Remake of BLOODSPORT by "Salt" director Philip Noyce?

[dionbrother]

I believe dionbrother is out to push peoples buttons, and frankly Im sick of it, im through with his bullshit.

You are just mad because I didn't fall for Stallone's "Steve Austin broke my neck, yo!" hoax during THE EXPENDABLES campaign and proved his career was filled with bullshit PR stories. Sorry I can't post on the illiterate level of a Stallonezone blogger. You'll just have to go there to read your type of writing.

[dionbrother]

You should also keep in mind that Van Damme could have had MATRIX-quality fight scenes in his early films but chose not to. A lot of Hong Kong talent worked on those films, but his ego and laziness worked against him, and he went for the slo-mo, one kick at a time crap. I know that the DOUBLE TEAM stunt team literally said to him "We can make you look better than Jackie Chan, you just have to let us work with you" and he refused. I also know from a producer that VD ignored advice to take some acting lessons. He is his own worst enemy. He could have been another Alain Delon and he totally blew it.

[blue_skies]

You should also keep in mind that Van Damme could have had MATRIX-quality fight scenes in his early films but chose not to. A lot of Hong Kong talent worked on those films, but his ego and laziness worked against him, and he went for the slo-mo, one kick at a time crap. I know that the DOUBLE TEAM stunt team literally said to him "We can make you look better than Jackie Chan, you just have to let us work with you" and he refused. I also know from a producer that VD ignored advice to take some acting lessons. He is his own worst enemy. He could have been another Alain Delon and he totally blew it.

From what I saw in his reality TV show I can quite believe that. He likes to talk it up to the cameras but that was all we was, just talk. Also given what we saw of the sneak peeks behind the scenes of one of the films he was working on, Weapon I think?, he really did seem to struggle dealing with basic choreography. In the end it seemed like it took his friend showing him over and over before he finally got it. I sincerely doubt he was capable of achieving complex choreography like Jackie Chan.

[ShaOW!linDude]

LIONHEART is actually sandwiched between the releases of DEATH WARRANT and DOUBLE IMPACT. (At least according to his filmography on Wikipedia. Saw on there that there's a DOUBLE IMPACT 2 being planned. News to me.)

Van Damme's early stuff are some of my favorites of that time. But even then there was a pattern developing to some of his films. There was the triple take (showing the same blow/kick from different p.o.v.'s), the jump-spinning-split-kick, and the casting of the main bad guy fighter who was usually had no martial skills and was nothing more than a brute force brawler with a high tolerance for pain (which seemed to take place every other film).

As much as I like his work, nothing really stands out to me like the fighting he did in NRNS. Even though he was the villain in that I was, like, "okay, I want to see him again, he's really good". I know he could do complex choreography...he's done so in the past. But I agree that his ego and laziness derailed him in large part. That and the fact that he wanted to be taken more seriously as an actor (the bane and trap most MA/action stars fall into).

[mpm74]

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

You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed my nonsense. =D I can never say anything I write is totally accurate, but I write it as I perceive it; but I'm always open up to being corrected.

[AndyWayne84]

Dion and MPM thank you very much these post's helped me learn something new here this afternoon.

[Jeru the Damaja]

When Kosugi, Dudikoff, and the whole ninja craze ended there were three guys that kept martial arts movies in America alive. JCVD, Seagal, and the great Don the Dragon Wilson. Now I can't speak for anyone else, but I know in my house growing up JCVD was the most popular. My brother and I would watch Bloodsport, Cyborg, Kickboxer, Lionheart, and Double Impact over and over again. Not to mention the cheesy but awesome No Retreat No Surrender. Seagal's movies were ok to me, but they just did not have the impact on me as a child that JCVD did. It could have something to do with the fact that he always plays a soft spoken renegade cop that loves to wear all black in every movie. Oh, and I don't want to slight the Don. I always had a soft spot for his movies growing up. They were low budget awful B flicks, but I always found myself entertained for some reason.

