Fighting Spirit (1992) Loren Avedon, Sean Donahue, Michelle Locke, Greg Douglass

[AlbertV]

Known in some markets as King of the Kickboxers 2 (the other being American Shaolin), this one stars Loren Avedon as David, who learns martial arts after his best friend Billy (Sean Donahue of Blood Hands) is killed while fighting in an illegal tournament to pay for his sister's medical bills after she is blinded in an assault. The film has some familiar faces to the 1990s Filipino B-movies including Nick Nicholson, Ned Hourani, and Steve Rogers (no, not Captain America, but the actor who played the wrestler ally of Don Wilson in Bloodfist II). Directed by Teddy Page using the pseudonym of "John Lloyd" and fight choreography by Chiang Tao alongside Chin Ping-Po.

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by AlbertV

[ShaOW!linDude]

Fighting Spirit aka King of the Kickboxers 2 (1992) starring Loren Avedon, Sean Donahue, Greg Douglass; Dir: Teddy Page; Choreographers: Tao Chang, Ping-Po Chin, Sean Donahue

So back in the day (which according to the release of this movie would be 1992-93), I was always on the lookout for a good MA movie at the video stores. I had seen Avedon in action in No Retreat, No Surrender 3 and King of the Kickboxers (both 1990). While I was kinda impressed with his screen fighting, his acting left a lot to be desired. It was so hammy and campy and over the top. Whenever I came across Fighting Spirit, I just couldn't bring myself to rent it, namely because Avedon was the only person I recognized in the film. Now, 30 years later, it's available on Tubi...so I watched it.

And I legitimately watched it. All the way through. No ff-ing to the fights as has become my modus operandi of late with MA films strapped with boring plots and terrible acting. And to say it was a whimsical chore is the best way to put it. Now I'm going to ramble about it via a steady stream of consciousness because...holy crap, this movie is bad.

This direct-to-video movie must have been every cast members' big Hollywood break, except for Avedon, because he is completely outshined in the hammy, campy overacting department, even though he's still not all that great of an actor here either. You get a fight trainer who only yells, "Punch him!" "Kick him!" "Block!" "Get in there!" "Hit him!" and "Get up!" at full volume repeatedly...because that's inspirational, right? Somebody get that man an Oscar. Damsels in distress scream and cry so much they should go mute from the exertion. Greg Douglass plays up the psychotic screw-up of the villainous duo pretty well, but come on already. The character is more comical than threatening.

Sean Donahue, who helped serve as a stunt coordinator, plays Avedon's best friend in this. His character is a jerky fighter who can't even hang around the hospital while his sister has eye surgery, and instead goes off and gets himself killed. He has about 3-4 fight scenes and they are atrociously executed, but fun to watch in that "what is this crap?" sort of way. I mean they're bad, people. The choreography is sloppy. Some of the opponents don't appear to have any sort of formal training. One is supposed to be a Muay Thai fighter, and he acts like he's afraid he might really connect with Donahue, so his movements are very weak. Like...'his elbow and knee strikes couldn't crush an empty Styrofoam egg carton' weak.

Jerry Bailey plays Murphy, a washed up trainer (different from our Oscar contender), who Avedon goes to so he can learn to fight and avenge his jerky friend. These guys do more drinking than training, which is understandable from the first sequence, because Avedon's character is already a better fighter than Murphy is a trainer and just beats the ever-loving snot out of him all the time. Um, what's up with that? Not to mention the fact that Murphy looks like Tadashi Yamashita (of American Ninja & Bronson Lee) with the worst mullet ever captured on a DTV release. (Oh, wait, I just mentioned it. Never mind.)

On top of all of this, Avedon really doesn't get in on any of the action until well over halfway through the movie, but once he does, that is its only saving grace...sort of. His fights against multiple opponents are good, but the end fights against the 2 villainous cohorts are kinda of lacking. 

From a fight choreography standpoint (and you all know that's mainly all I ever care about), it's all pretty sloppy, full of obvious misses or failures to 'connect', overacted falls, and a huge lack of creativity.

So, the verdict is this: while I saved $3 back in the 90s by not renting this, ultimately it still robbed me of 90 minutes of my life. (Or 105 minutes if you include the commercials Tubi randomly inserts, and honestly, those 15 minutes of ads were probably more worthwhile. At least $3 worth.)

 

[AlbertV]

Plus that annoying musc that plays when something bad is about to happen....of course the movie is a U.S.-Philippines co-production so I knew it would not be great but I agree...Loren vs. the multiple opponents was the highlight if there was one.

[ShaOW!linDude]

2 hours ago, AlbertV said:

Plus that annoying musc that plays....

...throughout the whole stinking movie. It's like leftover porn music.

Dadgummit! I forgot to mention the horridly crappy song during the end credits: "Why Must This Be?" Which is, ironically, a very fair question for the existence of this movie.

[One Armed Boxer]

On 8/15/2023 at 3:47 AM, AlbertV said:

Directed by Teddy Page using the pseudonym of "John Lloyd"

The funny thing about this is that the name Teddy Page itself is a pseudonym, with his actual name being Teddy Chiu!

I had no idea Loren Avedon made a movie in the Philippines (and not sure @mpm74 did either), now I kind of feel tempted to check it out just to see how bad it is!

[AlbertV]

2 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

The funny thing about this is that the name Teddy Page itself is a pseudonym, with his actual name being Teddy Chiu!

I had no idea Loren Avedon made a movie in the Philippines (and not sure @mpm74 did either), now I kind of feel tempted to check it out just to see how bad it is!

If you see it....good luck! Everything @ShaOW!linDude said was spot on...and yes that song at the end...total cringe...doesn't fit at all with the movie 

[AlbertV]

Little trivia: Co-star Sean Donahue is the son of Patrick G. Donahue, the director of one of the best so bad its hilarious martial arts cult classics of the 1980s, a little film called Kill Squad, which was Sean's 1st film.