Oh my God... what did I just watch? It was as if the people who created the After School Special decided to make an edgy movie that ripped off The Karate Kid. They even used the same music you would likely hear on an After School Special. At least we get to see Corey Feldman ( this films version of Cobra Kai's Johnny) get the crap beat out of him. If you want a good laugh, I highly recommend it!
14 Reviews
A Karate Kid revamp for the 1990s
Leofwine_draca5 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
A DANGEROUS PLACE is an odd little thriller from the guys at PM Entertainment. It's very much a rip-off of THE KARATE KID, although it has more plotting than expected and a set-up which takes half an hour to get through. PM also manage to throw in some requisite action set-pieces featuring car chases and explosions, shoehorned into the plot just as you like. The film's main protagonists are quite boring but you do get cameoing stars like Marshall R. Teague and Dick Van Patten (no strangers to working at PM) alongside former BUCK ROGERS pin-up Erin Gray and good old Mako as the sensei. Best of all is the rare opportunity to see Corey Feldman, cast against type as the villain of the piece. He's a hoot!
not too bad
darksorcerer13 July 2009
I picked up this movie as part of a 10 pack action DVD pack. Now all the title in this pack consisted of movies that i had never seen before, i thought id give it a go.
The movie plot/story wasn't too original but what teen karate movies are original i instantly thought of movies such as karate kid, no retreat no surrender amongst many others.
The fight scenes were done fairly well with the main character doing most of his own fighting scenes, the movie reminded me of old 80's movies, thought it was made in 95.
PLot 6 sound 7 (some good songs) FIghting/action 7
Overall not a bad effort
The movie plot/story wasn't too original but what teen karate movies are original i instantly thought of movies such as karate kid, no retreat no surrender amongst many others.
The fight scenes were done fairly well with the main character doing most of his own fighting scenes, the movie reminded me of old 80's movies, thought it was made in 95.
PLot 6 sound 7 (some good songs) FIghting/action 7
Overall not a bad effort
Revenge is a dish served boring
Wizard-830 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"A Dangerous Place" is one of several movies the teenaged martial arts trained Ted Jan Roberts made for the PM Entertainment film company. None of these movies were particularly good, and this one may the worst of the bunch. It's not really Roberts' fault that the movie is tough to sit through - the director and the screenwriter have to shoulder the blame. The biggest problem with the movie is how slow and dull it is almost throughout. It takes about half of the movie before the Roberts' character starts on the road of revenge, and even when he does start down that path, the energy level of the movie is still extremely low. I guess the movie has one positive subtle message, that being that revenge can put you in danger and hurt the people around you. There is also a faint pulse of life whenever veteran movie actor Mako is on the screen. And I will admit that there are a few unintended laughs, most of them being Corey Feldman's inability to be convincing as a trained martial artist who is a really bad dude. Aside from those things, there is nothing to make this worth a look, unless you are a relative of Ted Jan Roberts.
Enjoyable Interpretation Of A Familiar Story
Crap_Connoisseur15 May 2006
Why has this film been so completely neglected? A Dangerous Place is without a doubt one of the most competent and entertaining B-grade teen action films to be released in the 1990s. This film plays like a more violent version of "The Karate Kid", only with cool car chases and without the endless training montages.
A Dangerous Place reinterprets a classic martial arts storyline. One brother is killed in a fight (usually during a tournament), forcing the other brother to brush up his fighting skills before facing his brother's murderer in the ring. A Dangerous Place loosely uses this framework but makes a number of interesting adjustments. In this case, Greg is killed in a fight with Taylor (Corey Feldman), the leader of the Scorpions Karate club. Greg's younger brother, Ethan (T.J. Roberts), suspects foul play and joins the club to learn the truth. This leads to the classic match showdown between the Scorpions and Ethan's club, the Lions. This film manages to breathe new life into the well worn formula by transferring the action to a high school and by making the Scorpions a criminal outfit, which carries out robberies orchestrated by their teacher and sensei. The great Pat Morita would most definitely not approve!
