Fellman's Movie Reviews

Bloodsport is a 1988 martial arts film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. The main cast of the movie are all also main characters and share an equal amount of screen time. Leah Ayres, Donald Gibb, Roy Chiao, Norman Burton, Forest Whitaker, and Bolo Yeung as the evil and violent Kumite champion, Chong-Li. The movie centers around Frank Dux, a US Army captain and ninjitsu practitioner who competes in an underground fighting tournament in Hong Kong called the Kumite. The movie was based on the claims of the real-life Frank Dux, who actually trained Van Damme during the movie. But his claims were later proven to be made up by colleagues and training partners of Dux.  

Bloodsport has not only been credited with re-igniting the martial arts genre in movies in the 80s, but it has also been credited with beginning the career of Jean-Claude Van Damme, making him the martial arts action star that he was in the late 80s and throughout the 90s. It was also the inspiration for the video game “Mortal Kombat”, as you can see the numerous similarities between the movie and the first video game when you watch the fight scenes in Bloodsport. 

This movie is the epitome of what 80s movies were though, in my opinion. Bad acting, bad writing, bad music, but in a good way. It wasn’t the kind of bad that it made you not want to watch it. It was bad in a campy sort of way. Like the 70s Batman sort of bad. Like, in a fun sort of way. Like the movies on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 sort of way. Like, how can you obviously see him miss that kick from like, a foot away, and the guy still goes flying backwards? That’s the kind of 80s movie this is. But it’s still fun to watch.  

And the cringeworthy moments in the script are so laughable, that it makes it like playtime when you’re watching. Like, he’s having a flashback to when he’s younger, and his mentor, who is an old man now, is supposed to be much younger as well. But then, Frank goes to see him, and he literally looks exactly like he did in the flashback. He didn’t age one bit. Whatever he’s doing, he needs to share it with the rest of the world, because it’s literally the secret to immortality that humanity has been searching for since the dawn of time. 

And the two secret agents are chasing him down to try to bring him back to America for some reason. But they never say what that reason is. Or who they work for. Are they FBI? Do they work for the Army? Who are they? And why do they want him back so bad? It’s a real loophole in the story. But, once again: 80s movie. That’s all you can say for things like that… 80s movie… 

So, yeah. Go and see Bloodsport. It’s absolutely worth your time. Yeah, it’s a bad movie. Yeah, the acting is terrible. Yeah, it’s a bad script. Yeah, it’s full of 80s synth music. But if you’ve never seen it, you’ll be glad you did. Because it’s a significant movie in the cinematic culture. It certainly holds a special place in my heart, that’s for sure. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…