Remake of BLOODSPORT by "Salt" director Philip Noyce?

[ShaOW!linDude]

If you really think Jackie Chan could have had that success with dubbed imports, well, I strongly beg to differ...

Oh, I don't know. If Bruce Lee had that kind of success in the 70's with dubbed imports, it's possible Chan could have, too, in the 80's. But you may be right. Certainly would've been nice to see them then though.

[mpm74]

Jackie's stuff wouldn't have worked in the 1980s...

Jackie Chan's shit was too ahead of its time for anyone to take in (outside of Asia) during the 80's to hit it as big as he did with "Rumble". He also didn't look like your typical tough guy action star. Something like The Protector made him look like a goofy asian guy trying to be hardcore; something like Police Story would just be too cartoony and outrageous, despite the incredible stunts and filmmaking craft. It worked for the critics who knew a damn about film, but for the mass movie-going public, they just weren't ready for it; they were stupid then, they're stupid now.

You know how many TV shows Jackie appeared in during the 80's (Big Brawl promotions, all the way up until Project A) trying to get his name out there; even though he was impressive, people were only hung up on Stallone, Schwarzenegger and even Chuck Norris.

One of the big reasons people finally focused on Jackie in the 90's was the combination of Quentin Tarantino giving him the MTV award (and that awesome montage of clips), followed by the re-release of Rumble in the Bronx. By this time, things have changed. People were more open. All of our actions stars (Sly, Arnie, Chuck, even Van Damme) were old or old news.

As far as Van Damme... fuck. I don't care if you were black, asian, white, mexican, 14, 24, 48, 65, female, male, transvestite, gay, serial killer, rapist, cum guzzler...you loved Bloodsport. Van Damme was an overnight household name and you couldn't wait for his next movie (you'd even settle for something shitty like Black Eagle).

What did we have before Van Damme?

Bruce Lee: Okay, he's been dead for years. Believe it or not, there was a time (early 80's to early 90's) when Bruce Lee wasn't as relevant/legendary as he is now (unless you were a subscriber to Black Belt magazine). Correct me if I'm wrong, but the movie DRAGON (along with the death of Brandon Lee) pushed Bruce Lee's legendary status up some serious notches. Anyways, next...

Chuck Norris: He had his time, I respect him and his mustache, but he really didn't have anything groundbreaking to offer. He was basically a knock-off of Bronson and Eastwood with some Karate thrown in. Towards the peak-end of his career, he was practically a Rambo rip-off with all those Missing In Action films and pieces of shit directed by Aaron Norris (gotta love Delta Force and Lone Wolf tho!). He peaked a little with that Texas Ranger shit. But... Next...

Ninja Flicks: These were always cool, but once you got past the age of 11, hearing Sho Kosugi say "only a ninja can defeat a ninja" became very obsolete and stupid. Besides, it was never about how awesome the fights were or the charisma (or lack of) that people like Sho, Dudikoff or Richard Harrison (haha!) had to offer; it was all about the cool black suits (or green suits for you Godfrey Whore fans), ninja stars, hand claws and blow guns. ... these films were popular, but we grew out of them quick! Next...

Jackie Chan: Okay, even with The Big Braw, Cannonball Run I and II, The Protector, and a few of his HK classics are your local video store - this guy didn't exist to most until the U.S. re-release of Rumble in the Bronx. Next...

Van Damme: Finally! Sure, at first glance, another muscle bound Arnie/Stallone type dude, but this guy is different, he does the splits and he's doing something we're not used to seeing from a guy with his physique: KICKBOXING/MARTIAL ARTS. He doesn't sound like half a retard like Sly (I say that with respect due, I love stallone!); he doesn't talk like a barbarian like Arnie (I say that with respect due, I love Conan!); he does share their charisma and has a pleasant accent women get wet for; as far as guys, we want to be HIM!

The truth is: once Bloodsport/Kickboxer came out, everything changed. Chuck Norris? Nobody cares. Ninja flicks came to a dead stop. What else... ? I'm stuck.

Bruce Lee had his Bruceploitation clones after he passed; Van Damme had his clones while he was STILL alive!