[odioustrident]

This sounds like the only remake I can think of that might pass the original in overall quality or appeal.

I know Bloodsport is part of the American canon now..... but come on guys.

[mpm74]

I know Bloodsport is part of the American canon now..... but come on guys.

Well, you know, some people out there love this film.

I, myself, have always been open to remakes/reboots (ever since that awesome "Hills Have Eyes Remake"). It doesn't hurt me at all; I know I always have the originals to fall back on.

What sucks is this newer generation doesn't know any better. :/

I am looking forward to STRAW DOGS.

[AndyWayne84]

The remake will never surpass the JCVD verison. It was always be a true classic in my eye's no matter how fancy the new one may look as JCVD said he didn't use a Stunt Double, Wire's, and Camara tricks to make himself look good. Bloodsport had real people who were really skilled in Martial Arts and the Soundtrack is classic as the flim is i doubt the remake can recapture it's epicness i bet as we speak there talking Biber's into remaking the Stan Bush song Fight to Survive, or something lame like that.

[mpm74]

The remake will never surpass the JCVD verison. It was always be a true classic in my eye's no matter how fancy the new one may look as JCVD said he didn't use a Stunt Double, Wire's, and Camara tricks to make himself look good. Bloodsport had real people who were really skilled in Martial Arts and the Soundtrack is classic as the flim is i doubt the remake can recapture it's epicness i bet as we speak there talking Biber's into remaking the Stan Bush song Fight to Survive, or something lame like that.

Totally.

I've been watching Van Damme's movies on netflix lately, here's the rundown of what I seen so far:

Lionheart: It has been FOREVER since I've watched this. It's actually really good. Someone said that it has the best dramatic acting, which is true. The soundtrack isn't your typical late 80's/early 90's cheese... it has a bit of orchestration, which gives the movie some class. The black guy who plays Van Damme's manager gives an epic performance. This one was actually filmed after "Death Warrant," but released before it. Didn't know that. (gotta love imdb trivia!)

Sudden Death: I haven't seen this since I saw it in theater. The screenplay originated as a National Lampoon-like parody to "Die Hard" films. Apparently, the only part of the "parody" screenplay they kept in tact was Van Damme's fight with the penguin mascot. Anyways, this movie is VERY violent. People get blown away unexpectedly. Excellent villain played by Powers Booth (love that name). The movie... very average. It's a great looking movie, scope-wise. It's actually depressing knowing that Van Damme had these big studio budget films at one time; but, the same could be said about Cuba Good Jr. Val Kilmer and a lot of others. Van Damme is too hard on himself.

Nowhere To Run: I didn't know this was directed by the guy who made "The Hitcher" (the original, not the lame remake). I'm about half way through with this one... I knew this was Van Damme's try at drama, but shit, didn't realize it was so extreme. There are fight scenes, but so far, Van Damme hasn't even done the splits or threw a kick... good movie, though. The opening scene (bus wreck and the POV bullet shot) is intense. This may be his overall BEST movie of his extravagant Hollywood phase (Time Cop, Hard Target, etc)... but then again, I have to watch the reset of it; and the rest of his other movies.

Patricia Arquette has nice little titties.

Oh yeah, I keep on forgetting about Knock Off, which is still his best movie! LOL (not joking)

[AndyWayne84]

Totally.

I've been watching Van Damme's movies on netflix lately, here's the rundown of what I seen so far:

Lionheart: It has been FOREVER since I've watched this. It's actually really good. Someone said that it has the best dramatic acting, which is true. The soundtrack isn't your typical late 80's/early 90's cheese... it has a bit of orchestration, which gives the movie some class. The black guy who plays Van Damme's manager gives an epic performance. This one was actually filmed after "Death Warrant," but released before it. Didn't know that. (gotta love imdb trivia!)

