Kickboxer: Retaliation

Filthy boring, not even my craving for Van Dame saved, and the only scene I really wanted to watch, with Ronaldinho Gaúcho (lovely scene, 10 seconds, kkkk), I lost it, I had to go back to watch it, boring...

First off, why in the world do people still think acting and story are relevant in these movies? These kinds of movies aren't released in theaters. They don't have a 100-200 million dollar budget. They simply are made for the fighting and action. Know what kind of movie you are about to watch. If you don't like these kinds of movies, what are you doing? Go watch a lifetime movie if you want story. This movie is like stepping back into the 80s and 90s of action. Mindless fun, and thrilling fight scenes. Those who enjoy these types of movies will have fun.

Set one year after the events of Kickboxer: Vengeance, Kurt Sloan has vowed never to return to Thailand.However things change and whilst he is preparing for an MMA title fight, he is drugged and wakes up in a Thailand prison. His captors give him a choice (if you can call it a choice) they want him to face a colossus named Mongkut and in return, Kurt Sloan will get $2million dollars and win his freedom from the prison hell hole..

If he doesn't fight then his wife will die at the hands of her captors. With no real choice to make Kurt Sloan has no other choice but to undergo his most rigorous training yet, under some very unexpected mentors, in order to take on this dreaded opponent.



Kickboxer:Retaliation is a fantastic addition to the Kickboxer franchise and a great addition to martial art feature films altogether. With great set pieces including a glorious several minute single take that takes place in the prison, the choreography is top notch for this franchise that began life in 1989 with the Jean Claude Van Damme starring hit. With exotic Thailand locations, fiery fight scenes and some stupendous stunt-work, Kickboxer:Retaliation is a no- holds barred-brutal when it needs to be, film featuring some of the mosst athletic and well trained stunt performers since The Raid..

I was a little concerned when the plot was set up that the final 'boss fight' between Mongkut would be a blink and you miss it sort of third act set piece, however I was dead wrong.The finale that will make your eyes water and your muscles ache and whilst I didn't have a clock to check to see how long the fight ran for. It definitely seemed to run for a while but never, even for a second becoming tiring to watch.

I will confess that I haven't seen Kickboxer:Vengeance however this made virtually no difference to my viewing experience when watching Retaliation and aside from a couple of mentions along the line of 'Oh I haven't seen you since....' This film stands alone just as well as Im sure it stands as part of the running saga.

Alain Moussi plays the role of Kurt Sloan wonderfully and is able to show a humanity one moment, and thro someone through a window the next with perfection. Along for the co star list in Kickboxer Retaliation is Mike Tyson as Briggs, who I have to say is fantastic in the role and does get a chance to show that he still has what it takes to put someone lights out super fast. Also joining the films cast is original Kickboxer himself Jean Claude Van Damme (who also appeared in Kickboxer Vengance) however this time, and heres the kicker (no pun intended) He is a blind kickboxer and still a damn fine one at that.

It took some serious skills to screw this movie up so badly.

Moussi is much less green than the last film, yet that was better. He actually has some power now, but that doesn't help the final product much.

This action movie should have been an easy slam dunk, no one expected stellar acting. They had a slew of mma guys, legit martial arts veterans, the Highlander, the Mountain and Mike freaking Tyson - who by the way is by far the scariest fighter in this whole affair. Wasted him entirely, maybe it was because he made the rest look like chumps.

Definitely the worst part was the action choreography, which should have been the strongest part. Clearly like dumb money was calling the shots, a la typical Hollywood.

It's painfully obvious that whoever designed the fight scenes with the mountain NEVER fought a guy twice their size. They couldn't even figure out a competent theory of how to do it. The mountain killed Kurt a dozen times, but the choreographer never noticed. Kurt apparently has bouts of superstrength allowing him to match the mountain's power. Even when Kurt is down and done, Mongkut stops to roar and walk away. Then good ol' Kurt finds his way up without a mark on his face - the same face the mountain has been breaking for a while.

Truly a colossal bungling of a successful franchise reboot. It's so inexplicably poorly done, you must suspect that it was intentional.

A Mui Thai film of the bad kind. Unfortunately, the senseless beating has nothing to do with the actual martial art.