Bloodsport | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Newt Arnold |
Screenplay by |
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Story by | Sheldon Lettich |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | David Worth |
Edited by | Carl Kress Michael J. Duthie |
Music by | Paul Hertzog Stan Bush |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Cannon Film Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.5–2.3 million [2] [3] |
Box office | $50 million [4] |
Bloodsport is a 1988 American martial arts film directed by Newt Arnold. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, with a supporting cast of Leah Ayres, Forest Whitaker, Donald Gibb, Roy Chiao, and Bolo Yeung. The film centers on Frank Dux (Van Damme), a United States Army Captain and ninjutsu practitioner, who competes in an underground full-contact martial arts tournament called the Kumite in Hong Kong. Based on Dux's real-life claims, the film was marketed as a true story. It was one of Van Damme's first lead roles and showcased his abilities, launching his career as a mainstream action star.
The screenplay is based on many of Dux's claims first covered in the November 1980 issue of Black Belt magazine. [5] The real Dux served as the action choreographer and technical advisor. After its release, many of Dux's claims were disputed, including by co-screenwriter Sheldon Lettich, who claimed Dux fabricated his fight record and the existence of the Kumite. [6] [7]
Bloodsport was produced and released by Cannon Films on February 26, 1988. Despite negative critical reviews, it was a considerable box office success, grossing $50 million on a budget of $1.5–2.3 million. It has been identified as a cult film and spawned a film series which includes four sequels.
U.S. Army Captain Frank Dux has trained in the ways of ninjutsu under his sensei Senzo Tanaka. As a boy, Dux and some of his friends broke into Tanaka's home to steal a katana, but Dux was apprehended while returning the katana to its place. Impressed by Dux's integrity and toughness, Senzo decided to train him alongside his son, Shingo. After Shingo's death, Senzo trains Dux as a member of the Tanaka clan. Dux is invited to the Kumite, an illegal martial arts tournament in Hong Kong. After his Army superiors refuse to let him go, Dux goes absent without leave, says goodbye to his sensei and leaves for Hong Kong. Two Criminal Investigation Command agents, Helmer and Rawlins, are assigned to track down and arrest Dux.
After arriving in Hong Kong, Dux befriends American fighter Ray Jackson and their guide Victor Lin. When they arrive at the Kumite arena, the officials are skeptical but eventually accept them after Dux proves his connection to the Tanaka clan by performing the Dim Mak death touch. On the first day of the tournament, Dux earns the enmity of the ruthless Kumite champion Chong Li after breaking his record for the fastest knockout.
Dux becomes involved with American journalist Janice Kent, who is investigating the Kumite. Dux refuses to help her, but she sneaks into the arena by agreeing to a date with a spectator. On the second day, Jackson is matched against Chong Li. Although Jackson comes close to defeating Li, he wastes time showboating for the crowd, allowing Li to recover and brutally beat him. Dux visits Jackson in the hospital and vows to avenge him. After witnessing the brutality of the tournament, Kent argues with Dux and tries to convince him not to return. Dux tells her that he has to win in order to become the best he can be.
Helmer and Rawlins arrive in Hong Kong and contact local police inspector Chen. They begin asking around for Dux and track him down to his hotel. A chase through the downtown ensues but Dux evades them when they fall into a canal. When Dux arrives at the Kumite, Helmer and Rawlins are waiting for him, along with Chen and four of his officers. Dux defeats them, but agrees to return with Helmer and Rawlins after the tournament.
On the final day, Li kills his semifinal opponent, much to the consternation of the crowd. Fearing defeat in the final against Dux, Li conceals a salt pill in his waistband before the bout. When Dux gains the upper hand, Li blinds him by crushing the pill and throwing it into Dux's face. Initially frustrated by his inability to see, Dux clears his mind and recalls his training from Tanaka, who taught him to fight blindfolded, overcoming the handicap and defeating Li by making him utter the phrase "Mate". The next day, he bids farewell to Kent and Jackson before returning to the United States with Helmer and Rawlins.
Co-writer Sheldon Lettich came up with the idea for the film. According to Lettich:
I had known Frank Dux for a number of months before I came up with the idea for Bloodsport. Frank told me a lot of tall tales, most of which turned out to be bullshit. But his stories about participating in this so-called "Kumite" event sounded like a great idea for a movie. There was one guy who he introduced me to, named Richard Bender, who claimed to have actually been at the Kumite event and who swore everything Frank told me was true. A few years later this guy had a falling-out with Frank, and confessed to me that everything he told me about the Kumite was a lie; Frank had coached him in what to say. [8]
On casting the lead role, producer Mark DiSalle said, "I wanted a new martial arts star who was a ladies' man. Jean Claude [Van Damme] appeals to both men and women. He's an American hero who fights for justice the American way and kicks the stuffing out of the bad guys." [4]
Bloodsport was filmed entirely on location in Hong Kong. It is one of the few films featuring scenes filmed inside Kowloon Walled City before its demolition in 1993. [9] Other locations included The Peninsula Hotel, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Trail, Victoria Peak, and Stanley Fort.