All of the sudden all these professional kickboxers/or martial arts idiots with accents came out of their rings and dojos to star in all sorts of knock-offs, some with similar titles: Bloodfist, Bloodfight, Angel Town, King of the Kickboxers, No Retreat No Surrender II, Bloodmatch, Billy Blanks, Matthias Hues and maybe some of the "others" trying to find their ways: Jeff Speakman, Oliver Grunner, etc. etc. etc. etc. You get my point. All of these guys and movies spawned out of the success of Van Damme. Even Bolo started to appear in more movies after Bloodsport.

Somewhere along the line, Steven Seagal came into play. I've always been a bit rough with my Seagal info... I do know he came a year after Van Damme's success... anyways, whatever.

The bottom line: Van Damme was Beatlemania for martial arts action film fanatics; and the rest of the public enjoyed him as well (which is a rare case!) We all keep on forgetting that Van Damme brought Ringo Lam, John Woo and even Tsui Hark to do their first Hollywood movies; not to mention Bolo. Hell, Jet Li's first Hollywood movie was almost Knock-off! (but he did LW4 instead).

Jackie Chan would finally get his chance in '95 with Rumble in the Bronx; and it was around this time Van Damme's extravagant Hollywood career declined. Once this happened, Jackie paved way for Asian talent to set food (Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yoeh, Jet Li, etc).

It's pretty amazing how all this stuff works.

I don't care how much coke Van Damme snorted (haven't they all) or if he beat his wives up or not. The guy has my respect and I wanna eat his daughter alive. =D

[Guest Markgway]

I wanna eat his daughter alive. =D

I think you mean 'out'.

[Shawoholic]

Original BloodS was pretty damn good.And while JCVD is not quite among my fav actorst, all credit to him for making that movie entertaining.While I in theory have nothing against remakes I do not see any point in this case unless story differs enough to make it interesting...

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

By MPM:

"Jackie Chan: Okay, even with The Big Braw, Cannonball Run I and II, The Protector, and a few of his HK classics are your local video store - this guy didn't exist to most until the U.S. re-release of Rumble in the Bronx. Next..."

This might be true for the US, but not for europe!

[Shawoholic]

By MPM:

"Jackie Chan: Okay, even with The Big Braw, Cannonball Run I and II, The Protector, and a few of his HK classics are your local video store - this guy didn't exist to most until the U.S. re-release of Rumble in the Bronx. Next..."

This might be true for the US, but not for europe![/quote

Rite...many his movies were available widely on rental stores on vhs around 1985(likely before that too but that is 1st time I rented amazing Master With Cracked Fingers)..

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

I started renting his movies in the mid 80's. They were regular stock in most video stores in my city. And I know a lot of my friends and people I knew watched them also, and certainly knew Jackie by name. I even remember when Operation Condor was released here in around '92, it had its own big cardboard cut out of Jackie with the big scarf on and all that.

Jackie was definitely, if not a household name, then a well known name in video action here, and I have heard also around europe (especially Germany, who was always on the forefront of asian action on video and tv) and places like the middle east, africa, south america, australia.... well, basically everywhere but the US.

[dionbrother]

“Jackie Chan's shit was too ahead of its time for anyone to take in (outside of Asia) during the 80's to hit it as big as he did with "Rumble". He also didn't look like your typical tough guy action star. Something like The Protector made him look like a goofy asian guy trying to be hardcore; something like Police Story would just be too cartoony and outrageous, despite the incredible stunts and filmmaking craft. It worked for the critics who knew a damn about film, but for the mass movie-going public, they just weren't ready for it; they were stupid then, they're stupid now.

You know how many TV shows Jackie appeared in during the 80's (Big Brawl promotions, all the way up until Project A) trying to get his name out there; even though he was impressive, people were only hung up on Stallone, Schwarzenegger and even Chuck Norris. “

Disagree. THE BIG BRAWL did quite decent business in the US for a martial arts movie on the drive-in Grindhouse circuit. A dubbed import of SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW did very well on the same circuit. The problem was, in those pre-VHS days, Warner Bros. didn’t follow up with THE PROTECTOR within two years. Produced some 4 years later, THE PROTECTOR was (rightly) shelved for a year, quietly dumped on 42nd Street and then the video rental market and died.

