KICKBOXER: VENGEANCE and RETALIATION

[BisexualMMA]

Yeah, went to Brazil and saved some girls. No real kickboxing to speak of, mostly just Sasha Mitchell running around with a gun.

I had to learn my lesson the hard way on Kickboxer 5. I'm not sure if I actually finished it but I rented it and started it and pretty quickly realized that it was some z-grade bullshit.

Since you bring up the American Ninja, there are five of those as well and just like with Kickboxer I remember #5 being particularly shitty.

#5 is almost always the killer for a series. Rocky took 16 years to recover. #5 murdered Friday the 13th. I think that was the first shitty Nightmare on Elm Street as well.

Terminator Genisys may have finally murdered the Terminator franchise where T3 failed to properly self-terminate.

 

[DaleBoca]

Yeah, went to Brazil and saved some girls. No real kickboxing to speak of, mostly just Sasha Mitchell running around with a gun.

I had to learn my lesson the hard way on Kickboxer 5. I'm not sure if I actually finished it but I rented it and started it and pretty quickly realized that it was some z-grade bullshit.

Since you bring up the American Ninja, there are five of those as well and just like with Kickboxer I remember #5 being particularly shitty.

You know, I am disappointed that the Best of the Best series didn't continue in the same route. I thought the first one was quite good.

Pop it Tommy! Pop it! Damn it pop it!

Gets me every time.

 

[BisexualMMA]

You know, I am disappointed that the Best of the Best series didn't continue in the same route. I thought the first one was quite good.

Pop it Tommy! Pop it! Damn it pop it!

Gets me every time.

They made two more Best of the Best films and the dropoff each time was very substantial.

 

[Guestx]

#5 is almost always the killer for a series. Rocky took 16 years to recover. #5 murdered Friday the 13th. I think that was the first shitty Nightmare on Elm Street as well.

Terminator Genisys may have finally murdered the Terminator franchis where T3 failed to properly self-terminate.

That's a good point. It's kind of interesting then how Fast Five is considered by many to be the best of that series.

I don't feel that way, but many do.

 

[DaleBoca]

They made two more Best of the Best films and the dropoff each time was very substantial.

I know they did, they were terrible. I just wish they continued with the same premise of fighting some national team.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I know they did, they were terrible. I just wish they continued with the same premise of fighting some national team.

I hear you. I would have much preferred a rehash of the original movie two more times than...wasn't the third one a modern western trying to avenge Chris Penn or something?

 

[Guestx]

You know, I am disappointed that the Best of the Best series didn't continue in the same route. I thought the first one was quite good.

Pop it Tommy! Pop it! Damn it pop it!

Gets me every time.

The first Best of the Best film is a legitimately good movie. The second is cheesy popcorn entertainment, but still fun.

Everything after that sucks, though. And kind of like with Kickboxer 3, BOTB just turned into a generic action series and stopped really having much to do with martial arts. I remember in one of them Tommy is running around fighting Neo-Nazis or something like that. I knew then that the series was over.

 

[DaleBoca]

I hear you. I would have much preferred a rehash of the original movie two more times than...wasn't the third one a modern western trying to avenge Chris Penn or something?

Pretty sure Penn dies in the second one. He was fighting in some underground fighting circuit or something.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Pretty sure Penn dies in the second one. He was fighting in some underground fighting circuit or something.

Right. It's been a while. Part 3 was the one where Philip Rhee decided it was time for him to direct as well as write and act.

I just learned now that there is actually a Best of the Best 4, also directed by Philip Rhee.

And you were sad that Ernie Hudson had to appear in the Ghostbusters remake and God Isn't Dead 2?

Why is Philip Rhee using his gun as a cell phone?

 

[Mr Aquarius]

Looks LIT AF. 6.

 

[DaleBoca]

Right. It's been a while. Part 3 was the one where Philip Rhee decided it was time for him to direct as well as write and act.

I just learned now that there is actually a Best of the Best 4, also directed by Philip Rhee.

And you were sad that Ernie Hudson had to appear in the Ghostbusters remake and God Isn't Dead 2?

Why is Philip Rhee using his gun as a cell phone?

It amazes me that these movies continued as they did. Did they have cult following in Asia or somewhere? There are only so many shadows in the world

 

[taurus]

* Alain Moussi takes over Van Damme's original role. I didn't hate him, but I didn't love him either. He was just okay. He's got the physical skills and got a pretty good physique, but he just doesn't have the Van Damme charisma. He's also got what appears to be one off-center nipple, which distracted me.

* At one point I saw an elephant and I kept waiting for Tony Jaa to show up during that scene.

* There are a fair amount of scenes where characters speak in Thai. Not sure if it was just my file, but the sub track didn't have translations for the Thai parts. I still wonder what I was missing in the dialogue. Probably nothing too important, but it did disturb me a little.

* The fight choreography is not great, and if there's anything you need in a martial arts movie, it's good choreography. Both the choreography itself as well as the fast cut editing style made the fights less than they could've been. I kept mentally shouting at the screen, "C'mon, what the fuck? Give me some WIDE ANGLES! Let me really see the action!"

The nipple is such an oddly thing to be distracted by. I didn't notice it.

Agreed on the elephant. In the alley scene, it seemed like they were channeling their inner Tony Jaa, or trying to portray that they are, in fact, in Thailand. They showed that elephant like 6 times in a manner of minutes, one time (if i recall correctly) even in slow-mo.

My sub file also didn't have thai, which didn't take away a lot from the movie, but in longer speeches, it did seem like i was missing some of the plot.

