SHOOTFIGHTER

Bolo Yeung aficionados take note! Though he doesn't do all that much in this movie, this is one of the better films Bolo has starred in. Sure its no Enter the Dragon, but the numerous fight scenes (and that's what we're watching for, afterall) are great fun, and I really have a hard time turning down a film starring Martin Kove from The Karate Kid.

Shootfighter opens with, get this, a shootfighting tournament! Shingo, played by my hero Bolo Yeung (Enter the Dragon), easily defeats his opponent. Shingo talks to his young and confident friend who is due to fight next, his opponent being none other than Martin Kove! Shingo warns his young friend that Mr. Lee (gotta love these original martial arts movie names!) is very dangerous, but the youngster says he’ll have no problems beating him (can you see where this is going?). Of course, Lee absorbs his opponent’s attacks and brutally beats him about the head before ripping the poor guy’s throat to shreds and killing him. Lee demands to fight Shingo in the final, but the referee guy says Lee has "disgraced shootfighting" and bans him for life. Being the bad guy, Lee rambles about the rules being stupid and that only a fight to the death can determine a true champion. Shingo watches on sombrely as we move into the opening titles.

The proper story begins and tells of Ruben a martial arts instructor, played by William Zabka who was ALSO in The Karate Kid, and the return of his old sparring buddy Nick (Micheal Bernardo). Nick had to ‘leave town for a while’ and it becomes apparent that Nick was the hellraiser while Ruben was the good boy, Nick makes references throughout most of the film about Ruben not having what it takes for real fighting. The plot thickens when we are introduced to Ruben’s teacher who is, *gasp!*, Shingo! Some plot development happens, Ruben and Nick get into a bar fight (Ruben starts to get a taste for ‘real fighting’), Ruben and Nick take part in a local semi-contact tournament and Ruben beats Nick (hmm, is this going to come into play later?) and they are approached by a representative of a financial group which runs shootfighting in New Mexico. Shingo immediately warns them against going, but with the promise of lots of cash, something Ruben needs to pay off the badly dressed loan sharks that are harassing him.

They go down to take part in the preliminary rounds and both win their first matches. Nick starts to fret again about Ruben getting hurt, but Ruben is getting more and more worked up. Nick sees Ruben getting beat up and runs to his aid causing him to be disqualified. The representative comes back to talk to them, and offers to allow them to continue on to the finals, where there is a lot more money involved. Nick decides to quit while he’s ahead but Ruben goes to see the guy in charge of the shootfighting and, lo and behold, its our old chum Mr. Lee! He wants revenge for what Shingo did to him (symbolised by a wrist brace on one of his arms, I hope its more than Shingo giving him some really good porn) and tells Ruben that Shingo was one of the greatest shootfighters of all time and that he will train Ruben for the finals where they use weapons. Of course, Shingo refuses to train Ruben and instead trains Nick for a mysterious tournament known only as ‘the Nationals’ (I may be reading into this too much). Ruben goes ape shit and trains with someone else, his training consisting mainly of being punched in the head repeatedly (honestly, he just stand there while this guy beats him about the head!), beating up local hoods, and sweating. Meanwhile Nick does all that cool martial arts movie stuff with swinging sticks around and doing Tai Chi movements.

I don't think I'm spoiling the film any by saying that there are lots of fight scenes after this, and they really are the reason to watch the movie. The fights are pretty good, some being staged in an Ultimate Fighting Championship-style caged ring, and the use of weapons certainly makes things more interesting. They're pretty well choreographed and varied - each fight is different depending on the protagonists, this is a major strength of a 'tournament fighting' movie, its not just the same guy doing all his signature moves for several fights like some of Jean Claude Van Damme's movies tend to be. Though it is a little light on longer battles for the first half of the movie, things really do pick up, and Bolo gets to show off a little near the end.  

The acting is nothing to write home about, though Martin Kove looks like he's having fun hamming up his part as Mr. Lee, and Bolo is, well, Bolo! Everybody else range from wooden to decent, but many of these people are in the movie for their martial arts skills. The pace of the film is decent, giving plenty of opportunities for violence, though the actual filming is pretty basic, they just sit back and let the guys do their thing most of the time, which I don't really have a problem with.

So this is never going to set the world on fire, but is a fine addition to the American martial arts movie canon - which lets face it is in desperate need of decent movies. Go rent this and have some fun.