Bloodfist

I had actually never heard about this 1989 martial arts action movie titled "Bloodfist" before here in the beginning of 2023, as I had the opportunity to sit down and watch it. And with it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, and seeing that Don "The Dragon" Wilson was on the cast list, of course I opted to watch it.

Writer Robert King apparently must have had been watching the 1988 movie "Bloodsport" prior to writing the script for the 1989 movie "Bloodfist", because there were some massive similarities between the two movies. Of course "Bloodsport" is a far better movie than what "Bloodfist" turned out to be. And with that being said, don't get me wrong, because "Bloodfist" is not a bad movie, not at all. It just was a somewhat watered down version of "Bloodsport" with some tweaks to the storyline.

The acting performances in the movie were okay. I mean, you know you're not in for an evening of Shakespearian performances, of course. But for a martial arts movie, then the acting performances were fair enough, and as to be expected.

The martial arts sequences were, for the majority, good enough to watch and came off as being watchable. There were some scenes that were sluggish and amateurish, and not all the fighters were really convincing in their styles and fighting, especially Michael Shaner (playing Baby Davies).

I actually found "Bloodfist" to be an enjoyable movie and entertaining movie, despite of the similarities to "Bloodsport". If you enjoy the martial arts movies of the late 1980s and early 1990s, then you will definitely also find enjoyment in director Terence H. Winkless's "Bloodfist" movie.

My rating of "Bloodfist" lands on a five out of ten stars.

First starring role for Light Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion Don "The Dragon" Wilson, 'Bloodfist' is worth every penny of the $4.95 I spent on the bargain DVD.

Forget the critics. This is one of Roger Corman's earliest ventures into the martial arts genre, and, like much of the Corman library, there's lots of respectable bang for the few bucks spent on the production.

First, let's get past the name thing. Wilson has taken some smirks in the media for adding "The Dragon" to his name. But the man was just being pragmatic. I mean, do you remember the other Don Wilson? The paunchy, bulldog-jowled, middle-aged announcer on the old Jack Benny Show? Prior to 'Bloodfist', he was the only Don Wilson anyone had ever heard of in showbiz.

Would you have lined up at the box office for a martial arts movie starring that guy?

The Set-up: Wilson's half-brother is a prizefighter in a shady Manila fight club who ends up dead after winning a fixed fight.

Cut to Wilson back in sunny Southern Cal, who promptly explains to a bunch of grade school field trippers that he runs a gym, but does not box professionally because HE ONLY HAS ONE KIDNEY. He donated the other to his (late) half-brother. This begs the question: Why was the brother fighting? One assumes that he also had one kidney (the donated one), unless Wilson generously gave one of his away because he felt his brother should have two ...?

As in the best Corman films, the action takes over fast, and the field trip isn't even out of the building before Don gets the call that his brother's dead.

The Dragon hops the next thing smokin' to the Philippines, officially to claim the body, but I can't help thinking that in the back of his mind, Don didn't wonder just a little about getting that kidney back. Imagine his disappointment when the Manila officials open a green file cabinet and hand him an urn. Full of his brother's ashes. Including at least one powdered kidney. Nothing left but revenge, since we're already here.

Wilson promptly picks up a painter-slash-kickboxing trainer, a party animal-slash-kickboxer roommate, and a translator-slash-exotic dancer love interest. Which brings us to actress Riley Bowman, who plays the love interest. Where did this woman go? 'Bloodfist' was not only her first, but also her last movie. And Riley exhibited ... ample ... uh ... skills. Exactly the type of open-minded, halfway-talented actress that Corman employed again and again and again in his New Horizon and Concorde flicks. What a loss.

Oh, well. Back to the action. You get a great selection of tournament adversaries for Wilson, who also double as suspects in his brother's murder.

There's a little twist to the ending, tantamount to Burgess Meredith whupping the daylights out of Rocky Balboa.

Better than 'Swamp Women'. Close to the pleasures of 'Attack of the Giant Leeches' or the first remake of 'Not of This Earth' (the Traci Lords one). No self-respecting Corman fanatic should be without a copy of this. 'Bloodfist' is worth a B-movie 5 out of 10.

Don "The Dragon" Wilson plays a kickboxer named Jake Raye. He receives news from Manila that his brother, Michael, was found murdered. So he goes to the Philippines, to try and find his brother's killer. He meets a man named Kwong (Joe Mari Avellana), who trains him to compete in a martial-arts tournament called "Ta Chang" -- because he suspects that one of the fighters there was Michael's killer.

Some of the actors (excepting Wilson and Joe Mari Avellana) are quite bad, and the fight scenes aren't choreographed very well (you can make out that the fighters aren't really hitting each other). Still, this is an entertaining movie.

"Bloodfist" was remade twice (at least as far as I know), as "Full Contact (1992)" and "Dragon Fire (1993)". I've seen both, and they're better than this one. "Full Contact" is the best of the lot (and it would have been even better had Don "The Dragon" Wilson been in it instead of Jerry Trimble).

Seven sequels (to date) have followed "Bloodfist" -- most of them have nothing to do with the first one. They're all better than this movie (especially parts 6 and 7).

If you like low budget action movies, and if you are a fan of Don "The Dragon" Wilson, you might want to see this early movie of his. Others will probably not like this movie.

After his brother, Mike, is murdered in Manila, Jake (Don Wilson) travels down there to claim the body and must use his kick-boxing expertise to deal with the local highly-trained hooligans that had to do with his brother's untimely demise. He meets and stays with Baby and his sister Nancy (Riley Bowman)

If there's one fatal flaw with the film, I mean aside from the mediocre fight scenes, is the character of Baby, he's awful and brings the otherwise enjoyable , if not particularly good in the conventional sense of the word, don whenever he's on-screen. The writer of this is currently having fairly good fortune with hit TV show "The Good Wife", so the dues he paid were worth it, I kind of doubt he keeps this one on his resume though. Furthermore, 'The Dragon' would thankfully grow as an actor later in his career. I still hold a (unexplainable) soft spot for this film though.

Eye Candy: Riley Bowman and an extra get topless

Don the dragon Wilson is one of my favorite martial arts champions so i was thrilled when i got all 8 bloodfists in one huge box set as a present.

Watching this first chapter i was so disappointed that i was thinking not to watch the rest of the sequels. Gladly i changed my mind and watched all the rest.

It's a shame cause all of the sequels were great for their standard and only part 1 is so poorly made that disappoints in every level.

Only don Wilson can't save this movie. The fights are bad and the story is so poorly made that is way below average even for these kind of b-movies.

Fortunately all the sequels faired a lot better and i suggest u skip this part and begin with part 2.

After part 2 there is no plot continuity as don Wilson play different characters so u don't have problems with plot continuity.

All in all the bloodfist box set is great but not this movie.

If u like don Wilson also check out for the following gems in which he stars...

BLACKBELT

RING OF FIRE TRILOGY

OUT FOR BLOOD

MOVING TARGET

BLOODFIST 2-8