Bloodfist II

My review was written in February 1991 after watching the film on MGM/UA video cassette.

Second of three Don Wislon martial arts vehicles made for Roger Corman, this perfunctory exercise did not perform as well as the original at the box office. "Bloodfist II" is an MGM/UA video release.

Known as the Dragon, Wilson is a diminutive high-kicker who has the titles and expertise to whip any action movie superstar from Schwarzenegger to Van Damme in a fair fight. However, his acting is stilted and screen presence nil, making his films strictly for the purists.

In fact, both films have opening credits listing only the male cast members with the unusual designation of all their kickboxing and karate titles on screen. That's about as interesting as these features get.

This time, Wilson is called out of bed (with a pretty, nude woman beside him) to fly to the Philippines and search for a missing buddy. There he's befriended by another beauty (Rina Reyes) who gets him shanghaied to participate in a gladiatorial contest run by evil Joe mari Avellana.

The fight footage, some of it staged in a steel cage, looks about as real as wrestling and the cast is woefully short on character actors. Wilson's next film co-stars Richard Roundtree, so some attention has been paid to this failing.

Cornball script has Reyes switching sides and helping Wilson out by the later reels, while he has to fight the big match to the death against the friend he's been seeking. Climax is diluted by Wilson taking time out during the match to give an antidrug lecture.

Tech credits are meager, including phony sounding crowd murmuring dubbed in during the fight sequences.

Once again Don Wilson has retired from kickboxing. This time it's because he's killed a man in the ring. So instead he teaches others how to do this stuff, until he's lured to an island run by Joe Mari Avellana, who has a mysterious young woman, Rina Reyes running around. It seems that Avellana's scientists have synthesized a steroid that will make anyone a killing machine and then quickly vanish from the blood. This way they can cheat undetectably at the private kickboxing tournaments he holds on his own private island. Then they kill the losers.

The camerawork has improved a bit from the first in the series. The crowd direction remains awful.

I swore that I would never watch any Bloodfist sequels after being appalled at what I saw with episode # 1, however somebody said that I'm a lot like another reviewer who has been reviewing low budget junkers such as I, his name is Gridoon. I looked at his reviews and it turned it out he had reviewed Heatseeker, Kickboxer 4, Cyborg and a bunch of others that I had seen. Not to be one upped, I dare challenged to watch all Bloodfist movies, just to prove I was no meter maid in the stakes of bad movies. In other words I rented and saw all Bloodfist movies in two days. The film itself stars Wilson as a you guessed it, a kickboxer who is abducted and forced to fight a bunch of super fighters enhanced by a steroid. The sequel is of course an obvious rip off of Enter The Dragon, but the fighting here was better and from what I have seen remains one of the better entries of the series. Take that however you want take it. Wilson though is dependably terrible.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

Don "The Dragon" Wilson is back as Jake Raye. But, before you question why you should watch this film and I am not actually suggesting that you do, I first must say it is way better than the original. While certainly not amazing better fight scenes, better production values and even the love interest for Don, here played by Rina Reyes is much better. She is a deeper character and she can kick some ass, too.

Right out of the chute we see Jake has killed someone in the ring. He has decided to quit kickboxing altogether. But, Jake is racing back to Manila to help out his friend Vinny (Maurice Smith). Only to find out he is involved with mega baddie Su (Joe Mari Avellena) who is wanting to run a gladiator-styled fighting tournament on his private island (sounds like ENTER THE DRAGON) and using new steroids he is developing.

While it is better than the original still does not get a passing grade because the acting still is the pits and low-grade fight scenes.

This movie is one of the best movies that Don "the dragon" Wilson has made!! its really good to watch and what makes it more better is the fact that there are some great fighters in this movie, i really like this movie it has a lot of mysteries in it!!