No one took a chance on releasing the Golden Harvest productions in the US. Theater owners claimed no one would watch a movie with a Chinese star or nobody would like the humor. Oddly, Cannon’s outright retarded ninja movies were widely distributed, and Sho Kosugi was the highest paid Asian actor in America. He got a then-record-breaking $1 million to leave Cannon and make the genre-killing 9 DEATHS OF THE NINJA. I guarantee a well-dubbed PROJECT A, with a PG-13 and marketed to kids, would have done fine in US theaters in 1985. But nobody wanted to take what was a low cost risk. One look at the ballroom fight, and audiences’ jaws would have dropped across the country. There just wasn’t any action like that on US screens outside of Chinatowns.

As far as Van Damme... fuck. I don't care if you were black, asian, white, mexican, 14, 24, 48, 65, female, male, transvestite, gay, serial killer, rapist, cum guzzler...you loved Bloodsport. Van Damme was an overnight household name and you couldn't wait for his next movie (you'd even settle for something shitty like Black Eagle).

Really? None of his early films were big hits, and most men thought he was a faggot. He would go on Arsenio Hall and talk about his ass. Women liked him and kids that didn’t know any better dug his movies on the video rental market. But for the most part, he had no breakout hits. By the time he was doing decent movies like HARD TARGET and TIMECOP, the audience had given up on him. He turned down working with the likes of Frankie Chan because he didn’t want to do any sort of outstanding fight choreography. The acceptance of metrosexuals as action heroes wasn’t quite the “in” thing at the time. Steven Seagal was the one who broke martial arts movies back into big box office. His fights looked dangerous and credible, because aikido looks more realistic in contrast to VD’s “you hit me now I hit you” style of fighting.

What did we have before Van Damme?

Bruce Lee: Okay, he's been dead for years. Believe it or not, there was a time (early 80's to early 90's) when Bruce Lee wasn't as relevant/legendary as he is now (unless you were a subscriber to Black Belt magazine). Correct me if I'm wrong, but the movie DRAGON (along with the death of Brandon Lee) pushed Bruce Lee's legendary status up some serious notches. Anyways, next...

Actually Lee was more popular in those days. Warner Bros. would rerelease ENTER in theaters every two years and it would outgross the likes of KRAMER VS. KRAMER in New York. Columbia would release the double feature of CHINESE CONNECTION and FISTS OF FURY to drive-ins every year and they made money. There was a mystique to his films because they weren’t as widely available on video and didn’t play on cable tv frequently. If you wanted to buy a Bruce Lee movie in those days, you would shell out nearly $100. The sell thru market for video didn’t exist. I knew a lot of people who would only watch Bruce Lee’s movies and no one else. Nowadays, Jackie and Jett are more popular, because their films play on cable tv all the time and kids love them. I would also blame the Lee estate for tightly controlling Bruce’s image. Magazines can’t put him on a cover unless they pay the estate. When you limit the exposure, the fandom never grows and the youth never rediscover and appreciate what Bruce brought to the table. Also, Bruce’s fight choreography has been surpassed by more visually exciting stuff. Burce was the stuff of big time urban legend in the 80s. Nowadays, he's been remolded into a hippie/mma pioneer guru....complete BS.

Chuck Norris: He had his time, I respect him and his mustache, but he really didn't have anything groundbreaking to offer. He was basically a knock-off of Bronson and Eastwood with some Karate thrown in. Towards the peak-end of his career, he was practically a Rambo rip-off with all those Missing In Action films and pieces of shit directed by Aaron Norris (gotta love Delta Force and Lone Wolf tho!). He peaked a little with that Texas Ranger shit. But... Next...

If Chuck had not signed a deal with Cannon Films after getting some critical acclaim (and good box office) for CODE OF SILENCE, he could have been a huge star. To his credit, and something non-US posters aren’t aware of, WALKER was one of the most popular shows on television for over a decade. Seriously.

The truth is: once Bloodsport/Kickboxer came out, everything changed. Chuck Norris? Nobody cares. Ninja flicks came to a dead stop. What else... ? I'm stuck.

Steven Seagal’s HARD TO KILL was the film that changed everything. Warner Bros. 4-walled it into a national release (instead of regional like ABOVE THE LAW), and it was the #1 box office hit that month. Seagal was immediately signed to do MARKED FOR DEATH for Fox, and Warners put OUT FOR JUSTICE into production. UNDER SIEGE broke the 100 million mark , which Van Damme has NEVER, EVER done.

Bruce Lee had his Bruceploitation clones after he passed; Van Damme had his clones while he was STILL alive!

