Now, I don't know a whole lot about this movie, other than the basics of what I do know about it. I do know that this film is based on a true story about real-life martial arts fighter Frank Dux. Not only that, but Frank Dux himself is also the fight choreographer for this movie. Which I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, because I have never seen any of his fights. Well then again, I don't watch stuff like UFC or anything involving martial arts related, so oh well. Anyway...
I also know that the star of this movie is Jean-Claude Van Damme. And I have seen two other films starring Van Damme. One of them was the "Street Fighter" movie from 1994, which I adore in all of it's cheesiness. And the other film being "Double Team" which...well, it could've been a hell of a lot better. It's still kinda watchable, but definitely not one of Van Damme's better films.
I don't know if Van Damme will do any good with this movie, considering his limited acting skills, but the only way I'm going to know on whether this movie is going to be good or not, is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm going to do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Bloodsport".
8 minutes later
Guys, I'm gonna tell you. Some of this acting is terrible. But somehow, it's kinda making this movie a little bit charming to watch.
20 minutes later
OK, that was certainly cool. Dux managed to break that bottom brick from the top of that pile of bricks. That was pretty awesome.
11 minutes later
O...K. That was quite a lot of blood from just a single punch. It was certainly cool, but really brutal, man.
16 minutes later
Wow...that was honestly enough to almost turn someone's stomach in. That shot to the knee was quite possibly the most violent thing I have seen in this movie so far. That was just...god damn, was that ever just nasty.
7 minutes later
You know, I was going to say that I don't feel sorry that Ray is dead. But somehow, he is still alive. And yet still, I can't say that I feel too sorry for him for being so fucking dumb.
7 minutes later
So not only Dux single-handedly fended off a couple of chinese officers, but he just reflected a couple of taser shots with a trash can lid into the other standing chinese officers. I think it's safe to assume that the officers in Hong Kong really fucking suck, guys.
The Review
Well guys, that was "Bloodsport". Let's shut that off...OK. Um, where to even start? I guess I should start with the writing, as I usually do. Well, before I get into the review itself, I should mention that this is based off a true story involving Frank Dux. Now, if you think I'm going to try and compare this to the real-life story of Dux, don't bother. Because, to me, whether this is based off of a true story not is irrelevant. Because, to me, when it comes to movies, it's whether or not they are entertaining, and this film certainly is that. I guess it shows my hand a little early, but I may as well explain why I enjoyed this.
Our story here is rather paper-thin. Because we have a story that involves an American Soldier, Frank Dux, played by Van Damme, who enters an illegal underground fighting tournament to honor his master's name and win said illegal underground fighting tournament. Now I should stress that this story has been done many, many times before. One example, of course, being "Enter the Dragon". However, I am willing to give the basic story a pass because, what little story here does work and gives the viewer a reason to watch. The story continues to go on at a pace and doesn't feel like it's dragging itself down.
That said, I do have a couple of minor problems in terms of writing. Such as these two federal agents, whom are trying to track down Dux and try to get him back to America because they don't want to see him get hurt in the Kumite. OK. Either Frank is the only person in their ranks who is too good to get hurt or they have no one else in their ranking soldiers to turn to and Dux is all you have. But that part is honestly not too much of an issue to complain about because it still does make some level of sense.
Another one involves the Kumite itself. Now, we are told at the beginning of this tournament that it's being held every 5 years. They also admit that it is a secret underground tournament. If that's the case, then what's to stop anyone who attends to see this tournament in action tell some Chinese officer that there is an illegal tournament taking place and shut this tournament down? Unless they are sworn to secrecy when they do arrive to watch the tournament, then I don't think it's going to stop anyone from getting some word out. Because during the movie, Dux meets this female reporter, and she's trying to get a scoop on what the Kumite is like and why he's taking part in it, and Van Damme tells her it's a personal matter and doesn't tell her anything else. And then later on in the movie, she is seen with someone as she gains access to the Kumite. Van Damme doesn't try to stop her. He just smiles and accepts the fact that she is at the tournament.
