Bloodfight

Some old guys kung fu pupil gets killed in the ring so he seeks to f··· some s··· up. Blood Fight is a horrible movie. What ruins what could of been a less s···ty movie is its horrid melodrama and slow ass pacing. It does have some hilariously cringy moments like the happy music, terrible fight choreography, bad acting, some of the most crappiest editing I've ever seen but it's not enough to help with the entertainment value. I like Bolo and Kurata but man did they screw the pooch with this one. Yipe yipe yipe!

"Blood Fight" is an unexpectedly serious action flick that has some good, at times artistic camera work. Unlike most Chinese martial arts films, this one does not have the awful English overdubs that make these films so bad. The Chinese actors are actually speaking English, albeit with heavy accents, and it lends an extra level of quality to the production. The story is good, if not very original. A martial arts master becomes emotionally destroyed when his young protégé loses his life to a brutal opponent in the ring. Kung Fu cult icon, Bolo Yeung is his usual demonic self as the fighter who takes the kid's life. Basically a revenge flick, but with some decent character development and higher production values. Featuring some great shots of Hong Kong, both in daylight, and the neon-saturated nights. The fight technique is mainly kick-boxing, and at times things get quite bloody. Worth a look, especially for fans of Yeung Bolo.

A Martial Arts fighter named Masahiro Kai (Yasuaki Kurata), retired for years from the free fighting form, wants someone else to carry on his legacy so he seeks a student he can train. His first choice, a young punk, turns out to be too filled with anger and violence to ever amount to anything. He has better luck with young Ryu Tenmei (Simon Yam) who starts out seeking revenge against a group of punks who attacked him and his girlfriend, including Kai's former student, but soon comes to put his hatred aside and replace it with an appreciation and understanding of the true benefits of adopting the martial arts philosophy and lifestyle. Soon Ryu is good enough to fight in the deadly World Championship free-fighting tournament and the result proves shocking and unexpected, a result that may force Kai out of retirement and back into the fighting field seeking retribution for his fallen student. But can Kai possibly succeed against the powerful, devilish Chong Lee (Bolo Yeung)?

Honestly I like BLOODFIGHT far more than BLOODPSORT even though it has largely the same plot. There's a more believable edge to BLOODFIGHT I feel and it's helped by the fact it's an actual Hong Kong based film presentation. The fighting is quite good but even better is the emotional range the performers show managing to overcome language barriers with strong use of body language and the extra time and attention given to building up characters, something decidedly lacking in BLOODSPORT. Still there are problems. I believe they made a mistake filming this in English because most of the performers simply had not mastered the language even though it was an interesting exercise to watch them attempt it and a nice try on the part of those behind the film to presumably reach a larger audience and perhaps tap into some of the financial success BLOODSPORT enjoyed. Finally the resolution isn't fully satisfying as the punishment doesn't quite seem to match the crime that was perpetrated. That said, I ended up liking this far more than I expected I would.

Right out of the gate, Bloodfight is a unique piece of martial arts cinema, shot by a Japanese crew, filmed in phonetic English and set in Hong Kong starring a plethora of recognisable names including a baby-faced Simon Yam, unfortunately, there's no escaping the fact that Bloodfight simply isn't a very good film in its own right. Part of the problem is that it never really knows what story it is trying to tell; half of the film is a Bloodsport rip-off while the other is a messily cobbled-together morality tale. The film was clearly marketed towards an international audience with the all-English dialogue but the cast's varying grasp of the language is make or break at best, although there's very little that can elevate material as hammy as this, they try their damnedest to do so. Nevertheless, despite the film's issues, it's made with a lot of earnestness, which I can never bring myself to hate. Shûji Gotô's direction is fine if often let down by some clumsy editing and bland fights, while the soundtrack by Micky Oguchi is one of synth-pop goodness. While on paper Bloodfight may have seemed like a winner, the execution is a different matter entirely; I still ended up liking this way more than I expected but so much of the film comes across as unsatisfying, one I'm sure Frank Dux would have a field day with if he ever watched it.

The only good thing about this movie is more of the clone to "Bloodsport". Since the senses turned to the bottle after his student was killed in the tournament. It shows how pathetic he is. After he wises up, he goes back into training. Most would go back to training following an injury. That is a wise move. Staying hurt or angry leads to downfall. His desires are always his pride. He should have used them for better purposes.

Bolo Yeung character is the same as it was in "Bloodsport". A bloodthirsty character. Like in the last one, he killed his opponent.

This movie is a mirror image of the last one 2 out of 5 stars.