All of the sudden all these professional kickboxers/or martial arts idiots with accents came out of their rings and dojos to star in all sorts of knock-offs, some with similar titles: Bloodfist, Bloodfight, Angel Town, King of the Kickboxers, No Retreat No Surrender II, Bloodmatch, Billy Blanks, Matthias Hues and maybe some of the "others" trying to find their ways: Jeff Speakman, Oliver Grunner, etc. etc. etc. etc. You get my point. All of these guys and movies spawned out of the success of Van Damme. Even Bolo started to appear in more movies after Bloodsport.

All video releases, with the exception of Speakman. ANGEL TOWN and BLOODFIST bombed in a few theaters, IIRC. Not much of a boom, except for video renters with low expectations.

Somewhere along the line, Steven Seagal came into play. I've always been a bit rough with my Seagal info... I do know he came a year after Van Damme's success... anyways, whatever.

Nope, he was huge before VD hit it big. I was there, buying tickets for all these films, reading the industry trades and fanzines. Van Damme was a minor star, Seagal hit it huge after his second movie. Van Damme got no major studio attention until the lackluster DOUBLE IMPACT.

[dionbrother]

I think your posts are snoozefest, but not everyone has to agree with me.

That's because you don't like posts with any depth or real info. It would require you to actually read and think, which you clearly don't like to do.

[mpm74]

By MPM:

"Jackie Chan: Okay, even with The Big Braw, Cannonball Run I and II, The Protector, and a few of his HK classics are your local video store - this guy didn't exist to most until the U.S. re-release of Rumble in the Bronx. Next..."

This might be true for the US, but not for europe!

Gotcha. I remember buying a BUNCH of bootlegs in the 1980s from Dragon Video; all of them had xeroxed sleeves of the "hand drawn" UK covers (most of them were put out by Imperial Entertainment, right?)...

[Shawoholic]

Gotcha. I remember buying a BUNCH of bootlegs in the 1980s from Dragon Video; all of them had xeroxed sleeves of the "hand drawn" UK covers (most of them were put out by Imperial Entertainment, right?)...

Europe were way ahead of americans when came to legal releases of kung-fu movies at vhs.Holland,UK,Finland and Germany at very least did put out many including JC movies.Many Sonny Chibas and Shaw Brothers too.,,And independet studio releases...

Tibetan White Crane was right when said Jackie was nowhere unknown in europe decades ago.His movies rented well and were quite expensive to pick.

[mpm74]

dionbrother:

We should call you the 2nd big boss. Great info on your posts, thanks for correcting me on some of that stuff...

Really? None of his early films were big hits, and most men thought he was a faggot. He would go on Arsenio Hall and talk about his ass. Women liked him and kids that didn’t know any better dug his movies on the video rental market. But for the most part, he had no breakout hits. By the time he was doing decent movies like HARD TARGET and TIMECOP, the audience had given up on him. He turned down working with the likes of Frankie Chan because he didn’t want to do any sort of outstanding fight choreography. The acceptance of metrosexuals as action heroes wasn’t quite the “in” thing at the time. Steven Seagal was the one who broke martial arts movies back into big box office. His fights looked dangerous and credible, because aikido looks more realistic in contrast to VD’s “you hit me now I hit you” style of fighting.

They weren't? Okay, maybe not hits, but they were successful enough that Van Damme was moving up the ladder to be a major star. I never was really talking about numbers, I was talking about his influence on martial arts films, which seemed to be a dying breed at the time (after the ninja boom); when Bloodsport (and somewhere before Kickboxer) came out, I remember everyone knowing about him. He was definitely the talk when movies came up. Slowly, we started to get all those "kickboxing" movies in video stores (Bloodfist, etc).

When you say the audience has given up on him by the time TIMECOP came out, that may be true to some, but definitely not all. I can't remember what movie I was watching in theaters, it might have been True Lies, but anyways, a trailer for TIME COP came on, and during that scene where Van Damme does the splits in the kitchen to avoid getting electrocuted, the audience was cheering in amazement. I'm sure a lot of people were calling him a fag and didn't take him seriously, but if you want to talk about hits and numbers, wasn't TIME COP Van Damme's peak?

All video releases, with the exception of Speakman. ANGEL TOWN and BLOODFIST bombed in a few theaters, IIRC. Not much of a boom, except for video renters with low expectations.