A Dangerous Place is directed by Jerry P. Jacobs, who made a string of great low budget action films in the 1990s. This man knows how to entertain viewers with a steady stream of robberies, car chases and karate battles. This film never lets up, from the opening scene, (in which the gang carry out a robbery after being dropped off by one of the boys' mothers!) to the dazzling finale. The fight sequences are particularly well done, with clever editing and interesting camera work. There is not much blood but the action is relatively realistic for a film aimed at a teen audience. Oh, and keep an eye out for Greg's ghost, which I thought was a highly amusing creative touch.
In addition to great action sequences, the film offers a fine cast of cult actors. The always impressive Mako plays the good sensei, while Marshall R. Teague has a great time playing yet another evil character, the crime lord sensei/English teacher. Corey Feldman has possibly his best role of the 90s as Taylor. As unlikely as it sounds, he is actually quite believable as an evil karate villain and does not look completely ridiculous in the fight scenes. The same can be said for T.J. Roberts, who does well in the fight scenes despite looking half the size of his opponents.
A Dangerous Place is worth hunting down. Contrary to a couple of reviews here, I don't think it is as good as "The Karate Kid" but I do think it is considerably better than most of the crap passing for mindless entertainment these days.
A Dangerous Place reinterprets a classic martial arts storyline. One brother is killed in a fight (usually during a tournament), forcing the other brother to brush up his fighting skills before facing his brother's murderer in the ring. A Dangerous Place loosely uses this framework but makes a number of interesting adjustments. In this case, Greg is killed in a fight with Taylor (Corey Feldman), the leader of the Scorpions Karate club. Greg's younger brother, Ethan (T.J. Roberts), suspects foul play and joins the club to learn the truth. This leads to the classic match showdown between the Scorpions and Ethan's club, the Lions. This film manages to breathe new life into the well worn formula by transferring the action to a high school and by making the Scorpions a criminal outfit, which carries out robberies orchestrated by their teacher and sensei. The great Pat Morita would most definitely not approve!
A Dangerous Place is directed by Jerry P. Jacobs, who made a string of great low budget action films in the 1990s. This man knows how to entertain viewers with a steady stream of robberies, car chases and karate battles. This film never lets up, from the opening scene, (in which the gang carry out a robbery after being dropped off by one of the boys' mothers!) to the dazzling finale. The fight sequences are particularly well done, with clever editing and interesting camera work. There is not much blood but the action is relatively realistic for a film aimed at a teen audience. Oh, and keep an eye out for Greg's ghost, which I thought was a highly amusing creative touch.
In addition to great action sequences, the film offers a fine cast of cult actors. The always impressive Mako plays the good sensei, while Marshall R. Teague has a great time playing yet another evil character, the crime lord sensei/English teacher. Corey Feldman has possibly his best role of the 90s as Taylor. As unlikely as it sounds, he is actually quite believable as an evil karate villain and does not look completely ridiculous in the fight scenes. The same can be said for T.J. Roberts, who does well in the fight scenes despite looking half the size of his opponents.
A Dangerous Place is worth hunting down. Contrary to a couple of reviews here, I don't think it is as good as "The Karate Kid" but I do think it is considerably better than most of the crap passing for mindless entertainment these days.
No Karate Kid
adrift9824 September 2006
This is a horrible film. Its nothing like the Karate Kid except that it has a kid in it who knows Karate. The plot is paper thin, the acting is cardboard (Corey Feldman included) and character development consists of good guys in white, bad guys in red. The whole film takes itself far too seriously and this is especially evident anytime the overly dramatic soundtrack ques in (good example being the very serious sounding synth music being played during a food fight in a school cafeteria as students smile on). The way the film plays out it feels like they're making it up on the spot. Even the action is boring and safe feeling. Don't waste your time.
Goony Goo Goo
saint_brett8 January 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The movie starts out with Corey Feldman, yes, a Goonie, wishing a salesman a nice day even though it's 8 pm at night.
A sea change from his usual PG-13 'Stand By Me' and Turtle Power ways sees him lead a band of preppy underage thugs who are all part of a car racketeering ring.
