Bloodfist Fighter II - Tödliche Rache

'Ring of Fire' set me up to think it might be a cheesy fun b-movie. An oiled up guy working out then two quick matches in the ring within the first 5 minutes. Don 'The Dragon' Wilson is backed up by a few familiar faces in this PM Group flick from the 90's that features an underground fight tourney common for this genre. Dated racism fuels the story, but also bouts of boredom and not enough of the good stuff.

Johnny Woo (Wilson) is an ex fighter, doctor who's cousin Terry (Steven Vincent Leigh) is involved in unsanctioned bouts. Racial tenses flair between them and white meatheads led by Chuck (Vince Murdocco) & Brad (Dale Jacoby). Not helping matters is Chuck's fiancé Julie (Maria Ford) obvious attraction to Johnny. Per the title, a battle in the streets leads to the final confrontation.

Some of the camera work isn't up to the mark, but that fits with the low budget. A "masquerade ball" held in what looks like a high school gym with people hardly dressed the part is case in point. If a routine story - mixing cultures, training montages, dick cop - wasn't enough it's also slow to get to any real action. Only at the tail end does Wilson himself get down to fisticuffs. Watching a girl decide which guy she wants wastes time as it's obvious which way that's gonna go.

The positive word of mouth for 'Ring of Fire' isn't deserved. It doesn't even do any of the basics right. A lack of quality fighting is a deadly sin in a title like this. The romance subplot is a bore and the ending is a joke. I like a good dtv flick from time to time when it rises above or delivers the goods, 'Ring of Fire' simply does neither.

If there was any point in history when Romeo & Juliet could have been transposed into a Los Angeles setting, with added kickboxing, it was the early 1990s, and thankfully Don 'The Dragon' Wilson was at hand to provide it to us. I suppose it makes a change from movies based on better movies starring Jean Claude Van Damme!

The movie follows retired Kickboxer-come-doctor Johnny Woo (Wilson) whose cousin Terry (Steven Vincent Leigh) is part of an all Chinese Kickboxing gang. Terry's gang are embroiled in a bitter feud with 'The Surfers' an all white (though not strictly all American) rival Kickboxing gang. Who knew it was such a popular pastime? Things take a turn for the complicated when Johnny falls for Julie (B-Movie Queen Maria Ford) blonde, beautiful and the American Dream. Only slight hiccup is Julie's brother Brad (Dale Jacoby) happens to be leader of The Surfers. Oh and her fiancée Chuck (Vince Murdocco) is his main sidekick.

As Johnny and Julie go for romantic walks on Venice Beach, the gangs decide to settle their differences 'the way of the Ancients' with their gloves dipped in broken glass (Wilson couldn't make ONE FILM without a Van Damme 'homage') the devastating result of this leads Johnny to question his peaceful life and consider stepping back into the ring...

Ring of Fire is somewhat unique for its time and genre in that it seems to give its plot and love story precedence over the action sequences. It also pulls no punches with regards to the racial tension between the two gangs, which is perhaps almost too mature a subject to embrace in a movie like this. Unique isn't always better and perhaps given the calibre of the talent involved, it would have made more sense to stick to the high kicks as opposed to high drama. It's interesting to note that our leading pair are actually morally questionable, with their romance a full blown affair behind her fiancées back, and the tragic incident the film's final battle revolves around is actually Wilson's idea.

The movie features a veritable ensemble cast of early 90s fighters turned actors, with Gary Daniels and Eric Lee in there as well as the aforementioned stars. Needless to say these gents were hired for their fighting prowess more so than their acting. Wilson himself is...well, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson. This is an unusually 'meaty' role for The Dragon, with his kickboxing skills relatively restrained. I'd love to say he nails it, but I'd be lying. There are flashes of a performance in there, but almost as many flashes of solid wood. On the flipside Jacoby delves far into the depths of over-acting, making him hard to take seriously. By large I've always found Vince Murdocco a somewhat likeable presence, so seeing him as a racist villain takes some getting used to.

This isn't to say that the action sequences are perfect either. Considering the lack of them, when they do come along, results vary. The in-ring fights are, by large, of a passable-to-good standard, but the Chinatown gang war is one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes I've seen in a while. Neither full blown, fantastic Hong Kong style choreography not realistic scrapping, we're treated to the sight of grown men performing roundhouse kicks and flipping off benches to evade attacks. The final fight, where we finally get to see Wilson in action, is also a strange one, starting as a fairly disappointingly scripted fight, it quickly degenerates into a hilarious pro-wrestling (and I mean like WCW at its worst) style farce you have to laugh at.

