|
| • Advanced Search • Help |
Kickboxer 5 | Year: 1995 Classification: Action/Adventure Directed: - Kristine Peterson Actors/Actresses: - Mark Dacascos - James Ryan (IV) - Geoff Meed It's got Mark.... And that's about it. Yes, it's little more than a display of Mark's abilities as a martial artist and his charm shines through what is basically a lousy movie. There's poor performance everywhere and plot holes even I couldn't ignore. Mark goes to the police after seeing his friend killed and the chief says there's no evidence. NO EVIDENCE???!!! What would you call a first hand account of the murder? Ok, let's look at the good points. Um...Mark. I loved watching his various workouts, especially the one towards the end where he's standing outside the ranch house. He makes a gesture which seems to move the flock of sheep about him. Mere serendipity I assume, but effective. He then proceeds to show off some back flips and an arrow break on his neck, which he learned from his father, Al. It's for movies like this that DVD's were invented. You can fast forward past the parts you don't like. Which sadly, are too plentiful in this movie. Formula All the Way The original KICKBOXER with Jean Claude Van Damme was an interesting movie that dealt with issues of overcoming one's limits. When Van Damme did not wish to reprise his role of the kickboxer, Sasha Mitchell tried valiantly in three more sequels, but his juvenile appearance and limited martial arts ability hindered his performances. Now in KICKBOXER 5, director Kristine Peterson uses Mark Dacascos, who also tries, but as with Sasha Mitchell, his acting does not convince. Part of the problem with the sequels, including this one, is that the role of the villain is at least as important as that of the hero's. In the original, Michele Quisi is Tong Po, a believable Thai kickboxing thug. Quisi was a multi-layered antagonist, who, in his kicking the wall in an early scene, set the tone that here was a brute not to be trifled with. In the sequel KB2, Quisi returns, even if Van Damme does not, and it is his performance that saves the film. In KB5, the villain is James Ryan, who simply does not look menacing enough to act as the dramatic foil to Dacascos. Ryan is simply playing out, rather than playing, the demented leader of an outlaw kickboxing federation whose inner council ought to see that their chief is leading them to ruin. You would think that any leader who kills his own minions ought to worry about their continuing loyalty. The plot, of course, is nonsense. It involves the usual absurdities of a warped thug (Ryan), who tries to collar all the world's kickboxing titles as his own personal property even as all his henchmen try to tell him that by doing so, he is compromising his (and their) other vital interests. Dacascos refuses to join Ryan's outlaw federation and spends the majority of the film battling first Ryan's inept goons then Ryan himself in a climactic concluding confrontation that seemed not climactic at all. There is absolutely nothing in KB5 that rings true or makes one want to wish for a KB6. Kickboxer Fans Save Your Time! Fans of the Kickboxer series will be dissapointed by this fifth installment which has nothing to do with the previous entries except for the fact that David Sloan is killed in the opening. Sasha doesn't show up, it's just a siloutte of another actor. The characters are pretty boring and the film itself is very tame for an R-rating though Dascasos use of the word "buttface" could be a bit extreme for some. The film could have gone without attaching the Kickboxer name to it. Even on its own two feet, this movie isn't very good and I am somewhat a fan of the lead (Mark Dascasos). Buy Kickboxer 5 at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Kickboxer 5 Search with the Priority Search Engine on Kickboxer 5 This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
|