So, this is Feldman's attempt to shed his PG-13 skin and be taken seriously as an actor. If you say so. I don't know why it's rated R, as there's no gratuitous violence, minimal swearing, and no nudity. Probably due to the suicide scene, maybe?
Moving from Newark to Reseda overnight, Daniel-San and Freddy Fernandez live in the South Seas apartments with Lucille this time.
Wow, the opposing dojo in this are the Scorpions. It's a wonder they weren't the Death Adders.
Freddy Fernandez doesn't invite Daniel-San to the beach party the next morning and goes it alone, as Daniel's probably still suffering from jetlag. Gee, where have I seen this movie before?
You can tell this was filmed in the early 90s with all that thick smog swimming around in the air. You'd like to think that it's just thick fog blown in from the Bay area due to a northerly wind, but it's genuine 90s LA air quality.
Mr. Making Bacon, Freddy Fernandez, proves himself at the beach the next morning with a fist fight, but no cheerleaders are there to be impressed, only beach boys. So it must be dudes vying for affection among themselves.
One of Feldman's Goonies even looks like Mike Barnes.
Fernandez is initiated into The Goonies but has to pass a final test of attrition with a home invasion, where it all goes south as The Goonies turn on Fernandez with a beat-in, then shove him down a flight of stairs, where he bumps his head. Losing face, he commits suicide out of shame the next morning. It seems no one saw the warning signs, as Fernandez had alarm bells ringing since the movie started. He was a loose cannon who could only take one day in LA.
With neither mourning nor a funeral extended, the Karate Kid and Lucille recover in less than three minutes and plough on like nothing happened.
A cafeteria fight scene sees the Karate Kid take on Mike Barnes. This must be the deleted scene over the mashed potatoes from 'The Karate Kid.' We're talking about a year 10 student versus a junior here, people. The fight's a draw, and Barnes repeats, "This isn't over," just like he said in Part 3. What, Daniel-San still hasn't signed that damned paper?
Barnes is humiliated by Kreese later in the afternoon at training as a Langoliers score plays in the background. I remember this music from the empty airport.
At his lowest ebb, the Karate Kid drops his guard, so seizing his opportunity, Mako makes a move on Lucille, the first chance he can get. So it proves everyone's a snake in this movie. He's trying to put the moves on his mother by using her own son.
Freddy Fernandez returns from the dead as a force ghost to haunt Daniel-San, and they both have disbelieving looks of abject horror on their faces. I don't know who's more shocked - me or them.
There's no music score to accompany this movie, only atmospheric Bangor International Langoliers music.
Daniel-San hatches a plan to go undercover to join The Goonies. Never once does he concentrate on his studies. It's all about karate and crime in this.
He infiltrates their ranks in no time and joins them without initiation.
This dojo looks exactly like the same one where Terry Silver had paint tipped all over him.
The Karate Kid and a red dragon from The Goonies are accosted by a suburban gang from Elliot Taylor's hood but are no match as Daniel-San is too driven to get to the bottom of his brothers boggle. "My boggle?"
The Goonies break into one of Shredder's underground lairs and steal imported white goods. Phil Collins tries to intervene but is taken down by the Karate Kid. An armed guard of 60 years is rendered useless by a 12-year-old. The Goonies upgrade their street creed when a gun falls into the hands of Teddy "Mouth" Duchamp.
The Karate Kid's mom is still so lonely, vulnerable, and open to being exploited that even this detective is trying to capitalize and put the squeeze on her.
Freddy Fernandez's force ghost appears again as a dead entity on the track and field, and the Karate Kid receives signals from beyond the grave.
There's no iconic "You're the Best" piece; all rules and points are thrown out the door; Feldman pulls out a gun; crowds become antsy and frantic for their safety; a swat team does a raid; sensei's bash up sensei's; Goonies members sellout and join opposing tribes; the Ali Mills version in this shouldn't have bothered being in it; Daniel-San goes to put the dim mak on Feldman, but Fernandez' force ghost intervenes and prevents it even though he's dead; Feldman's apprehended for his horrible acting; so apparently he moved on to a singing career after this; and the Kreese sensei eludes capture and must come back in the sequel nobody ever made.
