Bloodsport III

Swiss martial arts dude Daniel Bernhardt stands in again for Van Damme in this second sequel to "Bloodsport". Alex Cardo has retired from martial arts after winning the Kumite in the last flick, but rich heavy Jonathan Rhys-Davies wants him to compete in a new Kumite he's putting on. When our hero refuses, Davies kills his former teacher James Hong (who wisely appears to have agreed to be in this movie for less than 5 minutes). Cardo seeks out Pat Morita (also in this flick for mere minutes), who hooks Cardo up with his brother, who trains him, even though it is repeatedly stated that Cardo is the best martial artist in the world. He returns to take revenge on Davies by entering the Kumite ... which is actually what Davies wanted him to do in the first place. I confess to being confused at this point. Cardo "gets revenge" by winning the competition, which is what Davies wanted ... but now he doesn't???

No pun intended - and I completely forgot to mention this when I reviewed the very first Bloodsport. Supposedly there is this secret tournament ... but also everyone seems to know about it. And it seems super easy to get to it ... to say the least. The reporter woman was a good example on that.

But back to this - a movie that sheds the last remaining part that connected the second movie with the first one! So no more Mr. Jackson for you (and for me ... and for all the viewers). But this does take Bernhardts character and tries to elevate him to a new level. We even have flashbacks to the second Bloodsport. Is that enough for you? Or the fact that the fight scenes are not entirely bad to be honest ... still there is something missing .. shame for the good lead ...

I knew that this 1996 movie existed, though I never got around to watching it before now in 2023. I can't claim that I was overly interested in "Bloodsport" without Jean-Claude Van Damme. But having just sat through the "Bloodsport 2" movie prior to watching part three, of course I opted to continue on watching the movies.

The storyline in "Bloodsport III", as written by James Williams, was a pretty straightforward and generic one. This time, Alex Cardo (played by Daniel Bernhardt) is out camping with his son Jason (played by David Schatz), when he tells his son the tale of how he won his second Kumite. Yeah, that was about the essence of this movie. Pretty weak storyline actually, but of course writer James Williams was boiling soup on a broth that was already watered down.

Initially I was thrilled to see John Rhys-Davies on the cast list, however his talent was not utilized at all throughout the course of the 91 minutes that the movie ran for. Instead, we get to watch Daniel Bernhardt take on a heap of fighters once again and emerging victorious, all the while doing his best to look like Van Damme in the original 1988 "Bloodsport" movie. Actors James Hong and Pat Morita show up for short appearances in the movie, which was a nice touch. A shame that they didn't opt to give actress Uni Park a bigger part to play.

The fighting in "Bloodsport III" is definitely what keep the movie afloat and keeps it semi-watchable. But of course you know the outcome of the entire ordeal prior to sitting down to watch the movie, so there are no surprises along the way from director Alan Mehrez.

The "Bloodsport III" movie is an archetypical example of a franchise that should have stopped when the going was good.

My rating of "Bloodsport III" lands on a bland five out of ten stars.

when i watched the first two bloodsport films i thought that they were pretty good (especially the first film). and then when they made a third one i immedietly rented it at the local movie store and was dissapointed in how stupid this film was. the action seens werent too bad, but the storyline was completely messed... if you ask me, there was no point in making this film. I rank it a *** out of **********.

Not interesting at all, plot is also bad. Bloodsport I was okay, II was kinda watchable, but III and IV are terrible! Poor acting, poor fighting scenes... This movie is one of those movies where you want to leave the cinema although you paid to watch it. Of course I didn't watch it in the cinema, but I was like "dear God, will it end already". You get bored watching it, you know the ending, there are no surprising parts, twists, nothing. I give it 5/10 while being very very generous! It's better than Bloodsport IV, but hey, that's not so hard since IV is one of the worst movies ever made! It would be better for director if he hadn't made sequels after first Bloodsport movie with van Damme. I'm really disappointed.