Released: August 1991
Director: Lucas Lowe
Rated R
Run Time: 99 Minutes
Distributor: Imperial Entertainment
Genre: Action/Martial Arts
Cast:
Loren Avedon: Jake Donahue
Richard Jaeckal: Captain O’Day
Don Stroud: Anderson
Billy Blanks: Khan
Sherrie Rose: Molly
Keith Cooke: Prang
Anybody who knows me will know that I love an awesome action flick. Whether it’s Terminator, Enter The Dragon, or Die Hard, I’m a sucker for hard-hitting action. Action movies have changed and evolved over the years. Martial arts movies in particular have gotten progressively more impressive in terms of fight choreography, acting, and story-telling. The 90s was a particularly interesting decade for the genre, though. There were a lot of great big-budget action flicks throughout the decade, but some of the more memorable films either got smaller releases or managed to not get theatrically released at all. Now, some of the lesser known action movies that were released during the 90s included films like Perfect Weapon, Double Impact, and Showdown in Little Tokyo. There was a very little known action flick during that time called The King of the Kickboxers that I thought I liked when I was a kid, but as an adult, not so much.
The film begins as a kickboxing champion and his brother, Jake, are brutally attacked by a ruthless martial artist named Khan(KHAAAAAN!…..sorry, I had to.), leaving Jake’s brother dead. Ten years later, Jake is an undercover cop when he’s given an assignment in Thailand to investigate a slew of illegal movies being that involve actual people being killed. Reluctant to take on the assignment, Jake discovers that one of the “actors” is the guy who murdered his brother(KHAAAAAN!!). Discovering that he is out of his league when it comes to….Khan(yeah, not doing it again.), he is pointed in the direction of Prang, an expert fighter who survived his encounter with Khan. This kind of story is part and parcel for this kind of low-budget action flick during the early 90s. In the hands of better film-makers, it could have worked better, but it really didn’t work here. This is about as “by-the-numbers” martial arts flick as you can get: Hero loses loved one at an early age. Hero grows up to be a gruff and gritty cop. Hero discovers Villain who killed said loved one is still alive. Hero goes to train. Damsel is captured and is in distress. Mentor is killed. Hero fights Villain. Hero wins. Villain dies. Things blow up. The end. That might sound cynical, but that’s really how it was in a lot of films that came out during that decade. Again, had it been directed by somebody like say…Sheldon Lettich or Mark DiSalle at the time, The King of the Kickboxers might have been better than it actually was.
The acting. Oh, god, the acting. It’s bad. Really, really, bad. I mean, look at that clip. I’m not placing the entire blame on the cast here, but they went so overboard with the acting, it’s hilarious. Loren Avedon is a fantastic martial artist and he’s done some decent action flicks, but an Oscar-winner he is not. Nobody in the cast is. I will say this for Billy Blanks, though. He’s got some serious presence and is also an excellent martial artist. If you don’t know who Billy Blanks is, think Tae-Bo. I’ve seen his stuff before and he was very impressive during the 90s. Keith Cooke is the only who seems to be in on the joke as Prang, but he’s clearly having a blast. Sherrie Rose plays Molly, but is nothing more than eye-candy and a love interest for Loren’s character. What about the fight scenes? They aren’t terrible, but the camera-work is awful. Prang’s fight with the thugs at his hut is one of the highlights of the film. The fight between Jake and Khan at the end of the film is also pretty decent, but it isn’t helped by the atrocious acting and direction.
The writing by Keith W. Strandberg is awful, as you can imagine. The dialogue is unbelievable. Not only that, the dubbing is painfully obvious and horrendous. I love B movies as much as the next guy, but King of the Kickboxers is just too awful for me to handle. I think the only way you could really enjoy this movie is by turning it into a drinking game. Seriously, grab your buddies and have a drink every time one of the actors screams or makes ridiculous faces……on second thought, don’t. I don’t want to think that I would be responsible for one of my readers getting alcohol poisoning because I suggested such a thing. The cinematography is garbage and the sets and costume designs are ludicrous. Aside from some of the fight scenes, is there really anything good about this movie? No. I can’t even imagine why I loved this movie as a kid. I hadn’t seen it in over 25 years, but that was because I couldn’t find it anywhere. I think there’s a reason for that. It’s not worth finding. It’s on Amazon Prime Video right now, but watch the credits. There’s a subtitle basically describing it as a DVD rip. Basically, they are playing a pirated copy of the film, which has been out of print, so legally speaking, it’s a bit of a gray area. Still, I would avoid it. There are better Billy Blanks and Loren Avedon movies out there, if you happen to be a fan of those actors.
My Final Recommendation: KHAAAAAAAANNN! 4/10.