American Kickboxer 1

John Barrett stars as B.J Quinn a prize-fighter who trains for a revenge match after getting out of jail for man slaughter. Lackluster movie suffers from a lack of actionscenes and uneven acting that drop kick this one into the turkey pile. John Barrett has to be the oldest prize fighter this side of George Foreman.

John Barrett stars as B.J Quinn a prize-fighter who fights his way back to the top when he serves prison time for killing an innocent by-stander in this moronic and dull waste of time. One of the biggest flaws in this moronic chop socky fest is that of the hero in question essayed by Barrett. The character of B.J Quinn is not at all that likable. For one he killed an innocent man (Who was really stupid to try and get in the middle of two professional fighters) and how can we root for someone who thinks he should escape prison because "It was an accident!" Indeed as much of a jerk as the main bad guy is (And boy is he ever) I always rooting for him over the protagonist. That isn't the only problem, the fight sequences are all hyped up like Rocky but there is no credibility to be found and really what can be said about a fighter who wears spandex in the ring. Some have argued that this is indeed a laugh riot,I disagree I was too bored by its uninspired story and lackluster pace. Indeed it takes the movie almost light years to get the hero to actually admit he is going to fight his opponent. This is a bomb of the worst kind. A brain dead atrocity to mankind.

* out of 4-(Bad)

I wouldn't say that this movie is bad as such, but it's certainly a quite forgettable entry into the vast amount of 80's or 90's martial arts movies. I wonder if they tried to cash in on the popularity of the more well-known Kickboxer franchise. With totally unknown actors who are certainly not among the best, fight scenes which was nothing special and nothing especially interesting in any way, you just don't get there. I guess the total result is OK and acceptable, but when there are so many other movies just like this it's really no reason to watch this at all. Try Kickboxer with van Damme, and even the sequel Kickboxer 2 before even thinking about this one.

B.J. Quinn (martial artist John Barrett) has just gotten out of a one year stint in prison where he was sent after an accidental murder thanks to testimony by Jacques Denard (Brad Morris). Now he has to train for a martial arts contest against his arch-rival Denard, with a paltry $100,000 on the line put up by a shoe company. It's kind of hard to root for a guy who committed manslaughter at a party and remains unrepentant. It doesn't help that the acting is laughably inept in every possible way. Barret is a better kick-boxer than actor. He;s not that good at kick-boxing in this film either. Hoing into this film, you know it'll be horribly acted, but you still hope that it's hilarious it it's ineptness. It's not. It's boring, dull, and not worthy of anyone's time

My Grade: D-

"American Kickboxer" is supposed to be set in the good old US of A, but something sounded wrong with it when I saw this... let's be honest... torture back in the early 1990s, and indeed it was actually shot in the good old R of SA - that's Republic of South Africa. Which explains why the American accents are indescribably awful, but is still no excuse for the fighting (which is what you're watching movies like this for) being hopeless, and the movie itself being a stain on my memory all round for years. Oh forget it, just DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE...