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Previously, we showcased fighting circuit films by old Disney live-action directors such as “Fist Fighter”, the World Wrestling Federation’s “No Holds Barred”, and even a guy who did the Dorf movies “Cage”. Cannon films are not new to us, and it was unsurprising for them to show us ‘s bloodier and classier take on the style with the sleekest version of “form” as a follow-up to their BLOODSPORT (1988) success. In my opinion, it was my personal favourite for showcasing the splits-doer Jean Claude Van Damme as a new shiny split-doer vehicle. And I mean it when I say the camera emphasizes the climax of him triumphing in the reflection on his muscles.
As you might remember, Van Damme played the character of Kurt Sloane whose brother Eric “The Eliminator” is an ISKA Heavyweight World Champion. The last scene had the Thai champion paralyzing Eric with his tongue with the nickname of PO and playing himself as credited.
Before his defeat Eric is very cocky he often proclaims that winning comes easily to him, remarking, “Everyone loves a winner!” He boasts about how beating Tong Po will be a walk in the park. Previously, I touched on Eric the arrogant American tourist having none of the respect an American should have towards the art form he claims to represent, and Kurt bests him by getting a local Muay Thai teacher who knows how to train him properly. Kurt spends time in the woods, trains in the sight of Stone City’s Buddhist statues, and “hears” the ghosts of other warriors who have trained at the same place. At the peak of the fight, he entrusts himself to the spirit of those fighters, having removed the crude fists of glass-shard weaponry and gloating over the rather crude oil-shiny muscles of the fighters.
I think it’s possible to argue that these old ways make no sense. Sure, there is admiration for the sheer stubbornness of Kurt, but even his brother’s cries for him to stop getting hurt are futile as they suggest that some caution is better than no caution at all when engaging a gang such as the one who serves Tong Po. But, and this is a big but, this revenge is not meant to be revenge on the level of “Blind Fulfillment.” He is attempting to defeat Tong Po in a sport of fair competition. Indeed, this level of danger is sobering and even stupider. And I say, “cooler.”
In the process, Mylee (Rochelle Ashana, Fear of a Black Hat), the girlfriend of Kurt and the niece of Xian, suffers collateral damage. Unfortunately, right before the huge clash, used as a prop to motivate Kurt, she gets snatched by some ruffians who deliver her to Tong Po who viciously assaults her (thankfully, off-screen). All Xian can do when he learns about the extent of the situation is pat Mylee on her hand, and the facial expression he has when doing so tells me that Mylee, fair play to him, has a point. I believe that’s right: all this macho honour bullshit is what brought her to that state, and he’s completely unequipped to help her get better.
Mylee suffers further still, this time out of shame because she chooses to remain silent toward Kurt, knowing that it was his desperate attempt to throw him off balance. But that is precisely what Tong Po does during the fight: pours the paint over Kurt’s head and we then watch Kurt viciously beating Tong Po for everything he’s got and then gives him the cold shoulder. It’s unbelievable!
“Kurt. I love you!” she screams as though she has committed a grievous sin. Unlikeable, I must say. Kurt, you have exceptional abilities as a leading fighter, but you are a brutal, brutal husband.
While we’re on the subject of things which wouldn’t work now, let’s discuss Tong Po. The role was not awarded to him, but it was given to Van Damme’s childhood friend and sparring partner Michel Qissi, who is Moroccan Belgian. No one seems to care that much, and the 1989 defence would be that it had to be Qissi but the strongest fighter had to be a Thai boxer. In the remake released in 2016, Dave Bautista takes on the role of Tong Po, but the name change is explained by the fact that he lived in Thailand.
From this perspective, the makeup was poorly done, and the suggestion of rape is entirely superfluous, but he is still an effective over-the-top villain. My favourite part about him is how he is introduced. Kurt is getting his brother ready backstage for the fight and hears a sound like frantic banging. He walks into the corridor and before Tong Po comes into sight, Kurt only sees his braid flying around like a rattlesnake. When we see Tong Po in full, we notice that he is not working on a bag, but rather on one of the columns of the building, and making it collapse!
