The King of the Kickboxers (1990)

Director:

Lucas Lowe

Writer:

Keith W. Strandberg (writer)

Release Date:

9 August 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

In the Ring of Death, only one man can become king!

Plot:

A cop goes undercover in Thailand to avenge his brother's death in this martial arts film.

Plot Keywords:

Thailand | Champion | Training | Martial Arts | Hermit

Cast

Loren Avedon	...	Jake Donahue
Richard Jaeckel	...	Capt. O'Day
Don Stroud	...	Anderson
Billy Blanks	...	Khan
Sherrie Rose	...	Molly
William Long Jr.	...	Big Boss
David Michael Sterling	...	Mr. McKinney
Keith Cooke	...	Prang
Ong Soo Han	...	Thasi (as Ong)
Jerry Trimble	...	Drug Dealer
Bruce Fontaine	...	Dan Handel
Patrick Shuck	...	Young Jake
John Kay	...	Mr. Director
Michael Depasquale Jr.	...	Sean Donahue
Dean Harrington	...	Radioman

Also Known As:

Karate Tiger 4 (Europe: English title)
No Retreat, No Surrender 4
El rey de los kickboxers (Argentina) [es]
Il re dei kickboxers (Italy) [it]
Karate Tiger V - König der Kickboxer (Germany) [de]
Król kickbokserów (Poland) [pl]
O Rei dos Kickboxers (Portugal) [pt]
Retroceder nunca, rendirse jamas 5 (Spain) [es]

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

Hong Kong | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:18 (DVD uncut version) (2004) | UK:18 (video rating) (cut) (1991) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Germany:18 | Norway:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | USA:R

Company:

Imperial Entertainment

Trivia:

Despite playing lovers in the film, Loren Avedon and Sherrie Rose did not get along behind the scenes, with Avedon claiming Rose bad-mouthed him after he told her to shut up whilst filming in the jungle.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Prang's dead body is thrown into the water by Khan near the end of the movie, you can see pieces of cotton wool stuck up his nose to prevent the water from entering.

Quotes:

Jake Donahue: My methods get results!

Movie Connections:

References No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990)

The best fighting movie ever made!

It's an absolute shame that a movie this awesome isn't even available in print anymore, considering all of the other crap that is being re-released on DVD. It's also a shame that this movie, along with all of its contributors, have never received any notice (with the exception of Billy Blanks). And I'm being serious. Sure this is a b-movie, but how can anyone who's seen it overlook how much fun it is to watch? _The King of the Kickboxers_ is incredibly entertaining, and that's the whole point of any movie, with or without a compelling plot and acting.

Everything about this movie is awesome. The dialogue is corny and the acting is campy, but how can you complain? This just gives you something to laugh at. Most mainstream viewers will cringe at the poor acting and turn away from this movie, not even realizing that it can be funny.

Those people will then miss out on the incredible fighting scenes, which are quite frequent. There isn't a single movie out there with moves as cool as the ones here. You'd never expect to see stuff like this anywhere other than in your imagination, but somehow, the fighters managed to throw attacks at lighting speeds and launched multiple kicks in mid-air without landing (not even Michael Jordan gets this much hangtime)! All the scenes are fast-paced and beautifully coordinated, with camera angles that really get you into the action.

Even the limited music is excellent. It is not only pleasing to listen to, but effectively helps to set the mood of the scenes. It can give you a creepy feeling at times, and is best used in the final fight scene where the drum beat kicks in to get you into the mood of the action and later as it shifts to a triumphant tone, you can't help but cheer for the good guy as he makes his comeback victory.

And finally, the plot is perfect for this type of film--simple and limited. Most of the movie is dedicated to the action scenes, while plot developments painlessly interrupt to help support the characters so you can develop feelings about them. The whole movie had the feel of a video game. The protagonist battles through his enemies and works his way up to reach who is ultimately the bad guy and defeats him. The bad guy even has his own finishing move (an awesome one at that) that the good guy must look out for. This is all just like a video game; another reason why I love this movie!

This is by far the best fighting movie ever, and I've seen quite a few of them. And after serious consideration, I've concluded that this is one of the best movies ever made in any genre. Do whatever you can to see this movie. And if you've already seen this movie but hated it, do me and yourself a favor and watch it again, this time with my review in mind.