Courtesy of moviegoods.com

Haha…For you movie buffs, this is indeed Ogre from the Revenge of the Nerds movie series.

Supposedly this film was based on the true life story of Frank Dux. I’ve read from different sources that the story was fabricated or was completely made up. I don’t really know, but this movie came out during an era where martial arts films were action packed and bad acting wasn’t such an obvious fixture as it probably is now. The martial arts films now are so bad they to go straight to video…well there are some exceptions notably Tony Jaa but I digress as this review is solely on that of BLOODSPORT.

The movie starts off with Frank Dux (an officer in the US Army played by Jean Claude Van Damme) working out in the gym when he gets called to report to his commander. His commander knew about the Kumite and his intentions of entering the secretive no holds barred tournament to represent his Shudoshi(sp) or basically his teacher who is ill.

This movie was Van Damme's breakthrough movie and started a string of action movies for him in the late 1980s through the 1990s that developed a pretty good following. The acting wasn't great but then again it never really is in a Van Damme movie or basically any other martial arts film. You tend to remember some of the lines and usually mock them. You know what I'm talking about...here are a few quotes from Bloodsport(not exact but about right):

"You a Jackson? You look like a Jackson. That must make you Frank Ducks." "No it's Duux." "Got it. Like put up your dukes right?"

"I was not going to steal it"

"Pick a brick. I got it. Bottom one. See not a scratch on it." "That is not Dim-mok." "Neither is this." <Jackson crushes brick on his head>

"Very good but brick not hit back"

"Whatsa problem?" "Haha, he says Senso Tanaka is his Shudoshi(sp)." "Whatsa difference if Bruce Springsteen is his Shudoshi(sp)?"


So anyways, this movie appears to be in a hidden location in Hong Kong. Frank Dux, the westerner is a relative unknown fighter enters this tournament to fight the best fighters representing every part of the world. He moves through each competitor very easily regardless of size or skill. Like every martial arts movie or video game in the 1980s, the challenger faces many opponents on his journey to fight the big boss or champion of some sorts. In this movie, Dux must face the reigning Kumite champion Chong Li (Bolo Yeung--muscle bound villain that was made famous by Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon and later appeared in JCVD's Double Impact).

The question is will he be able to defeat the other challengers along the way? Did Dux learn enough from his master where he can adjust to any fighting style he faces? (Sounds much like the sport of MMA huh?) Will his love interest disrupt his concentration and screw up his momentum towards the end? The U.S. Army is also after him since he went AWOL to fight in this tourney. Mucho distractions and obstacles for Frank Dux. I won’t tell you how it ends, but I’m sure you can figure it out.

Check out the obvious 1980-ish stuff from the movies:

1-Cheesy 80s music (although I like it)
2-80s fashion. (Jackson wearing jean jacket, stone washed blue jeans, and big high top sneakers) (Dux wearing dress pants that come up past the belly button. Come on...only people over 50 do that now if that)
3-Karate Champ video game. Simple...primitive...but awesome back then

I thought it was a great movie, but I’m a big fan or martial arts films and cheesy 80s flicks. This is one I can watch over and over again and recite some of the lines. TBS used to play this all the time…Versus now does. With that said, I’ll try my best to provide an unbiased rating.

Sponge Rating: 6/10 sponges

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