What this scene lacks is the small detail that Po, after defeating Eric, lifts his championship belt and tears it apart with his hands. What an asshole! How much is that going to cost in repairs?
So, did you know they call him ‘Tiger’ Tong Po? At least the people making all the signs and banners that are displayed in the movie do. It’s one way Kurt can take on his foe ‘Tiger’ and his brother ‘The Eliminator’ by getting known by a nickname.
Xian encourages the crowd to chant “Nak Soo Khao,” which is said to mean “white warrior,” further increasing Kurt’s legend and confidence.
KICKBOXER is full of lovable characters including Winston Taylor played by Haskell V. Anderson III from the film BROTHERHOOD OF DEATH. He always cracks me up when he states: “I’m army special forces, retired, sort of.” He also happens to be an American in the front row during the eliminator vs tiger fight, who tries to help out once he gets thrown on Kurt. He has a wonderful character arc because, by the end, he is a war hero, helping the brothers with one-liners and deep words while firing weapons.
I’m also shocked at how effective the not-so-bright (“weirder than a three-headed cat”) mentor character is after Xian. I’m not certain if this is intentional, a previously existing trope I’m not familiar with, or pure coincidence. But it does remind me of KILL BILL, particularly the not-comforting things Bill states when dropping off Beatrix to Pai Mei. This is particularly the case when he sheds off the line “By the way, don’t you provoke him, okay?” when he delivers Kurt to Xian who lives miles away from town.
It seems that Xian has an affinity with animals. His dog Ki Ki aids him in his training, while he has a hawk (or an eagle? I cannot distinguish the two) that he idolizes. Later, I see the bird-watching Kurt train in Stone City. I take that to mean it is some form of reincarnation or avatar of the old warriors, especially since we see a glimpse of the bird screeching in the middle of the large tussle. (The bird was on the poster too.)
Naturally, he is a legend even for more than his unconventional and entertaining ways (dropping coconuts on Kurt’s stomach to train him). He is also known for the time he takes Kurt to a lowkey bar, gets him drunk and proceeds to make him dance like a fool, before telling everyone in the bar that the guy made an offensive remark about their mothers. A more mundane instance of his heavy unconventional technique is when he has to sneak into a backroom during the fight to stop some antics and pick a guard’s pocket. Not only does he unlock the door, but he also drives the car the aforementioned door belonged to through the wall. Good gag.
It’s quite fascinating to me that people who never met Kurt simplify his origins by calling him American. In regard to his Belgian accent, there’s a story that explains how their parents divorced, with Eric living in the US with their father and Kurt “residing” in Europe with their mother. However, during Xian’s first encounter with Kurt, for some reason, Xian knew to call him “an American” which is precisely what the baddies do in some parts of the movie.
And indeed, one can feel some American blood pumping within the international heart of the movie. Like all of these Western martial arts competition movies, this one has identifiable influences from Enter the Dragon, but this one also draws heavily from the montages of the ROCKY sequels set to praise rock music. The OST consists of songs composed by Stan Bush who, with Survivor, is considered the G.O.A.T of montage rock. “The Streets of Siam,” “Fight for Love” and “Never Surrender,” are the best contribution from Stan, who needs no introduction to Bloodsport fans. If you don’t know him, Bush supplied two songs for BLOODSPORT and is most known for “Dare” and “The Touch” in TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE, the latter thanks to Dirk Diggler’s karaoke in Boogie Nights. KICKBOXER also features songs from gospel singer Beau Williams and lesser-knowns Michael Logan, Lucinda Ramseur, and Jam Box.
