I just sort of stumbled onto the low-budgeted, popular kung-fu action series, BLOODFIST. Mind you, after Bloodfist II, these movies bare no connection to each other, so after Bloodfist II, it really doesn't matter what order you watch them in. Bloodfist IV:Die Trying was the first one I saw, and let me tell you, it quite literally kicks [rear-end]. Don "The Dragon" Wilson isn't as bad of an actor as his reputation might suggest, and he makes a very impressive action star. Every last fight in all the Bloodfist movies is fantastic, and Die Trying is no exception. The best one here is withou a doubt the one in the room full of tear gas. I own the first four Bloodfist movies, and Bloodfist VII:Manhunt, and I'm relentlessly hunting down Bloodfist V:Human Target and Bloodfist VI:Ground Zero on the internet, as well as some of Wilson's other flicks, like Blackbelt and The Capitol Conspiracy. Trust me, if you enjoy the high kickin' performances of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Jean-Claude Van Damme, or if your'e familiar with legends like Bruce Lee, or his son Brandon Lee, Don "The Dragon" Wilson is right up your alley, and the Bloodfist series is a great place to start.
B-Grader with punch...
Okay, Im not really a martial-arts fan, fans of this movie, and I know they exist, will split into 2 camps. Fans of martial arts in particular Don Wilson, and bewitched male fans of female martial arts star Catya Sassoon, now tragically the late Catya Sassoon. The storyline is formulaic, Wilson works as a repo-man tied to a car junk-yard, and uses his martial-arts prowess to deal with occasional difficult clients who dont want their car repossessed. One day, during a car repo, Wilson encounters a tough customer in the category, a guy twice Wilsons size who is also a formidable martial-artist, and a mob-henchman as it turns out. This is certainly a good fight,right here, the second of many in the movie, the fights, to me, are convincing, Wilson and his opponents are all 1st class fighters. Wilson wins this one , after taking many hits, but the BMW he repos contains something of great value to a very nasty ruthless criminal gang with big plans. Wilson returns to his workplace later after dropping off the BMW earlier, to find his workmates and boss dead or dying,the gang he crossed with this particular repo have dropped by, his young daughter is tracked down and kidnapped as collateral for the as-yet unrecovered mob property, and Wilson embarks on a bloody bare-knuckles oddysey to recover her, aided by a GOOD woman, Amanda Wyss. Now, there is also a BAD woman,deliciously shaking-hands bad, Lisa, played by Catya Sassoon, a martial artist, and star of 'Angel Fist'. In that, she was good, well, in BloodFist4, she finds her calling, is a ruthless tough high-kicking switchblade-slashing killer who steams up the screen and steals the show if you are a good boy who dreams of bad ladies,let me tell you. Wilson clashes with her twice, once when she impersonates an agency baby-sitter, and again right at the end, where they stage the films final martial-arts fight.Shortly prior to this,she disposes of two redundant mob goons by suddenly drawing her switchblade and slashing them as she shows them to the door, smiling evilly as they crumple gasping in front of her.She enjoys her work. In this scene, she is in black costume with thigh-high stilletto-heeled boots, with switch-blade tucked into boot. Did I mention she has a killer body, no pun intended? Anyway, she jumps Wilson running through a doorway and heaps some one-sided punishment on him, lots of high-kicks with those boots, a nice head-kneeing to a staggered Wilson, and at the climax, a ball-busting booted groin-kick with Wilson pinned against the wall, then, drawing her switchblade for the coup-de-grace, the tide tragically? turns........ Catya had cult-figure potential, based on this movie, I would have loved a rewrite remake with A.) more Catya action B.) better lighting, the final fight Ive described takes place in dark-lit gloomy background and with her dark attire,you are robbed of some detail. To sum up, the story-line is familiar, the acting and script very ordinary though Ive seen worse, the fights are brutal and well-staged/well fought, but evil Lisas scenes may have you wearing out the rewind/slomo of your vcr....and even have you rooting for the baddie-ess. I did.
It's probably a well-known fact that some of the best martial arts movies come from Hong Kong. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is a contemporary classic from Hong Kong. Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Chow Yun-Fat are all martial arts legends who have made it big through the Hong Kong cinema. Cory Yuen (aka Yuen Woo Ping) has made himself a household name by staging the karate battles in such outstanding kung fu films as THE MATRIX, CROUCHING TIGER, THE ONE, CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE, THE TRANSPORTER, etc.
Don "The Dragon" Wilson, WKA World Light-Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion, stars in BLOODFIST V:HUMAN TARGET, a movie very much in the tradition of Hong Kong cinema. "The Dragon" plays Jim Stanton, a federal agent hell-bent on breaking up the arms-smuggling ring of Kwon, a nefarious Chinese criminal... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Jeff Yonis DVD Release Date: Released the 19 June 2001 Usually ships within 2 to 3 days
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Any TRUE Martial Arts fan who has seen the Bloodfist films will agree with me when I say that this flick rocks AND rolls (Although I can't help but feel that the caption FORCED TO FIGHT may have worked better for Bloodfist II.)As both a Kickboxer (who held many championships in the World Kickboxing Association)and an action star, Don "The Dragon" Wilson is superb. There's not much story here other than the bad guys want The good guy dead, but this movie is set in a maximum security prison, so the story is very much an secondary consideration (which is often the case with kung fu movies.) Not only is the fighting terrific, but Don "The Dragon" even gets to do more acting than usual in his films. FORCED TO FIGHT may not be a critical favorite, but it works exceptionally well. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Oley Sassone DVD Release Date: Released the 19 June 2001 Usually ships within 24 hours
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Here comes the latest of the DIE HARD knock offs, only this is one of the good ones. Don "The Dragon" is Nick Corrigan, a military courier who was demoted for the wrong reasons and who packs a mean punch. He's on his way to a U.S. nuclear missile launch site at the same time when terrorists have shown up and taken control. Led by the charismatic "Party of Allah" Arab terrorist Fawkes (Jonathan Fuller), they have made demands for $100 million or they'll start shooting nukes at U.S. cities. Of course, their bad guys, and even if they get their money, they'll still shoot an ICBM at NYC. Corrigan shows up to try to stop them, using his martial arts skills to get the job done. As I said, this is one of our DIE HARD knock offs, but as I also said, this one of the good ones;in fact, it's one of... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Rick Jacobson DVD Release Date: Released the 19 June 2001 Usually ships within 2 to 3 days
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This was an average movie with the one true standout being that Paulo Tocha(Paco the Tai fighter from Bloodsport, Born to defence ect.) is here to be the for hide tough guy who doesn't get to display any of his Tai fighting skill and gets his neck snapped. Bad use of talent if you ask me. Don the dragon offers his standard fare as usual. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Jonathan Winfrey DVD Release Date: Released the 19 June 2001 Special Order
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This is the best (admitedly that's not saying much) of überawful Don "the Dragon" Wilson's chop socky flicks, redeemed by good writing and a story that holds your interest. Some good martial arts action, as well. If you want to turn off your brain for an evening, this is a good call. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Rick Jacobson DVD Release Date: Released the 19 June 2001 Special Order
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