Customer Reviews

Bloodsport

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

You all know the storyline. It's kinda cheesy and cliche by today's standards, but still... I've been watching this movie since I was a little boy and to this day I never get tired of it! Like someone else said... if this movie is on TV, there is NO WAY I'm not going to finish watching it. The whole thing just never gets old! Wow... for a movie made in 1988, it's still shown over and over again on cable television. That says something about how popular this movie is. It's by far the best Van Damme movie there is. And as a young impressionable boy, this movie is what got me interested in martial arts. I would stand in front of the TV watching this movie while trying to imitate all the moves I saw. Needless to say, I was the best fighter in first grade and performed many punches to kids' groins and spinning kicks to their faces while also breaking necks Chong Li style (ok im just kidding... but it does raise the issue of TV violence and its influence on children, doesn't it?) Anyways, good classic fight scenes that are also realistic (i.e. no wires, just man-to-man fighting). While in a real fight you would never perform the flying spin kicks nor would you take your sweet time walking up to your opponent and kicking him in the face as if he was too slow to react, the fight scenes are definitely entertaining and will put you into a hypnotic trance that will render you speechless and cause drool to drip out of your mouth (ok maybe not). Another thing I like about the movie is the movie soundtrack, i.e. the background music that's playing whenever there's a fight. Gets me pumped up and ready to go spin-kick someone at a gas station... then we start our own kumite in the back alley! Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading my review, because I enjoyed rambling during my review :D

I'm not a fan of martial arts movies. I'm not a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme. But if I see this movie playing on one of my cable channels, put a fork in me, because I'm cooked for the next 90 minutes.

After 30 minutes of attempted plot development, "Bloodsport" really gets going with some of the finest one-on-one fights I have seen as the Kumite competition begins. There are different fighters with all different types of styles, from brute strength, unorthodox defense methods such as hoping around like a kangaroo, and Van Damme's martial arts style. The Kumite makes up most of the remaining 60 minutes of the movie and is riveting.

Van Damme can't act to save his life (and I get a kick - no pun intended - out of his American accent), but he puts on a good show here. That's because he doesn't have much dialogue. Bolo Yeung, who plays arch-nemesis Chong Li is ripped and very convincing as the villian. Donald Gibb (Ogre from the "Revenge of the Nerds" movies) plays Van Damme's fellow Kumite participant who gets his clock cleaned by Chong Li, causing Van Damme an extra incentive for revenge.

It's cheesy, it's silly, it's poorly acted, but it is a lot of fun. A must!

Van Damme's best martial arts movie - heck perhaps best movie ever, considering his others were lousy except for Timecop and In Hell. Bloodsport can arguably be ranked right behind Enter The Drgaon as a true fight classic. In fact, in many ways, Bloodsport not only gets inspiration from Bruce Lee's masterpiece, but by finally seeing the massive baddie Bolo fight a worthy opponent, it does it one better.

One of the most incredible visuals and kinetically amazing cast members of Enter The Dragon was Bolo Yeung. Never actually classically trained as a martial artist, Bolo was a Chinese bodybuilder - sort of China's Schwarzenegger. He was bigger than life, bigger than Bruce, bigger than anybody he shared the screen with, yet when the credits rolled, he had only broken the necks of a few lame bodyguards and had fought Roper, played by John Saxon. Now, Saxon is a fine actor and a pretty good martial artist, however he's no Bruce Lee. The confrontation everyone was waiting for in Enter The Dragon never happened, until that is Bloodsport came along.

Now, yes, Van Damme isn't Bruce Lee. There are many who would say he couldn't hold Bruce Lee's jockstrap. But in his muscular prime his lightning fast style has beyond most come close to Lee's high kicking, hard punching brand of film fighting. So when Chong Li severely injures Frank Dux's big buddy Ray Jackson, you know Frank's gonnna get revenge and we're gonna get the fight we never got but wanted to see in Enter The Dragon.

Certainly there are many other good things about this movie. The acting is always decent, Forest Whitaker plays an FBI agent in an early role and even Van Damme is relaxed, confident and comes off better than most any other role. However when all is said and done, Bloodsport works on a purely adrenalin pumped level of martial arts action that is unmatched - save for Enter The Dragon. So, when the credits roll this time, we're satisfied that someone as incredible as Bolo has been used to full measure and the [...] kicking we longed for is the high point of this movie - visually and emotionally.

A great martial arts flick As noted, this movie was JeanClaude Van Damme's first starring role, and for my money one of his two best films. He portrays Frank Dux, an American champion of the Kunite, which was/is a full contact, anything goes martial arts competition.