The movie's an economy 'Karate Kid' lacking in iron, largely thanks to an insufferable cast of poor actors and a non-existent score. It's almost like they used free music from a 1990s Windows catalog program, as Feldman's music wasn't up to par.
The only one who could act in this movie was the mother, who showed a slight bit of emotion, but then again, she caused all this by enrolling what's his name and the force ghost to join karate in the first place. She killed her own son without knowing it. She pushed him too far, seeing if he'd explode like Belky Wheelhorse Toomy in 'The Langoliers.'
A sea change from his usual PG-13 'Stand By Me' and Turtle Power ways sees him lead a band of preppy underage thugs who are all part of a car racketeering ring.
So, this is Feldman's attempt to shed his PG-13 skin and be taken seriously as an actor. If you say so. I don't know why it's rated R, as there's no gratuitous violence, minimal swearing, and no nudity. Probably due to the suicide scene, maybe?
Moving from Newark to Reseda overnight, Daniel-San and Freddy Fernandez live in the South Seas apartments with Lucille this time.
Wow, the opposing dojo in this are the Scorpions. It's a wonder they weren't the Death Adders.
Freddy Fernandez doesn't invite Daniel-San to the beach party the next morning and goes it alone, as Daniel's probably still suffering from jetlag. Gee, where have I seen this movie before?
You can tell this was filmed in the early 90s with all that thick smog swimming around in the air. You'd like to think that it's just thick fog blown in from the Bay area due to a northerly wind, but it's genuine 90s LA air quality.
Mr. Making Bacon, Freddy Fernandez, proves himself at the beach the next morning with a fist fight, but no cheerleaders are there to be impressed, only beach boys. So it must be dudes vying for affection among themselves.
One of Feldman's Goonies even looks like Mike Barnes.
Fernandez is initiated into The Goonies but has to pass a final test of attrition with a home invasion, where it all goes south as The Goonies turn on Fernandez with a beat-in, then shove him down a flight of stairs, where he bumps his head. Losing face, he commits suicide out of shame the next morning. It seems no one saw the warning signs, as Fernandez had alarm bells ringing since the movie started. He was a loose cannon who could only take one day in LA.
With neither mourning nor a funeral extended, the Karate Kid and Lucille recover in less than three minutes and plough on like nothing happened.
A cafeteria fight scene sees the Karate Kid take on Mike Barnes. This must be the deleted scene over the mashed potatoes from 'The Karate Kid.' We're talking about a year 10 student versus a junior here, people. The fight's a draw, and Barnes repeats, "This isn't over," just like he said in Part 3. What, Daniel-San still hasn't signed that damned paper?
Barnes is humiliated by Kreese later in the afternoon at training as a Langoliers score plays in the background. I remember this music from the empty airport.
At his lowest ebb, the Karate Kid drops his guard, so seizing his opportunity, Mako makes a move on Lucille, the first chance he can get. So it proves everyone's a snake in this movie. He's trying to put the moves on his mother by using her own son.
Freddy Fernandez returns from the dead as a force ghost to haunt Daniel-San, and they both have disbelieving looks of abject horror on their faces. I don't know who's more shocked - me or them.
There's no music score to accompany this movie, only atmospheric Bangor International Langoliers music.
Daniel-San hatches a plan to go undercover to join The Goonies. Never once does he concentrate on his studies. It's all about karate and crime in this.
He infiltrates their ranks in no time and joins them without initiation.
This dojo looks exactly like the same one where Terry Silver had paint tipped all over him.
The Karate Kid and a red dragon from The Goonies are accosted by a suburban gang from Elliot Taylor's hood but are no match as Daniel-San is too driven to get to the bottom of his brothers boggle. "My boggle?"