I'm aware that these all failed in theaters, and even more aware that none of them even made it to theaters; but you can't deny the fact that these cheesy ass movies made money - and the majority of them were made because producers were gliding off the success of Van Damme. They did it then, they still do it now, and they only do it when a movie trend is very popular.

Oddly, Cannon’s outright retarded ninja movies were widely distributed, and Sho Kosugi was the highest paid Asian actor in America. He got a then-record-breaking $1 million to leave Cannon and make the genre-killing 9 DEATHS OF THE NINJA. I guarantee a well-dubbed PROJECT A, with a PG-13 and marketed to kids, would have done fine in US theaters in 1985. But nobody wanted to take what was a low cost risk. One look at the ballroom fight, and audiences’ jaws would have dropped across the country. There just wasn’t any action like that on US screens outside of Chinatowns.

Sho Kosugi was the highest paid Asian actor in America? Wouldn't doubt that. But who was the second highest paid Asian actor? Ninja movies definitely had their time (I remember going to video stores several times before i could finally get a copy of Revenge of the Ninja to watch). Once the ninja movies stopped pouring in, we didn't see an influential moment in the martial arts genre until Bloodsport. Plain and simple.

[dionbrother]

We should call you the 2nd big boss. Great info on your posts, thanks for correcting me on some of that stuff...

No problem. Our older, more informed posters aren't as prolific so I try to add what I can, since I'm really getting old. Nothing against anybody, I just don't like misinformation getting out there.

They weren't? Okay, maybe not hits, but they were successful enough that Van Damme was moving up the ladder to be a major star. I never was really talking about numbers, I was talking about his influence on martial arts films, which seemed to be a dying breed at the time (after the ninja boom); when Bloodsport (and somewhere before Kickboxer) came out, I remember everyone knowing about him. He was definitely the talk when movies came up. Slowly, we started to get all those "kickboxing" movies in video stores (Bloodfist, etc).

What Van Damme did prove, despite having no real hits, was that martial arts movies could still make money. Studios realized that these cheap films, while only ho-hum business stateside, could garner a nice profit in foreign third world markets, as long as you didn’t expect them to be massive hits. Still, Van Damme’s early flicks were done mostly for Imperial Entertainment, which was the survivor of the remains of Trans World Entertainment. A Middle-East based company that predominantly churned out product for non-US markets. While BLOODSPORT did fine for Warners in limited release, the WB wasn’t exactly clamoring for Van Damme to do another movie for them. They created their own star, Seagal, and he outdid VD for a 3 year stretch. I do agree with the Europeans on this thread that Europe was way ahead of the US in appreciating the Hong Kong stuff. Our video companies never bothered to chance the Hong Kong product in the VHS rental market! Low-rent companies like Cinema Group would acquire the rights to the Golden Harvest catalog and completely screw it up by releasing junk like H-BOMB and THE ASSOCIATION, when they could have released EASTERN CONDORS or RIGHTING WRONGS.

When you say the audience has given up on him by the time TIMECOP came out, that may be true to some, but definitely not all. I can't remember what movie I was watching in theaters, it might have been True Lies, but anyways, a trailer for TIME COP came on, and during that scene where Van Damme does the splits in the kitchen to avoid getting electrocuted, the audience was cheering in amazement. I'm sure a lot of people were calling him a fag and didn't take him seriously, but if you want to talk about hits and numbers, wasn't TIME COP Van Damme's peak?

It was either TIME COP or UNIVERSAL SOLDIER. The sci-fi audience got into those as well. Afterwards, he had some costly bombs like SUDDEN DEATH and DOUBLE TEAM (which I like, but the audience wouldn’t bother with him by then).

I'm aware that these all failed in theaters, and even more aware that none of them even made it to theaters; but you can't deny the fact that these cheesy ass movies made money - and the majority of them were made because producers were gliding off the success of Van Damme. They did it then, they still do it now, and they only do it when a movie trend is very popular.

