| Kickboxer (1989) Cast:Jean-Claude Van Damme,Dennis Alexio,Dennis Chan,Michael Qissi Van Damme trains to fight a hulking kickboxer who maimed his brother in this better than average martial arts flick. Van Damme actually shows somewhat of a screen presence (Although he's a barely better actor than Steven Seagal) and is twice as expressive in the action scenes. Kickboxer is one of those movies that you rent and end up getting basically what you expect, however that's not to say this is a mediocre movie, Kickboxer's actionscenes are far too dynamic and suspenseful to consider this a standard offering from the genre. Let's face it Kickboxer outclasses almost every martial arts movie in the genre. It's really these scenes of martial artistry which really kickstart this movie. The story itself is certainly adequate for the genre and although Van Damme emotes slightly more than usual, his crying scene is far too over the top to take seriously. In fact everybody in this movie is hammy, with exception of Qissi and Chan, the former exceeds in his acting by screen presence alone while the latter provides welcome comic relief to the usually deadly serious sensei role. Movies like this aren't about acting, it's about two guys kickboxing the crap out of each other, these scenes are very good so that alone makes this worth watching. If anything else it remains a vast improvement over Van Damme's earlier clunker Cyborg, and years later remains Van Damme's best movie to date.D.Mark DiSalle ***1/2 |