Now again, that may just be me thinking way too hard about this, but sometimes, I just like to notice it and just share my trifling details. And almost nobody else is going to notice it or even care about it.
While I'm on the subject of writing. Outside of Dux, our characters here are rather shallow. However, I'm going to let that pass because this movie benefits from having shallow characters. Why? Because you are here to see Van Damme and everyone in this tournament kick seven shades of ass against each other and you are going to be sucked into these fights.
And I guess on that note, I may as well talk about the fight choreography, because this is where the movie truly shines. Like I mentioned earlier, the fight scenes in this movie were choreographed by the man Van Damme plays; Frank Dux. Because he knew what he was doing when working on these fights. All of them are fast paced, brutal, and really showcase everyone's strengths. However, I do have to warn you, and in case the title didn't give it away, this movie is really brutal with it's fight scenes. Like, nobody is pulling any punches, so you will see instances of blood in almost every fight. So if you don't like to see some massive amounts of blood in movies, then this movie is not for you.
There are a couple of hiccups in terms of fighting. And by that, I mean there are very small moments where the camera will focus on someone kicking another guy in the face, and the foot doesn't connect with the guy's face at all as he is falling back from the impact of the kick. But again, almost nobody is going to notice it or even care. But I did, so take it for what you will.
Moving onto acting. I did mention at the start of the reaction portion of this that I said that some of the acting was terrible. However, when I say that, I'm only talking about during Van Damme's flashback. Because as Dux visits his master's home, he sees the katana sitting there and thus we get a flashback with Dux and a couple of teenagers breaking in the master's house and the acting during that portion is terrible. But I can't deny that it was a little bit charming to see how laughably bad the acting was in that brief moment in the flashback, including a younger Dux, who puts in an atrocious accent of Van Damme, and the acting in that section is so wooden that it almost hurts. Now mind you, the teens only appear for about a minute, so it's not like you have to see them for far too long. Plus, there were about two asian actors who also kind-of phoned in their lines. However, the rest of the acting is fairly decent, including Van Damme. Which is a rare thing, because Van Damme can barely act. But to be fair, he did have a sizable supporting cast to help carry him through. It's probably one of the reasons why he was so good in the "Street Fighter" movie from '94. But I'm getting way off track. Point is, the acting is certainly decent, and that's all I could really ask for.
About the only thing I can talk about in terms of special effects are blood effects. And the practical blood that is used here is really good in terms of the fights. I think there might've been one shot at the very first fight involving CG blood. However, it's one of those cases where the blood looks close enough to the actual blood used in the fight, so special effects in this movie are fantastic.
Camera work here is really good. The lighting is well lit. Sound-mix is competent enough. The music is a bit of a mixed bag, because it is that mid to late 80's music that you're either going to get use to or your really not going to like. What I mean by that is that there are 3 montages in the movie and all of the songs are, at least to me, really corny. And I understand that during the 80's when these kinds of films came out, they would usually put in some kind of montage music in their scenes, mostly being inspired by the "Rocky" films. So in terms of lyrical music, it's definitely a mixed bag. It's either something you're going to get use to or not. The music that doesn't use lyrics, however, is great and it certainly set the mood during the fight scenes. So music here ranges from average to being rather decent.
So, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Bloodsport"? Oh hell yes, certainly. It really is a fun, mindless, action movie. And anyone who is into these kinds of movies are certainly going to have a ball. However, as I mentioned before, if you're someone who doesn't like to see a ton of blood, then you're probably going to want to avoid this. But for everyone else, if you like blood with your fights, and you don't care how much of it there is, then you are going to adore this. This movie is certainly really good and it is one of the better films starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. It's never going to top his performance in the "Street Fighter" movie, though. However, a film starring Van Damme would have to actively go out of it's way to top the cheesiness of "Street Fighter" and that's just not going to happen.
Anyway guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.
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