Only the Strong, la loi du plus fort

When I say that I mean, the Bruce Lee flicks, the Chuck Norris flicks, The Karate Kid, Never Back Down, the various ninja movies, etc. Then I see this movie on HBO about Brazilian martial arts and was hooked from the beginning!

At first glance, you think it's a typical B-movie with a former or current Special Forces type going out to change the world. Then as you get into it, you see that there's some story to it! Yeah, it's predictable like some have said, but at least the writers attempted to make a watchable story. The Martial Arts choreography is great, especially if you haven't seen Brazilian Martial arts before!

Like someone also said, this is not Oscar material, but it's certainly entertaining. Whether it's Academy Award worthy or not, that's what a movie is supposed to be: ENTERTAINING. "Only the Strong" certainly delivers in entertainment and in my opinion should have it's place among Martial Arts movies!

I thought Only the Strong was a great movie. I would love to learn the martial art. I thought that Ryan Bollman, as well as the rest of the cast, was wonderful. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a good movie. I loved this movie, and am currently trying to find it on video.

If you are looking for a plot or a great cinematic feature, you may be disappointed. However, if you want to see some great Capoera (brazilian style) fighting, this is for you. This relatively unknown art is exciting and explosive, with many flips and tumbles along with strikes used to incapacitate your opponent. I am a fan of the Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies, but this type of martial art has found a place in my heart. The movie is a great good guy overcomes insurmountable odds to come out on top. Very entertaining.

The real star of "Only the Strong" is the capoeira style of Brazilian martial arts (which is the pre-cursor of many break dancing moves) exhibited throughout the film. There are many movies that concentrate on wushu, taekwondo, karate, aikido, and many others styles from different parts of the world, but capoeira movies are far and few between, which makes "Only the Strong" that much more unique.

The story is nothing short of rehashed and predictable; a well meaning soldier (Mark Dacascos) with martial arts background from his previous station in Brazil, comes back to the U.S. and attempts to take charge of the rebellious, rival students in a troubled neighbourhood. He attempts to give them a focus in life with the art of capoeira, which combines martial arts, music and dancing, as well as stressing teamwork between the players/fighters. The troublesome students take a while to be won over by Decascos efforts, but eventually play along.

Things get complicated when it turns out that one of the students is the son of a Portuguese gangster, a capoeira maestre himself, that is the terror of the town, leading to some battles and a showdown between the ruthless criminal and his followers and the well meaning teacher.

The acting and the story is sub-par as mentioned previously, but this is , at the time of this writing, the only movie focusing on capoeira as a whole, and as such deserves a closer look by martial arts fans everywhere who are ready for something truly different.

An exciting feel-good actioner from the director of Double Impact that demands very little from its audience other than the odd cry of adulation at the spectacular, slow-mo'-induced action scenes set before us. Capoeira, the rhythm-based Brazilian martial art / dance, is the movie's chosen subject, and its saving grace: flamboyant and effortlessly acrobatic, accurately pulled off by a cast of the style's best practitioners. Dacascos masters the art while stationed in Brazil working as a Green Beret, and returns to his old school in Miami to find the classes out of control, made up of petty criminals and drug dealers. He is chosen to teach these crazy kids some discipline (by means of Capoeira), and they seem to become pretty good at it. Prieto provides the beefcake villain element as a Brazilian master-criminal determined to sway one of our hero's prime students. All in all, this is an entertaining watch, a perfect showcase for Dacascos.