It’s true that Van Damme’s moderate success helped greenlight these films (although I seem to remember ANGEL TOWN going into production before BLOODSPORT was released, but I might be wrong on that). At the time, Video Stores were big business for these companies and the stores needed variety (this was before stores adapted the Blockbuster mentality of having 50 copies of the latest films in stock). It may have actually been Sho Kosugi that led to that boom, because his flicks made money and the sport of kickboxing was on the rise as the “Sport of the Future” (The late PKA cards were the highest rated programs on ESPN until they carried AWA Wrestling). Kickboxing movies were seen as a cheaper genre to exploit than ninjas. No need for FX or weapons!

Sho Kosugi was the highest paid Asian actor in America? Wouldn't doubt that. But who was the second highest paid Asian actor? Ninja movies definitely had their time (I remember going to video stores several times before i could finally get a copy of Revenge of the Ninja to watch). Once the ninja movies stopped pouring in, we didn't see an influential moment in the martial arts genre until Bloodsport. Plain and simple.

I would guess Pat Morita. Actually THE KARATE KID was an influential film. NO RETREAT NO SURRENDER was a piss poor attempt to duplicate its success. NO RETREAT NO SURRENDER 2 was actually made before the Van Damme boom and he was supposed to star in it, despite being a Mercenary/jungle action flick. But seriously, any reference to martial arts in the mid-to-late 1980s pop culture(sitcoms, tv comedy or movie reviewers) was always “Mr. Miyagi.” It was never “Van Damage” or “Sho Kosugi your ass.” It was Seagal’s success that inspired Paramount to sign Jeff Speakman, and THE PERFECT WEAPON takes a more Seagal approach (promoting Kenpo as a great defensive art the same way ABOVE THE LAW is a promo for Aikido) than the VD routine of “a kickboxing tournament of death.”

We also tend to forget that MORTAL KOMBAT was also a barrier breaker for acceptance of an Asian star in Hollywood movies. It’s unfortunate that Robin Shou wasn’t able to capitalize on its success.

[mpm74]

DragonSword/dionbrother:

No fights!

Which one of you is the 2nd big boss?

[dionbrother]

Nah I just don't like to hear arrogant pricks that think they have the answer to everything in the world.

Coming from a 9/11 Truther like yourself, "arrogant prick" is a compliment.

[dionbrother]

Certainly not me, I come here to chill and learn about some movies, not act like the encyclopedia of the world. Give out some info, I try to help but people here just spit back in your face so I decided to start spitting back.

You spit first. Now, you want to lecture us on how no Jews went to work in the WTC on 9/11?

[ShaOW!linDude]

Guys, come on. Please.

We're talking about BLOODSPORT. Don't let your posts turn into one.

[AndyWayne84]

Guys, come on. Please.

We're talking about BLOODSPORT. Don't let your posts turn into one.

I agree with ShaOW!linDude. There's no need to exchange insult's to one another i mean after all the topic is about people's thought's about the remake of Bloodsport, not turn this into a pissing contest on who know's what please guy's try to get along for our stake here.

[QueMuchita]

It's become all too easy to retrospectively dismiss the impact Bloodsport had on martial arts movies in the US (and to a lesser extent perhaps the UK). It's not a great film by any stretch and the action when compared to the best Hong Kong can offer ain't all that... but it was a huge step toward mainstream acceptance in the field of English language martial arts films. Like him or loathe him Van Damme became the biggest breakout star in the genre since Bruce Lee. I'm not saying you have to like him (or his work) but let's not rewrite history. When I was a kid (let's say circa 1990) Van Damme was hugely popular and we rented his videos constantly... we mimicked his moves in the playground. If you really think Jackie Chan could have had that success with dubbed imports, well, I strongly beg to differ...

This is what I was about to post almost word for word,

[Shawoholic]

I never saw Bloodsport at cinema but lionheart I did.I do not go to theater often but lionheart was one and only case audience reacted.In end fight there was dozen or more people shouting comments like "yeah,great,wow" and when 2 french captured damme in the end someone actually started to cry.it was woman but I did not see her so no idea how old/young.Audience (me included) also clapped hand to same rhythm as folks in lionheart

Unforgettable experience:bigsmile:

[AndyWayne84]