The movie introduces us to Van Damme's incredible martial arts ability. The story line is simple and unremarkable but effective. Van Damme participates in the Kumite against the wishes of the government which trained him. The cast is certainly unremarkable, led by Bolo Yueng, first(?) seen in "Enter the Dragon", playing Chong Li, the film's key villain and kumite champ.

What makes the film, though for martial artists (and fans) is the incredible range of fighting techniques seen through the film. Some of them are great, some comical. But there is a ton of action (much of it predictably brutal). But for fans of the genre, it is highly recommended.

One VanDamme's earlier and better movies, good action and storyline. The fighting styles from all over the world are awesome just to know the different techniques that different martial artists' use.

This show was fun to watch. It has a good execution of the formula used for martial- arts shows. Van Damme in the best role of his career. Watch the movie as it is. A Martial- arts movie with plenty of good action. Ignore the based on a true story part as Frank Dux was exposed as a complete and utter fraud. That true story part of the show makes it 1 star short of 5 stars.

Is this great film? Absolutely not. But it is 100% entertaining.
I have seen this movie at least 20 times. I'd easily call it Van Damme's best, and place it in my top ten of martial arts films.
It can be a little cheesy, especially the very beginning, but I think it redeems itself by doing an awesome job with two of the things martial arts film lovers love best: training sequences and fighting competitions. It shows a lot of different fighting styles. It has a strong message of honor throughout. It has lines that are hysterically funny, sometimes unintentionally. It has a very 80s soundtrack.
And let's not forget what really makes the film for me: Bolo Yeung, the BEAST from the east, plays Chong Li, Van Damme's nemesis. Bolo doesn't do a lot of talking, which is probably a good thing, but he doesn't need to say much to convey his power. His is an intimidating presence, one you won't quickly forget.
Anyway, to wrap up, great movie because of great action. You will not be disappointed if you buy this.

Okay, okay. This film is no oscar winner. But given the chance to view an entertaining and action filled film...don't pass it up! The acting is overstatedly bad, but the movie's action holds it charm. The fighting styles from around the world as displayed by their ethnic fighters are a pretty cool gimmick, and they make good punching bags for Van Damme's over the top but fun acrobatics. Getting past the interspertion of a couple chasing scenes to laughable 80's tunes will get you to the climax...bare brussels buttocks. Seriously though, this film makes me want to punch somebody out and do the splits on their face...."eees DUX!"

Actually not a bad martial arts movie. sure it is simple, but that is not a bad thing in this case. Rather than a contrived and cliched plot, this movie (based on the real experience of Frank Dux) displays different forms of martial arts through the brutal kumite (similar to shoot fights or UFC). The sub-story of two US government officials chasing after Frank is fairly pointless and doesn't add anything to the story (and neither does the "love" interest), but overall a good display of different martial art styles.

The sucess and popularity of Bloodsport makes this movie one of Van Damme's very best ever. Bloodsport also marks Van Damme's first role as the main character in a movie. (The previous film he had a role in was "No Retreat No Surrender" in which he played the villain but had a much smaller role). Bloodsport went on to make 3 more sequals, however without Van Damme. This first installment is overall the best, "a true classic", althouh I find certain elements are more appealing in some of the sequals.

The story in Bloodsport is fairly original for its time and the acting is not too bad, even though half the people in this movie seem to barely speak English well (Van Damme included). Now when I say not too bad, I'm coming from the fact that I'm pretty hardcore about cheesy martial art movies - most have baaaaaaaaad acting. The great thing about the story is that it is based on the true events of Frank Dux (played by Van Damme), who was the first Westerner to ever win the kumite and to hold several records. The soudtrack to this movie, I hate to admit for an 80's film, is very nice. I enjoy both the original music composed by Paul Hertzog, and some of the songs, by Survivor I think (same group who performed Eye of the Tiger in Rocky III). I even enojyed the opening credits scene - it sets the tone for the movie wonderfully.

The real meat and potatoes of Bloodsport, of course is the tournament. There are plenty of fights, many very short, and some that don't look very realistic. Not many fancy moves, but its always a treat to see Bolo Yeung as the villain, "Chong Li", on the platform. The final fight between Dux and Chong Li lasts about 7 minutes, but a lot of it is in slow motion with some of those "now somewhat cheesy flashbacks" to early training scenes. The end of the fight showcases Van Damme's leaping spinning split kicks that quickly became his signature move and can be seen in more of his following films including Kickboxer and Double Impact. If you wanna see another fight between Van Damme and Bolo Yeung, be sure to check out Double Impact.