Customer Reviews

Kill & Kill Again

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I was ten years old, I had no idea what martial arts were. All I knew was about something called "karate" where people wore funny suits and tried to chop boards in half with their hands. Then one day I stayed home sick from school (5th grade) and saw this film on Showtime. That was 21 years ago and I've been an avid martial artist ever since. If you're a grown-up film snob, then yeah, avoid this film. But it's perfect for kids. It's true that the acting is ultra-cheese and the plot is a formulaic ripoff of "Enter the Dragon," but kids don't care about that kind of stuff. This movie makes an effort to educate the young viewer as to what the martial arts are all about (despite the title, which is NOT what the martial arts are all about), taking time to specifically narrate about different martial arts styles and even the meditative/spiritual side of the martial arts. The fight scenes are totally unrealistic (if memory serves me, some dude jumps over a helicopter at one point) but SO WHAT!! ...This is a kids' movie!! Don't expect it to be Cannes Film Festival material!! You rent a martial arts film from 1981 with actors you've never heard of--what did you expect!!?? This movie is good old 80's cheeseball martial arts flick fun! It really is a classic in that regard.

A scientist has discovered how to convert potatoes into fuel, however an unfortunate by-product is a mind control drug. Marduk, an evil madman kidnaps the scientist, and plots to take control of the world by tainting the water supply with this drug. Leaders of the free world approach Steve Chase and his band of elite mercenaries and hire them to free the kidnapped scientist, destroy the mind control drug, and rid the world of the evil Marduk. This martial arts adventure stars James Ryan as Steve Chase, martial arts champion and leader of the elite mercenary group. The mercenaries consist of "The Fly" (Stan Schmidt), a martial artist who has reached the esoteric heights of martial learning; Gypsy Billy (Norman Robinson), "ex-champion of the world" and reluctant derelict; Gorilla (Ken Gampu) former pro wrestler banded for biting the ear off defeated opponents; and Hot Dog (Bill Flynn) con artist and comic relief. Joining this group is Kandy Kane (Anneline Kriel, former Miss World), the supposed daughter of the kidnapped scientist Dr. Kane, later exposed as an agent working for the government. Chase and his team infiltrate Marduk's compound, known as the "New Babylonia", but before they can liberate Dr. Kane and destroy the drug, they are discovered and taken captive. Each member of the team must face one of Marduk's karate trained soldiers, with Chase facing Marduk's "champion of champions", the "Optimist" in a battle to the death. "Kill and Kill Again" is a feel good action/adventure that the whole family can enjoy. This movie is a tongue-in-cheek swashbuckler that sometimes pokes fun at itself. There is no graphic violence or offensive language, just good clean escapism.

Kill and Kill Again (Ivan Hall, 1981)

There are some bad movies I love, and I can't justify my love of them in any way save pure nostalgia. Kill and Kill Again, a movie I was obsessed with throughout my teen years, is one of them. It is, I believe, the first martial arts movie I ever saw; while I have seen many since, some worse, most better, this one holds a spot in my heart that nothing will ever replace.

Steve Chase (James Ryan) is a martial arts superstar who is called upon by the beautiful, deadly Kandy Kane (Anneline Kriel) to save her father from the clutches of the evil Marduk (Michael Mayer), who is planning on releasing a mind-control drug (developed by Kane's father) into the American water supply. Of course, Marduk has leaked all this in order to attract Chase, so he can pit Chase up against his own pet martial arts champion, Optumis (Eddie Dorie). Chase gets together a team of fighters, and off they go to save the world.

It's astoundingly bad, even more so than I remembered. The script is derivative, the acting wooden, the plot convoluted and manipulative. And yet it's a stupidly fun movie to watch, one I could (and have, at many points in my life) see again and again without it ever getting old. Though I grant you, if you didn't first see it when you were young and impressionable, I doubt it will hold the same magic for you. **

This is a classic martial arts film. If you like the energy of any of Bruce Lee's movies and in his way of life , you'll surely appreciate James Ryan. It is just one of those films that bring you back to a special time in your life, where martial arts was magical. It doesn't rely on special effects like all the cheesy films today ...Matrix etc, it is just hands down martial arts combat - no frills! Any true martial artist can appreciate this film, they just don't make them like this anymore. I love this film, alway's will. It was the very first karate movie I ever saw and I never forgot it even after years of not being able to find it I could vividly remember the names like the Fly and Hot Dog and of course Steve Chase - the perfect martial artist's name!

This movie is so awesome,it makes me foget about the cheesey acting.I tried everywhere to find this,and I'm now in the process of getting my hands on a dvd of it from amazon.The fight scenes look top notch and these guys are tough.The story is the usual man tries to take over the world formula,but it's the characters that are cool-Fly,Gorrilla,Gypsy and Hotdog.Cool martial arts champion James Ryan plays the leader of the group.Watching these guys infiltrate the evil dictator's compound is hysterical as they're not the best at this.There are several well choregraphed fights leading to the great ending.Each member of the group has to fight in a tournament against the dictator's fighters.It's one of those few stand out classic martial arts movies.

I remembered this movie from daytime HBO in the early 80s. I was on a forum and we were discussing favorite martial arts movies, and I suddenly remembered this "classic". A poor man's(dirt poor, bordering on destitute) version of Enter the Dragon, it has average martial arts until the very end, when there are a couple of good scenes in the final arena battles. When I saw that it was on DVD, I immediately ordered it. The movie was just like I remembered it, and it is worth the $10. However, the print of the film is very poor, with certain parts very grainy or dark. The character of "Gorilla" played by Ken Grampu has no distinguishable facial characteristics at times. There isn't even a menu on the disc - both the quality of the disc and the quality of the print make it like you are watching a 20 year-old VHS tape. Plus, there's a picture on the back of the DVD case with two women (one of them with her shirt open and black censor circles over her nipples) that isn't even in the movie. By all means get it if you remember this campy classic and your VHS has worn out. My one star rating on this is for the DVD itself, not the movie.

