Kickboxer is a 1989 martial arts movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Like Van Damme's previous film, Bloodsport, it showcases Van Damme's unique fighting style, as well as his ability to do the complete splits.
Plot
The story follows Kurt Sloane, a cornerman for his brother Eric (Dennis Alexio), an American kickboxing champion. Kurt and Eric travel to Bangkok to take on Tong Po (Michel Qissi), the Thailand champion. However, Kurt and Eric quickly discover that they are outmatched by Tong Po after the first round. However, Eric is too stubborn to give up and returns for round two despite Kurt's urging not to. Eric continues to take a vicious beating, prompting Kurt to throw in the towel. Rather than stop the fight, Tong Po continues and brutally paralyzes Eric in the ring. Kurt vows to avenge his brother and defeat Tong Po in the ring, and goes to a remote area in Thailand to train with a famous trainer, Xian Chow, who helps him master the art of Muay Thai ("Thai boxing"). As he becomes more and more powerful, local Thai mobsters worry that he'll interfere in their work in underground kickboxing and force him into a death match against Tong Po. In what they call the "ancient way" the contestants wrap their hands in hemp rope, coat the rope with resin, and then dip their hands in broken glass to make their hands deadly weapons. In an epic final battle Tong Po and Kurt face off, and in the end Kurt beats Po, victory and vengeance now his.
Cast
*Tong Po is mistakenly billed as playing himself.
Crew
- Music by Paul Hertzog
- Edited by Wayne Wahrman
- Special effects by Tuffy Lau
- Cinematography by Jon Kranhouse
- Produced by Mark DiSalle
- Associate producer Charles Wang
- Screenplay by Glenn Bruce
Fighting Styles
In Kickboxer, Jean Claude Van Damme mixes Muay Thai with Shotokan Karate. It should be noted that Van Damme's techniques are more Karate-oriented than Muay Thai, and there are some techniques where it seems Van Damme adds a Karate twist to Muay Thai. The villain Tong Po uses Muay Thai only. Xian Chow uses a style of Muay Thai that seems to have incorporated Tai Chi or other internal Chinese martial arts.
Kickboxer should not be seen as an accurate representation of Muay Thai, but as a portrayal of a hybrid martial art which combines Karate and Muay Thai.Muay Thai was renamed as Jitho Gokai and many martial arts with many institutes in various countries. Shotokan is changed to Bhudokan in India.
The Bar Dance
A scene which appears approximately midway into the film has become a minor cult hit on YouTube. This is the sequence in which Kurt (Van Damme) becomes intoxicated and decides to dance with two Thai women in the middle of the bar. There are various clips on YouTube of just this sequence, some featuring only the shots of Van Damme, and some with the follow-up fight. Many feature new music, including the famous Numa Numa track. Part of this scene has also become a popular gif image along with the shot of Van Damme as an extra in Breakin'.
Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing songs from the movie was released in limited form on CD and is often hard to find. It contains classic songs from soundtrack specialist Stan Bush.
The score for the movie was composed by Paul Hertzog and is considered a cult classic by many. The full score was remastered and released in 2006 by Perseverance Records in limited quantity.
The tracklisting is as follows on the 2006 full score CD.
- To the Hospital / We'll See (01:15)
- Groceries (01:47)
- Very Stupid (00:45)
- Tai Chi (02:55)
- First Kiss (00:53)
- Stone City (02:34)
- Second Stone (00:53)
- Hospital (02:21)
- Palm Tree (00:30)
- Advanced Training (01:49)
- Ancient Voices (02:08)
- Mylee Is the Way (01:32)
- Warriors (00:45)
- Buddha's Eagle (01:01)
- Kidnap (01:01)
- You've Done It Before (01:45)
- Downstairs (00:54)
- Round One (02:12)
- Round Two (01:36)
- The Hook (01:32)
- Round Three (01:32)
- The Eagle Lands (04:02)
The 2006 official score release does not include a previously released version of the score track titled "Buddha's Eagle" which was released on the "Best of Van Damme Volume 2 Compilation" CD. The reason why it was left off the official score CD release is unknown.
Sequels
External links
