Shootfighter: Fight to the Death

Okay, well I have had the 1993 movie "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" on DVD laying around for several years before I actually got around to watching it. Having picked it up at a cost of next to nothing in the local thrift shop, I only got around to watching it after a friend said it was actually a good movie.

I had always put off the movie on two accounts, first and foremost because of the lousy title. I mean, "Shootfighter", come on. What does that even mean? It is just hands down one of the worst and most laughable titles I have seen to a movie. And I can't claim that I have been much of a fan of Bolo Yeung neither.

However, I must admit that "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" was actually a good movie, it was somewhat reminiscent of the "Blood Sport" movie in many way, yet mixing in elements from other martial arts movies. But still, writers Judd Lynn, Larry Felix Jr., Peter Shaner and Robert Ginty managed to put together an enjoyable enough script for director Patrick Alan to bring to life on the screen. Sure, the storyline was pretty straight forward and somewhat generic for an early 1990s martial arts action movie, but isn't that what makes it all the more enjoyable?

Something that definitely surprised me about "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" was the cast ensemble. They definitely had a lot of familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Bolo Yeung, William Zabka, Martin Kove, George Cheung and Gerald Okamura. I have to admit that "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" was actually one of the better movies that I have seen Bolo Yeung in, aside from "Blood Sport". And it definitely was fun to have Martin Kove and William Zabka back on the screen together after having seen them in the movie "Karate Kid" and later again in the "Cobra Kai" series.

There was a good amount of display of martial arts in the movie, and let's just be honest here, that is why we watch these movies, isn't it? To see impressive martial arts and fight sequences. And "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" definitely has that. Sure, some of the martial arts performers weren't really great actors, but they definitely knew their fighting well enough.

I found "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" to be genuinely entertaining and enjoyable. It was a trip down memory lane and back to when I was a teenager, growing up with these martial arts movies. Just look beyond the laughably bad title, and you have a rather enjoyable movie on your hands.

My rating of "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Two young karate heads (Michael Bernardo and THE KARATE KID villain William Zabka) travel to Mexico and become seduced by the world of shootfighting, a deadly bloodsport type tournament. Hoping for a quick profit, our dudes stay to duke it out with a bunch of other fighters. Profit, however, is the least of the tournament organizer Mr. Lee's (Martin Kove) motives. Seems the boy's sensei Shingo (Bolo Yeung, in a rare good guy role) disgraced Lee in the past, leaving him with an arm forever in a brace. Seeing as how these are the prize pupils, Lee hopes to get the sensei to come to Mexico, setting the stage for and unscheduled rematch.

This was riding that post-BLOODSPORT wave (hell, they got Bolo) but perks it up a bit with some graphic violence (throat slashings, brain bashing, and even a heart ripped out). It was one of the few direct-to- video action titles back in the day to come out in R-rated and unrated offerings. The fight scenes are nothing new and the two leads (Bernardo looking like a muscle-bound Mickey Dolenz) are annoying. But you have to respect a film that casts Bolo as a docile sensei. There is even a bit where he shoots basketball with a young kid. You can't beat that type of anti-typecasting. Maryam d'Abo is the love interest and Eddie Albert also appears as a manager/gambler type (which he also did in FIST FIGHTER). The two karate kids and the sensei returned a few years later in SHOOTFIGHTER 2 (1996).

I bought this one hoping for a fighting movie with Bolo Yeung as the main character. I was wrong about that. Bolo is more of a supporting character in the movie, and he only has one real fight. That was a disappointment to me, although the two main characters in the movie are OK. When it comes to the fight scenes, they're far from the best that I've seen. But, I've seen a lot worse too (try the totally ridiculous "Gladiator Cop", for example). The whole movie looks a bit cheap. The fight scenes are also very brutal, I guess they're the most brutal scenes I've seen I a martial arts movie. I have no problem with that, but I didn't really see the point in it. If you're not a hardcore action/martial arts-fan, you won't find any entertainment in this movie.

I watched this for the first time a few years ago to declare my fan-lust for Michael Bernardo, back then anything that came out his mouth sounded good. But I saw it again today and on closer inspection, this movie has some of the worst dialog ever. When viewed with the sound off the actors do a generally good job of presenting their feelings, so they cannot be blamed for the corniness of the final product.

As such the deepest soul searching moments are the ones that are presented through what some may call typical a training montage, and of course the tournament fights with a wide variety of styles and weapons.

"You-disgraced-the-art-of-shoot-fighting" This opening quote sets the tone for this lively beat-em-up starring the ever-lovable Bolo Yeung as Shingo.

The plot revolves around two buddies named Ruben and Nick played by Zabka and Michael Bernardo respectively. Yeung plays their mentor. There is the prerequisite montage where he teaches them to "shootfight" and also they play basketball with young black children and Shingo smiles in an oddly fatherly way. Before the shootfighting tournament, there is a fight in a grocery store a la "Cobra" (1986) where Bolo shows off both his fighting and his broken English skills.

You may remember Zabka as Johnny from "The Karate Kid" where he infamously swept his leg at Macchio. Apparently he couldn't get enough karate-chopping action, so he hooked up with director Patrick Allen to give birth to Allen's one and only cinematic baby.

Ruben and Nick get embroiled in an underground "Shootfighting" ring. They eventually have to shootfight each other...to the death, but not before battling an array of wacky baddies in the ring, such as "Boa", who acts like a snake (including the hisses) and Mongoose, who adopts a mongoose fighting style, whatever that means. Some fights have a surprising amount of gore (i.e. limbs and fingers being broken off in a bloody mess), and this provides unintentional laughter and it sustains the viewer's interest until the end.

Martin Kove plays the evil mastermind, inexplicably named "Mr. Lee", who is behind all the shootfighting, and in his villainous rage, slices a pineapple with a samurai sword.

What is "Shootfighting" you ask? Well, that question is never quite answered satisfactorily, but after doing some research we were able to determine (by reading the back of the VHS box) that it is a "forbidden sport so brutal it's banned from the civilized world".

Prepare to get uncivilized with this classic.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty & Brett

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