In recent years, "Kill and Kill Again" - the action opus of South African karateka James Ryan's solo career - has gained a cult following as one of the cheesiest martial arts movies ever made. A sort of early No Retreat, No Surrender, you could say. Unlike that one, however, it doesn't hold up as well as a legitimate martial arts film as it does an unintended comedy piece. I can see some action fans finding a niche in this one's surreal goofiness, but I found myself falling asleep at intervals for the lack of actual thrills it offered.

The story: a team of combat specialists is assembled by champion fighter Steve Chase (Ryan, Kickboxer 5: Redemption) to put an end to the plan of a charismatic cult leader (former child actor Michael Mayer, I Love Lucy) looking to brainwash the world into mental slavery to create his own personal utopia.

The plot would shortly after be recycled for the Joe Lewis picture Force: Five, and perhaps the most sincerely positive thing I can say about "Kill and Kill Again" is that at least it's not that one. On its own, this is a pretty harmless picture, if only for the fact that it doesn't engage you as actively as other "bad" movies. There's a lot of nonsense going on - unexplained levitation, a character who eats cigar stubs (Bill "Hotdog" Flynn), another character who rips the door off a bathroom stall when he can't hold his bladder (Ken Gampu, The Naked Prey), the 'potato fuel as mind control' plot point - and while you can expect to be shaking your head in dismay several times, don't expect any laugh-out-loud moments. Part of the problem lies in the insincerity of the performers (excluding James Ryan): in the aforementioned "No Retreat, No Surrender", absolutely everybody was putting their heart into the absurdity of the picture, whereas when anybody makes the overhead "Marduk" sign/gesture in this one, you can practically see them cringe as they realize their friends and family are going to be seeing them like this.

The fight choreography - being from a time before the '70s standard had been let go - didn't really intrigue me by default, but serves as an interesting study of how the physical environment can positively influence a fight scene. Jet Li and Yasuaki Kurata would later show us in Fist of Legend that it's possible to stage an incredibly dynamic hand-to-hand duel on completely flat, open terrain, but in here, things definitely take a turn for the bland once the characters get away from civilization. The first encounter - an impromptu brawl in a casino between Steve and a group of thugs - is positively explosive, with Steve spinning and flipping off the walls, jumping ledges, and kicking guys into a nearby pool. In other words, it's more like a modern-day Hong Kong battle. A lot of the fights that follow take place in areas that are either cramped or completely open, and the choreography is a lot less creative. This isn't a rule among martial arts films, of course, and a few of the later matches redeem themselves through grounded realism, but the added fact that a lot of stuntmen at the time didn't yet know how to properly react to a karate kick makes most of the fights look just plain bad.

The acting is universally poor, and in the end I think that's what most folks are laughing at in this movie. Personally, I don't think you have to look further than any earlier Van Damme movie to get the same level of dramatic mediocrity, but as a cumulative package, this one does stand out more for all-around ineptitude. This is the kind of film you get for a movie buff as a joke gift, so I suggest you use it as such and only go in for the action if you've run out of other material.

All the previous reviews hit the nail on the head when talking about the campiness of this flick. It rolls up Enter The Dragon, Magnificent Seven and {Insert any Steven Seagal movie here} for the cheesy plot of a kidnapped professor who has created an alternative fuel source from taters {which is also a powerful mind control drug} and must be saved by a band of kung-fu good guys.

I wanted to second the notion that the DVD version of this film is as good as the VHS version. There are literally no special features and no care taken to create this DVD. The producers of this DVD version did NOT digitally remaster this film; it was simply transferred into a digital video format.

If you really want to see this film, pick up the VHS copy for $5 - $10 and do not get rooked into paying $30 - $40 for the DVD. This flick is worth the view, but since the quality is the same on either format, save your money and go old school.

{Quick note: I found my copy in a Value City bargain DVD bin for a $1.99 a couple years back. I suggest checking those cheap-o bins; sometimes you can find nuggets of DVD joy in the unlikeliest of places. Just don't expect the version you find to be Criterion quality.}

This is one of the best cheesy movies of all time. James Ryan plays world Karate champion Steve Chase and he has to rescue a scientist. The scientist's daughter comes along and Steve gathers all his crazy friends for the mission. That is really all that needs to be said about the story. The great thing about this movie is the extreme corniness. The villain's voice is beyond classic, the dialogue should have won an Oscar, there are really too many good things to say about this, you just have to see it. The action is not great, but not bad. Some of the karate moves are very good and the tournament scene is AWESOME. The stunt double for James Ryan also enhances the action. 4/5 The DVD from Liberty International Entertainment is sadly full screen and the picture quality is not bad, but too dark in some scenes.

Like most martial arts films, Kill and Kill Again is not real long on plot. It has your basic evil guy who wants to take over the world and the good guy who must stop him. What it lacks in plot, it more than makes up in martial arts footage. This movie features members of the South Africa branch of the Japan Karate Association which is one of the largest and most respected martial arts orgainizations in the world. It is even recognized by the Ministry of Education in Japan. All the action sequences are choreographed by Stan Schmidt (7th degree black belt) the highest ranking non-Japanese instructor in the world. He also demonstrates his considerable skills in many of the action sequences. If you have even a shallow knowledge of the martial arts then for you this film will have very few peers.