Bloodfist II (1990) Concorde/Action RT: 85 minutes Rated R (martial arts violence, language, brief nudity, drugs) Director: Andy Blumenthal Screenplay: Catherine Cyran Music: Nigel Holton Cinematography: Bruce Dorfman Release date: October 12, 1990 (US) Cast: Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Rina Reyes, Jose Mari Avellana, Robert Marius, Maurice Smith, Tim Baker, James Warring, Richard Hill, Steve Rodgers, Monsour Del Rosario, Manny Samson, Jing Castaneda, Archie Ramirez, Ned Hourani. Box Office: $1.2M (US)
Rating: ***
Don “The Dragon” Wilson is back in Bloodfist II, the sequel to his starring debut feature in which he plays kickboxing champ Jake Raye. It’s the only sequel in the entire eight-film oeuvre that has any connection at all with the first movie. The connection begins and ends with the main character’s name. The events of the previous film are never referred to at any point. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the Multiverse has something to do with it, but it’s not that. It’s more about producers Roger Corman and Cirio H. Santiago looking to turn a profit by luring in the same folks who made the first movie one of the most popular video rentals of the year.
According to Wikipedia, Bloodfist II did receive a limited theatrical release in October 1990. I guess Philadelphia was off limits because it never played here. I’m not sure when it came out on video because I didn’t bother with it. I wasn’t impressed with the first Bloodfist and saw no point in continuing with the series. A recent rewatch of the original changed my mind on the matter. I’ve decided to make my way through the whole series. I’ll be watching one every weekend. This past Saturday night, it was the second movie. I liked it.
Our story opens with Jake deciding to retire from the sport of kickboxing after killing his drugged-up opponent in the ring. If said opponent looks familiar, it’s because he’s Ned Hourani (Black Cobra 3) who played Jake’s brother in the first movie, the one whose death he avenges. A year later, Jake gets a call from his friend and former manager Vinny (UFC champ Smith) who needs his help or so he claims. It seems he ran into some trouble with crime lord Su (Avellana, Death Force) in Manila and needs Jake to bail him out. Altogether now, IT’S A TRAP! He no sooner leaves the airport when he’s jumped several times before being led right into the waiting hands of Su’s guys.
Jake’s captors take him and some other fighters to Su’s private island where he runs his criminal empire from a mansion-fortress he calls “Paradise”. This is where we meet Don’s “co-stars”. Just like the original, Bloodfist II boasts a group of champion martial artists whose titles are shown under their names in the opening credits. We hear their credentials again when Su sizes them up upon their arrival. Unlike the guys in the first movie, these guys have actual dialogue thus proving their talents lie solely in their fists and feet. Are you the least bit surprised?
ANYWAY, Su informs them that he brought them to Paradise to participate in an illegal gladiator tournament. In a nutshell, this means no rules and fighting to the finish. Jake manages to escape during a melee on the dock. Naturally, he returns later to rescue his compadres only to be recaptured and forced to fight. And what of Vinny? He’s in on it with Su thereby ensuring a final to-the-death duel between Jake and his former pal. Oh, one other thing. Su’s fighters have been injected with a new kind of steroid that renders them impervious to pain. Jake and his friends are essentially bait animals. The drug might help stave off pain, but it doesn’t make the user indestructible as proven by the outcome of some of the matches. Let’s just say Su isn’t a happy scumbag.
Wait until you get a load of Su’s main henchman. It’s a German guy named Dieter (Marius, Alien from the Deep), a bespectacled buffoon who’d be right at home with Schultz on Hogan’s Heroes. He looks like a more comical version of Ronald Lacey’s villain in Raiders of the Lost Ark. This is the guy sent by Su to deal with problems like Mariella (Reyes, Delta Force 2), the female associate who led Jake to be captured in Manila. She’s since had a change of heart. Fortunately for our newly minted heroine, dumb Dieter doesn’t know what to do with a girl like Mariella.
Is it even necessary to comment on the acting in Bloodfist II? It’s exactly the level of acting you’d expect from a cheapie martial arts actioner from Concorde. Wilson is a little better in this second outing, but only because he looks a little surer of himself this time. He still has serious moves. In a gem of a scene, he jump-kicks a punching ball off its chain and sends it flying into a sparring ring where it knocks over one of the fighters. It was the best and only way to get the attention of the fellow (Baker) who tries to blow him off when he asks about Vinny.
Reyes is no Meryl Streep, but she can rock silver spandex like no one else. Avellana is okay playing a typical martial arts movie villain. He’s like a low-rent version of Han from Enter the Dragon. The other top-billed martial artists are Maurice Smith, James Warring, Timothy Baker and Richard Hill. Smith has the range of a wooden spoon playing the duplicitous Vinny. To his credit, he has mad fighting skills. So do the others. It’s too bad the fight choreography tends to look staged.
Bloodfist II is directed by some chap named Andy Blumenthal. This is his only directorial effort. He was previously the second unit director on Time Trackers (1989) and Dance of the Damned (1989). He hasn’t made another movie since. He does a serviceable job on Bloodfist II. He keeps things moving by giving us a fight scene every five minutes. The screenplay by the late Catherine Cyran (Slumber Party Massacre III) is one of those Identikit jobs with all the usual characters and story developments. There are no surprises here, not even the revelation involving Mariella’s true relationship with Su.
There’s a certain amount of charm to be found in action cheapies like Bloodfist II. Corman, true to form, didn’t spend a ton of money on it. I don’t have an exact figure, but surely it couldn’t exceed half a million (or $500K). I have more fun watching movies like this than the Hollywood noisefests that cost the studios hundreds of millions of $$$. But you know this. I’ve said it countless times. I sound like a broken record. Why don’t I just leave it at this: I like Bloodfist II and I’m looking forward to the third one next weekend.
