The King of the Kickboxers

Good movie!

Good movie!

source: The King of the Kickboxers

Ridiculously good martial arts choreography combined with laughably bad dialogue and an outlandish plot that borrows heavily from Kickboxer add up to a very enjoyable fighting movie. Seeing the film in Middle School when it was on cable I had trouble getting past the poor film stock, and substitution of water in the mouth as fake blood was probably too expensive to use. Coupled with lousy acting and poorly-lit sets, I just enjoyed the fighting scenes (probably on a day when I had my fill of Van Damme and Seagal). Looking back on it recently, the choreography is some of the best ever put on celluloid, and it holds up tremendously against just about all of the other fight scenes from the 90s. A combination of beautiful foreign locales, some pretty intense stunts, and a sense that the director was going for a "let's be satisfied with the first take of any non-action scene" attitude, the movie is a guilty, but VERY impressive martial arts film.

One of the most amazing films you will ever get a chance to see. The story line is portrayed in such a way that it will captivate you and never let you take you take your eyes of it. That is until the very last closing credit rolls and you'll think to yourself "Wow… I think I like the art of film twice as much now after seeing this amazing movie". Loren Avedon should have his own Hollywood Walk Of Fame star after this film. He is simply matchless as the lead. It's almost like he was born to play the perfect action hero and he did in this film. King of the Kickboxers is also filled with countless marvelous dialogue that you will be quoting 10 years after you watch it. It is also delivered in a manner that is extraordinary and unprecedented in any film ever made. It's like the actors devised a new way of acting. It is truly astonishing in the very sense of the word. Finally the fighting is like none other; incredibly creative, imaginative, artistic and original. The emotion portrayed and depicted in them is equally inspiring and captivating. Also the cinematography, editing, film score and directing are first rate and fuse wonderfully from start to finish. I honestly feel really happy that I was able to see this film. I don't think I'll ever forget it. 10\10 – Don't miss it for anything.

I can't believe the score this movie gets around 5/10. Are you kidding me. This movie is in my Top 10 movies of all time. I love Loren Avedon, I'm a huge fan of him. This movie basically gets everything right and I mean everything. The training scenes are awesome, you really hate the villain, you like the hero, the music was great and the fighting was the best ever (high energy kick butt action). Billy Blanks and Loren Avedon a great combination, like Peanut butter and Chocolate. It's simple stuff, but you won't believe how many movies screw that up. When I watched this movie it came on The Movie Channel (HBO, or Showtime in USA). I knew from the preview trailer that this movie was awesome. God was I right. The side-effect of this movie was, I kept looking for similar movies like this and boy was that a bad idea. 80-90's American martial art movies are really bad. I saw around 200 of them and maybe 10 were OK, however none of them came close to King of the Kickboxers.

This film is so focused on the fighting they forget the name of the main character...we are introduced to a cop named "Jake", but then the woman he is trying to save at the end can't be bothered to remember what his name is; she calls him "Jack" NUMEROUS TIMES. There are so many other cheesy lines which have been mentioned in these reviews...how funny is it when Avedon, looking like he's going to burst into tears, sternly demands Blanks to LET THE GIRL GO!! Great stuff. BTW...I believe Blanks' finisher is U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, B, A.

So you thought you could go to Thailand and win a kickbox fight and everything would be all right, WRONG. There's tradition and honor and snuff films being made on the side and your brother is dead now What-cha-goona do brother? Your going to train your but off and avenge his death. This movie goes beyond good, Loren Avedon is the brother of a champion kickboxer whose brutally slain by a seemingly unavoidable three kick combination that bad guy turned abdominal maximizer Billy Blanks throws with reckless abandon. This is a martial arts movie where people look like there really getting hurt. And if you haven't seen No Retreat No Surrender 3 blood brothers, do yourself a favor and try that one. Just about anything L.A. is in im into, he knows how to woo the lady's and he knows how to throw a mean roundhouse kick. The back story gives way to the training sequence which ends up with the showdown. And plenty of repeatable quotes in between. My favorite is at the end when Loren meets Blanks again for the final battle, after he throws a picture of his brother to blanks, yeah THROWS a picture, has to be seen. They go into this hypnotic exchange and the whole thing bubbles over into mega kickbox violence ending. Ten thumbs up don't rent it Own it.

This kickboxing straight to video flick, I have to admire it's twist on it's story, plus of course, the personal angle. While witnessing his older brother having the life kicked out of him by this big, unbeatable oaf, as a kid, now many years, later, Loren-now an unorthodox undercover cop, you can't help but love, due to his charm, is given a new assignment. A band of sicko's + the oaf, Khan, are making snuff films where Khan, mostly the main player, does his stuff. Of course not wanting to return to Thailand, due to that tragedy many years ago, when viewing a snuff tape, he of course, reconsiders, and he's there lickety split. Loren's way over dramatic acting, that's laughable, had me in a utter state of unbelief, among some other amateur performers, of course excluding legends (Richard Jaeckel, who overacts some too, like in one early confrontational scene shared with Loren, plus Don Stroud who's really only in two scenes, you wonder why he bothered. He doesn't even look like he wants to be there, and I for one don't blame him. Loren does though add personality and spark, his screen presence does pull you in. While in Thailand, Loren is tutored by an older professional kick boxer who went up against Khan, and payed a heavy price. Now it's up to Loren to avenge the past, by taking on Khan, where of course we know the overthrowing result that makes a happy ending. Loren falls in love too, with a girl, whose dreams didn't work out the way she had planned. She's one of a flock of working girls, who are all considered by our numbskull Khan, and others, as beautiful which they aren't. When selected by Khan, Lorens soon to be lover, makes a mad dash, repulsed to the max. Let's face it, Khan isn't someone a girl would like to take home for her mother to meet. KOTK is a barely adequate, but really an under par martial arts flick, the movie riding on a too light, though original story, worth it's weight in Khan's IQ.

I can't explain it, but I love this movie. What gives that movie the edge is the performance of Keith Cooke and Billy Blanks. Loren Avedon cannot keep up with them although he plays the main character (who is quite arrogant in my opinion). The film features decent fights with moody music, all overacted and unrealistic but highly entertaining. When Jake, still in the US, watches that movies and complains about their low quality, its "No retreat, no surrender 3" (starring Loren Avedon, too) and one might find a small piece of self-irony, too.