The Last Kumite

Wanna go back to the 80ties classic martial art movies. When you watched as a kod it was amazing and inspiring. Okay I admit once an adult those movies look and feel a bit cheesy. But that can also be the fun of it. Good vs evil. The 80ties style music and all the old stars from back in the day make this movie a fun popcorn adventure. Slow motion training sequences. A big bad guy and his monstrous bad boy fighter. All against the backdrop of some european locations. Its fun to watch! The movie was produced by a first time producer who runs a youtube channel for 80ties martial art movies. Not bad at all.

This film is so cheesy and if you never knew what year it was made in you would think it was in the 80's. The acting is very very poor and the plot is obvious from start to finish. With all that said this was a very entertaining watch which had me glued to the screen and had throw back nostalgia all the way through. This film was a cross between kickboxer with Van damn and Enter the Dragon with the late great Bruce Lee - in referring to the story line plot and not the quality of fighter by the way! If you are an old school martial art fan and want a quick action film then look no further!!

I understand this was a kickstarter funded film wanting to go back to the 80's style of martial arts movies but this was just poor. Ok you can't get the best actors, martial arts stars but the script/storytelling is so basic it just feels like no effort was put in whatsoever. There is nothing in this that even remotely seems like effort was involved. It is the paint by numbers version of a martial arts movie which would be fine if it was made on tight budget by a studio but this was crowd funded yet so little effort was put in. It's not unwatchable but it is also just poor even for 'this' type of movie.

When Karate champion Michael Rivers wins the last tournament of his career, shady businessman Ron Hall offers him the opportunity to fight in an illegal Kumite in Bulgaria against the world's best martial artists. When Michael declines, Hall has his daughter kidnapped and, in order to rescue her, Rivers is left with no choice but to compete in the deadly tournament. Arriving in Bulgaria, he finds out that he is not the only fighter whose loved one was taken. Rivers enlists the help of trainers special guest star Master Tai Bo, and special guest star China O' Brien, but will it be enough for him to win the tournament and save his daughter's life?..... For a lot of people, much like myself, Friday night at the video store was a huge part of my growing up, and my love of the movies. Yes, I love Terence Malick, and the films of Wim Wenders, but nothing gets my blood pumping when a star of the eightie's has a new film coming out. Stallone, Van Damme, Schwarzenegger, and sometimes even Seagal. Any film that had the word 'Kickboxer', 'American', or 'Revenge' in the title was a must, especially if there was a picture of some random bloke doing a roundhouse kick. And then we had the straight to video martial arts films, which always featured Bolo, Merhi, Blanks, Rothrock, and that weird looking bloke from Bloodsport 3 who was in The Matrix. All brilliant rubbish. But rubbish all the same. And if you were very lucky, David Carradine would pop up as the special guest villain. Here, we have what is essentially another Bloodsport, from the music, to the amazing songs, and then the lead up to the meat of the movie, the titular Kumite, hosted by Dark Angel, and a hulking bad guy, who likes to enter opponents bedrooms and look at them laying on their bed. Just to intimidate them. Watching this, I was constantly asking myself the question, 'how many past stars turned down this movie?'. They must've asked Van Damme, Dudikoff, Norris, Eric Douglas, Wilson, Dascascos et al. But it doesn't matter, if you're a fan of eighties action martial arts movies, this has it all. Wonderful fights, wonderful banter at the gym, training montages with Blanks laughing, even though his life is crushed, and Rothrock looking. Extremely. Plastic. But it's still Rothrock, and she kicks someone anyway. Everyone is having a ball, and I was too, it took me back to a time when life was simpler, and the hardest thing to do was realise that Bloodsport hadn't been rewound when you rented it out. It took me to a good place. If you love these films, you'll adore this.

Story: Karate champion Rivers (Mathis Landwehr) retires to avoid permanent injuries. Soon after, shady businessman Hall (Hues) offers him a huge prize to join a deadly Kumite tournament. Michael declines, but his daughter Bree (Kira Kortenbach) is kidnapped. To save her, Michael must enter the tournament. The film is as shallow and superficial as the story, with nonsensical dialogues. Fight scenes poorly choreographed, though Mike Möller's fights were a highlight. Others actors were shoddy and sluggish. This is not a B-Movie. A D-Movie. D for dreadful/disgraceful mess. Next time, Clarkson should bring Til Schweiger, and throw in Steven Seagal to complete the disaster! I give it 2 stars only because of Mike Möller and Michel Qissi.