Kickboxer 4

After watching Kickboxer 4, late last night (2am-4am) on FX, my only response is, wow. I thought the movie was fun to watch! The acting was pretty bad, the story was stupid and cliché, the fight scenes were poorly done and I was expecting the main character to all of a sudden say his catch phrase "DUDE!" from Step by Step.

What was with almost every character looking like a famous person? I'm really happy to see Frank Zappa was able to act in a film before his untimely death.

Also, why did every bad-ass character in that movie end up to be a wimp at the end. Frank Zappa snapped a guys neck, then smashed his head into the ground for fun (in an OR scrub) and beat the crap out of all those people in the beginning (in a bright red polo shirt). But here comes big bad Cody, doesn't even elbow him in the face, "I've had enough!". Same thing with the so called "savage international terrorist". He kicked total butt in the beginning and then at the end he scurrys off like one of those flying monkeys in the Wizard of OZ.

I did enjoy the movie though, wouldn't nominate it for a Grammy though. But my liking was mostly due to the fact that I felt like a member of the "Mystery Science 3000" cast, making fun of almost every scene.

And what the hell was with that "hiss" Sloan did at the end? Damnit, i need a cigarette.

All movies series has to have a really bad entry and this is by far the worst of the Kickboxer series. First of all, how did David Sloan end up working for the DEA and when did Tong Po become a drug lord? This is absolutely ridiculous. Even worse, Michel Qissi is not back as Tong Po. Oh, granted, Kamel Krifa is a terrific martial artist (saw him on an episode of Baywatch) but he just didn't fight the role of Tong Po as well as Qissi. The only thing that's good in this film is the fight choreography, where the fighters use different arts (David and Tong Po are Muay Thai, Thomas is Jeet Kune Do, Megan is Tang Soo Do, another guy Capoeira). That's pretty much it. Other than that, really lame story!!!!

I can't say I watched the whole thing but I caught bits and pieces on TV one day. It was really funny without trying to be. Tong Po is awesome, his face looks plastic or like he's wearing to much makeup and he definitely plucks his eyebrows. If it's on TV, check it out if only for a few minutes for laughs, otherwise stay away.

Unlike a lot of people, I thoroughly enjoyed "Kickboxers 2 and 3" and think that K3 was better than all of them. However, they should have stopped at 3 and never tried to do another.

The cast was abominable, with the exception of Brad Thornton as Lando Smith.

Kamel Krifa as Tong Po was terrible and his accent even worse. The makeup job they did on him to make him look somewhat Po'ish was terrible at best. Did the make up artists not bother to look at him under the camera lighting or even face to face to see how their makeup job looked?

The fighting was the only good part about this movie with the exception of the annoying as nails down a chalkboard, Michelle "Mouse" Krasnoo.

I have read that she has won 200 grand first prizes for her martial art and I find that hard to believe unless her competitors were either terrible beyond comprehension, or she had no competition. As a martial artist myself, doing Wah Lum Kung Fu (for those of you not familiar with it, it is the true Kung Fu that they did in China before it was outlawed)and having seen terrible, watered down martial arts from the pathetic "art" they call some forms of Kung Fu that is allowed to be taught in the United States now, (Wah Lum is difficult and taxing at best when done correctly, hence it is not that popular because it actually requires hard work)to musical forms of Karate, I found her forms sloppy, slow and terribly executed. I have seen better from kids in the under 13 divisions at tournaments I have participated in. There is no way she could have beaten any one of those martial artists on even their worst day, as easily as she did, with what she did and the fact that they tried to make it so, was laughable at best.

Other than Michelle's terrible performance, not only in acting but in her martial forms as well, the rest of the fight scenes were well executed and enjoyable to watch.

I was very disappointed that Sasha Mitchell was not able to showcase more of his fighting. He is an accomplished and highly skilled martial artist and the fact that he was not allowed to show more of what he is capable of, alongside some of the great fighters that were in this movie, was regrettable.

However, I still think Sasha Mitchell is far too talented an actor and martial artist to have wasted his time on such a poorly made movie as "Kickboxer 4."

By the time they get to this film in the franchise, the story gets really ludicrous and over the top, with the main character having been in prison for a couple years and his wife being held captive during that time by the man who framed him, who also hoped to have killed his two brothers (before the film starts). Characters make dumb decisions and the whole plot is pretty ludicrous. About the only interesting part of the film is the Mortal Kombat third act (which is also ludicrous based on how short every match is). Thankfully, this is the last entry with these characters. A film to be avoided.