Blackbelt

Straight-to-video hero Don "The Dragon" Wilson was never going to be one of the big time martial arts stars, but he does well enough with BLACKBELT, a film which may be the best of his career. BLACKBELT is a non-stop assault on the senses of extreme violence, bone-breaking brutality and bloodshed, with a wafer-thin plot that doesn't get in the way of a fight scene every five minutes or so. This is definitely one of the most violent fight flicks I've seen in a long time, and despite heavy cutting on release (both in the UK and the US) it still remains a gruesome exercise in stage blood and bone-breaking sound effects.

The plot is nothing special: imagine a hard-assed version of THE BODYGUARD with Wilson replacing Costner and you'll be halfway there. The female leads are non-actresses but attractive enough in their roles, and although Wilson is typically wooden as the hero he packs a wallop in the fight scenes and kicks ass more times than I can count. Matthias Hues (DARK ANGEL) is surprisingly good as the psychopathic killer and I love the flashback scenes which explain his mental disorder. It's a shame the shaggy-haired hardman hasn't appeared in more flicks and has been typecast as the villain; I for one would like to watch him as the hero for a change.

BLACKBELT offers one adrenaline-charged fight scene after another during its running time, all battles excellently choreographed by Wilson himself. The budget is low and executive producer Roger Cormaan seems to have played a part in assembling an American-looking Filipino cast to fill out the smaller roles, up to his old tricks again by the look of it. The wealth of action that BLACKBELT offers is impossible to dismiss and this film hits the mark where many others fail. The finale is a class act and his final one-on-one unmissable entertainment.

Look Don The Dragon Wilson may be a great legitimate fighter but he is terrible on screen in this movie. The movements are slow and the choreography boring and ponderous. he also makes Chuck Norris look like Laurence Olivier in that he has ZERO acting ability and almost no charisma. This is a problem when you are carrying the movie.The singer girl here was annoying and unlikeable but the villain was fairly creepy and well done. Overall this was just a low rent waste of time and no amount of blood or nudity can change that. Watch something else!

MAN!!! this movie was intense it had tons of action, non-stop thrills and tons of violence this movie should be NC-17 instead of R , this movie went way beyond john woo's films, and way beyond all the violent films that i have seen , this should be rated NC-17 for intense violence, Gore, and some brief nudity and i would give this a **** out of ****

I have seen the 1992 martial arts action movie "Blackbelt" once before, when I had it on VHS tape back in the day. However, I must admit that I have entirely and wholeheartedly forgotten about the storyline. And thus, when I happened to stumble upon the movie by random luck here in 2023, of course I opted to sit down and revisit it.

The storyline in "Blackbelt" is pretty straightforward. It was an adequate script and storyline for a martial arts action movie of this sort. So writers Robert Easter, Neva Friedenn, Paul Maslak and Charles Philip Moore actually put together a fair enough movie here.

There wasn't a whole lot of familiar faces on the cast list, aside from Don Wilson and Alan Blumenfeld. Actor Matthias Hues was a wonderful villain, playing John Sweet, especially with that hair of his.

Why is it that guys wearing leather jackets have to be shirtless beneath the jacket? It just makes people look like douches, yet both Don Wilson and Matthias Hues opted to go that way in "Blackbelt".

Watchable for what it is, "Blackbelt" is a stereotypical early 1990s martial arts action movie.

My rating of "Blackbelt", from directors Charles Philip Moore and Rick Jacobson, lands on a five out of ten stars.

Matthias is the ultimate "bad guy" in this one...and you just love him! He's about the only actor I can think of that you just love to hate. Maybe it's the hypnotic blue eyes, maybe the dimples or maybe its the muscles. Maybe its a combination of all, but he lights up the screen in a way that keeps you coming back for more. Don "the Dragon" Wilson is the "star" of the movie, but Matthias is really the STAR of the movie.

Watch it once, you'll watch it twice...watch it twice, you'll watch it trice...and so on and so on. It's a movie you won't get tired of watching. So when you don't know what you want to watch, watch Black Belt. You'll be glad you did!