The Goonies break into one of Shredder's underground lairs and steal imported white goods. Phil Collins tries to intervene but is taken down by the Karate Kid. An armed guard of 60 years is rendered useless by a 12-year-old. The Goonies upgrade their street creed when a gun falls into the hands of Teddy "Mouth" Duchamp.
The Karate Kid's mom is still so lonely, vulnerable, and open to being exploited that even this detective is trying to capitalize and put the squeeze on her.
Freddy Fernandez's force ghost appears again as a dead entity on the track and field, and the Karate Kid receives signals from beyond the grave.
There's no iconic "You're the Best" piece; all rules and points are thrown out the door; Feldman pulls out a gun; crowds become antsy and frantic for their safety; a swat team does a raid; sensei's bash up sensei's; Goonies members sellout and join opposing tribes; the Ali Mills version in this shouldn't have bothered being in it; Daniel-San goes to put the dim mak on Feldman, but Fernandez' force ghost intervenes and prevents it even though he's dead; Feldman's apprehended for his horrible acting; so apparently he moved on to a singing career after this; and the Kreese sensei eludes capture and must come back in the sequel nobody ever made.
The movie's an economy 'Karate Kid' lacking in iron, largely thanks to an insufferable cast of poor actors and a non-existent score. It's almost like they used free music from a 1990s Windows catalog program, as Feldman's music wasn't up to par.
The only one who could act in this movie was the mother, who showed a slight bit of emotion, but then again, she caused all this by enrolling what's his name and the force ghost to join karate in the first place. She killed her own son without knowing it. She pushed him too far, seeing if he'd explode like Belky Wheelhorse Toomy in 'The Langoliers.'
Feldman-Fu!
tarbosh2200018 November 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Ethan (Roberts) is a young-looking and precocious high school Freshman. His passion is Martial Arts training with a team called The Lions, led by Sensei (Mako). Just Sensei, no name given. His brother Greg (Cochran) is also into Martial Arts, but is involved with a gang of ne'er-do-wells called The Scorpions, the leader of which is the smug jerk Taylor Dylan (Feldman). During a Scorpions-led home invasion, Greg ends up dead. The Scorpions make it look like a suicide. But Ethan knows better, and he goes undercover and joins The Scorpions to get the truth about his brother. There, he discovers what's really going on at the dojo - and what evil Sensei Gavin Smith (Teague) is up to. With Principal (Van Patten) - just Principal - clearly a lot of time was given to character names here - sympathetic to him, but with pressure mounting from his parents, his Sensei, the cops, and potential love interest Kim (Vessey), Ethan's going to discover that his L.A.-area neighborhood is indeed A DANGEROUS PLACE.
A Dangerous Place is yet another PM triumph, an amazingly fast-paced and entertaining film for high schoolers and older viewers alike. To state the obvious, yes, it's clearly modeled on The Karate Kid, but we really enjoy the mid-90's PM vibe of this. Ted Jan Roberts is likable and charismatic as Ethan. He could have had a major Hollywood career, he's certainly talented enough. Thanks to him, really, the movie works because you care about his plight. This was also the era of over-sized clothing, and some of his shirts are gigantic. He looks like a size Small, but seems to be wearing XXXL T-shirts. They're so big, you can see his whole collarbone. There are other inspired fashions in the movie as well - something to look out for.
That being said, Corey Feldman was an inspired choice as the baddie (or at least one of them). He seems hilariously scrawny to be a Kung-Fu master, and his belt-and-pants combos are pretty amazing. He adopts a curious Christian Slater-like drawl when he's not wowing us with his Feldman-Fu. Keeping in mind this was the time when 90210 was huge, there are plenty of scenes at an L.A. school, his character's last name is Dylan, he's a 26-year-old high school student, and he has impressive sideburns. His smarmy performance totally works, and he always seems right on the edge of breaking into a Michael Jackson impersonation, and only by sheer force of will is he holding himself back.
