributor: 1 |
| Reviewed by: Arturo García Lasca |
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Although he had made a couple of films before this one, I think this is the oldest Van Damme film I've seen, and this is the one that made him well known in Hollywood and gave him a chance to start a career as an action hero.
At first the film shows how Frank Dux (played by Van Damme, but not in these first scenes) gets inside the house of Mr. Tanaka (Roy Chiao) without permission, but in a weird way (Tanaka's son hits Frank) he starts a friendship with Tanaka and tells him he wants to learn how to fight. Tanaka teaches him through the years, and Frank becomes a very good fighter. When Tanaka is ill, Frank decides to win a fighting tournament to honor him.
Frank flies all the way to Hong Kong to fight in the "Kumite", an underground Fighting championship that's part of a tradition in Hong Kong, it's only celebrated every few years and fighters from all around the world go there for some full contact action. From here on it's mostly the fighting, although there are about three sub-plots in the film: He meets a young blonde reporter (Leah Ayres) who wants to find out more about the kumite, and they start a relationship; he makes a new friend, Jackson (Donald Gibb), who's also participating in the tournament; and finally there are two US agents who are trying to get Frank back to the US because he's too 'valuable' for them and they can't afford to let him get hurt.
Why is it that millions and millions of people all around the world can actually spell the name "Jean Claude Van Damme"? Well, here's a hint: It's not for his acting skills. You figured it out already, didn't ya? It's for his cool fighting skills, so if you decide to watch this film expecting some sort of brilliant story you'll be very disappointed. But as a martial arts movie this is pretty good, the fight scenes were very nice and I think they were actually coordinated by the real Frank Dux, who actually holds (or held, not sure) some fighting records back when he was a fighter.
The story isn't really good, but lets face it, everyone watches this film for the fighting scenes, and if that's what you're looking for then this is the film you need. Van Damme's style is pretty cool, I love those kicks. Bolo Young plays the bad guy in this one, he's a pretty good bad guy, he's very strong (his pectorals are huge!) and looks frightening, a good opponent for Van Damme. The fights were pretty well done, and that song "I Fight to Survive" was pretty cool too. I'll say it again just in case: Be aware that this isn't some well written dramatic story that you'll love or that kind of stuff, I'd only recommend this film to those who enjoy looking well done fighting scenes, most with Van Damme involved. I think this is still the best martial arts flick he has done.
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