User Reviews

The real star of "Only the Strong" is the capoeira style of Brazilian martial arts (which is the pre-cursor of many break dancing moves) exhibited throughout the film. There are many movies that concentrate on wushu, taekwondo, karate, aikido, and many others styles from different parts of the world, but capoeira movies are far and few between, which makes "Only the Strong" that much more unique.

The story is nothing short of rehashed and predictable; a well meaning soldier (Mark Dacascos) with martial arts background from his previous station in Brazil, comes back to the U.S. and attempts to take charge of the rebellious, rival students in a troubled neighbourhood. He attempts to give them a focus in life with the art of capoeira, which combines martial arts, music and dancing, as well as stressing teamwork between the players/fighters. The troublesome students take a while to be won over by Decascos efforts, but eventually play along.

Things get complicated when it turns out that one of the students is the son of a Portuguese gangster, a capoeira maestre himself, that is the terror of the town, leading to some battles and a showdown between the ruthless criminal and his followers and the well meaning teacher.

The acting and the story is sub-par as mentioned previously, but this is , at the time of this writing, the only movie focusing on capoeira as a whole, and as such deserves a closer look by martial arts fans everywhere who are ready for something truly different.

this fil has to be the best 15 martial art film i have ever seen in my life. Mark Dacascos (who i first noticed in the film "drive") is absoultly incredible and has to be one of the best martial artists i have ever seen. The storry starts off with louis stevens (Dacascos) as a green baray in Brazil, and after spending many years there learns the art of Capoeira. He returns to his high school and starts a capoeira class and trains the 12 worst kids in the school the brazilian kung fu so they can protect themselfs against the drug dealers that are tearing the area apart and to give them something to strive for, this film has more flips and kicks than some films that are classed as " martial art" and i throughly enjoyed it. Highly recommend it to all fans of martial arts and check out "drive".

To understand 'Only The Strong' you have to know it was a thing in the early 90's to capitalize on the deteriorating public school system, teens, violence and temptation to drugs. This film - unlike other titles - wasn't kindly received. Critics and audiences didn't want a Karate Kid-like tale of teaching kids a martial art style known as capoeira to help overcome hardships.

The teacher is Louis Stevens (Mark Dacascos). An ex military man who picked up this art while on a tour of duty. I won't lie and tell you this film doesn't follow formula because it does. He inspires the teens when they witness him beat down some toughs on school property. Then a pilot program with the backing of Kerrigan (Geoffrey Lewis) who's a friend and teacher gets launched. There's the cliché resistant from the worst students to join him. Then the barriers come down.

An antagonist comes in the form of the local big time drug dealer Silverio (Paco Christian Prieto). Who doesn't like that he's losing his sway / workforce to Stevens. There's a steady progression of bonding with the students. Conflict with the baddies. A predictable romantic interest in a female teacher. Everything leading up to a big finale fight where everything hangs in the balance.

'Only The Strong' isn't bad. The message and it's form might be dated, but it's solidly made and features an upbeat tone, good music. Dacascos is in top condition both physical and with the martial arts. I saw this on late night tv in back in the 90's and thought it was decent. That thought remains today.

I thought Only the Strong was a great movie. I would love to learn the martial art. I thought that Ryan Bollman, as well as the rest of the cast, was wonderful. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a good movie. I loved this movie, and am currently trying to find it on video.

First off, the capoiera scenes in the movie are amazing! Capoiera is the Brazilian martial art designed to allow one to fight while in chains ergo the cartwheels and acrobatics. The music is a lot of fun too and the soundtrack is a lot of fun!

However, this is one of the worst offenders of movies that have thirty year old high school students - er - actors in their late 20s playing 16 year olds. The main character does a Michelle Pfeiffer-esque dangerous minds revolution in what is supposed to be the worst high school in LA by taking a group of the "worst" students and teaching them martial arts. Well these "worst" students actually just seem like wise cracking slackers and not all that bad. Many are just quiet and look bored. The bad guys in the movie are also capoiera experts. Who'd have thought there'd be a Brazilian capoiera gang right there in Los Angeles? Okay the movie is utterly unbelievable but the funnest thing about this movie is the blatantly thick overtones of homo-eroticism. Seriously it's just a crack up seeing these guys trying to act all macho while doing these martial arts. Perhaps it's bad acting combined with excess testosterone but it's a hoot to behold! Very much a party movie for your gay friends!

This is one of those films you can't help enjoying. It's light, fun, undemanding, and an absolute joy to watch. It might not be a gritty urban drama that deals sensitively with youth and alienation in high school, but then neither was "Heathers".

Cinema primarily exists to entertain, and "Only The Strong" does this in spades. Dacascos is the most graceful, watchable martial arts star since Brandon Lee, with an easy charisma that really comes across in a film like this and also the brilliant "Drive". The rest of the cast perform quite nicely as well. The plot and characterisation are admittedly 2-D, but what the hell, it's a 100% schmaltz-free feelgood movie.

Two of my friends actually took up Capoeira after watching this film. How's that for life-changing?

During the late 80's, early 90's a martial arts craze was happening in films, bringing us such films stars as Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme. When one of the lessor known straight-to-video stars, Mark Dacascos entered the game, he brought us something out of the box with this film which features the Brazilian fighting style, Capoeira. I love this movie so much it's one of my favorites, despite the fact that it does not really withstand the test of time.

Though the message of a Teacher from the hood coming back to his hood to teach the worst kids in his old school how to respect themselves so it will influence them to not let the streets consume them is timeless, the delivery of this message could not be more early 90's.

The acting was straight out of an after school special, and it feels like whoever wrote this movie was watching MTV while he did it, more concern with coming off cool rather than being actuate. Sure in the 90's this would all be more acceptable, but now it just seems cheesy in campy.

However, all this is does not matter, because in the heart of this flick it's a martial arts film, and this they got right. This movie made me obsessed with Capoeira for the next few years and even thought from this obsession I learned that the filmmakers took liberties with the fighting style, that does not matter, because the movie version of Capoeira makes this one of the best Martial art films made.

Watching Mark teach these kids how awesome Capoeira is, puts a smile on my face every time,and watching him use the fighting style for both self-defense and aggressively was just so cool. The filmmakers used low camera angles to really express the high flying kicks and flips. It was just mesmerizing and worth watching.

It does not have the same legs as the Karate kid has but using Capoeira gives this movie an originality that most other Martial arts films don't have.

ONLY THE STRONG

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Stereo SR

A former Green Beret (Mark Dacascos) is employed by his local high school to rehabilitate some of its worst students by teaching them the art of capoeira (a form of martial arts from Brazil, using dance-like moves). But his work brings him into conflict with a local drug lord (Paco Christian Prieto), whose operations are threatened by Dacascos' interference...

Predictable B-movie, elevated above the routine by virtue of its slick presentation and interesting cast (including Geoffrey Lewis), under the assured direction of Sheldon Lettich (DOUBLE IMPACT). The capoeira sequences are exotic and colorful, which blunts the impact of some pretty heavy fight scenes, and the script is alternately naive and obvious. However, the virtues are considerable: Ultra-buff Dacascos flaunts his pumped-up torso through a variety of tight-fitting vests (drool! slobber!), while ultra-cute Stacey Travis (the romantic interest) hovers around the periphery just long enough to temper the film's relentless macho swagger. Good, catchy music score, too.

A young ex-military man returns to former high school to find it in moral shambles. He gets an idea to try to help out a few of the worst behaved students in the school from his former teacher and mentor. It was rough going to get them involved in the program especially since the criminal family members of the kids were reluctant to let them go. Fights over that ensue But in the end good over evil wins!!!!!!!! I loved it. Especially being a mother myself I loved the storyline!

This movie proves that you don't need at huge budget, lots of well-known actors and all that to make a great movie. Even though it looks like this is made on a shoestring budget, they really managed to pull off a great martial arts movie here. They kept it easy and simple and focused on the fight scenes, and what fight scenes! They are very good, Marc Dacascos is great in it, and overall it was a very enjoyable experience from start to finish. The mix between martial art scenes and scenes progressing the feel-good story is perfect. Other action movies should take note of how this is done. Simple, standard, great action, you got it.

The acting levels are not high and the film looks like it was shot on a hamstring in Miami locations. Still Only The Strong has a good bit of entertainment going with it. Martial Arts film fans should be happy with it.

Geoffrey Lewis quite unofficially brings in former Special Forces captain Mark Dascascos for a karate program for some of his biggest challenges at an urban Miami high school he teaches at. Among those kids is Richard Coca, cousin of the neighborhood gang leader Paco Christian Prieto.

Though film isn't exactly Citizen Kane, Prieto is such a menacing presence you will remember him long after the rest of the film. Especially next to white bread hero Mark Dascascos.

Prieto doesn't like anyone telling the kids there's an alternative other than gang war for them. Especially when it involves Coca. Then it becomes downright personal.

Martial Arts film fans will love Only The Strong and others will be entertained.

When I say that I mean, the Bruce Lee flicks, the Chuck Norris flicks, The Karate Kid, Never Back Down, the various ninja movies, etc. Then I see this movie on HBO about Brazilian martial arts and was hooked from the beginning!

At first glance, you think it's a typical B-movie with a former or current Special Forces type going out to change the world. Then as you get into it, you see that there's some story to it! Yeah, it's predictable like some have said, but at least the writers attempted to make a watchable story. The Martial Arts choreography is great, especially if you haven't seen Brazilian Martial arts before!

Like someone also said, this is not Oscar material, but it's certainly entertaining. Whether it's Academy Award worthy or not, that's what a movie is supposed to be: ENTERTAINING. "Only the Strong" certainly delivers in entertainment and in my opinion should have it's place among Martial Arts movies!

All hail the 1990s and those wonderful low-budget STVs. In ONLY THE STRONG, a young Mark Dacascos plays a special forces veteran who returns home to find his old high school in total disarray. Plot sound familiar? In this formula actioner, Dacascos happens to know a unique style of of martial arts called capoeira, which combines gymnastics, dance and kung phooey. He selects the school's 12 worst students and teaches them capoeira in an abandoned firehouse. Problems arise when the cousin of one of the students, a vicious drug lord, interferes. The film was shot on a zero budget, but the capoeira sequences are breathtaking. Problem is, capoeira never caught on here, so at times, the whole thing looks a little silly and dated. Sort of like when XANADU came out after the rollerskating craze was already over or when the Village People starred in a disco movie after disco had been officially declared dead. Anyhow, watch this for the amazing leaps and spins and cartwheels if nothing else. Dacascos, A Hawaiian native, managed to survive this silly film and went on to a long career, including playing The Crow on TV and a kick-boxing Native American in the memorable French actioner, "Brotherhood of the Wolf."

Louis Stevens (Ex-Special Forces) returns to Miami to find his former high school overrun by drugs and violence. He pledges to straighten out a dozen of the school's worst students by teaching them Capoeira . The local drug lord vows to stop. Now Stevens must fight….

The film was shot on a zero budget. The story and plot are weak and predictable. The fighting scenes from Dacascos are great and the only decent acting comes from him. The story is a bit too sentimental at times and the whole thing of Capoeira changing the lives of these street kids doesn't bode much credibility,however the fight sequences are great.

You know whats going to happen to all the "bad" students as soon as you see them. But, this is still a very good movie. The style used is really amazing and fun to watch. The fights scenes are very good. Why this movie wasn't a big hit, I'll never know. It should have made Mark Dacascos a star.

This movie explores the Brazilian self defense dance capoeira which is not known much about unless you've seen it. Lewis(Dacascos)returns to the high school from which he came where he is hired to teach a group of delinquents capoeira in order to harness their otherwise bad habits. He runs into some serious problems with a leader of the gang and city, Silverio(Prieto). Lewis may be getting involved with a problem that he can't solve in this action/martial arts movie. "Only the Strong" brings to light a very interesting capoeira that is otherwise unknown to common knowledge. The soundtrack also deserves some attention if you have any respect for music around the world. This movie throws in the catchy music that introduces the unique berimbau instrument that is used during the jogo (the game). Overall, "Only the Strong" was a C+ to B- movie on the basis of knowledge gained from it and overall originality that it took to create it on a low budget.

This movie is simply quite incredible. The acting and dialog run on the cheesy side, and some of the fight choreography needs work, but just consider this a full length Capoeira advertisement. There is no denying the beauty and allure of this African cum Brazilian martial art. My only regret is that the producers saw a need to speed up some of the Capoeira play, as though it weren't impressive enough to stand on its own.

Plot and acting aside, the only real flaw with the movie is that the entire movie, they use a fairly accurate Capoeira fighting style with legs being the predominant weapons, but in the second half of the final fight scene, the fighting style completely shifts to a more street style involving only elbows and fists. While Rio style Capoeira incorporates these as a regular part of the style, it just doesn't fit in the movie at this point.

If you haven't seen this movie, rent it, then go find a Brazilian restaurant and watch a Capoeira/Samba/Lambada show. Then find a Capoeira mestre and start learning.

Many people I met, including me started taking capoeira (brazilian martial arts) classes thanks to this movie!)

All that I can say about this movie is that past greats like Bruce Lee (and even no-talent hacks like Jean-Claude Van Damme) are all brought down by this low-quality excuse for a movie. It is not worth the celluloid that was wasted producing it. About midway through the movie, one can not help but wish that Brazil had fallen off of South America, or better yet, that the plane with the Green Beret had simply been blown up mid-course. If you possibly can, avoid this horrid movie.

I think that the movie is awesome!!!!!!! It displays great skills as well as potential and understanding. In the movie...Luis Stevens ( Mark Dacascos ) teaches the guys,not only martial arts,but compassion and understanding towards each other. They are great actors who really fit the parts that were required......actors who really brought the characters to life. Just a few actors...i think,who did a great job and are worth mentioning....... Richard Coca,Mark Dacascos,Paco Christian Prieto,Ryan Bollman,Stacey Travis,Mark Cardwell.The others,although they are not mentioned.....have done a great job also. All in all........'Only The Strong'.......in my opinion is an action packed......thriller movie.It's a must see.I rate it 10.