Sudden Death: I haven't seen this since I saw it in theater. The screenplay originated as a National Lampoon-like parody to "Die Hard" films. Apparently, the only part of the "parody" screenplay they kept in tact was Van Damme's fight with the penguin mascot. Anyways, this movie is VERY violent. People get blown away unexpectedly. Excellent villain played by Powers Booth (love that name). The movie... very average. It's a great looking movie, scope-wise. It's actually depressing knowing that Van Damme had these big studio budget films at one time; but, the same could be said about Cuba Good Jr. Val Kilmer and a lot of others. Van Damme is too hard on himself.

Nowhere To Run: I didn't know this was directed by the guy who made "The Hitcher" (the original, not the lame remake). I'm about half way through with this one... I knew this was Van Damme's try at drama, but shit, didn't realize it was so extreme. There are fight scenes, but so far, Van Damme hasn't even done the splits or threw a kick... good movie, though. The opening scene (bus wreck and the POV bullet shot) is intense. This may be his overall BEST movie of his extravagant Hollywood phase (Time Cop, Hard Target, etc)... but then again, I have to watch the reset of it; and the rest of his other movies.

Patricia Arquette has nice little titties.

Oh yeah, I keep on forgetting about Knock Off, which is still his best movie! LOL (not joking)

I agree Patricia has some nice ties to look at

Knock Off is one of my favorite all time JCVD flims of all time, don't care what people say to me it's one of his best away from Timecop and Hard Target.

I did enjoy Lionheart despite i don't agree it's better than Bloodsport but it has it's moments in the flim. I did enjoy seeing Jeff Speakman make a cameo but ashame he didn't fight... now that would'ev been a fight to see Jeff Speakman vs JCVD, of course Billy Blanks had a cameo too early in the flim being taken out by JCVD during the desert. Paco Christian Prieto from Only the Strong had fight scene with JCVD which was my favorite fight in the flim no joke it truly is.

Kickboxer. To me believe it or not was my second JCVD but only accept i saw it cut it up. I didn't get a chance to see it uncut till years later when i rented it on Video and i was impressed with it liking Dennis Chan playing JCVD's teacher, he was stright up brillant in the flim too adding some humor in his role. Michel Qissi as Tong Po. I believe this is his best role by far i hated that he wasn't in the 4th flim to me he's Tong Po as much as Bolo is Chong Li in Bloodsport, Dennis Alexio his part was alright being the driving force of JCVD's character's goal into fighting Tong Po, overall i enjoyed Kickboxer and the songs by Stan Bush like •"The Streets of Siam", •"Fight for Love", and •"Never Surrender". I did like the line when Xian played by Dennis Chan said, " Your Brother remember." When JCVD almost gave up kicking the tree with his shin. I enjoyed the trainning scenes which were good enough for me to train after seeing the movie like the JC flims like Drunken Master and Snake in the eagles shadow.

Cybrog. Another favorite of mine.

Double Impact. To me is another JCVD classic.

Universal Soldier. My reason is because of JCVD vs Dolph Lundgren. But i felt Dolph stole the show from JCVD in the flim, but it's classic to me and they both kicked ass.

Sudden Death was alright. I didn't see it in Cinema's but i liked it.

The Quest. I liked the Quest with the fight scenes but it's ashame it didn't do as well as his other flim's including Bloodsport.

[mpm74]

AndyWayne84: Holy... had no idea Jeff Speakman was in Lionheart.

Dragonsword: I remember reading a post of yours that said there was an uncut Knock Off somewhere. Did you delete or edit your post? It's nowhere to be found, unless I'm blind.

[mpm74]

Was I going crazy, or did you delete the original post?

91 minutes? Hmmm... I believe the R1 version is 91 minutes as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Knock-Off-Jean-Claude-Van-Damme/dp/0767821548/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1306127121&sr=1-1

[AndyWayne84]

AndyWayne84: Holy... had no idea Jeff Speakman was in Lionheart.

Dragonsword: I remember reading a post of yours that said there was an uncut Knock Off somewhere. Did you delete or edit your post? It's nowhere to be found, unless I'm blind.

Yeah his role was a Mansion Security Man. This was about the time before he was fliming The Perfect Weapon. Jeff doesn't fight in Lionheart as far as i know.

