#146: Kickboxer

Release Date: September 8th, 1989

Format: Streaming (Pluto TV)

Written by: Glenn A. Bruce

Directed by: David Worth

2 Stars

Your appreciation of Kickboxer is going to correlate pretty closely to how much you like cheap, derivative ‘80s action movies. And it helps if you’re watching it with friends who also like those kinds of movies.

And if you’re drinking.

Suffice to say, I liked watching Kickboxer tonight.  

It’s not good, don’t get me wrong. It’s a blatant rip off of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s own Bloodsport, as well as The Karate Kid, Rambo III, and Rocky IV, without being as good as any of those movies.

Director David Worth isn’t able to control the tone of the film, which shifts noticeably from scene to scene, and even moment to moment, and he gets some pretty silly performances from his actors, Van Damme being the worst culprit.

He’s a total ham here - embarrassingly bad - but just fun enough for viewers who like this particular sort of nonsense. It’s a bit strange how much he fetishizes himself in his films. Lots of body oil, pouty close ups, and…how do I put this?…leering shots of his ass. Close ups of his ass when he’s fighting, when he’s dancing, when he’s doing the splits. There’s very little objectification of women in Kickboxer (unusual and commendable compared to other cheap ‘80s action movies), but odd that he chooses to objectify himself. I’m going to guess there was a lot of ego and cocaine involved in his decision-making.

So if you want a silly, slightly homoerotic genre flick where guys get kicked to death, you’ve found your movie.