Savate - Kampf ohne Gnade

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

I'd imagine Olivier Gruner is a man who frequently ponders on the fates Lady Luck draws out for those in life.I mean,he's french,he's a top kickboxing champion and he has questionable acting ability (justified by his laughable emoting in certain parts of this movie).So what gives?Jean Claude Van Damme enjoys a large part of his career as a top ranking Hollywood action star,and all he ever acheives is a career in low budget,STV action movies.What you gonna do,huh?

The plot here has him in 1865 as mysterious army officer Josepth Charlemont,who rides through Texas in full Clint-Eastwood-High-Plains-Drifter style fashion,simply to 'pass through' (you mean there wasn't a shortcut he could have used?).However,when corrupt landowner Jack Benedict (choosing not to be credited,R Lee Ermey (he must have had a gas bill or something to pay.Oh,and,by the way,it's probably just my imagination,but is that not Bloodsport's Donald Gibb as a burly,bearded nearby homeowner?)) and his henchmen try to force people to sell their homes,he decides to teach them all a lesson.And not of the classroom kind.

The expected iffy performances and leaden production values aside,an interesting premise is not done much justice by a bland,witless script which all the fancy kickboxing action and pleasant scenery in the world really can't save.

These things are,however,welcome distractions,which,along with the compatable running time and some unintentional hilarity,make Savate all the more of a rewarding experience.**

I am the first to admit that it sounds a little bit weird to shoot a martial arts movie with a "cowboy scenery", but the movie actually turns out OK.

Olivier Grüner is a former soldier in the french(?) army, who is searching for his long lost enemy... The movie includes the standard good vs bad and good boy gets pretty girl stories, and the movie reaches a climax at a "tough-man" tournament at the end. A tournament in the wild west with capoeira, kung-fu, savate , boxing etc.

Overall the movie is light entertainment with some very good fighting scenes.. (I give it 6/10)

This martial arts movie was anything but ordinary. Instead of Asian martial arts, it's French martial arts. Meaning "French boxing", this movie didn't bore me a bit. "Kung Fu" was all about wisdom, "Savate" was more about honor. If you seen "The Quest" with Van Damme, you should be getting a kick out of "Savate". This fighter fought the honor of both countries: France and the U.S. Avenging the dead homesteader was very honorable, and keeping the promise of his comrade was also great. If the pole didn't stop the German, the bullet did! And this movie was definitely great for the martial arts buffs as well. If you're tired of Van Damme. 2.5 out of 5 stars 7 out of 10

This movie should have been made in the 1970's.

Then they could have got away with the wooden acting, the ludicrously cliche-d plot, and the frankly obsolete fight scenes.

Oliver G is obviously a talented martial artist: which makes wasting him in this movie even more of a crime. Compared to the latest Jet Li movies or some of the new bullet-time films (e.g. The Matrix, Swordfish) this film strikes with the speed of a snoozing earthworm.

Let me give you an example. Final fight scene...big baddie just about out on his feet...our hero, a bullet in his leg, is standing on one foot kicking the bounder right-left about the head. Technically very good stuff: balance, poise, position etc etc. But realistic? Not even close. I put it to you, Oliver, that if you've kicked him in the head six times already, and he hasn't gone down, then you need to change your tactics a little. Why doesn't he just boot him between the legs and then stamp on his head to finish him? It's what he did to our hero's best pal earlier in the film! Just cos Savate is a kicking style with many impressive high kicks in its repetoire doesn't mean you don't kick someone lower down. You thigh kicked him a moment ago...why not try something a little bit more direct?

This may sound a bit extreme, but poor fight choreography in what's billed as an exciting martial arts masterpiece is bad for the genre as a whole. Say I'm new to chop-sockey's. I see, buy or rent Savate. I'm disappointed. I don't go and see, buy, rent a martial arts movie ever again.

Come on, people, try a little harder please!

An excellent off beat Western , loosely based on a real events and real character, Joseph Chalaemont, who was a key figure in the evolution of the French Boxing - Savate.

Good acting, good Martial arts and great western filming