Bloodsport III

Swiss martial arts dude Daniel Bernhardt stands in again for Van Damme in this second sequel to "Bloodsport". Alex Cardo has retired from martial arts after winning the Kumite in the last flick, but rich heavy Jonathan Rhys-Davies wants him to compete in a new Kumite he's putting on. When our hero refuses, Davies kills his former teacher James Hong (who wisely appears to have agreed to be in this movie for less than 5 minutes). Cardo seeks out Pat Morita (also in this flick for mere minutes), who hooks Cardo up with his brother, who trains him, even though it is repeatedly stated that Cardo is the best martial artist in the world. He returns to take revenge on Davies by entering the Kumite ... which is actually what Davies wanted him to do in the first place. I confess to being confused at this point. Cardo "gets revenge" by winning the competition, which is what Davies wanted ... but now he doesn't???

There isn't much to say about this film, except that slowly goes down... This is just one of those bad martial arts films... with classic story about Alex Cardo who's taking a revenge upon a rich mobster and his "monster" fighter called the Beast. Again with Daniel Bernhardt in leading role and his Van Damme face expressions. He travels on Thailand to another master to train him for next Kumite. But, this time... it IS personal! We get to see John Rhys Davies as the leading bad guy, the mobster, who is doing nothing but walking around with a large cigar in his mouth and look menacing, just like in "Cyborg Cop", James Hong and Pat Morita are there again... The fights are good, no complaints there... This is strictly for martial arts fans.

Fans of martial art flicks will find pieces to like in 'Bloodsport 3', but the formula is starting to wear thin. The fights are alright, but saving grace is it's cast (many returning faces). By now you know the drill - training montages, revenge, spirituality - and while this entry doesn't have a satisfying finale, it's still got a level of b-movie charm. Once again the tale is told in flashback.

Alex Cardo (Daniel Bernhardt) won the Kumite in Bangkok and then retired from fighting to be a successful gambler in India. After beating off some ninjas at the local casino and retrieving a stolen package for the owners, he meets mob boss Duvalier (John Rhy-Davies) who's gonna host a Kumite and wants him involved. When Alex declines, he lashes out at people close to him, tries to have him killed or at the very least denied entrance to the tournament. He's put all his money on his fighter 'The Beast' and doesn't want him to upset his plans to win.

James Hong returns in a minor way as Sun again. Ditto Pat Morita as Leung and even Judge Macado (Hee-il Cho). They're not specific about how much time has passed, but Cardo has a young son (no word on the mother) now which he tells the tale. Honestly the story is piecemeal at best and illogical at worst. Obviously low budget and very simple. Few scraps along the way to the finale and there's hints of romance, but nothing ever comes of two ladies.

'Bloodsport 3' stands on it's own in the sense that you don't have to see the flicks that came before it, but being familiar with '2' adds heart. Bernhardt is still up to task, returning cameos help and while Davies doesn't get the opportunity to chew the scenery like the way he did in 'Cyborg Cop' just having him was nice. I can't discount though that I became bored and the Kumite, end villain was rather underwhelming.

I saw Bloodsport, sadly one of Van Damme's best films, and could say it wasn't all that stupid. Number 2 was far more entertaining, mostly because they cast Daniel Bernhardt as the lead, (a basically taller, better acting, better looking and better fighting version of JCVD). Now comes lucky number 3. For the love of your sanity, don't see this movie! Don't touch this piece of maggot-infested crap! I lost an hour of my life that i'll never get back (thats how much of it I stomached before I tossed it out the window). If you feel the need to see a film that so bad that it actually entertains you, go see "Cool As Ice". Bloodsport 3, however, is not one of those films.

Daniel Bernhard returns in this 3rd installment in the series. I suspect that this movie were made in a big rush, since it's worse than "Bloodsport 2" in many ways. First of all, the story is a little bit too standard. But that is of course not the most important. The fighting in this movie isn't that good, and it's just too much of the same styles. The Kumite in this movie has to be the worst Kumite ever arranged. One detail that particularly draw my attention, was one of the fighters sitting on the bench ringside and waiting to fight. On the bench, he didn't have any hair on his chest at all. But when he was fighting, he suddenly had lots of hair. Things like this confirms that this is a C-movie, and probably really low-budget. What where they thinking?