Indeed some of the movies best moments come from the comedy it provides. Some intentional, some...not so. Eric Lee as the Chinese gangs 'Drunken Master' actually works surprisingly well for a character of this type, and one scene, where Ford's character mistakes Wilson for a waiter, is made funnier than it should be thanks to his reaction. Sadly some of the scenes the pair share that are meant to show their romance blossoming are actually as funny, which I don't believe was the plan.

Ring of Fire is neither the best nor the worst Don 'The Dragon' Wilson movie (albeit I'm not strictly sure what either of those are off hand) It was made with a target audience in mind, and if you are a fan of this type of Direct-To-Video Martial Arts movie there is a high chance you've seen it, and if you haven't I wouldn't go as far as recommending it, it's a bit too thin on action for that, but if TV channels that still show this type of movie still exist, there are worse ways to pass your time. Remarkably, this spawned 2 sequels, which, even more remarkably, I also subjected myself to.

There's racial tension on the streets and what can build those bridges? Lengthy talks? Kickboxing? How about accidentally stabbing an innocent bystander? That seems to work, but it takes a long time to get there.

Don "Draygo's guilt" Wilson is Johnny (Cash), an ex-kickboxer from the streets who is now a doctor patching up kickboxers at his local hospital. Seems like tension arising amongst the Chinese kickboxers and a bunch of white kickboxers who can't seem to tell the different between Japanese, Chinese or Vietnamese folk. One of the white guys is played by Gary Daniels, who does his patented 'doing the splits' thing, only this time he does it at a forty-five degree angle! The other two white guys of note are Chuck and Brad. Now Chuck is going out with Brad's sister but after a change meeting at a Chinese restaurant Brad's sister now has the hots for Johnny, and vice versa, and this is where the film spends a lot of time being a romance instead of a kick arse nineties martial arse movie. Do I need to point out that these guys are racialists and aren't happy that Brad's sister is hanging around with a Japanese Chinese Vietnamese guy? More tensions arise when Tommy, Johnny's cousin, is all set up to fight Brad and Johnny says the best way to get Brad to back off is to make the fight as dangerous as possible by using gloves with glass on them. How do you think that turned out for Tommy? Couldn't you have just called the police there Johnny? This all heads towards a showdown at the end but I signed up to see Don "The Don" Wilson knock folk out with his feet. Too much romance, not enough fighting – the sequel is much better by the way.

Mad props however for this being the only film I've seen where a Chinese guy pees on Gary Daniel's head – I bet Jackie Chan wishes he thought of putting that in City Hunter!

I remember watching the 1991 martial arts action movie "Ring of Fire" on VHS a couple of times back in the early and mid-1990s. Back then I had purchased the movie because I was a fan of Maria Ford. And then I stumbled upon "Ring of Fire" again here in 2023, needless to say that of course I opted to revisit the movie.

The movie is actually still as good, watchable, enjoyable and entertaining as I remembered it to be. So writers Jake Jacobs, Richard W. Munchkin and Steve Tymon definitely managed to put together a good script and storyline for the movie. Sure, it was full of early 1990s martial arts cheese, but that is what makes the movie so enjoyable.

The acting performances in the movie are fair enough. You know when you sit down to watch a movie such as "Ring of Fire" then you're not exactly in for Academy Award winning performances. But Don "The Dragon" Wilson actually carries the movie well enough with his combination of acting and martial arts skills. And of course it is a pleasure to see Maria Ford on the screen. I had actually totally forgotten about Eric Lee being in the movie, and he adds a wonderful element to the movie with his performance and character.

The martial arts sequences in "Ring of Fire" are fairly good. And the movie does have sufficient enough fights throughout the 100 minute runtime to keep it entertaining and action-packed.

If you enjoy the 1990s martial arts movie, then "Ring of Fire" from directors Richard W. Munchkin and Rick Jacobson is definitely well-worth watching.

My rating of "Ring of Fire" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Alright kids, we got a movie with Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Gary Daniels, Vince Murdocco, Eric Lee and many other badass guys, also, we have Maria Ford, we can expect 100 minutes of badass violence and probably get to see some boobs.

Yes, we get violence and boobs, but unfortunately we get too much romance, some of the fights are pretty cool, but the amount of "romance" pretty much ruins the movie (and sometimes, it gets boring), oh yeah, Don Wilson manages to kick some ass only in the last minutes.

I was going to give this movie a 5 out of 10 because of the fights, but i decided to add one extra star because of Maria Ford.

With a cast like this, i would make a proper action/martial arts film, but instead they decided to make a movie that would appeal the female audience.