4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
best fight scenes ever, August 22, 2006
The first Bloodsport will always be the best of the series, and probably remains as one of the best martial art movies of all time. Bloodsport 2 does not have the classic feel that Bloodsport has, nor does Daniel Bernhardt fill Van Damme's shoes, and the villain Demon (played by Ong Soon Han) does not come close to the on-screen presence of Bolo Yeung. What Bloodsport 2 does have over the original is the best tournament you will ever see in a movie. For a good 30 minutes throughout the film, you get some of the best choreography ever done, well editing and camera angles, and long fights that are just enjoyable to watch and appreciate. The story to Bloodsport 2 is nothing to write home about, but as far as fights, the beginning to the end of his film has nothing but continuous fights (both in and out of the tournament). The final fight between Alex (Bernhardt) and Ong Soon Han is actually pretty good, maybe better than Van Damme and Chong Li in the first Bloodsport.
If you are looking for a good all around movie in the Bloodsport series, look towards the first Bloodsport. If you don't care about story and famous actors and just want really good fights, Bloodsport 2 is the best in the series. Check out Bloodsport 3 too - its pretty lame throughout but the tournament is pretty dang good too. As for Bloodsport 4, ouch.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent Sequel to Blood Sport., September 14, 2001
When I got this out I wasn't expecting much at all. But I was pleasantly surprised at what I got. It is well structured film (like a real 80's style with a distinct beginning, middle and end not like crappy shallow 90's films which just meander along and feel really empty) Daniel Bernhardt is really charming, a good fighter and looks strikingly similar to Van Damme in some shots. It has one of the best chessy training scenes like the one in kickboxer. The fight scenes are well edited and well shot, so they are easy to watch and not to close-up. For fans of 80's cheese (even if this is a 90's film) and lots of mano a mano fight scenes this should fit nicely in your collection.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"You and me. Soon, only me!", November 22, 2009
Released eight years after the original film, the follow-up to the undisputed jewel of all karate B-movies sees Swiss-born martial artist Daniel Bernhardt given the unenvied task of trying to live up to Jean-Claude Van Damme's career-launching performance in the first
Bloodsport. Does he succeed? The answer depends on how big of a fan you are of Van Damme and his initial karate masterpiece. The movie certainly has its faults (and sadly, these don't include the gloriously cheesy over-the-top aspects of its predecessor), but as far as being a low-budget, tournament-based fighting movie, this one has all the credentials to be an unrecognized gem.
The story: told in flashback by wizened karate teacher Sun (James Hong,
Big Trouble in Little China), the tale follows thief-turned-fighter Alex Cardo (Bernhardt,
The Matrix Reloaded) as he is sent to a Thai prison for stealing the prize of the fabled underground Kumite tournament. Trained to harness his internal power by Sun, he leaves jail determined to enter the tournament, prove his honor, and use the prize to buy his teacher's freedom.
The cast is pretty neat: in addition to Bernhardt and Hong, there's Pat Morita (
The Karate Kid series) as the tournament beneficiary, bodybuilder Ong Soo Han (
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) as the villainous fan favorite, and Nicholas Hill (
Death Match) and Ron Hall (
Triple Impact) as Alex's tournament buddies/opponents. Donald "Tiny" Gibb returns in his role from the first film, but he makes no reference to the previous outing or Frank Dux; he's also not quite as funny as during the first time around and doesn't really get to fight. Also, while certainly tough and evil, Ong Soo "Demon" Han can't really live up to Bolo Yeung's presence in the original film. Daniel Bernhardt, however, gives a great physical effort during his maiden voyage in film and makes every fight of his count, as though his future in show business were resting on the quality of this film.
We also have Philip Tan as fight choreographer to thank for this. Rest assured, there is a lot of fighting to be found here - maybe even more than in the first film - and while not all of it is great, a lot of it is above average. The choreography is solid at worst and gorgeous at best - especially that of any fight scene involving Ron Hall. The tournament encounters take a while to get good, and are every once in a while they're punctuated by nonsensical pose-striking and other immature little add-ons (e.g. the monkey fighter who performs to soundbites of an actual monkey shrieking), but by and large, the fighting lives up to the predecessing matches and then some. Fans of "Bloodsport" who can't help but compare the two films will note that's there's a decisive decrease in the emotional content of the fisticuffs and no cool song plays along to the visceral montages. This leaves the film a bit plainer than is healthy for a low-budget flick like this, but the fights can't be dragged down.
James Hong's trademarked "wise old Asian" routine carries his scenes, and he does an excellent job of validating the movie dramatically in between all of the fighting. Fans of these kinds of films ought not be without it, for "Bloodsport 2" has it where it counts and ought to be in the video collection of anybody who values talent and athleticism over an obvious budget.
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