The King of the Kickboxers

This is how martial arts film should be (excluding Ricky-Oh that is the best movie ever).An undercover "kickboxer" cop travel to Thailand to investigate some kung fu movies were they really kill people, "snuff kung fu" movies. He also have a personal interest, one of the killers is the guy who killed his brother 10 years ago. The movie is similar in structure to Kickboxer(the one with Van Damme) but this one is ten times more entertaining...you know, the guy who seeks revenge, training and fighting. The dialogs are ridiculous like in every movie of this kind but some fights are very cool. but the plus of the "snuff" movies is the key. Also, the character played by Billy Blanks as the "executor" in the snuff films looks like an inspiration to Machine in 8mm.Very recommended!

It's an absolute shame that a movie this awesome isn't even available in print anymore, considering all of the other crap that is being re-released on DVD. It's also a shame that this movie, along with all of its contributors, have never received any notice (with the exception of Billy Blanks). And I'm being serious. Sure this is a b-movie, but how can anyone who's seen it overlook how much fun it is to watch? _The King of the Kickboxers_ is incredibly entertaining, and that's the whole point of any movie, with or without a compelling plot and acting.

Everything about this movie is awesome. The dialogue is corny and the acting is campy, but how can you complain? This just gives you something to laugh at. Most mainstream viewers will cringe at the poor acting and turn away from this movie, not even realizing that it can be funny.

Those people will then miss out on the incredible fighting scenes, which are quite frequent. There isn't a single movie out there with moves as cool as the ones here. You'd never expect to see stuff like this anywhere other than in your imagination, but somehow, the fighters managed to throw attacks at lighting speeds and launched multiple kicks in mid-air without landing (not even Michael Jordan gets this much hangtime)! All the scenes are fast-paced and beautifully coordinated, with camera angles that really get you into the action.

Even the limited music is excellent. It is not only pleasing to listen to, but effectively helps to set the mood of the scenes. It can give you a creepy feeling at times, and is best used in the final fight scene where the drum beat kicks in to get you into the mood of the action and later as it shifts to a triumphant tone, you can't help but cheer for the good guy as he makes his comeback victory.

And finally, the plot is perfect for this type of film--simple and limited. Most of the movie is dedicated to the action scenes, while plot developments painlessly interrupt to help support the characters so you can develop feelings about them. The whole movie had the feel of a video game. The protagonist battles through his enemies and works his way up to reach who is ultimately the bad guy and defeats him. The bad guy even has his own finishing move (an awesome one at that) that the good guy must look out for. This is all just like a video game; another reason why I love this movie!

This is by far the best fighting movie ever, and I've seen quite a few of them. And after serious consideration, I've concluded that this is one of the best movies ever made in any genre. Do whatever you can to see this movie. And if you've already seen this movie but hated it, do me and yourself a favor and watch it again, this time with my review in mind.

For a period of a couple of years, Loren Avedon appeared in several great martial arts movies with well choreographed, really fun and enjoyable martial arts action. King of the Kickboxers is another great movie and quite similar to the No Retreat, No Surrender movies which were all fun. It's entertainment from beginning to end, superb fighting is what this is about. Don't look for acting, story or things like that, because there aren't any. The appearance of Billy Blanks adds something extra to this film. He's a bad guy in this, and IMHO he suits that better than being a good guy. I think it's because he lacks that special 'good guy charisma', but as a villain he's great.

Ridiculously good martial arts choreography combined with laughably bad dialogue and an outlandish plot that borrows heavily from Kickboxer add up to a very enjoyable fighting movie. Seeing the film in Middle School when it was on cable I had trouble getting past the poor film stock, and substitution of water in the mouth as fake blood was probably too expensive to use. Coupled with lousy acting and poorly-lit sets, I just enjoyed the fighting scenes (probably on a day when I had my fill of Van Damme and Seagal). Looking back on it recently, the choreography is some of the best ever put on celluloid, and it holds up tremendously against just about all of the other fight scenes from the 90s. A combination of beautiful foreign locales, some pretty intense stunts, and a sense that the director was going for a "let's be satisfied with the first take of any non-action scene" attitude, the movie is a guilty, but VERY impressive martial arts film.

The makers of this film are certainly no strangers to films that are "Inspired" by mainstream others. The company's earlier effort "No retreat No Surrender" was meant to be a take on the Karate Kid and this film is no different. Let's just get this out of the way now.......it's a Kickboxer rip off! In fact it goes beyond rip off in places with some parts and locations being nearly identical to the Van Damme film, it really is shameless!

Fortunately, Seasonal films are no slouches when it comes to fight scenes and here's where you start to forgive them for being such blatant pilferers. The Fights are truly spectacular, choreographed with such precise flow, speed and with such immense power. This film is a direct descendant of No Retreat No Surrender which was the first film to use western actors set in America with an Oriental production team and like it's ancestor it really is quite something. Gone are the traditional, slow movements of the 70's Kung-Fu films which were so akin to Shaw Brothers films at the time and in their place there is rip roaring torrents of brutal martial arts action.

Billy Blanks as Khan is a great, nay tremendous and utterly terrifying bad guy and it's always great to see the amazingly talented Keith Cooke (who almost steals the show here) but Loren Avedon is as hammy as ever despite his great fighting skill. Of course that's half the charm of these films and that statement is meant fully as a compliment. It certainly has captured the feel of Van Damme's Kickboxer although it doesn't match up to it in terms of polish or drama, but the fights more than make up for it!

Be like me, buy both and enjoy both!