1986
Cast: Kurt McKinney, Jean-Claude Van Damme, J.W Fails, Ron Pohnel, Peter 'Sugarfoot' Cunningham
Genre: Martial Arts
U.S Box Office Gross: over $4.6 million
Plot: A karate kid wannabe seeks a master to bring his skills to the next level to avenge his father, and finds it unexpectedly in the spirit of Bruce Lee
The first No Retreat, No Surrender is in the vein of the Karate Kid: released two years after the hugely successful martial arts drama starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, this action- drama was directed and penned by Corey Yuen-Kwai and is noted for being his first English-based film.
After some bad guys threaten the father and threatening him to fight in a tournament, he gets injured and they end up closing the gym. His son, Jason summons the spirit of Bruce Lee, his hero, who teaches him Jeet Kune Do and it isn't long until he puts those skills to use to save his dojo, as well as friends from Ivan and his crew of cretins.
Michael Jackson and breakdancing, this is a mish-mash of Breakin' with Karate Kid, with a bit of Rocky, some of the scenes are cringeworthy and the story is not very well developed or written, thus lacking in any depth. The fight scenes, however, looked pretty good, as I'd expected quality-wise, from a Hong Kong-based martial arts movie. The one at the end was good between Ivan and Jason, but too brief. When there wasn't a fight or martial arts scene, it was so drone-worthy and dull. It was comically bad.
Far from resembling the tone and edginess of the No Retreat No Surrender: Blood Brothers and Raging Thunder instalments, the original No Retreat, No Surrender was more of the Z-grade Karate Kid with teen characters, namely the evil fat kid who eats a lot, a white kid was a nasty looking plaited ponytail, the young love interest and the Black kid, RJ with the Michael Jackson Jheri curl, who Jason befriends, and so-called comic relief types. There is even a Bruce-Lee poser, or be it actor passing off as Lee as inspiration for Kurt McKinny's character, Jason, which I found to be a little odd. Van Damme, who at the time was in only his third-major English language film - appears in only two scenes as Ivan, Jason's nemesis, including the end fight. Like Arnold Schwarzenneger in 1984's The Terminator, Van Damme made his big-screen breakthrough (somewhat) as the villain. The Jason character whines a good deal in this film, and as the main protagonist, is bereft of charm and dare I say it, likeability, although Kurt McKinney is passable in the role.
The difference between Hong Kong produced martial arts flicks and those produced in America, is that the former focuses more on the action and less so the drama and story; most of the time, this works as the quality and quantity of action precedes over the poor or lacklustre narrative, other times this doesn't: No Retreat, No Surrender falls into the latter category as it descends into teen drama fare. Yuen-Kwai was probably influenced and impressed by The Karate Kid and wanted to capitalise on its popularity and success; unfortunately, No Retreat, No Surrender barely manages to scrape the barrel.
The original NRNS is somewhat of a blip on Corey Yuen-Kwai, who is usually competent; his previous film before No Retreat No Surrender, the Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock- led, Yes Madam! was terrific fun, whilst She Shoots Straight, that came out in 1990, also had some amazing fight scenes and choreography. A hit-&-miss filmmaker when it comes to his American output (DOA: Dead or Alive, The Transporter), as well as some of his Hong Kong efforts (So Close), this can be glaring to see.
In the last scene or two, Corey Yuen hands over the reins to Van Damme; with that it concludes on a strong note, saving the best 'till last as he adds some needed fire-power and fireworks to a one-dimensional story carried by a one-dimensional lead protagonist.
The follow-up movies, were not continuations of the Jason/RJ/Jean-Claude Van Damme Russian bad guy storyline, thankfully, as they invest in some grit but retaining its upbeat-ish tone, thanks to Loren Avedon as the lead. The third had more weight, and for me, is my favourite out of the No Retreat series. Who knows how the No Retreat movies might have turned out, had Van Damme and Kurt McKinney reprised their roles; if anything, their omissions might have been what the No Retreat movies needed. Particularly as unlike the Kickboxer offerings, these films got better with each release.
Final Verdict:
The extra mark is for the final fight; I will say that fights-wise and in terms of action choreography, this is a whole another level to The Karate Kid with better scenes and martial arts; this is a B-movie Karate Kid and No Retreat, No Surrender is better than say, Gymkata. Yet the story and levels of melodrama can be cumbersome to endure and it isn't great either. Personally, as a Karate Kid-type martial arts film, the first No Retreat is all right at best, but as an action martial arts film it isn't as well-executed.
Some might say it is worth tuning into for Jean-Claude Van Damme, but even as the antagonist, he is underused.
One can skip this movie and watch the sequels.
Overall:
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