Long before i ever knew about Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen. I discovered JCVD after watching Bloodsport on VHS after one of my parent's rented it a Video rentel place over where i used to live long before i moved somewhere else, anyway when i saw JCVD leaping, doing the full splits, and displaying his trademark kicks. I was in awe seeing how talented he truly was love him or hate him, i became i fan seeing his other classics although it's correct none ever broke grounds like Seagal's movies that were released but they shown that JCVD flim's were popular among Martial Arts flim fans, he gave them something that Arnold and Sly didn't give them which set him apart from the rest there wasn't anyone like JCVD in America with his talent that he displayed on screen. I really thought he was going to go bigger after the sucess of Timecop which is his biggest hit by far but after the Sudden Death, The Quest, Double Team, Knock Off, Street Fighter. Things start to look bad for JCVD due to his poor choice's that he made. Regradless of those things JCVD is one of my idol's growing up but to be frank i'm only concern that a remake of Bloodsport wouldn't be as good as the JCVD verison, adding abunch of nonsense that doesn't need to be in there and my other concern is will the actor have real Martial Arts skills? because we have to remember Hollywood hasn't had a freash face who has real Martial Arts skills to back it up, not someone who has had a few lession's to kick infront of a camara but as long they don't get some pop idol to be in Bloodsport who can act doesn't have to be the greatest actor but should have some strong Martial Arts skills to be his own person not be a carbon copy of JCVD. Exsample in the Sequels Daniel Bernhardt was his own man in the flim's displaying his own style of fighting not to copy JCVD at all but however here is another concern of mine is the villain, will they find another Bolo Yeung? or will they think outside the box? that remains to be seen.

I did love the ending fight between JCVD and Bolo Yeung. The pacing, the timing, the camara wor, and engery behind the scene was truly impressive to me in my eyes as a five year old watching this man go up against a muscle bound Chinese man who was kicking everyone's Ass left and right =D. Lionheart i did see as a kid but i don't rememberseeing it in the Cinema's i might have i've seen so many R- Rated flims as a kid believe it or not, but i don't think Lionheart is better or worst than Bloodsport i say it's decent interms of acting it was alittle better than Bloodsport but action wise it was alright, despite it had it's moments but the ending lacked the same flavor that the ending fight Bloodsport and Kickboxer had interms of intensity to be frank but overall it was decent to me.

[AndyWayne84]

I wish they wouldn't make this new one at all but they are remaking tons and ruining tons of movies, it's the latest hollywood trend. Hollywood has been taken over by scum money laundering dirt bags that don't care about the art of movie making anymore. They just want to make the quickest version that can make the quickest buck minus the requirements of a good martial arts film. They have a new style in hollywood and I don't like it at all. I'm enjoying movies like Universal Soldier Regeneration, straight to dvd movies because the possess some of the qualities of the films we enjoyed back in the day.

I couldn't agree with you more. The let's remake classic Hollywood flim's for a quickbuck isn't my cup of tea to be very honest with everyone reading this, the problem is there isn't any freash flim's being made only very few are being released in Cinema's. The best flim's are being released on DVD/BLURAY at this point on and so on, therefore i'm enjoying watching the latiest HK flims being released on DVD and i finally watched Universel Soldier : Regeneration: uncut and enjoyed it enough i'm looking foward to the next one.

[mpm74]

Does anyone know if there is a UNCUT version of Knock-off? Or at least a cut different from the North american release?

[blue_skies]

I just wanted to say thanks to Dion brother and MPM for their very informative posts. They made some very interesting reading.

As for this remake of Bloodsport I can't say I really care. If it turns out well then that's good and if it doesn't then you simply never watch it again. Personally I can't say I will be in any hurry to watch it and for those worried about this film tainting the original, the answer is simple don't watch it!

[dionbrother]

I never saw Bloodsport at cinema but lionheart I did.I do not go to theater often but lionheart was one and only case audience reacted.In end fight there was dozen or more people shouting comments like "yeah,great,wow" and when 2 french captured damme in the end someone actually started to cry.it was woman but I did not see her so no idea how old/young.Audience (me included) also clapped hand to same rhythm as folks in lionheart

Unforgettable experience:bigsmile:

I did see LIONHEART on opening night in a packed theater and it got the same reaction. For me, it was the best of his early films and I wish he had tried to make more of his movies on that level. Sure it was cliched, but it was a real popcorn/audience movie with something for everybody. IIRC he followed it up with the deadly dull DEATH WARRANT and DOUBLE IMPACT. I think VD had a lot of potential that he was often too lazy or misguided to capitalize on. I thought JCVD was a great comeback, but then he screws it up by doing more DTV stuff.