Did the people who bought the rights to make and more importantly the people who wrote this movie even see the first movie. It's not exactly a remake but at the same time with the title of the movie you'd expect it to be a sequel as let's face it who seriously watched Kickboxer 2 or any of them without JCVD while JCVD decided he would rather make bombs such as street fighter and Double Team. It really feels like they wanted it to be a remake but it isn't, yes there is a difference of Reboot and Remake but still it's too different and a lot of these modern cliches in movies today that are why a lot of movies from this era won't age well. It's like a direct for TV adaptation at best to the original movie it's like one of those lower budget Hallmark movies where almost everyone is pretty and or handsome. Sure not everyone is going to have seen the first Kickboxer movie from 1989 so they may think this is an original idea but the characters names are not even different. It would be like making a prequel to Rocky Balboa and making Sylvester be Mickey. The whole entire movie everyone will be calling Sly Rocky and not whoever they get to be Rocky.
The fights for the most part are pretty well done, there isn't just one or two. No this is kick boxer there is more than 3 or 4. Yet of course it's one of those YOU CAN DO IT movies so our hero has to lose a majority of the fights. There is a fine line between being Steven Seagal and this. Dave. Bautista.did a pretty good job he doesn't seem out of place but seriously why didn't they give him more of a back story saying he's the Tong Po from the original movies son or .. or .. hear me out, JCVD could have trained his son who has been in a lot of JCVD movies to fight Tong Po's son. That would have been much better than this nonsense. Sort of like what Sly did with Creed. They did a great job making Tong Po be hated.
The movie score is very mid to late 2000s which fits as it's when the movie was made but no iconic theme instead we get some forgetful rap song by I'm going to call the rapper "Biggie Dollar Stores" (not Biggie Smalls). There is no memorable chorus, no beat you'll have stuck in your head. Just someone talking good. Wow. I can listen to the odd hip hop song or two but that was just lazy. Was it one of the directors friends? A big rapper in Thailand who would do it for cheap? The person who scored the movie for the ambient and instrumental parts did a really poor job. It gives it this B movie at best feel.
The "Fighters" who are the brothers look more like underwear models or homosexual lovers than fighters. I didn't take them seriously at all. Tong Po would have destroyed him in a real fight. However I do admire how he goes to Tong Po for revenge first and he gets beaten and then goes to JCVD. Of course the hottest cop is there to help him and speaks English and of course... of course.. has to sleep with him. At least they are about the same age I'll give some credit where it's due.
There are some great shots of Thailand and the locations and choice of colors give the movie a nice look. This movie is like a pretty girl who is dumb if I was to describe it.
In the first scene JCVD seems out of place, tired and doesn't want to be there. I'm surprised he said yes to this movie considering for the longest time he didn't do sequels. This should have happened 20-25 years ago instead of now but instead we got about 7 sequels from that kickboxer series without JCVD. Of course JCVD trains Kurt in a way where a majority is just him punching bags, running up stairs and all himself. The closest to a sparring partner for the first bit of the movie is with his "girlfriend". JCVD won't take his stupid fedora and sunglasses off for a majority of the movie to the point you could take a shot every time he takes them off. It's like he's hiding his wrinkles and iconic forehead bump or is ashamed that he doesn't want to be known or seen that he's in the movie like he's embarrassed like NO DON'T LOOK AT ME. Is it just me or are there certain parts it seems JCVD is overdubbed? This gives me some Tommy Wiseau flower shop in The Room vibes. Especially in that He's just a man quote.
The only time besides the last fight and beating some defenseless cops up in a police station Kurt (the main character) does really well in is when he's fighting against what I jokingly refer to Thai-sis. This movie really reminded me of the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie for how often the hero loses fights.
It takes forever but our hero finally spars with someone with their clothes on. For some reason all the breaking stuff feels like a karate demonstration in some dive mall to get people to sign up where they break half sawn boards and all even a white belt could break. I don't understand the unnecessary scene where Kurt (the hero) is tied to a bed and it's essentially man on man bondage. For the most part i didn't understand why they rained with swords because it would be like training playing basketball to win the Stanley cup or something silly.
Kurt the main character in this movie looks so out of place. He looks too "every man". Too generic like something that comes out of a photo copier. He doesn't have that star look to him. After training which should have been a few months or so instead of what was like a one or two week Thai vacation you'd think he would look stronger and scarier but you can tell this movie they didn't take long to shoot or something. The love scene where you very briefly see "hot cops" boobs did they really have to do some cuts and secondary takes. I'd make some filthy jokes but yeah.
What kills me is the escape from Thai jail part. It's like some spiderman nonsense. Plus beating up all the cops? Yet by now Kurt won maybe 2 or 3 fights how are you confident in your pupil JCVD. Yet some reason he can escape from this place where even a 14 year old would know this is a bad idea. I'm surprised none of the Thai cops shot Kurt or JCVD. Why does he still have his stupid fedora in jail? Don't they remove his stuff? I guess the logic is oh yeah you're ready to fight Tong Po (JCVD signature laugh), you beat a bunch of tiny skinny cops up. Did he send the entire police force to the hospital?
I'll give the movie some credit the gore at the last fight was pretty good. Yet does the movie really need the guy speaking between rounds in the last big fight where it's clearly in Thailand with Thai people and the guy speaking to the crowd between fights speaks English. I guess this is fan service but still. Why the heck are Muay Thai people fighting with swords? This isn't Mortal Kombat. The only thing Kurt looks like he can take more than Tong Po is phallus. Anyone notice how Kurt couldn't even do a proper throw on Tong Po they just cut it. Plus those awful jump kicks. Though the ending was pretty satisfying. That's all I can really say without spoilers.