Bloodsport's soundtrack score was composed by Paul Hertzog, who would also compose the score for Jean-Claude Van Damme's next movie Kickboxer . [10] [11] For the movie Bloodsport the songs "Fight to Survive" and "On My Own" were both performed by Stan Bush. [10] [12] [13] Bush's performancess are replaced on the soundtrack with alternate versions sung by Paul Delph. [10] Due to this work Paul Delph was nominated for a Grammy.[ citation needed ] The film plays the song "Steal the Night" by Michael Bishop during a scene where Dux runs from Helmer and Rawlins. The song was released in the mid-2000s as a single containing a vocal and instrumental version. [14] On June 26, 2007, Perseverance Records released a limited-edition CD of the soundtrack including, for the first time, the original film versions of the Stan Bush songs. [15] In 2021 the complete soundtrack was released on picture discs by Waxwork Records. [16]
Bloodsport was released on VHS and Betamax by Warner Home Video on December 21, 1988. [17] Within a few months, it had sold some 150,000 units. [4]
Warner also released a DVD of the film in the United States on October 1, 2002. [18]
Multiple Bluray versions have been released throughout the years, the earliest in 2010 and the latest, including 4K versions, in 2023 and beyond. The older releases feature only stereo audio, while the most recent ones also surround mixes. [19] [20] [21]
In January 1989, the Los Angeles Times reported a U.S. box office gross of $11.7 million against a budget of $2.3 million. [3] In August 1989, the Chicago Tribune reported that the film pulled in $50 million worldwide, including $15 million in the U.S. and Canada, making it Cannon Group's most profitable film of 1988. [4]
Leonard Klady of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Hacking through the jungle of cliche and reservoir of bad acting in Bloodsport [...] are some pretty exciting matches." [22]
Van Damme was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star, but lost to Ronald McDonald in Mac and Me . [23]
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports a 48% approval rating based on 29 reviews and an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's consensus reads: "This is where it all began for the Muscles from Brussels, but beyond Van Damme's athleticism, Bloodsport is a clichéd, virtually plotless exercise in action movie recycling." [24] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 29 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [25] Slashfilm regards it as one of the most influential martial arts movies of all time. [26]
Bloodsport has become regarded as a cult film. [27] Though Jean-Claude Van Damme doesn't appear in additional installments, it was followed by three sequels: Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite (1996), Bloodsport III (1997), and Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite (1999).
A remake of Bloodsport was reported to be in planning in 2011. Phillip Noyce was attached to direct a screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen. The main character was supposed to be an American Afghanistan War veteran competing in a vale tudo tournament in Brazil. [28] Director James McTeigue was attached to the project by 2013, and the filming was to be done in Australia and Brazil. [29] As of 2023, the remake has not been produced.
Bloodsport has been credited with popularizing the concepts of full contact and mixed-style martial arts competition among mainstream audiences. Early mixed martial arts events, such as UFC 1, were sometimes compared to the film.[ citation needed ]
Retired professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer Mirko Cro Cop, inspired by Van Damme's performance in the film, began training in his parents' garage with his father's boxing equipment and weights. [30]
The "shoot-style" professional wrestling event GCW Bloodsport, promoted by mixed-martial artists Josh Barnett and Matt Riddle, is inspired by the film.[ citation needed ]
Bloodsport was an inspiration for the video game Mortal Kombat , [31] and Johnny Cage, one of the characters, is a parody of Jean-Claude Van Damme. [32] Van-Damme himself later voiced a Johnny Cage character based on his likeness in Mortal Kombat 1 . [33]
In 2024, Capelight Pictures released The Last Kumite , a crowd-funded film "inspired by the likes of Bloodsport, Kickboxer and No Retreat No Surrender ". [34] Several people with ties to the original films were attached to the project, including Kurt McKinney, Michel Qissi, and Bolo Yeung's son David Yeung. [35] [36]
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan Karate school at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to hold the rank of 2nd-dan black belt in karate, and compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions. As a teenager, he won the middleweight championship of the European Professional Karate Association in 1979 and the Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978. With the desire of becoming an actor in Hollywood, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he did a variety of jobs and worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).