Oh yes, the fast cuts and no wide angles. I think most of it is due to not wanting to show the (non) capability of some characters to perform some moves. I think this primarily goes for Batista, but in the end it did work, cause i think he (and his stuntman) looked good.

NOW they're doing that. . .?

Cody was OK. But what killed Kickboxer 2 for me was that Tong Po looked really really weird.

EDIT: i may or may not have mistaken Tong Po in Kickboxer 4 with the one in Kickboxer 2.
Anyways, this just looks wrong:

 

[HAWTakayama]

Was expecting this movie to have some redeemable MA scenes along the lines of other DTV movies from Scott Adkins and Michael Jai White, but the action choreography in this Kickboxer remake was pure ass.

It felt like this movie was just a bunch of test-reel footage edited together. Overall, I didn't mind it because I had realistic low expectations for the film, but it could've been more refined like many other DTV movies are nowadays. I'm actually interested in seeing the sequel with Christopher Lambert.

Honestly, the 2nd one with Cody from SBS wasn't that bad. Decent sequel considering they killed off JCVD and Denis Alexio.

The Codeman > Moussi

The fight scenes in Step-by-Step were better than the new Kickboxer remake.

 

[DaleBoca]

Was expecting this movie to have some redeemable MA scenes along the lines of other DTV movies from Scott Adkins and Michael Jai White, but the action choreography in this Kickboxer remake was pure ass.

It felt like this movie was just a bunch of test-reel footage edited together. Overall, I didn't mind it because I had realistic low expectations for the film, but it could've been more refined like many other DTV movies are nowadays. I'm actually interested in seeing the sequel with Christopher Lambert.



The Codeman > Moussi

The fight scenes in Step-by-Step were better than the new Kickboxer remake.

Cody was always high AF.

 

[MMouse]

The nipple is such an oddly thing to be distracted by. I didn't notice it.

Agreed on the elephant. In the alley scene, it seemed like they were channeling their inner Tony Jaa, or trying to portray that they are, in fact, in Thailand. They showed that elephant like 6 times in a manner of minutes, one time (if i recall correctly) even in slow-mo.

My sub file also didn't have thai, which didn't take away a lot from the movie, but in longer speeches, it did seem like i was missing some of the plot.

Oh yes, the fast cuts and no wide angles. I think most of it is due to not wanting to show the (non) capability of some characters to perform some moves. I think this primarily goes for Batista, but in the end it did work, cause i think he (and his stuntman) looked good.



Cody was OK. But what killed Kickboxer 2 for me was that Tong Po looked really really weird.

EDIT: i may or may not have mistaken Tong Po in Kickboxer 4 with the one in Kickboxer 2.
Anyways, this just looks wrong:

Looks like tong po got the same surgeon as wanderlei silva

 

[wellz6]

Cody was OK. But what killed Kickboxer 2 for me was that Tong Po looked really really weird.

EDIT: i may or may not have mistaken Tong Po in Kickboxer 4 with the one in Kickboxer 2.
Anyways, this just looks wrong:

Yeah that's some extremely poor effort on whoever did the make-up for that. Absolutely terrible. And yes I'm thinking that was from part 4.

 

[taurus]

Looks like tong po got the same surgeon as wanderlei silva

Yeah that's some extremely poor effort on whoever did the make-up for that. Absolutely terrible. And yes I'm thinking that was from part 4.

Well, obviously they hired a different guy but decided Tong Po had that special look. Hence the monstrosity...

 

[JadeOwl]

Now I'm starting to think something fishy is going on.

The Third Installement of the 'Kickboxer' Reboot Trilogy has a Title and a Start Date​

This weekend’s Kickboxer: Vengeance reboots the martial arts franchise that began in 1989, with Alain Moussi replacing Jean-Claude Van Damme as the new Kurt Sloane and Van Damme himself stepping into the role of Kurt’s mentor Durand. The film is meant to kickstart a new trilogy, and the producers are wasting no time. A sequel, Kickboxer: Retaliation, has already wrapped shooting, and now they’re barreling ahead with plans for another sequel.

Variety reports producer Rob Hickman shared the Kickboxer sequel plans at the Kickboxer: Vengeance premiere in Los Angeles this week. According to him, shooting on the next next Kickboxer sequel will get underway in February. He also revealed that the film will be titled Kickboxer: Syndicate. Earlier reports have described the Kickboxer reboot as a trilogy, which would make Syndicate the last film in the series. But frankly, if these movies do well enough it’s hard to imagine the series won’t continue in some capacity.

Not many details have been revealed about Syndicate. Vengeance has Kurt seeking revenge on Muay Thai champion Tong Po, who fought and killed Kurt’s brother Eric. Eager to take on Tong Po himself, Kurt begins training with Eric’s former mentor Durand. Retaliation begins several months after Vengeance. Kurt has left Thailand, but when he’s forced to return he learns the hard way that there is much more to the Tong Po story. Van Damme is confirmed to return as well. Presumably, Syndicate will pick up Kurt’s thread from there and — going out on a limb here — pit him against some sort of criminal syndicate.

This is ridiculous. The first one is barely out, the second one just wrapped filming and they're already doing a third one?

Someone, somewhere must be getting some tax credit out of this "franchise". Even for B movies, the turnover rate on this thing is absurd.

 

[Smashandgrab]

Pretty sure Penn dies in the second one. He was fighting in some underground fighting circuit or something.

He was fighting Brakus!!

 

[DiegoLunes]

Van Damme keeps hist hat and sunglasses on the whole time and has his voice dubbed for half of his scenes.
Was pretty generic other than that.