[Guest Markgway]

Rosanna Arquette was in Nowhere to Run.

I happen to rate Death Warrant quite highly in the JCVD canon.

[AlbertV]

Yeah his role was a Mansion Security Man. This was about the time before he was fliming The Perfect Weapon. Jeff doesn't fight in Lionheart as far as i know.

And JCVD's opponent in the pool fight was Paco Christian Prieto, who played the villain in ONLY THE STRONG. Heard he's now a television director in Mexico.

[AndyWayne84]

And JCVD's opponent in the pool fight was Paco Christian Prieto, who played the villain in ONLY THE STRONG. Heard he's now a television director in Mexico.

The fight between JCVD and Paco Christian Prieto is my favorite fight in the flim. When i watched Only The Strong five years after i saw Lionheart i was wait what... is that the sameguy who fought JCVD??? then it hit me after seeing his trademark moves that was indeed the same guy who fought JCVD. Thanks for the info about Paco AlbertV i had been curious wondering what happened to Paco Christian Prieto after all these years.

[dionbrother]

As far as I'm concerned you can suck off Stallone and Van Damme at the same time. Im sure you would love to since you know so much about their personal lives. Lionheart was crap imo, and Van Damme may not be Jackie Chan but he could beat your ass. Stallonezone bloggers may not be a supernerd like you, but at least they have heart.

Thought I was on your ignore list. I don't know anything abut their personal lives and don't care, but I do know a lot about how they handle their PROFESSIONAL lives and that's all that interests me because I love the action genre. Apparently, you are all starry eyed about both men because you can't handle anybody correcting your hero worship fantasies of them. Now you want me to indulge with your two heroes in some sort of action fan slash fiction. First 9-11 Trutherism and now homoerotic fantasies of me in a threesome with VD and Sly. What an odd little fella you are.

[dionbrother]

From what I saw in his reality TV show I can quite believe that. He likes to talk it up to the cameras but that was all we was, just talk. Also given what we saw of the sneak peeks behind the scenes of one of the films he was working on, Weapon I think?, he really did seem to struggle dealing with basic choreography. In the end it seemed like it took his friend showing him over and over before he finally got it. I sincerely doubt he was capable of achieving complex choreography like Jackie Chan.

Hung Xin-Xin (or whatever he calls himself these days) said Van Damme was the biggest phony he ever worked with. Take that for what its worth.

[mpm74]

These less-popular names always make fun of the big stars.

Bill "Superfoot" Wallace called Jackie Chan a phony plenty of times.

The Revenge of the Nerds guy from Bloodsport also had nothing good to say about Van Damme...

But who are they?

I'm sure these guys would be the first in line if they ever got a chance to be in one of Van Damme's movies, especially in his prime.

[AndyWayne84]

These less-popular names always make fun of the big stars.

Bill "Superfoot" Wallace called Jackie Chan a phony plenty of times.

The Revenge of the Nerds guy from Bloodsport also had nothing good to say about Van Damme...

But who are they?

I'm sure these guys would be the first in line if they ever got a chance to be in one of Van Damme's movies, especially in his prime.

There jealous of them and so what they do? they just get someone and Bitch about them. No offense Bill may have good kicking skills but he's no Benny The Jet, he gave Jackie a better fight than Wallace's slow ass ever did. The Revenge of the nerds guy is nothing but a bitter never was acting like like an old lady with a virginia ham with no bread. The Protector the HK verison was okay though despite Wallace still sucked but he was paid well but no he act's like an ungreatful cunt, you know i may just watch that fight just to see JC kick his ass for the fun of it.

I do on the other hand respect Hung Yan Yan. I can see why he didn't get along with JCVD i mean after all JCVD was on Coke sleep walking his way into Double Team, it's no secret at least Yan Yan got skill's unlike Wallace's bitter old ass so that old man need's to sit down be happy, play bingo and shut the hell up about JC.