Only The Strong is a 1993 martial arts film about a soldier who returns home and his attempt to help a group of troubled youths channel their negative energy into a positive through teaching them Capoeira. But when the local gang gets wind of what's going on they don't take to the change in their new recruits very well.

It's not the best martial arts movie out there, but I've always liked it. Even with its simple and cliche plot, I always thought it was an entertaining story with some pretty good fight scenes. Capoeira is a unique style of martial arts that you don't see represented in movies very often.

The cast is good even though their characters are pretty limited in development, and although another cliche, the inner city school setting works well for the characters to thrive in. If you like martial arts movies and haven't seen this before, then it should be right up your alley.

I've seen some bad movies in my time, but this one is one of the worst.

Having seen the film a few times, I would readily agree that, to the average viewer, it would seem to be little more than a non-descript, low budget effort, hardly worth the film it's printed on. However, Only the Strong stands apart as the only film to contain more than a few frames of (decent quality) Capoeira, the low-profile(?) Brazilian martial art. Dacascos, a talented athlete and an otherwise accomplished martial artist, but not a Capoeirista, does, in my opinion, a decent job out of performing some Capoeira moves, but it's the real Capoeiristas shown in the very beginning and very end of the film that make Only the Strong, a tribute to this wonderful martial art. To sum it up, a true gem for its Capoeira scenes, but an otherwise complete waste of time.

From the moment I saw this film, I thought… damn… what a cool film. And I haven't changed my opinion from that on. This film, by Sheldon Letich, one of those directors who are good at directing martial art stars in martial arts films. So… we are safe. The story is about young Louis (Dacascos) member of special forces in Brazil, where he trained capoeira. He returns home, to Miami to help his high school teacher (Geoffrey Lewis), who has problems (well not just him, but entire school) with problematic kids. They decided to teach capoeira to kids and made a special discipline program. But, the trouble rises when Louis founds out that one of the kids is related to a local gang lord, who is also a capoeira master and so… Louis takes the fight to protect the kids, school, and his girlfriend.

Now… the movie is simple, very simple and likable. First of all, as a martial artist myself, I think that this film offers a beautiful scenes of capoeira and excellent, well choreographed fight scenes. It also have that popular capoeira music, which is usually played in training scenes, the villains have their own dark theme for their "dark capoeira". No wonder so many capoeira students love this film. And I understand them. The movie offers a very beautiful atmosphere of Miami, good visuals… When it comes to the script, it's silly and simple, nothing to think about much… Mark Dacascos… well… of course, don't expect some fine acting from him, but he was brilliant in fighting scenes and this film remains one of the best in his career. Stacey Travis, who plays his girlfriend Dianna, I saw her in few low budget films, and… well, she pretty much sticks to similar performances, Geoffrey Lewis already did some martial arts films, but he is not martial artist, so he was good in his own element. There are also a lot of supporting cast actors who are likable, hated, or funny… you decide. And we have a villain Silverio, played by Paco Christian Prieto, I love this guy, a menacing and hilarious dude, the guy can't act worth of sh*t, but he made a terrific villain, and he performed some good martial arts moves too… but walking around, being a tough guy to Mark Dacascos's character… calling him "Santo", or "Hey, santo!"… that's a real comedy.

So, overall… watch this film, it's highly recommended, especially for capoeira students, or for most of them who love martial arts… I don't care if you don't like martial arts, this is a cool, relaxing film and it's good for playing during the summer with friends.

As part of sitting through a handful of Mark Dacascos movies, then I also came upon the 1993 action drama "Only the Strong". Now, this is a movie that I had not seen before, so of course I was interested to watch it.

I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into here, but boy, talk about a swing and a miss of a movie. Yeah, the whole concept of misbehaving school students that are picked up by a rough teacher just isn't my cup of tea. It has been done and seen before, and to a much more entertaining level than what writers Sheldon Lettich and Luis Esteban managed to churn out with the storyline for "Only the Strong".

Personally, I found this 1993 to be a boring and rather pointless movie. So I wasn't enjoying it, and it was a really difficult movie to sit through, especially since the storyline failed to appeal to me. And as for Mark Dacascos being in the movie, sure he was there, but this movie was not among his top work.

I am sure that viewers interested in the Brazilian martial arts style Capoera will get some enjoyment out of "Only the Strong". However, I sat down to watch the movie for the entertainment value of a good story, and that just wasn't there for me.

Today in 2022 was the first and last time that I will watch director Sheldon Lettich's 1993 movie "Only the Strong".

My rating of "Only the Strong" lands on a three out of ten stars.