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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.

Don Wilson stars as Jack Dillon, a karate instructor (Also ex-cop) who protects the superstar singer Shanna(Dierdre Immershein) who is the target of a psychotic fan named John Sweet(Mattius Hues), seems Sweet had a love affair with his mom(Eeew!) and Shanna reminds him of mom which is why he kills brunettes and sends their fingers to him. (A true romantic, if there ever was one.) Also on board are the mobsters who look to collect the insurance on Shanna's contract, due to her reluctance to sign again, this all of course leads to a three way fight with Dillon fighting not only the mobsters but also a psychopathic serial killer. Blackbelt is a better than expected martial arts action flick which ripped off 'The Bodyguard' only this time there are a lot of fight sequences and less bad singing. (Although the soundtrack and the 80s music is terrible also) This of course works for the type of angle that the movie aims for. Also the climax in particular is exciting and the movie is packed with gore and enough action to entertain any schlock movie fan. I saw this back in 96 on WGN and because I missed about 20 minutes of it, I decided to rent it the next day. So far it ranks as the only enjoyable flick I've seen from Don Wilson and as a guilty pleasure.

* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty good)

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.

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 ****

First of all,this movie contains 10 of the worlds best kickboxers,and i believe that explains why this movie has so much fighting. Some of the fighting scenes are very graphic so this is no movie for those who can't take blood.

The lead role is played by Don "The Dragon" Wilson who plays the good guy.On the other side of the law is the brutal martial-arts killer John Sweet played by "Matthias Hues".(They have one of the coolest fights ever put on film) The fighting scenes in this movie is so brutal that it makes Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee look like two kids having fun.

This is street kickboxing at it's best.