Bloodmatch

When it was released back in '91, I remember watching the start a few times, my image, two men running in the desert heat, in profile, or was it more than two, and not continuing to watch it. When watching it last week, the next tortuous "when will it end?" scene, I remenber watching too, 30 years ago. Pre watch this time, I the painted this off as an entertaning, average quality watch, familiar to the Kickboxers, Wrong Bets, BloodSports, just without Van Damne. Sadly, what I found here, was a rude awakening. The films just mentioned, sequels and all, are better than Bloodmatch. This is even a low for Pyun. I can't believe he made this. This film is a joke. Horrific acting, yeah, you heard it. Horrific. Stilted, wooden, no feeling, laughable, unbelievable, atrocious, amateur, as is the whole affair here. What's tragic here, was the different, original, and interesting story, marred by a bad script, and some of the worst acting I've ever seen. One of the beefcake villains, was so bad, I had to slap myself in the face, and then some to get a reality check. Stopping about half way, I watched the rest of Bloodmatch the next day. As soon as I put the video on, straight away, the same horrific acting took straight up again. It hurts me, to explain the impressive story, because of what could of been, so I'm not gonna. The movie's ruined more by the stupid twist, adding to the amateur attributes.

Five years ago, one of the world's greatest kickboxers killed Thom Mathews' brother. Someone had been fixing matches and he had to die to cover up the secret. Now Mathews is tacking them down and beating them to death to figure it out, as one does.

All right, it's a dumb plot, and the lines are dumb. People who go to see this sort of movie don't go for the Shakespearean tragedies and wild language, any more than I look at Fred Astaire movies for the Edward Everett Horton soliloquies. So how's the fight choreography? Lousy: chopped up, moving camera, every kick is cut ..... and not while moving, but between, screaming that this is a patched-together cut. True, ex-Playboy Playmate Hope Marie Carlton is present. It's the only movie I've seen with her in which she does not take off her clothes. I guess at 24, she was showing her age.

What's to say except it's garbage. The sound effects on the kicks and punches was generic and off. The plot is ridiculous and overused. There is nothing new or impressive out this movie. I love Mathews in Friday the 13th Jason lives but the dialogue was atrocious. Skip it.

Now I do recall seeing this film a long time ago, but I was beginning to forget the absolute awesome cheese this flick brought to my eyes, so of course, like any action junkie, I watched this film again. Bloodmatch (released a couple years after Cyborg) stars Thom Mathews as Brick Bardo, a man on a mission to avenge his dead brother.

In my eyes this is a strange mix of Kickboxer and Bloodfist, with an additional revenge plot that comes along for the ride. Despite the obvious budget and not-so-competent dialogue, Bloodmatch is definitely full of action scenes from start to finish. (Remember those "repeat hits" in films where a punch for example is shown three times, with three different angles? Pyun takes this and turns it up to 11.)

Besides the action, the rest of the cast has some notable action stars alongside the main star- this includes Andy Sidaris regular Hope Marie Carlton, legend Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, Thunderwolf, Dale Jacoby, and even Michel Qissi.

In conclusion, is this Bloodsport? No. Is it a truly good movie? No. But does it hold itself up with true 90s cheese that can't be replicated? Hell yes.

Final rating is a 6/10.. I recommend watching if you're into cheesy or crappy movies, and don't act like a wannabe Roger Ebert.

With Benny "The Jet" Urquidez filming the fight scenes and playing a part in the movie, I expected more. I've seen him do some great things in other films, but this one left me wondering. It's a revenge film filled with great martial artists, but it sure didn't turn out to be a great film. Very few of the actors/actresses could actually act and the fighting left a lot to be desired. There were a few good fight scenes, but overall this strange, low-budget effort fell short. See it only if you can't sleep. Rating 5/10