If only Dick Van Patten was the Principal for 90210. Van Patten has maybe two lines and seems confused. How - and WHY - they got him for this role is indeed pretty confusing. It's a total sit-down role. William James Jones as Eddie - who later was a member of Saved By The Bell spin off/knockoff California Dreams - does some great mugging for the camera with his outrageous facial expressions. But the man who steals the movie is Marshall Teague as the diabolical Sensei. (Sidebar: is it just me, or is there something really funny about the name "Sensei Gavin Smith"? Somehow it doesn't have that ancient Asian feel to it). One of the reasons I personally never took Karate classes is because I was afraid of being just one of a gaggle of teens forced to do the bidding of an amoral, maniacal Sensei. And who's laughing now? Seeing as this is a PM movie, it wouldn't be complete without some car stunts, especially a middle-of-the-street-flip-and-blow-up, and another one on a softball field that viewers of Night Of The Wilding (1990) may find curiously familiar. In all, we give a solid recommendation to this enjoyable movie. Good times.
For more action insanity, drop by: www,comeuppancereviews.com
A Dangerous Place is yet another PM triumph, an amazingly fast-paced and entertaining film for high schoolers and older viewers alike. To state the obvious, yes, it's clearly modeled on The Karate Kid, but we really enjoy the mid-90's PM vibe of this. Ted Jan Roberts is likable and charismatic as Ethan. He could have had a major Hollywood career, he's certainly talented enough. Thanks to him, really, the movie works because you care about his plight. This was also the era of over-sized clothing, and some of his shirts are gigantic. He looks like a size Small, but seems to be wearing XXXL T-shirts. They're so big, you can see his whole collarbone. There are other inspired fashions in the movie as well - something to look out for.
That being said, Corey Feldman was an inspired choice as the baddie (or at least one of them). He seems hilariously scrawny to be a Kung-Fu master, and his belt-and-pants combos are pretty amazing. He adopts a curious Christian Slater-like drawl when he's not wowing us with his Feldman-Fu. Keeping in mind this was the time when 90210 was huge, there are plenty of scenes at an L.A. school, his character's last name is Dylan, he's a 26-year-old high school student, and he has impressive sideburns. His smarmy performance totally works, and he always seems right on the edge of breaking into a Michael Jackson impersonation, and only by sheer force of will is he holding himself back.
If only Dick Van Patten was the Principal for 90210. Van Patten has maybe two lines and seems confused. How - and WHY - they got him for this role is indeed pretty confusing. It's a total sit-down role. William James Jones as Eddie - who later was a member of Saved By The Bell spin off/knockoff California Dreams - does some great mugging for the camera with his outrageous facial expressions. But the man who steals the movie is Marshall Teague as the diabolical Sensei. (Sidebar: is it just me, or is there something really funny about the name "Sensei Gavin Smith"? Somehow it doesn't have that ancient Asian feel to it). One of the reasons I personally never took Karate classes is because I was afraid of being just one of a gaggle of teens forced to do the bidding of an amoral, maniacal Sensei. And who's laughing now? Seeing as this is a PM movie, it wouldn't be complete without some car stunts, especially a middle-of-the-street-flip-and-blow-up, and another one on a softball field that viewers of Night Of The Wilding (1990) may find curiously familiar. In all, we give a solid recommendation to this enjoyable movie. Good times.
For more action insanity, drop by: www,comeuppancereviews.com
I liked it!
bhh-319554 June 2020
Best Karate Kid rip-off yet.
Jake-1499 July 1999
Every bit as good as Karate Kid
greenflickerstick5 December 2003
The premise of the film is simple enough: A young martial artist's older brother is murdered by a group of teenage martial artists from a rival school. This film may sound a little redundant, but believe me, it offers some fantastic fight scenes and envokes a real moral issue that might make some people question just how far should one go for revenge. Though this is tagged as an "R" rated film, I want to assure you that this film lacks the same level of violence and language that some PG-13 films sneak by with. The "R" rating is really for the tone of the film. It also has a few dark sub plots about the rival schools sensei being involved in criminal activity such as prostitution and grand theft. All in all this is a must see film for die hard martial art fanatics
I used to love it when I was a kid
AzSumTuk10 June 2008
Warning: Spoilers
And I still do. This movie is good. At least it is much better than 'Karate Kid'. Of course, somebody could say that it is a ripoff of 'Karate Kid' but there are some very important differences.
