Martial Arts movies: Bloodsport

by | Jul 15, 2020 | Martial arts movie review

I remember being on vacation with some family and we were all staying at a hotel. Me and some cousins got a hold of the controller and without our parents noticing it, we rented a new Martial Arts movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. We all sat on the bed and watched it, not moving one inch for nearly two hours. We had a blast watching it, we all remember it too, and it provided our parents with their first ,well-deserved, break of the vacation.

 

Here is part of the plot, taken from Wikipedia. I will only reveal part of it, in case you have never seen it and plan to do so.

“U.S. Army Captain Frank Dux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) has trained in the ways of ninjutsu under his sensei Senzo Tanaka (Roy Chiao). As a boy, Dux and a group of his friends broke into Tanaka’s home to steal a katana, but Dux was apprehended while returning the katana to its place. Impressed by Dux’s integrity and toughness, Senzo decided to train him alongside his son, Shingo (Sean Ward). After Shingo’s death, Senzo trains Dux as a member of the Tanaka clan. Dux is invited to the Kumite, an illegal martial arts tournament in Hong Kong. After his Army superiors refuse to let him go, Dux goes absent without leave, says goodbye to his sensei and leaves for Hong Kong. Two Criminal Investigation Command officers, Helmer (Norman Burton) and Rawlins (Forest Whitaker), are assigned to track down and arrest Dux.

After arriving in Hong Kong, Dux befriends American fighter Ray Jackson (Donald Gibb) and their guide Victor Lin (Ken Siu). When they arrive at the Kumite arena, the officials are skeptical but eventually accept them after Dux proves his connection to the Tanaka clan by performing the “death touch.” On the first day of the tournament, Dux earns the enmity of the ruthless Kumite champion Chong Li (Bolo Yeung) after breaking his record for the fastest knockout.”(1)

 

There are many aspects of this classic that I like. I will share my thoughts on some of them with you guys and I would love to hear your take on them.

 

First off, this was the first movie I saw who displayed many different styles, all portrayed very distinctly. We saw amazing athleticism, especially for the time, as well as some great combat scenes. I was very young back then and the number of Martial Arts movies I had seen was pretty limited. I had previously seen Delta Force, American Ninja and one of my favorite cult movies, The Karate Kid. I had never seen a movie with such combat diversity. I loved the Kumite idea, ignoring at the time that it was really happening (I was under 10 years old at the time, give me a break here!)

 

Then, another part I like about the movie is the distribution. Of course, the star and main protagonist was played by a young actor named  Jean-Claude Van Damme (3), who would become one of the biggest Martial Arts movie stars of all time. This was Van Damme’s breakout role, portraying the very controversial Frank Dux. In Bloodsport, he conquered the world with his charisma, great physique and skills as he displayed all the arsenal of the incredible JCVD kicks. Lets not forget all the iconic scenes like the one where he does a split between two chairs in the hotel room. As Ray Jackson said, it hurts me just looking at it!  As a bonus, he even added a little touch of romance that we got accustomed to seeing in his movies during the years that followed. The antagonist in the movie was played by Bolo Yeung, a well renowned Chinese movie star who had previously played along side the legendary Bruce Lee in the classic Enter the dragon. Donald Gibb was awesome in the role of Ray Jackson, a tough guy that added a comedy side to the movie that i’ve have always appreciated. 

 

The movie gave us the classic Good guy VS Bad guy confrontation, as Frank Dux (Van Damme) was making his way towards the invincible Chong Li (Yeung). Yeung did a great job making us hate his character; he was a arrogant, mean and cruel villain who was destroying his opponents one by one as the tournament progressed. Just to take it one step further, he even used some unnecessary dirty tactics, making us hate him even more. Let’s be honest, we all wanted Dux to reach the finals and put him in his place. 

 

Another thing I find interesting about the movie, is all the mystery surrounding it. It was supposed to be based on a true story, the story of the very controversial Frank Dux. The movie shares several of Dux’s mostly unverified records. You can learn more about him and some of his stories on his Wiki page here. (2).

 

As a Martial Artist, since Bloodsport, i have been  interested and curious about all the styles and the techniques found in Martial Arts. In this movie, you will find one of the most mythic techniques: the Dim Mak (the touch of death). In one of the scenes, Van Damme uses it in a brick breaking demo as the antagonist, Chong LI (Bolo Yeung), looks on and responds to him by saying “bricks don’t hit back”.

 

In conclusion, I have always enjoyed Bloodsport and it’s in my Top 10 list of Martial Arts movies, and my Top 3 in most influential.  It’s part of my list of cult movies to watch every year. It offers  good fighting scenes, a cool story and Van Damme, showing off the skills that would eventually make him a household name. I hope you enjoyed this review, feel free to leave me a comment to discuss your take on the movie!

 

 

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