Post by Neverending on Jul 31, 2023 17:58:03 GMT -5
BLOODSPORT (1988) / KICKBOXER (1989)
The new Turtles movie opens tonight. Ain’t gonna watch it for a while but luckily I’ve been holding off on this “review” for a couple of weeks at least. SnoBorderZero totally ignored my Scarface / Carlito’s Way retrospective so I had to be more strategic with this one.
I might have mentioned this in past commentaries, but growing up, the Turtles and Power Rangers were extremely popular, but I also had a strong affinity for French Canadian superstar Jean Claude Van Damme. Doomsday is more of a Steven Seagal fan. That’ll alway draw a wedge between us. His favorite Turtle is Donatello and his favorite Power Ranger is Justin the little kid from Turbo. Man got no taste.
Anyhoo, Bloodsport and Kickboxer were the two defining Van Damme movies in my household since I owned both and they (along with Enter the Dragon) were the inspirations for Mortal Kombat. The cultural zeitgeist for both is pretty strong.
Both have a similar premise. In Bloodsport, Van Damme competes in an underground martial arts tournament while on the run from the U.S. military. Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker has a prominent supporting role. In Kickboxer, Van Damme avenges his brother in a kickboxing match run by the mafia. The main distinction between the two is that Bloodsport is basically Mortal Kombat without the fatalities and Kickboxer is a Rocky knockoff. As a kid, I certainly preferred Bloodsport, but now I think both movies are very close in quality. Kickboxer has more story and character development. The infamous dance-fight scene is hilarious. But it gets a little too silly at the end. It was more Rambo than Rocky at that point. Bloodsport is more plot than story. The characters are just caricatures. Van Damme’s “best friend” is this heavy metal dude that might as well been played by PG Cooper’s dad. The actor is actually the frat guy that shouts “nerds” in Revenge of the Nerds. It’s all too silly. But the “quality” is consistent throughout and the final fight between Van Damme and Bolo (the inspiration for Johnny Cage and Goro) is fantastic. Bloodsport has the edge.
One last thought. If there was an Oscar for location scouts, these two movies would have surely won. They found the perfect seedy parts in Honk Kong and Thailand that would make Michael Mann jealous.
