Balance of Power

I like this movie not only because I think Billy Blanks is a great martial artist, but because it has a really good training scene. Some of the fight scenes in this movie have moves in it that look impossible. If you want a good karate movie, watch Balance of Power.

OK, I'm truly not trying to be mean, but this is the worst movie I've ever seen in my entire life. This movie is straight garbage, matter of fact to call this movie garbage would be complementing it. It's nothing more than a broke Karate Kid remake with unbelievable horrible acting. Whats going on with this old Chinese guy who looks like a broke Mr.Miyagi. This guy played the same exact role with a different name in the movie "Sidekicks". I'm not mad at him though, hey bills gotta get paid. Not one person in this movie can act worth a crap. I've seen better acting in Rice Krispies commercials. What were they thinking when they made this movie? I really want to know what they were thinking. Besides the predictable plot and god awful acting is the corny fight sequences. They try so hard to recapture "Enter the Dragon" or "Bloodsport" but fail horribly. The one scene that had me ready to stab somebody and jump out my window was: Billy Blanks character was in a room where steam was put in in order to suffocate him. No not in this movie, this dude starts yelling "No,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,NO,!!!!!!!!!!" then he begins to punch the steam so he can breathe. Believe me for people who haven't seen this movie, this scene looks far more ridiculous than I can explain to you. All I can say is this movie is trash. Billy Blanks is having success with Tae Bo, so he better stick to that, because he never needs to act in a movie again if this garbage is going to be the result.

Love this movie. Billy Blanks on top form here as Nico looking for some justice. the training scenes are perfect and original. this is not a rip off of Bloodsport or Kickboxer it holds its own. The fight scenes are done very well, the steam room scene well I've never seen anything quite like that before and i was well impressed as was my 11 year old son who also thought it rocked. This film is underrated and deserves more recognition for sure. I've watched nearly all Billy Blanks movies over the last few weeks and this was my favourite short of King of the Kickboxers of course. I recommend this to lovers of fight flicks as you will not feel cheated after taking the time to watch it. anyone who hates this film must hate billy blanks or should stick to flawless movies..

This was not a good film.

I think the fact that this film has a 4.1 rating on this website makes me ashamed to be a part of this community. Batman & Robin had a lower rating!

This, by far, was the worst film i have ever seen in my life. PLEASE, DO NOT SEE IT.

I saw it very accidentally on PAX or UPN or some semi-movie channel like that, and the only reason i saw it in its entirety was due to the fact that i was intrigued by its awful, awful acting. ( i was totally blown out of my mind... i just couldn't stop watching it... in horror)

Billy Blanks is a lousy actor, but the Tae-Bo superstar can sure kick major butt. In Hidden Tiger he stars as Niko, a martial arts teacher who runs a dojo for kids in the local ghetto. When the boss of the Asian mafioso threatens his school, he must enter the underworld fight circuit in order to save those he loves and destroy the enemy for good.

Hidden Tiger isn't a great action movie by a long shot, but at least it avoids committing the sin of being boring. For although the acting is bad, the plot unbelievable and the script poorly written, the movie does succeed in being entertaining, albeit in a thoroughly cheesy manner. Action movie stereotypes abound: Billy Blanks's character is the all round good guy whose only interest is in keeping his kids on the straight and narrow, Mako is the wise mentor Matsumoto who teaches Niko the secrets of internal balance and control, Lisa Boynton plays Matsumoto's spunky daughter Jasmine, and James Lew is all-round bad guy fighter Takamura who will stop at nothing to win.

Director Rick Bennett ensures that all of the expected clichés are present and rarely injects proceedings with any originality, preferring to take the road most travelled. Hence, we get the obligatory training scenes, the tragic killing of Niko's student by bad guy Takamura, the kidnapping of the Master's daughter and the final showdown between our hero and main villain; predictable, yes, but kinda fun too! A classic Martial Arts movie this is not, but enough enjoyment can be had to make this one worth a viewing.