I will readily admit that I’m a sucker for action films with a kickboxing theme. From scrappy indie productions to headlined big studio releases, I will soak them all in. I will watch EVERY variation of this genre. KICKBOXER stands out because it encompasses all the important parts of a kickboxing story: the villain, the mentor, the setting, the training, and the fights. And vamoosh It’s got evil, heroic father figures, self-deluded credos, traditional training montages, humorous jokes, melodrama, and even some dancing. Some of it is subdued and intended, but some of it is not. KICKBOXER is a well-shot motion picture that has not aged disgracefully, and at the same time, does not hold back on the Bush. While it is quite obvious I am not going down the path of the greatest Van Damme is, I can proudly proclaim that Van Damme given a credit of “Fight scenes were passed up slightly more than directed by me.” He is well known for portraying martial artists, and the distinctive way he shows off his phenomenal kicks undeniably depicts a hungry screen martial artist into an icon entertainer at the height of his fame.
And there it was KICKBOXER, the last of the Last Summer of ’80s Action. The rest of the year was filled with Black Rain, Next of Kin, and Best of the best(another franchise spawning fight competition movie!), and with that, the nineties, in my opinion, began. Personally, I think the major action trends of that decade are hinted at by the movies we looked at in this series. KICKBOXER stands for the arrival (and training) of Van Damme. He later branched out in Leonheart from the fighting tournament format to a HARD TIMES style of underground fighting circuit. From there he continued to grow in ambition self: the prison movie DEATH WARRANT, playing twins in DOUBLE IMPACT, doing sci-fi in UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, etc.
At the same time, primarily in the DIY home video segment, dozens of wannabe the next Van Damme produced western martial arts b-movie films which were more in line with the likes of KICKBOXER or at least FIST FIGHTER, CAGE and UNDERGROUND. These include Van-Damme-less sequels to KICKBOXER and BLOODSPORT as well as produced and directed by both credited directors of KICKBOXER. Mark DiSalle’s only other movie credit as director was THE PERFECT WEAPON in 1991 starring Jeff Speakman. David Worth POOR PRETTY EDDIE also directed LADY DRAGON, LADY DRAGON 2, CHAIN OF COMMAND, AMERICAN TIGERS and TRUE VENGEANCE.
The studios polished the images of Van Damme and Steven Seagal and pasted them into cop movies and DIE HARD on clones like SUDDEN DEATH and UNDER SIEGE. Under Siege, which was directed by The Package Andrew Davis, was an example of such polished trash followed by THE FUGITIVE which catered to an older demographic. That film’s long-forgotten lead actor, Harrison Ford spent the 1980s to early 1990s as the face of action movies for those who looked down on black belts and bodybuilders, something that’s become rather common now.
Ever since the 90s, Hollywood has been inundated with movies about people dressed in rubber battling villains in fantasy cities, or urban dystopias BATMAN was single-handedly responsible for propelling the stylized superhero comic book genre. If you want to know more about the movements, check out my article on Polygon.
90s summer was completely different from 89, bringing only one Michael Kamen score. The sports action film genre was still professing with zero Michael Kamen scores. The most representative 80s action of the decade was the sequels to the classics like ANOTHER 48 HRS, DIE HARD 2, DELTA FORCE 2: THE COLOMBIAN CONNECTION, AND YOUNG GUNS II. New additions FIRE BIRDS and NAVY SEALS most certainly followed the over-glorified style of TOP GUN. Everything else from that decade were action comedies BIRD ON A WIRE, THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE, and AIR AMERICA, along with sci-fi action TOTAL RECALL, ROBOCOP 2, and DARKMAN.
DICK TRACY, which Warren Beatty has been trying to make since the 70s, follows the original writer of SUPERMAN. For a time, the film was developed for Clint Eastwood as well as with John Landis or Walter Hill as directors with Joel Silver as producer. Because it was conceived prior to BATMAN, many of its aspects are stylistic set pieces resembling the 30s, aggressively stylized sets built on a sound stage one spunky starlet, and a hero who drops through a skylight may be a coincidence. However, there are other elements that had to have drawn inspiration from Burton’s film, like the score by Danny Elfman and the simple iconic key art. Either way, movies like this were non-existant before Burton. You could shoot people with a Tommy gun, but they wouldn’t allow you to do it in the middle of a city painted weird colours while wearing a blazingly bright yellow jacket. From this point onward, the summers changed forever.
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