Shootfighter was a succesful but also overlooked fighting tournament movie of a genre that was mainly focusing on Van Damme and eastern martial artists like Jackie Chan. The brilliance is that it had the production value of a mainstream movie, but it was made with and for martial arts fanatics.
This was noticable in the horrible acting, but that never bothered the movie. What made this movie special, is that unlike movies such as Karate Kid where the lead star had like zero experience, the martial arts in Shootfighter felt authentic and it kickstarted the stunt careers of various actors, before the age of Power Rangers, Mortal Kombat and WMAC Masters.
So if you want to know what started decent martial arts movies? Sure, it was Van Damme's Bloodsport, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, but also Shootfighter.
This was noticable in the horrible acting, but that never bothered the movie. What made this movie special, is that unlike movies such as Karate Kid where the lead star had like zero experience, the martial arts in Shootfighter felt authentic and it kickstarted the stunt careers of various actors, before the age of Power Rangers, Mortal Kombat and WMAC Masters.
So if you want to know what started decent martial arts movies? Sure, it was Van Damme's Bloodsport, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, but also Shootfighter.