1990
Cast: Loren Avedon, Billy Blanks, Keith Cooke, Sherrie Rose, Richard Jaeckel, William Long Jr., David Michael Sterling
Genre: Martial Arts
Plot: A cop goes undercover in Thailand to avenge his brother's death
In The King of the Kickboxers, this is the fourth Loren Avedon film that I have checked out in recent weeks, following on from No Retreat, No Surrender 2 and 3, as well as The Silent Force; released theatrically in the same year as No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers, this became the second so-called major kickboxing-based film, after 1989's Kickboxer, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, but also it was heralded as Avedon's major solo billing. It was billed as a third-rate Kickboxer and acts as a follow-up of sorts to No Retreat, No Surrender 2 & 3, and yet despite its low-key turn and miscellany, in a similar vein to Kickboxer, The King of the Kickboxers still lives up to its title, and as a martial arts action film, it's very impressive.
Loren is Jake Donohue: an undercover cop from New York, who infiltrates a drug cartel ring wearing a leather jacket, sunglasses and a bandana; as a kid, he witnessed his brother being murdered by a guy in Khan (Billy Blanks). Fast forward several years later, Jake is assigned to a case and one that leads to Khan. With that, Jake has to undergo training, a la Kickboxer and Karate Kid, in Thailand and with the help of an old master, to avenge his brother's death, unknowing that he is being used by filmmakers as a pawn for a (not so) big-budget action movie.
Some intentional bad acting on the part of Loren Avedon, but I can forgive him for that, as he is entertaining to watch in his performance, in addition to being a great fighter, as well as from the cast in general. Besides, the acting isn't all that bad, and it is also the least of my worries; an 8th-degree Hapkido Black belt, Avedon's kicking skills are quite something to see, as is his pace, agility and athleticism to bounce off the walls and unleash several flying kicks & punches. I loved his energy, his enthusiasm & charisma was good to see and it was interesting to witness this cocky cop in Jake mellow down a little bit and show more of his caring side as the film wore on, whilst still kicking ass. King of the Kickboxers also features Keith Cooke of China O'Brien as Jake's mentor and Billy Blanks as the main antagonist; given his size and muscular stature, he definitely looked like an intimidating presence onscreen. Sherrie Rose, who played Jake's girlfriend, Molly was okay. Yet according to an interview, Loren Avedon said he did not get on well with her, claiming that she was acting like a prima donna; he told her to ''shut up'' and Rose badmouthed him afterwards. Avedon claimed word got around, and sadly, he was effectively 'blackballed' from Hollywood.
Having seen several recent interviews with Loren Avedon on Youtube, particularly on Scott Adkins' The Art of Action feature on his Youtube channel, the elder Avedon comes across as a simple, easy-going guy who shows his passion for and expertise in Martial arts, and more so his specialist area in Hapkido.
Kickboxer is clearly an American film and The King of the Kickboxers has a noticeable Hong Kong presence and flavour, with fight choreographer who did IP Man, Tony Leung, applying his trade here and its element of light-hearted silliness, which can be found in many 1980s and early 1990s Hong Kong martial arts films starring Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung to name permeates throughout in its production values.
According to the IMDB trivia page for this film, in the UK, the home video version was cut down by 46 seconds by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) with several edits being made: these include removing shots of a naked woman's corpse and a man impaled by a hook. During and for its release on DVD in 2004, these cuts were restored.
Quite honestly, this film should have led to better things for Loren Avedon as an action movie star later on in his career, you can't and will never see a better performance from him elsewhere but here, in The King of The Kickboxers; this might have been No Retreat No Surrender 4 or a spin-off to #3 with Loren's character being Will, instead of Jake, taking its strengths and expanding upon them for this so-called instalment. The final fight encounter between Avedon's Jake and Blanks' Khan that takes place in a massive cage has to be seen to be believed, verging on being so brutal with the pair trading blows and trying to outdo each other in the fight stakes. Martial arts-wise, we see a lot more of Loren Avedon here than in No Retreat No Surrender 2 and 3, and whereas the revenge plot is generic, the melodrama and overacting hilarious, the action is still the highlight of this movie & due to his character being the lead, he takes full advantage of this & runs away with it. I wanted to see a bit more of Avedon in terms of fighting, and we got it here in spades, thanklessly.
A cult classic, especially in terms of martial arts movies, it is also Loren Avedon at his absolute best, as he gives it everything; he is another one of those action movie actors of whom deserved to have much more successful career and would have been another staple in the martial arts movie scene that it deserves.
When it comes to American martial arts films, The King of the Kickboxers is up there with Best of the Best, Bloodsport notably as a B-movie, and it more than holds its own. If he hadn't been blackballed and his career hadn't been written off so soon because of it, we could have seen a lot more of Loren Avedon's career as a fledgeling martial arts action star during the 1990s who could cut it alongside Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal. He might be lower tier than say Jeff Speakman, Jeff Wincott, Dolph Lundgren, yet and when given an okay script, we see the very best of Loren Avedon unleashed. Whilst his characters might not have always been memorable, nor garnered acclaim, his athleticism, devotion and his martial arts skills and flexibility, in general, could never be doubted, and this movie is no exception.
Rip-off of Kickboxer or not, it didn't matter still, because The King of the Kickboxers still made for highly entertaining and satisfying viewing that martial arts film fanatics cannot go amiss.
Overall:
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