Product Details

• Actors: Keith Vitali, Loren Avedon
• Directors: Lucas Lo
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Imperial Video
• VHS Release Date: June 1, 1994
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301950208
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,329 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "These are the big leagues. This is how you play the game", November 5, 2009

By 

Mike Sehorn "Rezo the Dezo" (APO, AE United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: No Retreat No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The third and final entry to the "No Retreat, No Surrender" series (that is, if you don't count The King of the Kickboxers and a couple after that) begins, surprisingly, with a quote from Mao Tse Tung: "Power comes from the barrel of a gun." One must assume that this line is delivered with tongue-in-cheek intent, seeing as the NRNS series - one of the best martial arts movie collections ever made - focuses very little on gunplay and predominantly on first-class hand-to-hand acrobatics. Perhaps producer Ng See Yuen wasn't very fond of Mao and sought to prove that theory wrong in this flick, or maybe he thought it was just a cool quote. Whichever way you read it, it doesn't impact the movie as being a stellar addition to an awesome series built on the best kung fu the western world has never seen.

The story: when CIA veteran John Alexander (Joseph Campanella, Ben) is murdered by a well-funded terrorist organization, his two feuding sons go about their own ways to track down his killers. Company man Casey (Keith Vitali, Revenge of the Ninja) must work through the restrictions of the CIA to get to the bottom of the matter, while karate instructor Will (Loren Avedon, No Retreat No Surrender 2) must realize his limitations before his lone wolf attitude gets him killed. Eventually, the two of them must resolve their differences and remember how to be brothers again to get through the investigation alive.

Soon enough, it's obvious that the storyline of "Blood Brothers" isn't going to be as insane as its predecessors'. Sure, the terrorists all contend not to be Americans but are betrayed by not having any accents and are led by a Native American albino (Rion Hunter), but the weirdness of plot mostly stops there. Writer Keith Strandenberg no doubt repressed himself greatly for this film. Never worry, for there's plenty more to laugh at in the form of the trademark atrocious acting we've come to expect from these films. Legendary karate fighter Keith Vitali takes the cake in this department: at first glance, he's no worse than Avedon, Hunter, or Wanda Acuna as his flip-floppy girlfriend, but he has the bad luck of needing to dramatically announce things which most people think to themselves in their head, announcing his thoughts for the whole world to hear as though he were a cartoon character. What a weirdo.

Of course, the action scenes save the day. Tony Leung (Ip Man) replaces Corey Yuen as the series' fight choreographer, and while he had yet to develop his style as it would be displayed in later films, he filled Corey's shoes adequately with approximately five fights (and a couple quickies) that still exceed the expectations of most American film fans. In total, there's probably less fighting in here than any other film of the extended series (with the exception of American Shaolin), but we're nevertheless treated to some praise-worthy flips, flying kicks, and the fresh martial talents of Mr. Rion and authoritative martial artist Mark Russo as his top henchman. The final fight - featuring Avedon and Vitali against Hunter and Russo - is an uninterrupted five-minute brawl in which all four men really get to show off in an airplane hangar. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: why guys like these never headlined in Hollywood is beyond me, since what they do with their fists and feet surpasses anything the big studios put out.

In the end, "Blood Brothers" is a bit less fun than the rest of the series because it lacks the insanity that made the other films cult classics. Film-fu purists, however, ought to be falling over eachother to get their hands on this. Yes, even with but a three-star rating, this one's worth buying a VCR for until it's released on Region 1 DVD.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good Stuff, December 13, 2009

By 

Karen Shaub "Nickname: Queen B" (the inner reaches of the outer limits) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: No Retreat No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

First let's get something out of the way: NO RETREAT NO SURRENDER 3 has nothing at all to do with either NRNS or it's "sequel" NRNS2, which also had nothing to do with the original film aside from sharing the title that is. The second and third films however, DO share the same star in the person of Loren Avedon but he's playing a completely different character. Here he's Will Alexander an obsessed martial artist, brother to Casey (played by karateka Keith Vitali) and son of John Alexander, both CIA veterans although DAD has been retired from The Company for a few years. The two brothers have a history of animosity and Dad (played by noted actor Joseph Campanella) hopes to get them to reconcile at his birthday party with what Will calls his latest "Rediscover the Family" plan.

