Balance of Power (1996) User Reviews

Badly acted, poorly written, yet still entertaining fight flick!

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 12 April 2006]

Billy Blanks is a lousy actor, but the Tae-Bo superstar can sure kick major butt. In Hidden Tiger he stars as Niko, a martial arts teacher who runs a dojo for kids in the local ghetto. When the boss of the Asian mafioso threatens his school, he must enter the underworld fight circuit in order to save those he loves and destroy the enemy for good.

Hidden Tiger isn't a great action movie by a long shot, but at least it avoids committing the sin of being boring. For although the acting is bad, the plot unbelievable and the script poorly written, the movie does succeed in being entertaining, albeit in a thoroughly cheesy manner. Action movie stereotypes abound: Billy Blanks's character is the all round good guy whose only interest is in keeping his kids on the straight and narrow, Mako is the wise mentor Matsumoto who teaches Niko the secrets of internal balance and control, Lisa Boynton plays Matsumoto's spunky daughter Jasmine, and James Lew is all-round bad guy fighter Takamura who will stop at nothing to win.

Director Rick Bennett ensures that all of the expected clichés are present and rarely injects proceedings with any originality, preferring to take the road most travelled. Hence, we get the obligatory training scenes, the tragic killing of Niko's student by bad guy Takamura, the kidnapping of the Master's daughter and the final showdown between our hero and main villain; predictable, yes, but kinda fun too! A classic Martial Arts movie this is not, but enough enjoyment can be had to make this one worth a viewing.

Blank it up tonight with this classic!

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 15 September 2010]

In what must be one of the last punchfighters released direct-to-VHS before the DVD era, Billy Blanks shows up right before his Tae-Bo fame.

Niko (Blanks) is a kindly Karate instructor in the ghettos of Canada. He runs this inner-city dojo with his partner Charlie (Walker Boone). He's a firm but fair taskmaster to his kids. All the funny stereotypes are there, including the fat kid. Niko even takes on a mentor role for the wayward Billy (Adam Bonneau). Billy even sometimes hangs out at the dreaded "playground". Apparently this playground is riddled with drug dealers and thugs.

Meanwhile, Hastishita (Akayama) is the ringleader of...wait for it...UNDERGROUND PUNCHFIGHTING MATCHES TO THE DEATH! The crowd enthusiastically holds their cash in their hands and yells and places their bets. Hastishita is in cahoots with evil Brit Slater (Hough) in the drug dealing game. Hastishita has an ace in the hole: vicious punchfighter Takamura (Lew), a man who you know is evil because he chants his own name.

Unfortunately, the problem with death matches is that, well, the opponents keep dying. So a search goes out for a new brawler. Because Hastishita's goons keep shaking down Niko's dojo for protection money, they know of him, so they recruit him. Niko then goes under the wing of kindly elderly master Matsumoto (Mako) and trains like he's never trained before. Matsumoto convinces him to fight so he can take down the evil Hastishita's empire. Niko then develops a close relationship with Matsumoto and his granddaughter Jasmine (Boynton). When Jasmine is kidnapped, he is forced to fight. Will he succeed? Does any of this sound familiar? Fans of the punchfighting genre should like this because of the weirder touches, such as the secret cave tended to by mysterious monks, which has TV's hooked up inside it. The acting overall is incredibly stilted and awkward. Usually actors get better as their careers progress. Blanks actually, somehow, has gotten WORSE. He literally has a "blank" stare. But no one really cares about that. If you are a Blanks fan, this is the movie for you, because he shows off his prowess in almost every scene. He has a boxing match with some steam (literally), he can't pronounce the name of his nemesis Hastishita, he has some funny screams, is usually dripping wet, and does a double ear clap to an opponent - with his feet.

Watch out Sarah Dampf and Lauren Levy, here comes a new verbose, precocious pre-teen girl: Lisa Boynton as Jasmine! Who knew this was a trend in action movies? Mako is great as the wise old master. You end up loving him as much as Niko does. The extended training sequences are a bit different than the ones we usually see, but it could have used a song with lyrics, like "He's a Man" (American Kickboxer 1) or "Fight for Power" (American Kickboxer 2).