[dionbrother]

I don't think Bill Wallace ever understood movie making, hence his brief career in the field. I don't recall him saying Jackie was a phony, but he did point out that Jackie didn't do all of his own stunts and thought RUMBLE IN THE BRONX was lousy. Those are two points I do agree with.

However, Hung Xin-Xin is a legend in the industry and greatly respected. His opinion does carry a lot more weight and he certainly isn't a nobody to any fan of HK action.

[AndyWayne84]

I don't think Bill Wallace ever understood movie making, hence his brief career in the field. I don't recall him saying Jackie was a phony, but he did point out that Jackie didn't do all of his own stunts and thought RUMBLE IN THE BRONX was lousy. Those are two points I do agree with.

However, Hung Xin-Xin is a legend in the industry and greatly respected. His opinion does carry a lot more weight and he certainly isn't a nobody to any fan of HK action.

Many years ago i would'ev agreed about Rumble being lousey. Since getting the Japanese DVD i had a change of heart about it and as for stunts well yes i'm aware Jackie doesn't do every stunt but in my eye's he's more of a legend than Wallace. He always had an ego since the day i saw him i never liked him as much JCVD, Seagal, Norris, even Benny and Richard Norton. US/HK verison of The Protector Bill still sucked i enjoy Jackie kicking his ass i won't lie after i read him bashing Jackie as if he didn't want Jackie to break into the American market, i never felt Bill's kicking wasn't up to par with JCVD and Hwang Jang Lee either i'm sorry my girlfriend can kick better than Bill's bitter old ass and she doesn't even practice Martial Arts either.

Guys like Wallace are jerk's, make's me want to respect JCVD even more to tell you the truth, honestly i felt Wallace saying hey big boy to Jackie in the US verison sounded so Gay and i was like does he want to fight him or fuck him? almost reminds me of that fight JCVD had with that Gay looking guy in black leather clothing who get's punched by JCVD right in the nutcracker so hard that the next black leather village people reject is gonna feel it.

[mpm74]

However, Hung Xin-Xin is a legend in the industry and greatly respected. His opinion does carry a lot more weight and he certainly isn't a nobody to any fan of HK action.

I'm sure Hung Xin-Xin is respected, but when put against a high profile star like Van Damme, he's in a position to throw his stabs. Bill Wallace is just as respected in the martial arts world (give or take), but that doesn't mean his comments about Jackie are true. (Jackie and many Chinese ARE notorious for giving gwailos a hard time. It's pretty well-documented. Ever walk into a Chinese video rental place? The way they look at you is the same way Chan Wai Man looked at Bruce Li in "Bruce Lee The Invincible").

When it comes to people and stars (talking more about people like the 'Revenge of the Nerds' fuck), most of the time it's petty jealousy. Look at me, I hate Justin Bieber; the kid gets more tail in one month than I have got in my entire life. You're damn right I'm going to talk shit about him.

I guess the point is nobody knows for sure what really went on when someone is badmouthed. If you spend a week with Van Damme, he might come off like a dick. If you spend 3 months with him and really get to know the guy, he'll most likely share his belgium chocolates and let you feel his ass. Takes a while to grow on one another. There's a lot of egos on the set, especially between star, stunt men and choreographers.

But yeah, Double Team was the height of Van Damme's coke addiction, so I'm sure that had something to do with it.

Does anyone know when Van Damme's coke habit started? (I assume it was the moment he stepped into Hollywood).

The point is, as of right now, I'm in a Van Damme-loving mood. The guy could kill someone on youtube and chances are, I'll say he's innocent. =D

As for Bill Wallace... that guy looks like a dick, so I assume he's talking out of his jealous asshole (in regards to talking shit about Jackie). I didn't see him get recruited by Jimmy Wang Yu to make Island of Fire!

dionbrother: I noticed one has to be very precise and descriptive when replying/discussing with you. It's all good though. At least your input isn't half-assed or watered down. Not implying that anyone else who posts is half ass, but you gotta admit, dionbrother digs deep when he reads peoples' posts. Kinda like the 2nd Big Boss.