Kickboxer: Retaliation (2018) Reviews

• This should stop

  edwindare2018-02-09

  I absolutely love JCVD. He's one of my movie heroes and I'll pay to watch anything he's in... But this one is quite bad. Horrible script with even worse dialogues. You can't help but laugh at some parts. Not even JCVD's charisma, and Tyson's guest appearance can make the almost 2 hours of the movie any less painful. I watched the first Kickboxer when I was a kid and it was one of my favorite movies, so it is quite sad to see the state the franchise is in nowadays. I mean, seriously, the final fight scene?? It is as grotesque as it is unreal haha To sum things up: ---- Spoilers ahead ---- Kurt is trying to make a name for himself on MMA, gets kidnapped by Plummer's character (horrible acting, by the way), and is forced to fight a Mongkut ("The Mountain" from Game of Thrones) after he punches Kurt's wife into a coma with a punch to the stomach (wtf?!?!? hahaha). Like, absolutely no story, no motive, and oh, Mongkut is supposed to revenge Tong Po for also absolutely no reason! No connection to him what-so-ever. And his "trainer" is a nerdy "scientist" that keeps injecting him with adrenaline shots. Oh lord, what a mess. Please don't waste your time unless you're JCVD huge fan like I am.

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• Great Finale

  schizoshua2018-05-21

  So I'm sure if you sat through the whole movie you probably won't be as entertained as I was. I fell asleep early in the movie but woke up for one of the best fights I've ever seen in a movie had a rocky feeling to it except the fight was to the death so made it even better so it's at least worth watching the final fight you don't even have to know what is going on or what the movie is about to get entertainment from the final fight, I mean 400 lbs of Muscle.

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• Far better than the previous chapter, Kickboxer: Retaliation delivers spectacular fun!

  asenstoyan4ev2018-01-26

  The flick really surprised me. It contains some well-choreographed action scenes and the storytelling is very intense. Alain Moussi is a great choice as Kurt Sloan. The man is very skilled in martial arts and boy, this is visible on the screen. The whole cast is superb. I really liked the cameo of Ronaldinho and how he throw balls at Kurt Sloan. There are some quality fight scenes with Mike Tyson as well and JCVD is simply grea as Master Durand. His character is witty and well-written. Jean-Claude proves that he still got the moves! There are many MMA stars that appear in the movie as well and this powers the whole fun. What makes the flick utterly entertaining is the almost half an hour long final one on one scenes between Alain Moussi and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, a.k.a. the Moutain from Game of Thrones. This is arguably one of the most terrific one on one fighting scenes that I have recently watched. To wrap it all up, Kickboxer: Retaliation is not a perfect movie but it is more than satisfying and if you are a fan of the quality martial arts actioners, this one won't dissapoint you.

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• Another unoriginal and low IQ martial arts movie.

  JDreviews1012018-01-28

  Guess what? The same story that has been told over and over again is told here once more. It brings absolutely nothing new to the table. It just feels like another soulless and rubbish attempt at rebooting the style of the 80's martial arts classics, and this one in particular falls very short. Not worth watching. PROS: * Somewhat acceptable directing - nothing special, but at least most of the shots and action sequences are ok. * Sets and scenery fit just about fine with the story - production design is suitable. * Fighting sequences are pretty average but have the right balance between flashiness and realistic combat. Always grateful to the martial artists that work in these films and their commitment to the entertainment industry. CONS: * Weird transitions between some of the scenes and choppy editing are a big distraction that makes the movie look bad. * Goofy in-movie subtitles (words in different colors and sizes) are unnecessary and very distracting. This particularly makes the movie look amateurly made. * Bad acting all the way through - line delivery is extremely cringy and painfully weak. * Terrible writing - lines are extra cheesy and utterly laughable. Arguably an 8th grader could've written a better script. The movie obviously relies in making dumb excuses all the way through to keep some of the action and unnecessary fighting scenes going. * It brings absolutely nothing new to the genre - makes it another forgettable and sadly unoriginal martial arts film.

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• ludicrous script and ham acting

  makka-009552018-03-16

  I guess, nobody should expect much of movies like this, or be surprised when they don't deliver. This latest effort in the Kickboxer franchise is nothing new. Same old story-line. The movie has a great opening few minutes, very well shot action scenes, but then it descends into the usual farcical weaknesses - mainly the poor acting, direction, script and plain barmy plot. The fight sequences are quite well shot, but more attention is given to them than the actual acting and this leaves you not believing in it. Christopher Lambert looks like burst settee for much of the movie; our hero has no acting ability and Van Damme looks absolutely ludicrous. Lots of sequences and characters were plainly stolen from other movies; we have the mirror smashing scene from Enter the Dragon and Van Damme plays his role as mr miyagi, from Karate Kid. No matter that he is totally blind, he makes his way around the world, appearing to be able to see perfectly well, without eyes. So, the plot.... Well, our fighter is asked to fight a 6ft 10 inch 400lb fighter (they've added an inch to his real size for effect), when he refuses, they kidnap his girlfriend and put him in jail until he accepts. There, he is befriended by a ludicrously wacky set of prisoners, including Mike Tyson and Mr Van Damme, who for some reason sucks on a smokeless pipe for the whole movie. I suppose the hat and sunglasses mask how bad he is looking of late, but the pipe is a mystery? I don't need to spoil the ending, as I think you will have worked that one out already. There are lots of improbable characters, overplayed and badly acted - there isn't one who I can say comes out of the movie with any credibility on that score. Even Mr. Lambert doesn't convince as the baddy. This movie will appeal to anyone who likes mindless violence and can ignore the rest of the important stuff.... such as acting. It will also be attractive to the criminally insane and anyone with an IQ below 40. It's watchable, but you will find yourself open-mouthed at the sheer stupidity of it all sometimes. It does make you chuckle quite a lot. The huge fighter that our hero is to fight, is well-known to strongest man fans, but despite his impressive stature, occasionally he looks frighteningly like Ricky Gervais. It's really all stitched together with shamelessly stolen scenes and ideas from a lot of other movies over the years; ones far better done than this! I gave it a four, because I watched it all, but I was close to turning it off after about 15 minutes, because the acting was so appalling.

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