There is some pre-Lone Tiger (1999) "poolfighting" and the whole movie is very similar to the classic Shootfigher (1992). Instead of Bolo as Shingo, it has Mako as Matsumoto.

There is some nice Asian philosophy included, and the title refers to the eternal balance of Yin and Yang. There are some quotable lines such as "A sword is tested by fire, a warrior is tested by his actions".

This advice clearly applies to Niko as he goes on his spiritual journey. Go on a journey of your own tonight with this silly classic!

Heaven Help Us

[gator1110 · 1/10 · 28 February 2005]

OK, I'm truly not trying to be mean, but this is the worst movie I've ever seen in my entire life. This movie is straight garbage, matter of fact to call this movie garbage would be complementing it. It's nothing more than a broke Karate Kid remake with unbelievable horrible acting. Whats going on with this old Chinese guy who looks like a broke Mr.Miyagi. This guy played the same exact role with a different name in the movie "Sidekicks". I'm not mad at him though, hey bills gotta get paid. Not one person in this movie can act worth a crap. I've seen better acting in Rice Krispies commercials. What were they thinking when they made this movie? I really want to know what they were thinking. Besides the predictable plot and god awful acting is the corny fight sequences. They try so hard to recapture "Enter the Dragon" or "Bloodsport" but fail horribly. The one scene that had me ready to stab somebody and jump out my window was: Billy Blanks character was in a room where steam was put in in order to suffocate him. No not in this movie, this dude starts yelling "No,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,!!!!!!!!!!" then he begins to punch the steam so he can breathe. Believe me for people who haven't seen this movie, this scene looks far more ridiculous than I can explain to you. All I can say is this movie is trash. Billy Blanks is having success with Tae Bo, so he better stick to that, because he never needs to act in a movie again if this garbage is going to be the result.

Bad Action, Worse Plot

[goldyjhu · 2/10 · 26 August 2002]

This can only be considered a horrible movie. Somewhere someone decided that they would use the basic plot of Bloodsport, put a well-known martial arts guy in it (Billy Blanks), and excrete it out onto VHS for others to accidently waste their time watching.

The idea is that Billy Banks (Neiko) enters an underground fighting tournament that wealthy drug lords wager on. The final match of the tournament is to the death, and it is perfectly legal to kill any competitor if you get the chance. Neiko enters the tournament to both avenge a fallen student from his dojo and to rid the city of the evil drug lord.

There are several horrible things about the movie. The student Billy is trying to avenge is shot like it is some planned event. Yet the kid is shot on a random corner, with Billy watching. How would they ever know the kid was there? Why not just have the kid get shot coming out of the dojo? These are the types of questions you ask yourself early and often during the thankfully short 92 minutes of the film.

In the requiste cookie-cutter training sequence. Billy learns and trains in a remarkably short amount of time. Going from fighting with his anger to total monk like concentration in ..... 1 DAY. The other training is given a unmeasured amount of time and involves running on the beach and breaking wood. Things that you think a guy running a dojo and as ripped as Billy Banks was to start with could have already done easily.

The acting is all-around shameful. The characters are sterotypical to the point of being almost racist. The worst part though is that the action sucks. I would equate the action sequences to first season Original Star-Trek action. Everything is very slow, with the standard "I hit you, you hit me" flow to every fight. I thought the flying jump kick, while the other guy stands there had been removed from modern action flicks, but it returns yet again....

The most redeeming feature of the movie is that it might be so bad that it entertains you. The lines so corny you laugh, and plot holes so big they make you grin. This is the ONLY reason to watch this movie.

Man... this was not good.

[mirtsyn2 · 1/10 · 28 June 2005]

This was not a good film.

I think the fact that this film has a 4.1 rating on this website makes me ashamed to be a part of this community. Batman & Robin had a lower rating!

This, by far, was the worst film i have ever seen in my life. PLEASE, DO NOT SEE IT.

I saw it very accidentally on PAX or UPN or some semi-movie channel like that, and the only reason i saw it in its entirety was due to the fact that i was intrigued by its awful, awful acting. ( i was totally blown out of my mind... i just couldn't stop watching it... in horror)

This is a great martial arts movie.

