Today’s quick review: Kickboxer: Vengeance. After his brother Eric (Darren Shahlavi) is killed in an underground fight, Kurt Sloane (Alain Moussi) travels to Thailand to get revenge on Tong Po (David Bautista), the muay thai expert who murdered him. With the support of Liu (Sara Malakul Lane), a Thai police officer, and the training of Master Durand (Jean-Claude Van Damme), Eric’s trainer, Kurt prepares himself for the fight of his life.
Kickboxer: Vengeance is a martial arts action movie with a revenge plot and a healthy number of fights. A budget film, Kickboxer: Vengeance is plagued by weak writing, thin acting, and awkward direction. However, it makes up for these shortcomings with near-constant fighting and remarkable feats of athleticism. The result is a subpar story wrapped around decent action, nowhere near the best of the genre but passable.
As a protagonist, Kurt is almost too much of an underdog. Even at his best he only comes across as a halfway-decent fighter, and he reliably takes more hits than he dishes out. His moves and physique are impressive in absolute terms, but he lacks the presence of the fighters around him. The training he receives under Durand helps with some of these issues, but Kurt never quite shakes the impression of being an underdog too weak to win.
The rest of the cast is high on fighting ability and low on acting. Dave Bautista makes for a formidable villain in Tong Po, with his massive frame, stony expression, and extensive tattoos. Jean-Claude Van Damme is a fun addition as Durand, Kurt’s quirky but rigorous trainer. The supporting cast has a few solid fighters in it, but no one truly jaw-dropping, and the characters are uniformly shallow.
The action fluctuates between one-on-one fights, where Kurt is consistently outclassed, and group fights, where he has more of a chance to shine. The former are quasi-realistic martial arts duels, while the latter have more of a traditional action movie flair. However, Kickboxer: Vengeance lacks the flashy, implausible stunts to make the group fights exciting, so the action only really hits its stride in a few of the longer solo fights.
The writing is token at best. There are no cringeworthy lines, but one or two plot holes, a generic story, and flat delivery mean that the film has barely enough juice to see it through to the end. The direction makes a few jarring mistakes, such as unnecessary flashbacks, mistimed shots, and more than a few limp moments. The movie only just manages to work as an action vehicle, and even then it’s best watched by those with lax standards.
Watch Kickboxer: Vengeance when you are in the mood for a martial arts film without some of the excesses of ordinary action movies. However, the film is badly outclassed by other movies in the genre, and in spite of one or two good points, an interested viewer would be better served looking up The Protector or The Raid: Redemption for jaw-dropping martial arts.
4.9 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 5.5 to 6.0 for decent action marred by bad storytelling.