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)

Ring Of Fire...

Loren Avedon stars as Jake Donahue, a kung fu cop who is sent by interpol to take down a group of snuff filmmakers and get revenge for his brother's death, who was also killed by the snuff film star. King Of The Kickboxers is a tough film to review, on a lot of levels it's utterly dreadful but the fights are so utterly spectacular that one tends to give the benefit of the doubt and enjoy the film as a great martial arts film. Loren Avedon has some great moves and thankfully never takes the movie too seriously, and despite his cocky bravado manages to come off as sort of likable. Billy Blanks is also a great villain, and both Richard Jaeckel and Don Stroud provide credibility to a silly plot. As it goes, King Of The Kickboxers works in the same way a cheap Bruce Li film works except the fights are on par with Jackie Chan's 80s work and here goes why I recommend the movie in spite of good taste. Then again, if we can't appreciate trash what can we enjoy?

* * * out of 4-(Good)