Review of Kickboxer 2: The Road Back

...........sadly this film is not it.While I admit to watching this film several times,I really think that like most sequels to stand alone movies it suffers from lack of a good plot device,when the main character of the first movie is conveniently disposed of in flash back and quite easily at that and a new hero is introduced as a previously unmentioned brother you know that you are in trouble. I really enjoyed the first film I thought it was great,definitely one of Van Dammes best,and I wonder how this would've been had he returned for it but alas he wasn't offered enough money and passed on it. Sasha Mitchell came in as the lead and went for 3 films until his character was unceremoniously dumped at the start of Kickboxer 5 Redemption in much the same manner as Van Dammes was in this one.Sasha tries hard and isn't too bad its just the script let's him down. Peter Boyle must've needed the paycheque and Michael Qissi ( Van Dammes real life good mate) return's as Tong Po the Thai Kickboxing champion. Its not a bad way to waste n hour and a half of your life but its an hour and a half you could be wasting re-watching the original Kickboxer