Best of the Best

This is a film that would probably best be enjoyed by those of you who are martial arts fans that like Rocky IV for its training sequences and shameless audience manipulation, and can make an exception for its severe deficiencies in acting, script, directorial effort, and any attempt at originality.

Luckily for me, I'm one of those people.

Alex Grady (Eric Roberts) the widowed father of his five-year-old son is chosen to represent the United States of America in a karate tournament against team Korea, where the odds of winning are slim at best. Coached by James Earl Jones and Sally Kirkland the team prepare to meet an unstoppable group of true martial arts experts, and along their journey they have to deal with their personal conflicts and tragedies, before they become a team.

OK the story and script are cheesy, and some of the acting is a little weak, but the sentiment and melodrama is not all misplaced and the martial arts sequences are fantastic, particularly from Eric Roberts and Christopher Penn, who are not trained martial artists.

A must see for martial arts fans, and a good film for everyone.

7/10

This movie does a great job of combining martial arts action and is emotional. I have seen all 4 of the series but I have to say that this one and Best of the Best 2 are my favorites. The third one has a lot of great fight scenes but doesn't have quite the kick without Eric Roberts. All the fight scenes weather compitition or a bar fight are wonderfully done. Eric Roberts fighting is really good but Phillip Rhee fighting is just wonderful to watch. His movements are very clean, fluid and powerful.

There are very strong emotional parts as well that are very well portrayed. I am a huge martial arts fan and have been for many years. So if you want a movie that has good acting. great fight scenes and has a tear jerking emotional feel to it, this is a great movie.

Basically this film is one of the better low budget martial arts films to come our way in the late 80's and early 90's. The plot is for all to see within the first 20 mins or so, it doesn't really get anymore complicated than that other than 1 vital bit of info that is kept from us until 20-30 mins to go. Oh, and also the film doesn't end like most and was quite refreshing to see to be honest.....(I won't spoil it for you, you have to watch it to find out). Yes it's cheap but it is also chearful in a "got nothing else to do or watch one evening kinda way". The VOICE of Darth Vader - James Earl Jones is in a starring role as well as Oscar winner Eric Roberts (Julia's older brother) in a weird role for him, guess money must have been tight back then.....

Go see it......worth a watch.

This is one of the best films I have seen ever. Sure the acting is a bit cheesy, full of one liners and bad jokes, but something about this movie got me stuck to the screen every time I watch it. I am actually quite glad that they casted actors rather than serious martial artist experts (apart from the Rhee's and the Korean Team) to play the various roles in the film.

This is a good movie for both general film lovers and Martial Art film fans, the end fights are very impressive. Personally, I did not enjoy the sequels that came after this so I say stick to the best. Best of the Best I.