American Kickboxer 2

Customer Reviews:

the sequal that's not a sequal.......2007-08-24

As stated in its title, this is the 2nd film in the American Kickboxer series. This is not the true sequal however, and has nothing to do whatsoever with the first movie. Its sequal is actually titled "To The Death". Now that that is cleared up, this film is rather ok overall.

This is a low budget film starring Dale Cook (Blood Ring, Trple Impact, Raw Target) and Evan Lurie (Martial Law II, Tiger Claws 2, T-Force. If Dale Cook is in it, you can expect lower than your average quality b-action movie. American Kickboxer 2, however, is one of his best films. If it were not for the horrible acting and ridiculous charcaters throughout the film, this could have rated even higher.

The story is about the kidnapping of a young girl, from her mother and stepfather. The mother calls in her ex-husband and ex-lover to assist. One is a cop and the other is a kickboxer. The focus is around these two guys attepting to get along while trying to work together to resuce the girl. The end actually has a bit of a twist, and there is the curiosity of discovering who the real father of the girl is, as it has never been discovered prior.

The last 45 minutes of this film is non-stop fighting. I would say the fights are not very exciting, but there are a heck of a lot of them. From a small gladiator set-up, to a finale on the beach, there's a little bit of everything.

Unfortunately, the production value of this film is weak. The acting is very poor and most of the cast are just cheesy and silly. Tons of action if you are into that, but don't expect any thrilling fights.

mark twain sam australia WA Perth.......2005-11-08

I liked this movie because it had lots of martial arts action. The plot is about a kidnapped daughter, Lillian (Kathy Shower) is the mother of the daughter and turns to two men who she knows she can count on to help her. One of the men is Mike(Dale 'apollo' Cook)a hard-nosed L.A cop with a reputation of doing things his own way: the hard way. The other man is her former lover David (Evan Lurie) a martial arts expert whose exsplosive temper is a lethal compliment to his formidable skill in kikcboxing. After Lillians daughter is kidnapped the kidnapper Xavier (Ted Markland) will release the kid for a $2 million dollar ransom.

HARD HITTING WITH A SOFT BUT GENEROUS CORE.......2000-12-14

As the heading says but also quite engrossing too. The viewer does get to know the characters even though much of the film is action. Ironic I know but I have seen slower films that are less engaging both darmatically and emotionally. So it's not a classic but if watched on a staurday afternoon or a tuesday night I guarentee you could spend an hour or two less usefully. The word fun is inadequate and too shiny a phrase perhaps. I would say the word that sums this film up is 'crunchy'. umm... nice contrast of expressions. Look out for the incredible Kathy Shower looking stunning as per usual...

Average customer rating:

"ain't no cure for the shaolin temple blues"
"I wanna become a Shaolin monk!"
mark twain sam australia WA Perth

American Shaolin: King of Kickboxers 2
Starring: Reese Madigan , Trent Bushey , Daniel Dae Kim , Billy Chang , and Cliff Lenderman
Director: Lucas Lowe
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008G8NL
Release Date: 2002-04-30

Customer Reviews:

"ain't no cure for the shaolin temple blues".......2007-08-18

The sequal to "King of The Kickboxers" goes in a completely different direction, and could easily just have been called "American Shaolin" and left at that. The same production company is involved, thus creating another cheesy movie, but with above average fighting compared to the typical American-made martial arts film. Although the whole idea of an American (Drew Carson played by Reese Madigan) coming to study at the Shaolin Temple is a bit unbelievable, it ends up being a fun and unique story that seemed to grab my attention eventually.

The beginning is a little slow, acting is poor, and everything is just downright cheesy. Drew is humilated at a local tournament, by a guy who fights dirty - including pulling down the pants of his opponent (don't worry, its not perverted or anything). Drew feels the only to way to become good enough is to train with the best, and travels to China hoping to become a Shaolin Monk. After painstankingly waiting for days, he is accepted. While in the Temple, Drew constantly causes trouble, which leads others to do the same. It actually becomes interesting to see if he can actually make it as a Monk. There are still plenty of cheesy scenes, but alot of it becomes fun, and you gotta love the soundtrack, which is a slightly different version of "Summertime Blues".

The action is sparse in the first half of the film, but began to pick up more and more. The real treat is the finale of the film. Drew once again faces off in the ring against his former opponent. There is a pretty good fight between the Daniel Dae Kim character and this guy, who eventually tosses Kim out of the ring. Drew has no choice but to fight, and does so in a well choreogprahed fight which lasts at least 5 minutes.

In the end, I couldn't decide how I felt about the film. I enjoyed the fighting the most, but couldn't decide if the story was just silly or what. It is fun for what it is, but I got that darn Shaolin Temple blues song stuck in my head.

"I wanna become a Shaolin monk!".......2007-08-17

A young man named Drew loses a martial arts tournament and decides that he should go to China and become a Shaoln monk. When he arrives he is for some reason surprised that they won't let him in. He sits outside day and night, and they finally let him join the new Shaolin monk training group. He is constantly making trouble and playing tricks on his Sifu, but finally realizes that he must focus if he wants to become a fighting monk. After passing his training he goes to take revenge on the fighter who beat him at the start of the movie.

If you have seen the No Retreat No Surrender movies, then you are probably going to like this. It is very corny, but not quite as corny as a lot of the other movies from the Seasonal Film Company. One good cheesy part is where Drew teaches his fellow students the song Summertime Blues, except they change the words to Shaolin Temple Blues. Although the actor who plays Drew is not a great actor, the movie has a somewhat unique story and overall it is pretty fun.

The action is done by Corey Yuen Kwai and Yuen Tak. I like how they keep the fights on the ground and don't worry about using wires. The lead actor is a good screen fighter and the other actors are good. The young monks Sifu has a good short fight scene. This guy is amazing and I wish he had more than 1 fight. Once Drew passes his training wires do get involved, but it is done very well, and they only use wires about 4 times. The last 10 minutes of the movie has 2 kickboxing matches and the final fight is a ton of fun. The great thing about the fights is that there are a lot of exchanges without cutting. The choreography in the final fight is up their with any of the American type movies that Seasonal Films has made.

And be sure to look for a young fighting Daniel Dae Kim as Drew's rival at the temple. Maybe it is just because I am a big fan of the TV show 'Lost', but I thought it was cool to see him in action.

3/5

The DVD from Platinum Disc is full screen but it doesn't affect the action. I had to turn the volume up pretty high but the sound is good. Picture quality has a bit of speckling but overall it is good.

mark twain sam australia WA Perth.......2005-11-16

This film is pretty average. However, I am a fan of Ng See Yuen and Corey Yuen's fight chereography action films which is why I have rated this DVD number 4. Anyway, this film is about Drew Carson a normal teenager who is a martial arts competitor but is humiliated in front of a National Audience by his opponent. After losing miserably to his rival, Trevor in that particular martial arts tournament he decides to carry on his sensei's dream to become a Shaolin Monk and to seek further assistance from the monestary. When Drew arrived to the temple he was refused entry and thrown of the premises but refused to leave. Eventually, the monks agreed to take him on and Drew has become the first American Shaolin.

Average customer rating:

American Kickboxer 1 [Region 2]
Starring: John Barrett , Keith Vitali , Terry Norton , Brad Morris , and Ted Le Plat
Director: Frans Nel
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00004VYJM

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