I do wonder how well the movie would be made if it was re-written and of course they didn't get Dave Bautista to be in it as I'm sure that is where at least 1/4 of the movies budget went. Would I see this again? No.
The fights for the most part are pretty well done, there isn't just one or two. No this is kick boxer there is more than 3 or 4. Yet of course it's one of those YOU CAN DO IT movies so our hero has to lose a majority of the fights. There is a fine line between being Steven Seagal and this. Dave. Bautista.did a pretty good job he doesn't seem out of place but seriously why didn't they give him more of a back story saying he's the Tong Po from the original movies son or .. or .. hear me out, JCVD could have trained his son who has been in a lot of JCVD movies to fight Tong Po's son. That would have been much better than this nonsense. Sort of like what Sly did with Creed. They did a great job making Tong Po be hated.
The movie score is very mid to late 2000s which fits as it's when the movie was made but no iconic theme instead we get some forgetful rap song by I'm going to call the rapper "Biggie Dollar Stores" (not Biggie Smalls). There is no memorable chorus, no beat you'll have stuck in your head. Just someone talking good. Wow. I can listen to the odd hip hop song or two but that was just lazy. Was it one of the directors friends? A big rapper in Thailand who would do it for cheap? The person who scored the movie for the ambient and instrumental parts did a really poor job. It gives it this B movie at best feel.
The "Fighters" who are the brothers look more like underwear models or homosexual lovers than fighters. I didn't take them seriously at all. Tong Po would have destroyed him in a real fight. However I do admire how he goes to Tong Po for revenge first and he gets beaten and then goes to JCVD. Of course the hottest cop is there to help him and speaks English and of course... of course.. has to sleep with him. At least they are about the same age I'll give some credit where it's due.
There are some great shots of Thailand and the locations and choice of colors give the movie a nice look. This movie is like a pretty girl who is dumb if I was to describe it.
In the first scene JCVD seems out of place, tired and doesn't want to be there. I'm surprised he said yes to this movie considering for the longest time he didn't do sequels. This should have happened 20-25 years ago instead of now but instead we got about 7 sequels from that kickboxer series without JCVD. Of course JCVD trains Kurt in a way where a majority is just him punching bags, running up stairs and all himself. The closest to a sparring partner for the first bit of the movie is with his "girlfriend". JCVD won't take his stupid fedora and sunglasses off for a majority of the movie to the point you could take a shot every time he takes them off. It's like he's hiding his wrinkles and iconic forehead bump or is ashamed that he doesn't want to be known or seen that he's in the movie like he's embarrassed like NO DON'T LOOK AT ME. Is it just me or are there certain parts it seems JCVD is overdubbed? This gives me some Tommy Wiseau flower shop in The Room vibes. Especially in that He's just a man quote.
The only time besides the last fight and beating some defenseless cops up in a police station Kurt (the main character) does really well in is when he's fighting against what I jokingly refer to Thai-sis. This movie really reminded me of the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie for how often the hero loses fights.
It takes forever but our hero finally spars with someone with their clothes on. For some reason all the breaking stuff feels like a karate demonstration in some dive mall to get people to sign up where they break half sawn boards and all even a white belt could break. I don't understand the unnecessary scene where Kurt (the hero) is tied to a bed and it's essentially man on man bondage. For the most part i didn't understand why they rained with swords because it would be like training playing basketball to win the Stanley cup or something silly.
Kurt the main character in this movie looks so out of place. He looks too "every man". Too generic like something that comes out of a photo copier. He doesn't have that star look to him. After training which should have been a few months or so instead of what was like a one or two week Thai vacation you'd think he would look stronger and scarier but you can tell this movie they didn't take long to shoot or something. The love scene where you very briefly see "hot cops" boobs did they really have to do some cuts and secondary takes. I'd make some filthy jokes but yeah.
What kills me is the escape from Thai jail part. It's like some spiderman nonsense. Plus beating up all the cops? Yet by now Kurt won maybe 2 or 3 fights how are you confident in your pupil JCVD. Yet some reason he can escape from this place where even a 14 year old would know this is a bad idea. I'm surprised none of the Thai cops shot Kurt or JCVD. Why does he still have his stupid fedora in jail? Don't they remove his stuff? I guess the logic is oh yeah you're ready to fight Tong Po (JCVD signature laugh), you beat a bunch of tiny skinny cops up. Did he send the entire police force to the hospital?
I'll give the movie some credit the gore at the last fight was pretty good. Yet does the movie really need the guy speaking between rounds in the last big fight where it's clearly in Thailand with Thai people and the guy speaking to the crowd between fights speaks English. I guess this is fan service but still. Why the heck are Muay Thai people fighting with swords? This isn't Mortal Kombat. The only thing Kurt looks like he can take more than Tong Po is phallus. Anyone notice how Kurt couldn't even do a proper throw on Tong Po they just cut it. Plus those awful jump kicks. Though the ending was pretty satisfying. That's all I can really say without spoilers.
I do wonder how well the movie would be made if it was re-written and of course they didn't get Dave Bautista to be in it as I'm sure that is where at least 1/4 of the movies budget went. Would I see this again? No.