However Evil is afoot in the shape of an old enemy whom Dad has continued investigating even after his retirement, and I think we all know where this is going since revenge is the lifeblood of martial arts flix. Yep. The night of the party Dad gets offed by a group of assassins headed up by none other than that very same man--an albino named Franco (Rion Hunter). Will and Casey of course, have had a big argument and stomped off in separate directions in fits of pique, but later return to find Dad dead and obviously blame each other. Predictably they can't agree about how to handle the situation; Will wants to go all Lone Wolf, while Casey wants his blood letting to be done through the proper channels, and they part ways again. Will the brothers be able to mend their broken relationship and work together to find their father's killer and see that justice is done? Are you kidding me?

Unfortunately Casey learns that The Company has a strict No Relatives Involved In Revenge Policy that he doesn't agree with, so he must changes his plans. After a certain amount of snooping around ( about 2 minutes real time) he manages to find the Top Secret files on Franco (which were about as hard to get hold of as copies of "The Auto Trader") and learns that Franco's operations are based in Florida. Casey is suddenly overwhelmed with an urge to visit the Sunshine State. But since Casey isn't the brightest bulb in anybodies lamp, Will sees the files too and beats him down to the Gulf Coast and cruises around 3 counties before Casey can even say "Duh". What happens after they get to Florida is lots of silly fun and good ol' kung fu action as Will tries to track down Franco, Casey tries to track down Will, and they both try to thwart the kidnapping of the Minister from Mozambique while everybody else in the state of Florida seems unaware that the President of the U.S. is also flying into Tampa International that day! (TIA ably played by St.Pete/ Clearwater Airport) Perhaps the real reason I love this movie as much as I do is because so much of it was shot within 10 miles of my apartment, and some of it even closer than that. I mean who would ever have thought that Corey Yuen would just pack up everything and schlep it over to Pinellas County for God's sake?! Not I. I still get a kick out recognizing the various sites they used as they appear on screen--"Oh look, there's Ric Martin's dojo! Isn't it cool they make it look like it's out in the country rather than just a free floating building in the parking lot of a strip mall?" And so it goes.

Okay so maybe that means I'm not the most unbiased eye when it comes to this one, but it really does have some good things going for it. It does have a slight sense of humor for one thing, always a plus with me. And the choreography was the best thing we had ever seen white guys do at the time. I'm not kidding you here. Tony Cheung (IP MAN) was giving these guys some terrific, eye-catching old school stuff and they were all doing him proud. Avedon was impressive indeed--loose and fast. Vitali kept up but showed that a lot of time in the ring doesn't always translate well to the screen, and the villains, especially Hunter and Mark Russo (a well known martial artist himself) were worthy adversaries.

Keep your eyes peeled for COLBERT REPORT'S Assif Mandiv small role as a terrorist.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NRNS 3 Review!, August 30, 2003

By 

Crazy Jim (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Retreat No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Not as hysterically bad as the first two movies but still a laugh-fest, NRNS 3 brings back Avedon (though he plays a different part) and teams him with Keith Vitali as two brothers, one of them is a C.I.A. agent with MacGyer-like problem solving abilties and the other is a karate teacher with a bus stop inside his dojo. When their dad gets iced by the goofiest super-villian ever, the brothers go their seperate ways on a mission of revenge.

Vitali tries to smooth things over with his estranged girlfriend while Avedon enlists the help of his old drinking buddies. Things get intense when a double agent sets them up and Avedon is forced to kidnap some goofy-looking African Embasaddor. In one of the funniest things I have ever seen, Vitali's girlfriend starts shooting at Avedon because he neglected to inform her that he is his brother. Well, I don't want to give it all a way but if you love bad action movies, this one is a hoot.