Death Fighter

To be honest, I was not expecting much from this movie. Though I love martial arts films, I only watched this one because I live in Thailand, and enjoy Thai movies. Having studied martial arts, I was amazed and quite pleased with the fight scenes in this! That said, kudos to the camera-men for capturing it all so well, and editing crew. I had never heard of Director Toby Russell, but will be looking out for more of his work. The Thai language sequences have English subs, but the Thai is beginner level. It's extra amusing if you speak any Thai, and listen to actor Matt Mullins chop the language, speaking the feminine version of hello, in imitation of the woman he would impress... 'ka' instead of 'kup'! A Thai might speculate about whether he identifies as the third sex: a lady-boy, trans-gendered person etc. Death Fighter is only 88 minutes, and feels like less. It's a fun, easy to follow little film. I thought it was slightly under-rated, having nothing overtly wrong with it. A few laughs, lots of great fights. If that's not your thing, don't watch it. But I would rate it a 7.5, leaning towards an 8/10.

I would recommend this movie to people who like martial arts action movies so much that they are OK with the lack of realistic scenes in the movie. Be ready to see how 3-4 guys are fighting against a gang of trained mercenaries armed with automatic guns. I'm not that person, hence the rating. Acting is average and the plot is full of clichés.

This is a mildly entertaining movie if you are a martial arts movie fan. The acting is mediocre at best but its nostalgic quality does make it a bit more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been. The fight scenes are so so -- some of them pretty bad to the point of being funny. Not a horrible movie but not very good either --

Not a big budget film by any stretch but it does have a lot of hard hitting martial arts and some really good action scenes. And it seems to be shot on location in Asia. It's great seeing Don 'The Dragon' Wilso, Cynthia Rothrock, Matt Mullins, and Joe Lewis all in one film. It's an enjoyable film and a fun ride!

Overview: This film is worth watching for the exotic locale, straightforward plot and realistic fight sequences.

I think that "Death Fighter" marks the successful return of Cynthia Rothrock and Don Wilson to high-quality martial arts cinema. This is my first Matt Mullins film, but he is highly skilled and trained.

The plot is quite familiar and we have all seen the characters before, but film does an excellent job at leveraging the beauty of the Thai jungle and the rawness of the streets.

I think the film appropriately approaches the ugly reality of human trafficking by using a fast-paced plot and focusing on the interactions between the characters.

Having visited Thailand, lived in Manila and studied kung fu in China, I can honestly say that the martial arts sequences were excellent and well-choreographed.

There are excellent fight scenes in congested spaces with multiple opponents that pay homage to the masters of Hong Kong martial arts cinema.

This film won't win any Oscars, but it has won a place in my highly selective movie collection.

Note: this film reminded me of other recent, excellent martial arts filmed in the SE Asia, two of which also raise important awareness about human trafficking.

-Dolph Lundren/Tony Jaa in "Skin Trade" -Scott Atkins in "Hard Target 2" -JCVD in "Pound of Flesh"