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Kickboxer | Year: 1989 Directed: - Mark DiSalle - David Worth Actors/Actresses: - Jean-Claude Van Damme - Haskell v. Anderson III *Filmed in THAILAND: The Best Martial Arts Movie EVER! W@W* Before I watched this movie, I didn't know what Thai-Boxing was, and I thought that "kung-fu Bruce Lee" was the toughest man who ever lived. What a joke that is. Hong Kong's top 5 kung-fu masters once fought Thai-Boxer's in a now legendary event, and were all knocked-out, in less than 6 ½ minutes combined.<BR>Thai Boxing is the national sport of Thailand, is fought in the ring and is the worlds most brutal & spectacular martial art.<BR>In case you're wondering what the differences are between (American) kickboxing and Thai-Boxing (Muay Thai), they are as follows - kickboxing is just feet & fists, whereas Thai-Boxing also includes elbows & knees. Now you start to see why it is so notorious. This is a movie about an American Kick-Boxing champ who goes to Thailand to fight their Thai-Boxing champ. Not surprisingly, the American gets battered, and paralysed, and through revenge, the victim's brother - Van Damme, learns 'Muay Thai' (Thai-Boxing) and fights the guy who paralysed his brother. Though this scenario is a bit fictional the movie itself is beautifully realistic and authentic. It is about 99% filmed on location in Thailand and the viewer is treated to priceless scenes of inside the Bangkok Ratchadamneon national Thai-Boxing stadium, real Thai Thai-Boxers training at a camp, and spiritual scenes inside the Buddhist temples of Bangkok, featuring the massive gold-plated Reclining Buddha <BR>(watch the movie and you'll know what I'm talking about). We see Van Damme being taught Thai-Boxing by a Thai, and we watch him progress from being a sloppy fighter to a razor-sharp one. There are scenes where Van Damme, in training, uses his shins to kicks a palm tree, and where Van Damme and his opponent wrap their fists in cloths with broken glass stuck to the knuckles. You may laugh at this, but a little research will tell you that this is how the 'underground' fights are fought, and if you know how tough these Thais are then kicking trees doesn't seem so unrealistic. As far as I know, no movie comes close to this one, in terms of authenticity at least. It is both educational and highly entertaining - there are loads of high quality fight scenes, and Van Damme is a good fighter (if only a theatrical one). There is nice cinematography too, and as soon as the movie starts you know it has that 'classic' feel about it.<BR>A movie in a class of its own. Brilliant. Buy it! Better than "Bloodsport"... Yes, this movie was better than "Bloodsport." Basically, as one reviewer said, it's a basic plot: good guy's brother gets beat up, good guy trains real hard and beats bad guy. However, they did it so cool:) When Van Damme goes to Thailand, the movie gets awesome. There are some very nice Thai fights in the ring (both in the background AND during Van Damme's bouts). The training scenes are rather long (always a plus with martial arts movies) however they aren't accurate to Muay Thai. Why? Thai boxers don't do Van damme's "splits kick," among other things. And Thai boxers (in the old days) kicked banana trees (with rubber bark), NOT palm trees. Don't let this movie influence you to go try and kick down a tree with your shin. There, that being said. Go watch this movie:) Still want more? Hmmm... cool music (the old guy's flute rules), beautiful women, and comedy. What else is there? Martial-Arts fans wake up! Everybody in search of a good story or anything else that would normally make this title worth a look: Go away! This is for Martial-Arts fans only! But if you like the old fashioned "good guy gets trained by wise old master to kick the butt of the bad guy"-movie Type: Go ahead! Buy this! This early van Damme movie delivers it all (unlike most of his more recent ones): Great fights with a stunningly energetic choreography and one of the longes training-sequences ever to be seen in a movie. Especially the final fight agains evil Tong Po is a feast for every Martial Arts junkie. Going over almost 12 minutes (beware of the heavily cut german and english versions!) this fight is one of the best, ever satged with van Damme showing all he's got, only that here it's much better filmed than it was in "Bloodsport" for ex. His famous "Splits-kick" can be reviewed in this movie again, too! If only he would be doing this kind of stuff still. END Buy Kickboxer at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Kickboxer Search with the Priority Search Engine on Kickboxer This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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