Another action movie review Don "Dragon" Wilson, his first serious work in the “hand-to-hand action” genre - and the viewer will understand two things: that Wilson’s team loves to steal stories and he himself has affected his future career as one of the weakest hand-to-hand fighters in terms of the strength of his films.
This is about "Bloody Fist-1"(I won’t watch the second one). According to the plot, the brother of the main character with great difficulty overcomes his opponent in some underground tournament. Having received money for the fight, the hero is robbed by an unknown person in a dark alley and dies. Some homeless man takes the money and clothes The main character, a coach at a local youth sports school, goes to the harsh Asian slums of Manila (where his brother died and where, most likely, Wilson himself will bury his acting career if “Showdown in Manila” fails). zero, they are trying to rob in the slums, and it is difficult to get to the place where the tournament is being held, fortunately, the hero finds a local sensei-artist and he takes him to the tournament, where the hero begins to prevail and give away.
Have we seen this somewhere before? Van Damme, of course, in Kickboxer and Bloodsport, which were released a year earlier than KK. And it’s okay if Wilson plagiarized the plot, he did it ugly. I guessed that this would happen, but I was lured by another martial arts star of that time - Billy Blanks, after "No Mercy" which I was shocked by his skill on screen. However, I didn't like the film.
Why is the movie "Bloodfist" (1989) bullshit and unworthy of viewing?
- Hackwork is the main reason. She’s almost everywhere in the film, right down to the camera and editing (even if it’s not jerky, that’s okay). It is clearly visible that the blows do not reach the enemies, the poor voice acting of the fights and the general ugliness of the action. I’m generally silent about the acting, I only remember the character named Baby, GG’s friend.
- There is enough action in the movie (up to approximately 55% of the total duration), as well as training editing, but it looks very secondary - Wilson succeeds in everything right away and the hero’s progress from low to high level is not noticeable. The fights themselves are staged so-so, the script plagiarism is visible (knockout with one blow; an American friend ends up in the hospital after a fight with the boss and part of the American’s clothing is torn off as a trophy) from Van Damme.
- The most anticipated fight, even included on the film poster - Wilson vs Blanks - was completely lost in the editing. In training Blanks showed various acrobatic elements, while in battle the heroes exchanged high kicks with blows to the screen in close-up. This is an unforgivable hack.
The film still has some positives - the ending. The final boss - the savage fat-bass copied from Bolo Yen turned out to not be his brother's killer, and Wilson will have to lead another battle, which is already staged better than the rest. There are also boobs and gore in the film; Yes, the film is quite ketchup and that’s some kind of plus. Also, so that the plagiarism is not complete, several positive characters are killed by the plot, and therefore the end is somewhat more realistic, which makes the story more unpredictable, but comes into conflict with the canons of the genre, which at that time generally headed for a positive outcome of the story).
However, for the leaked fight with Blanks and the mediocre plagiarism, I give the film 2 out of 5. The rating would be higher if the film was 20 minutes shorter - then it would be a good time killer.
Wilson continued to plagiarize features from more successful film hand-to-hand fighters - for example, Seagal, whose numerous action films received an unofficial name: "Niko-2", 3, 4, etc.: he released the "Bloody Fist" series in 7 or 8 parts, where the hero is called each time differently. About his more successful series "Fire Fist" I already wrote, there plagiarism is more appropriate, but this is unlikely to make his films any better.
Thank you for reading and may the Force be with you.
Author: uranium
Especially for Fight-Films.Info
I learned about Wilson at the very end of the 80s, from a small article in the newspaper, which said that he lost a fight to Pole Marek Piotrowski! And the first film with his participation that I watched was “Future Impact” - a simple “trash movie” with an unexpectedly cool music!
Let's still treat people with respect. Yes, as a film actor he is downright bad. But don't forget, Don Wilson is a 10-time world kickboxing champion, if Google doesn't lie - in three weight categories! There are a couple of relatively good films with him in the genre of not bad films. Well, for example, KK-4, thanks to the colorful antagonist Gary Daniels, or “Black Belt”, where the good-natured Mathias Hughes acted as a nasty bastard. You can also add the trashy "Night Stalker", here Wilson tried to jump from third-rate films to 2,5-rate ones. Not a bad start, vampires are martial arts masters, but the camera work....Aw-Aw-Aw-poor.
The above-mentioned “Full Contact” with Trimble still evokes pleasant emotions, somehow cinematic, but true. All these nunchak punches to the face without leaving a trace, the ssbbw head is a bastard, on the one hand it’s insanity, but you look at it and it’s interesting...probably magic :-)
Elbrus NUKite,
Stop. No one questions his athletic achievements. For his outstanding fighting career, we all respect him and take our hats off to him. But, as they say, one should not confuse personal damage with public damage: his work as a screen fighter, even in comparison with the work of his contemporaries, is of very low quality. Wilson simply can't.
Elbrus NUKite,
Read my reviews of Circle of Fire, where I treated Wilson better. Also, to the advantages of his films should be added a large number of fights, often normal - but in comparison with modern films.
Regarding “10-time world champion” - this is understandable and does not detract from his merits. BUT - I evaluate the movie and his work in it, that is, the pleasure received from the movie and the pity of the time spent on this film.
I watched Black Belt for a long time, I remember this cardboard fight with Hughes. This is a watchable film, but not more than a watchable one.
Uranus, I keep wanting to ask: why...Wilson?
Ravenside,
As a child, I watched a lot of good stuff with him. Daniels. Wincott, Trimble. Right now I decided to refresh my memory before the showdown in Manila. A retsukha is being prepared against Daniels.
I agree with the author - "Bloody Fist 1" is trash! and in general, Wilson somehow moves awkwardly in movie battles...
I recommend its clone - "Full Contact" 1993, where Jerry Trimble, the plot is the same, but there are better fights!
There are also “Dragons’ Fire” and “Bloody Fist 2050” on this topic (revenge for one’s brother).
Vladimir,
I saw Trimlovsky, sooooo long ago, I need to refresh my memory.
I watched all 8 parts. In my opinion, the best part is about the prison, the characters there are more interesting
Mery,
Maybe I'll get there.
uranium,
It will be Bloody Fist 3: Forced Duel, starring the colorful actor Richard Roundtree.
Mery,
Thanks, I'll take it into account and take a look.
For me, the film is good.
Russell Khyle,
After a number of action films by Daniels, Wincott and the Circle of Fire series by the same Wilson, the film is weak. And again, I will not forgive the film for losing Blanks.