First and probably the most important thing is that the teenager karate expert was a real teenager. You know, Ralph Macchio was 23 years old when he starred in 'Karate Kid'. It was pretty strange for me to see a man at his age at the role of 16 years old boy.
Second, I will tell something about the fights. Although I liked the fights in 'Karate Kid' I could see that Macchio and the rest of the actors do not have real martial arts experience. The fights in 'A Dangerous Place' are much more realistic and much more attractive. Much better, I think.
Now I will tell something about the characters and the acting. Well, the acting in 'A Dangerous Place' is not better than the acting in 'Karate Kid' but it is not worse too. But the characters are much better developed. I will try to explain. What was the main character in 'Karate Kid'? A teenager searching for troubles all the time who finally got black belt after two months of training, right? And what was the main character in 'A Dangerous Place'? A teenager who had devoted his life to martial arts and who did not search for troubles until somebody killed his brother. I think Ethan had much better motivation for what he did than Daniel. What do you think? What was the karate teacher of Daniel? A funny old man ho made his student wash his car, right? And what was the karate teacher of Ethan? A funny old man who showed his students real karate. What do you think? Who is more believable? The story... Guess what? I think the story in 'A Dangerous Place' is much better than the story in 'Karate Kid'. Yes, it is not very believable but the story in 'Karate Kid' is not too.
And so on. I like this movie.
First and probably the most important thing is that the teenager karate expert was a real teenager. You know, Ralph Macchio was 23 years old when he starred in 'Karate Kid'. It was pretty strange for me to see a man at his age at the role of 16 years old boy.
Second, I will tell something about the fights. Although I liked the fights in 'Karate Kid' I could see that Macchio and the rest of the actors do not have real martial arts experience. The fights in 'A Dangerous Place' are much more realistic and much more attractive. Much better, I think.
Now I will tell something about the characters and the acting. Well, the acting in 'A Dangerous Place' is not better than the acting in 'Karate Kid' but it is not worse too. But the characters are much better developed. I will try to explain. What was the main character in 'Karate Kid'? A teenager searching for troubles all the time who finally got black belt after two months of training, right? And what was the main character in 'A Dangerous Place'? A teenager who had devoted his life to martial arts and who did not search for troubles until somebody killed his brother. I think Ethan had much better motivation for what he did than Daniel. What do you think? What was the karate teacher of Daniel? A funny old man ho made his student wash his car, right? And what was the karate teacher of Ethan? A funny old man who showed his students real karate. What do you think? Who is more believable? The story... Guess what? I think the story in 'A Dangerous Place' is much better than the story in 'Karate Kid'. Yes, it is not very believable but the story in 'Karate Kid' is not too.
And so on. I like this movie.
The karate kid of the nineties
athena-no-sainto1 July 2012
The first time I saw this film I was thirteen years old,though I never saw it complete and I never knew the title I could never forget about it. To many fans of these kind of films consider this one the karate kid of the nineties,in fact this film is another of the many clones that the karate kid saga has, but this one is darker than the Daniel larusso story.
The story is about a kid who will try to find the guilty of his older brother's death, a path that he will have to go through alone, because the killers made it look as a suicide.
Yesterday I had the chance of watch this film again, is really entertained, with good acting,good story but all about a very realistic and spectacular fight scenes which is the main reason why I haven't forgot about this film
The story is about a kid who will try to find the guilty of his older brother's death, a path that he will have to go through alone, because the killers made it look as a suicide.
Yesterday I had the chance of watch this film again, is really entertained, with good acting,good story but all about a very realistic and spectacular fight scenes which is the main reason why I haven't forgot about this film
I liked it! Stop with Karate Kid comparisons
bhhelmes22 April 2020
It's a good 90's karate movie, nothing like the Karate Kid. Corey Feldman carries a lot of the acting, it's a shame he was blackballed because he's a great actor. I feel like this movie accomplished what it was trying to accomplish.
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