boglar
I still wonder who gave this movie more than 1 point...The plot of this movie is horrible, all that memories in the begging. And that worthless efforts of movie makers to link this crap with first van Damme movie... Junk.Tong Po? You gotta be kidding, right? When I was five, my friend had better mask at the elementary school carnival.If you hate someone, recommend him this film.It is really strange that Sasha Mitchell remained in the business after this crummy Kickboxer series.. Always when I saw him in Step by step a remembered him in this lousy movie.
jaywolfenstien
Open Question to Albert Pyun: What is with your obsession with Tong Po?Granted, Po was a pretty memorable villain – I remember him more vividly than Van Damme's character. But for crying out loud, move on already! I'm almost – almost – inclined to review Kickboxer 4 favorably for at least trying to transcend its limited budget with a slicker visual style and ambitious shots/frame composition that leaves Kickboxer 3 in the dust; however, it never quite succeeds on a technical level (it tries, but fails.) More distractingly – the plot goes overboard in waters reserved for the more outrageous black comedies and spoofs (and the film doesn't seem smart enough to realize where it's dropping anchor.) True to sequelitis, this one has to attempt to top its predecessors in all departments. Tong Po cannot remain just a very disturbed, overly violent, guy who goes out of his way to cripple his opponents in the ring. Now he's a murderous gun-toting womanizing evil-Shang Tsung-wanna-be Asian Drug Lord in Mexico out for revenge against the Sloan family, and what the hell? Let's say he's also Keyser Soze, Freddy Krueger, and he drinks puppy's blood while biting the heads off of cute little bunny rabbits – we get it. He's a mean guy.Oh, did I mention a new actor has donned the role of Tong Po? Disguised in makeup to look like the original actor, which just looks downright creepy in its "close, but not quite right" Uncanny-Valley way. Just wait till he takes his shirt off, making visible the contrasting flesh tones of the face and body.Sometime between Kickboxer 3 and 4, Tong Po had David Sloan put in jail and kidnapped Sloan's wife (as you recall, the Sloan family has been the bane of his existence for two films, and David was the bane of his existence in Kickboxer 2.) The premise of Kickboxer 4? The authorities release Sloan to compete in Po's conveniently held little tournament in the middle of nowhere. Problem: If Tong Po is so hell-bent on getting even with David, wouldn't that obsession lead him to, you know, be able to recognize David? The film answers (in David's words, no less), "It's been 5 years – he won't recognize me" proving indisputably that David Sloan is a complete moron.Don't despair, the personality of the main character has atrophied along with his intellect during those five long years in prison. In other words, David Sloan has devolved into something actor Sasha Mitchel can handle, and for the first time since his debut in the series I did not want to see him slip on a banana peel, break his neck, and retire in disgrace. In the previous film, he'd grin, he'd talk, and try to carry on a conversation with his intellectual equal (a 10 year old boy) only to be upstaged by the brat the same way a lamp is upstaged by anything that can move. In this film, however, Sloan is content to show up, kick ass, and walk away. Thank you, Albert Pyun.And what was the point of all the additional characters? Darcy? Megan? Lando? They exist in the screenplay to fill an off-the shelf role, and none of them develop into anything more than plot requirements. David needs an ally, therefore Lando must exist. David should have a positive influence on someone (to mentor, if you will), therefore Megan must exist. The screenplay needs David and his Ally to be caught, and a character on the path to redemption needs to be sacrificed hence Darcy's presence. And, there has to be another cruel villain, so Pyun introduces whats-his-name who likes to slam people's faces into the dirt. But, really, do any of these characters add anything to the central story? These aren't characters, these are props.On a visual level, Kickboxer 4 wants to look like a more expensive film, and in some respects it succeeds (at least partially.) There's a nice shot that follows Lando and Megan as they walk away to their rooms, and then the camera returns (rotating almost 180 degrees) to show Darcy and one of Po's lead henchmen behind her – capturing 4 characters (polar opposites of each other) in a single unbroken shot with surprisingly competent composition. Unfortunately, the latter half is slightly out of focus. Even still, this one shot (with all its flaws) is twice as sophisticated and ten times more interesting than the prepackaged coverage and editing found in Kickboxer 3. Earlier in Kickboxer 4, Sloan and one of Po's agents are filmed from a distance. David starts walking towards the camera (becoming larger via the perspective), leaving the agent behind. A whole half-hearted conversation plays out while both men are in frame together – simple as it may be, again, this single extended shot proves easier to look at and more intriguing than the snooze-inducing editing of its predecessor.As ridiculous as the plot is, as pointless as the characters are, at least Kickboxer 4 has some ambition, and even if it never quite succeeds visually on a technical level it does at least try.
Jsimpson5
May have Spoilers:I got this move as a double feather that had Kickboxer 3 on the same DVD. Sasha Mitchell return again as David Sloan, but seem to be a little darker toned than before.This time he has to save his wife from Tong Po, by entering a brutal tournament.The fight scenes were good, but some things really hampered this movie from being something special. One the person who played Tong Po in Kickboxer and Kickboxer 2, is replaced by someone else who wears a heavy amount of makeup, that make his look like he is going to vomit all the time.The one liners are back, and the bad camera angles also return, where a fight is going on and the camera changes to look at someone else who is not fighting.Speaking of fighting, the fight scenes are really good this time around, although there are some fight scenes that could have been better.This movie had lots of potential, but bad camera angles, and some bad miscasting also lead to problems with this film.I watched it because I like Sasha Mitchell, and I was bored.
gridoon
At first, I was hopeful: here is an Albert Pyun movie about a fighting tournament that DOESN'T involve cyborgs or post-apocalyptic wastelands, so there will be fewer distractions from the fighting. Tough luck: Pyun finds a way to screw it up again, with ridiculous one-man-defeats-twenty brawls, gratuitous nudity, inexplicable and laughably out-of-place sex scenes, torture, etc. The movie picks up only during the tournament itself, WHEN Pyun remembers to keep his camera focused on the fighters, that is. As others have said, the guy who plays Tong Po wears so much eye makeup that he looks as if he just stepped out of a "beauty" saloon. Michelle "Mouse" Krasnoo shows potential, however; I wouldn't mind seeing her again, in a better movie. (*)
