An Entertaining Throwback Meshing Old School with New School
Since the announcement and seeing the trailers, I was pumped up to see this film and finally had the chance to rent in on Amazon Prime. It is an enjoyable throwback to 80s and 90s martial arts tournament films with very a few small flaws that are forgiven.
The plot is simple: karate champion's daughter is kidnapped and he's forced to fight in an illegal kumite in Eastern Europe to save her. A nice little twist comes in that he befriends two other fighters in a similar situation and he also trains with a former kumite champion hellbent on revenge on the organizer and the current champ's former teacher, who herself is hellbent on revenge for her student's heel turn.
Mathis Landwehr is great as lead character Michael and it was exciting to see Kurt McKinney return to martial arts flicks after 1986's No Retreat No Surrender and 1997's Sworn to Justice (which features his TLK co-star and MA icon Cynthia Rothrock). At 61, McKinney still has the action chops. Kudos also go out to stunt performer Mounia Moula as Lea and YouTuber David "Viking Samurai" Kurzhal as kumite fighter Marcus. Rothrock and Billy Blanks are great as Michael's trainers while German wrestler Mike Derudder impresses as the deadly Kumite champ Dracko.
My only gripe is that one fighter who was hyped up in the film was wasted. However, this particular actor, the son of an icon may get redemption in the form of the upcoming "The Circuit 4: Faith Fighter", starring Billy Blanks.
So while it's not perfect, it does its job and is an enjoyable throwback to the good ol days in the form of a slow burn as the kumite starts 65 minutes into the 105-minute run time. But it's definitely worth it thanks to the backstories of some of the characters.
A solid 9!
The plot is simple: karate champion's daughter is kidnapped and he's forced to fight in an illegal kumite in Eastern Europe to save her. A nice little twist comes in that he befriends two other fighters in a similar situation and he also trains with a former kumite champion hellbent on revenge on the organizer and the current champ's former teacher, who herself is hellbent on revenge for her student's heel turn.
Mathis Landwehr is great as lead character Michael and it was exciting to see Kurt McKinney return to martial arts flicks after 1986's No Retreat No Surrender and 1997's Sworn to Justice (which features his TLK co-star and MA icon Cynthia Rothrock). At 61, McKinney still has the action chops. Kudos also go out to stunt performer Mounia Moula as Lea and YouTuber David "Viking Samurai" Kurzhal as kumite fighter Marcus. Rothrock and Billy Blanks are great as Michael's trainers while German wrestler Mike Derudder impresses as the deadly Kumite champ Dracko.
My only gripe is that one fighter who was hyped up in the film was wasted. However, this particular actor, the son of an icon may get redemption in the form of the upcoming "The Circuit 4: Faith Fighter", starring Billy Blanks.
So while it's not perfect, it does its job and is an enjoyable throwback to the good ol days in the form of a slow burn as the kumite starts 65 minutes into the 105-minute run time. But it's definitely worth it thanks to the backstories of some of the characters.
A solid 9!
- AlbertV79
- 3. Juni 2024