Kickboxer: L'héritage

Kickboxer: Vengeance was a very pleasant surprise. Remakes aren't always a good idea, but the new take on the Van Damme martial arts classic turned out way better than it had any right to. It wasn't perfect, but Alain Moussi made a likeable lead, the action scenes were well-executed and the closing three-round battle was spectacular. That climactic brawl was so good it elevated the entire film and made it into a minor triumph of the B-Movie world.

Fast forward two years and we get the sequel. Alain Moussi returns as Kurt Sloane, now enjoying a career as a pro-MMA fighter and deeply in love with his wife. Faster than you can say "what was up with that dream sequence," he gets kidnapped and sent to Thailand, where Christopher Lambert's villainous Thomas Moore wants him to fight his champion; 400 pound monster Mongkut.

First things first, this isn't as good as the previous film. This is partly down to the choice of bad guy; Mongkut is huge, terrifying and absolutely towers over the hero. Kurt looks like he stands no chance, but that was the case with Tong Po as well. When they cross swords at the finale, the fight plays out in an overly familiar way, matching the beats of the previous film way too closely. Kurt took a remarkable amount of punishment first time round, but here the mauling he takes is utterly absurd. The fight is entertaining, but it re-treads familiar ground, wildly stretches credibility and isn't the nail-biting pulse-racer it was before. Your mind wanders and you may even start wishing Tong Po was still around to fight Mongkut instead.

On the other hand, Retaliation does enough to justify its existence. Van Damme returns as Kurt's trainer Durand and the Muscles is clearly having a great time again. There's a highly enjoyable extended cameo from Mike Tyson, not to mention a single take prison fight that steals the entire film. There's a couple of weird stylistic flourishes in here too that you wouldn't get in the average B-Movie, such as a surreal Hall Of Mirrors fight with two lingerie models and a sequence on a train that resembles a martial arts movie filmed like a fragrance advert.

Ultimately, Kickboxer: Retaliation is worth a watch but if you were blown away by the previous one, don't expect the same thing to happen this time. Moussi continues to defy gravity, but copying and pasting the previous film's climax was a mistake. He's already knocked down one Mountain after all. And the repeated suggestion that he's foreseen all this in a dream was a big mistake.

I nearly loved the original KICKBOXER with Jean Claude Van Damme in his prime, and mildly liked the 2016 reboot (with Van Damme as the master), so it's not a surprise that I had to watch this sequel of a reboot. Well, it was good nearly on the same level of the 1989 original.

When it begins Kurt Sloane (Alain Moussi) wins another MMA fight but victory is short-lived because he's kidnapped by some thugs and held prisoner in a jail in Thailandia for the murder of Tong Po that happened at the end of the predecessor. Soon we are introduced to promoter Thomas Moore (Christopher Lambert) that wants Sloane to fight against a mountain of a man that can easily crush him. So Sloane returns to his master Durand (Van Damme) who is partially blind and trains very hard for the big fight and you might have guessed how it will unfold.

I was really amazed that when I saw it I couldn't understand why it has a score of 4,9 and so many negative reviews. Well, the secret is: suspend disbelief and enjoy. The acting by Van Damme and Lambert was up to their decent standards, and the fight scenes very cool and kept me excited.

So, if you are into the KICKBOXER franchise don't miss it, and also if you are action fans, it's a very enjoyable time-passer.

A Mui Thai film of the bad kind. Unfortunately, the senseless beating has nothing to do with the actual martial art.

Set one year after the events of Kickboxer: Vengeance, Kurt Sloan has vowed never to return to Thailand.However things change and whilst he is preparing for an MMA title fight, he is drugged and wakes up in a Thailand prison. His captors give him a choice (if you can call it a choice) they want him to face a colossus named Mongkut and in return, Kurt Sloan will get $2million dollars and win his freedom from the prison hell hole..

If he doesn't fight then his wife will die at the hands of her captors. With no real choice to make Kurt Sloan has no other choice but to undergo his most rigorous training yet, under some very unexpected mentors, in order to take on this dreaded opponent.



Kickboxer:Retaliation is a fantastic addition to the Kickboxer franchise and a great addition to martial art feature films altogether. With great set pieces including a glorious several minute single take that takes place in the prison, the choreography is top notch for this franchise that began life in 1989 with the Jean Claude Van Damme starring hit. With exotic Thailand locations, fiery fight scenes and some stupendous stunt-work, Kickboxer:Retaliation is a no- holds barred-brutal when it needs to be, film featuring some of the mosst athletic and well trained stunt performers since The Raid..

I was a little concerned when the plot was set up that the final 'boss fight' between Mongkut would be a blink and you miss it sort of third act set piece, however I was dead wrong.The finale that will make your eyes water and your muscles ache and whilst I didn't have a clock to check to see how long the fight ran for. It definitely seemed to run for a while but never, even for a second becoming tiring to watch.

I will confess that I haven't seen Kickboxer:Vengeance however this made virtually no difference to my viewing experience when watching Retaliation and aside from a couple of mentions along the line of 'Oh I haven't seen you since....' This film stands alone just as well as Im sure it stands as part of the running saga.

Alain Moussi plays the role of Kurt Sloan wonderfully and is able to show a humanity one moment, and thro someone through a window the next with perfection. Along for the co star list in Kickboxer Retaliation is Mike Tyson as Briggs, who I have to say is fantastic in the role and does get a chance to show that he still has what it takes to put someone lights out super fast. Also joining the films cast is original Kickboxer himself Jean Claude Van Damme (who also appeared in Kickboxer Vengance) however this time, and heres the kicker (no pun intended) He is a blind kickboxer and still a damn fine one at that.

So I'm sure if you sat through the whole movie you probably won't be as entertained as I was. I fell asleep early in the movie but woke up for one of the best fights I've ever seen in a movie had a rocky feeling to it except the fight was to the death so made it even better so it's at least worth watching the final fight you don't even have to know what is going on or what the movie is about to get entertainment from the final fight, I mean 400 lbs of Muscle.