Scarecrow-88
At the heels of Bloodsport, director Shuji Goto snagged the formidable Bolo Yeung, attempting to capitalize on that film's success for his similarly titled, Bloodfight. The plot echoes Rocky IV as retired world champion martial artist, Masahiro Kai(Yasuaki Kurata), now the trainer of a fledgling gym, prepares for his main event fight against Chang Lee(Bolo Yeung), the one responsible for the murder of a former pupil, Ryu Tenmei(..a really young Simon Yam). Kai watched as Ryu battled against a group of bullying punks, led by Stuart Smith, seeing a possible champion-in-the-making, hoping to take him under his wing. At first Ryu resists, instead concerned with a career in basketball..that is until he has another altercation with the punks, left battered and bruised. To the dismay of girlfriend Milly, Ryu will abandon his potential basketball career, working hard with new trainer Kai, preparing for a tournament, in the hopes of becoming world champion. Ryu does indeed work his way through opponents, squaring off with Lee, but it doesn't fair well, and one snapped neck leads Kai into a drunken state, agonizing over the loss of his student, who was in over his head. In a publicity event, Kai agrees to enter the world championship tournament, setting up the main event between himself and Chang Lee.Undermined perhaps by the middle portion which gets bogged down in unraveling why Kai is awaiting his battle with Lee, Bloodfight, come hell or high water, is gonna place special emphasis on the characters and their story. It opens as if it might be a pure fight film, sacrificing story for bloody violence, but once the flashback story begins, the film at times grinds at a slow pace, with an exciting action sequence popping up here and there. The film follows the same "training regimen" scene from Rocky IV, as Kai prepares in the most difficult conditions / ways while Chang Lee works out in the comforts of a gym, with the finest equipment. While I personally wanted more of Yeung destroying opposition, Bloodfight is more concerned with the dynamic of trainer and student, how this relationship dictates the emotional level of the finale. The film establishes the main aggressors as the gang of cruel interlopers who attack innocent people and street vendors in the city just for kicks, with others having to put them in their place from time to time(..like a young woman defending her mother and sister, Ryu protecting his girlfriend, or Kai, wallowing in misery, who annihilates them even though he's drunk out of his gourd).The fight scenes are quite entertaining with the fighters flying through the air(..these moments are obviously choreographed fantasy, but enjoyable just the same, even if they are fictional acts of agility), swapping blows, with the usual assortment of odd-looking contestants and interesting finishes. The film allows Yeung, who is quite a physical specimen, to look really good, his fight against Yam incredibly hard to watch as his Chung Lee just obliterates the kid, showing no mercy, actually boozed up before the fight even begins. His closing fight with Kurata is worth the wait, and, again, Yeung, for a good while, just bashes and pummels his opponent. The problem is getting to these scenes, the dearth of story taking precedence over the fights. The film was shot in English, before the tolerance of subtitles, hoping to gain interest from Western audiences, I suppose. The Hong Kong locations are always a plus and I think Kurata does fine in the lead. Yeung is certainly menacing enough, even though his role doesn't differ much from others we are accustomed to.
Flak_Magnet
As a kid, we considered this movie as one of the funniest things ever, and it was a neighborhood sensation for about half a Summer. Essentially a direct (and abysmal) clone of "Bloodsport," "Bloodfight" was made the same year, and features the same bad guy: Bolo Yeung. (Who, strangely enough, plays the same CHARACTER as he did in "Bloodsport"). I hadn't seen this movie in 15-years and was pleased to discover that it remains as cheesetastic as my memories....Anyway, the movie is dreadful, almost continuously incoherent rubbish, but has its moments as an unintentional comedy. The acting is TERRIBLE, and some of the film's more dramatic sequences are laugh out loud funny. (Some segments had me questioning whether the lameness was intentional, but I don't think it is). There are some definite pacing problems, and the editing is so bad that the story is essentially broken and unnavigable, but there are a few pretty classic parts. If you appreciate the sublime comfort of late-vintage, bottom-of-the-barrel Hong Kong actioners, and need an easy one to laugh at, this one's OK. You'll have to fast-forward through some parts, but just know there is funny in here, friends. LONG LIVE THE KUMATE! ---|--- Reviews by Flak Magnet
jaredyoung
As far as low-budget, poorly made martial arts movies go, this one isn't bad...it has every element of the classical martial arts movie: an underground tournament, an aging sensei, an eager young student, an evil villain who kills said student so that the sensei has to overcome his alcoholism and seek revenge...If you like acting, this isn't the movie for you. If you like cheesy fights and training montages, check it out.