[Kenpokil · 8/10 · 23 February 1999]

I like this movie not only because I think Billy Blanks is a great martial artist, but because it has a really good training scene. Some of the fight scenes in this movie have moves in it that look impossible. If you want a good karate movie, watch Balance of Power.

martial arts

[bonjomonjah · 8/10 · 1 November 2014]

Love this movie. Billy Blanks on top form here as Nico looking for some justice. the training scenes are perfect and original. this is not a rip off of Bloodsport or Kickboxer it holds its own. The fight scenes are done very well, the steam room scene well I've never seen anything quite like that before and i was well impressed as was my 11 year old son who also thought it rocked. This film is underrated and deserves more recognition for sure. I've watched nearly all Billy Blanks movies over the last few weeks and this was my favourite short of King of the Kickboxers of course. I recommend this to lovers of fight flicks as you will not feel cheated after taking the time to watch it. anyone who hates this film must hate billy blanks or should stick to flawless movies..

I Really Enjoy These Early 90's Billy Blanks Action Flicks From The Good Old Video Days.

[lukem-52760 · 8/10 · 26 January 2024]

I love direct-to-video B-movies that used to stock up the shelves in video stores everywhere back in the 90's, especially the Awesome beautiful Blockbuster video store.

Billy Blanks was a star of the low-budget action B movie genre that consisted of mainly martial arts stuff & kickboxing.

Billy Blanks in his prime during the 90's was like a seriously shredded Wesley Snipes type & with a tough hood thugged out voice similar to 50 Cent. Blanks was ripped-to-shreds & was a professional ass-kicker that moved into movies & i think he was a decent actor with a tough screen presence but always seemed like a good-hearted guy.

I've discovered & loved many of Blanks low-budget action flicks such as: Talons of the Eagle, Back in Action, Tough & Deadly, TC-2000, Expect No Mercy & Hidden Dragon, i consider those films real fun entertaining gems. Again, i love 90's direct-to-video Action B-movies.

I love Billy Blanks work with Roddy Piper best (Back in Action & Tough & Deadly) they really had a fun chemistry that felt similar to 48 Hrs, Lethal Weapon & Tango & Cash.

Hidden Tiger is definitely a damn good 90's, at times cheesy, action-packed martial arts flick with a top Billy Blanks performance.

Blanks plays a good-hearted, peaceful guy named Nico that teaches local kids to defend themselves & learn respect at his training Karate/Kung-fu/Martial arts type Dojo Centre. Nico is like a father figure as well as the instructor, to the local street kids that live life hard in their hood & Nico wants to teach them something other than how to sell drugs or be in a gang.

I really liked the Nico character & of course Billy played him really well with his natural charisma & screen presence.

The story kicks off with a dark blast when one of Nico's troubled teens gets shot by the local Mafia because Nico refused to pay the thugs for protection. This leads a hurt & vengeful Nico to be trained even better as a fighter by an old mystical warriors trainer played by the always great MAKO (An Eye For An Eye, TMNT, Silent Assassins) & he wants Nico to become the ultimate warrior that can compete in the crime syndicates brutal Death Match fights that they bet on. If Nico defeats the Crime Boss's champion fighter then his gambling empire will fall.

I loved the story of good men taking a stand against a crime syndicate & Nico having to fight dirty in the underworld fight circuit. There's humour mixed in & plenty of awesome fights sequences & training montage stuff. This is a typical low-budget 90's martial arts movie but with a bit more heart & two really great stars of the low-budget genre (Billy Blanks & Mako) Also Hidden Tiger is filmed well with a decent, at times a little cheesy, score that all encapsulated its era, early 90's & i love it. You can never get those wonderful times again so it's nice, comforting & a boost of Nostalgia when i revisit these types of films.

ALSO this was the last of lead starring roles for Billy Blanks as from here he got bit-parts in a mix of stuff both films & t.v. So there's a litter sadness when you think about like that, & such a shame because Blanks should've been a bigger action star in my opinion. I like Blanks as much as say Snipes or The Rock or Diesel for example. What could've been? Maybe a cool team up with Statham or something along those lines. Just a shame because Billy Blanks was alot better than most of today's action stars & he was just as good as those action stars during his hey day in the 90's.

Anyway i will always enjoy revisiting Blanks films.