OK, so "B"-movie Kickboxing sensation Don "The Dragon" Wilson is no great actor, that's a given. That he even starred in the Roger Corman-backed "Bloodfist" (1989) and its eight sequels is proof that perhaps Wilson may have something to offer (which I'm sure he can; even I can find the smallest bit of talent in a "B"-movie martial arts star), but the man just hasn't gotten a whole lot of really fair play, not even in the "B"-movies, and "Bloodfist" and "Bloodfist II" (1991) are really all that he has to show for it?
In the first "Bloodfist," Wilson is Jake Raye, an American Kickboxing champion who travels to Manila, The Phillippines, to retrieve his brother's ashes after learning he had been murdered. A little deeper into his brother's actions in Manila lead Jake to an illegal underground Kickboxing tournament, and learns that his brother had been favored to win in the high-stakes combat.
In order to find his brother's killer, he enlists the aid of a Kickboxing master named Kwong (Joe Mari Avellana), who takes him under his wing and prepares him to enter the ring against some of the best fighters in the world, a la plot devices found in "Enter the Dragon" (1973), "Bloodsport" (1988), and any other martial arts tournament movie that you can think of.
Director Terence H. Winkless is behind the camera of this low-budget, "B"-grade martial arts vehicle that's a perfect showcase for Wilson's Kickboxing skills, if nothing else. We've seen a plot like this many times before in the martial arts movies, so not much of what you see here is original. As you could expect from a film by Corman, its production values are indeed low, the script is even lower, and the acting is submerged in a Manila river full of garbage. The only real pleasure here is the fighting, which features Wilson's skills and a few familiar Kickboxing faces (including Billy Blanks as one of Raye's toughest opponents).
It would seem that Don "The Dragon" Wilson would only gain a little more respectability with the not-much-better mixed martial arts romp "Bloodfist II" a year later.
3/10
In the first "Bloodfist," Wilson is Jake Raye, an American Kickboxing champion who travels to Manila, The Phillippines, to retrieve his brother's ashes after learning he had been murdered. A little deeper into his brother's actions in Manila lead Jake to an illegal underground Kickboxing tournament, and learns that his brother had been favored to win in the high-stakes combat.
In order to find his brother's killer, he enlists the aid of a Kickboxing master named Kwong (Joe Mari Avellana), who takes him under his wing and prepares him to enter the ring against some of the best fighters in the world, a la plot devices found in "Enter the Dragon" (1973), "Bloodsport" (1988), and any other martial arts tournament movie that you can think of.
Director Terence H. Winkless is behind the camera of this low-budget, "B"-grade martial arts vehicle that's a perfect showcase for Wilson's Kickboxing skills, if nothing else. We've seen a plot like this many times before in the martial arts movies, so not much of what you see here is original. As you could expect from a film by Corman, its production values are indeed low, the script is even lower, and the acting is submerged in a Manila river full of garbage. The only real pleasure here is the fighting, which features Wilson's skills and a few familiar Kickboxing faces (including Billy Blanks as one of Raye's toughest opponents).
It would seem that Don "The Dragon" Wilson would only gain a little more respectability with the not-much-better mixed martial arts romp "Bloodfist II" a year later.
3/10