Frank William Dux is a Canadian-American martial artist and fight choreographer. According to Dux, a ninjutsu expert named Senzo Tanaka trained him as a ninja when he was a teenager. He established his own school of ninjutsu called Dux Ryu Ninjutsu, and has said he won a secret martial arts tournament called the Kumite in 1975. His alleged victory at the Kumite served as the inspiration for the 1988 film Bloodsport starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Dux's victory at the Kumite has been disputed, as has the existence of both the Kumite he described and Senzo Tanaka.
Johnny Cage is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Introduced in the original 1992 game, he is an action movie star with an extensive martial arts background. The series depicts Cage as one of the primary heroes defending Earthrealm from various threats, as well as the comic foil. In the rebooted timeline, Cage is also the love interest to Special Forces officer Sonya Blade and the father of their daughter Cassie. He is inspired by martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme, particularly Van Damme's character, Frank Dux, in the 1988 film Bloodsport. A staple of the franchise, Cage has appeared in various media outside of the games.
Yeung Sze, better known as Bolo Yeung, is a Hong Kong former competitive bodybuilder, martial artist, and martial arts film actor. Primarily cast as the villain in the movies he stars in, Sze is globally known for his performances as Bolo in Enter the Dragon (1973), starring Bruce Lee, and as Chong Li in Bloodsport (1988), starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, as well as other numerous appearances and a long career in Hong Kong martial arts films. Also stars in Double Impact
Donald Richard Gibb is an American actor, best known for his roles as the hulking, dimwitted fraternity brother Ogre in several installments of the Revenge of the Nerds film series, as Kumite fighter Ray Jackson in Bloodsport, and as Leslie "Dr. Death" Krunchner on the HBO sitcom 1st & Ten.
The elderly martial arts master is a mentor/teacher stock character in fiction, especially Wuxia, Chanbara, and other martial arts films. Typically an East Asian male, he is a near-invincible master of the martial arts, despite being advanced in age and presumably having a decrease in physical strength. Often he possesses the rank of sensei and is referred to as such by his student. The elderly master most often teaches either generic kung fu or an exotic style specific to the fictional period. During the films, the master often becomes close with his students, with the master becoming a guardian figure to the trainees, who are, in turn, looked upon as the master's children. Usually, when the master is captured or killed, or an iconic portrait of the deceased master has been desecrated by some villains, the students will take it upon themselves to rescue or avenge their master.
The Quest is a 1996 American martial arts film directed by Jean-Claude Van Damme in his directorial debut, as well as starring in the film. The film co-stars Roger Moore, James Remar and Janet Gunn. The Quest premiered in Turkey on April 19, 1996, and was released in the United States on April 26, 1996.
Double Impact is a 1991 American action film written and directed by Sheldon Lettich, and written, produced by and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chad and Alex Wagner. The film marks Van Damme's third collaboration with director Sheldon Lettich and second collaboration with Bolo Yeung. Double Impact was released in the United States on August 9, 1991.
Michael Jai White is an American actor and martial artist. He was the first Black American to portray a major comic book superhero starring as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 1997 film Spawn. White appeared as Marcus Williams in the Tyler Perry films Why Did I Get Married? (2007) and Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010), and starred as the character on the TBS/OWN comedy-drama television series Tyler Perry's For Better or Worse. White portrayed Jax Briggs in Mortal Kombat: Legacy and the Cyborg Seth in Universal Soldier: The Return, opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme. He portrayed boxer Mike Tyson in the 1995 HBO television film Tyson. He also played the title role in the blaxploitation parody film Black Dynamite (2009), as well as the animated series of the same name.
Lionheart is a 1990 American martial arts film directed by Sheldon Lettich, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Deborah Rennard, Harrison Page, Lisa Pelikan and Brian Thompson. It also features the acting debut of Ashley Johnson. Van Damme plays a French Foreign Legionnaire stationed in Africa, who must desert to the United States and enter the underground fighting circuit to raise money for his murdered brother's family.
Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite is a 1996 martial arts sports directed and produced by Alan Mehrez, from a script written by Jeff Schechter. It is the standalone sequel to Bloodsport (1988), and the second installment in the titular film series. The movie stars Daniel Bernhardt, a new character in the series; and was released through limited theatrical distribution, before debuting on home video in 1996. The film was met with a warm critical response, with praise directed towards its cast namely Daniel Bernhardt's leading role. It met expectations of the audience with some calling it superior to the original. The film has garnered a cult following.
Bloodfist is a 1989 American martial arts film directed by Terence H. Winkless, starring Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Rob Kaman, Billy Blanks and Cris Aguilar. The plot sees an American former kickboxer travel to Manila, where he re-enters competition to avenge the murder of his brother and fellow fighter.
Sheldon Lettich is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is best known for his collaborations with Jean-Claude Van Damme and his work in the action film genre.
The touch of death is any martial arts technique reputed to kill using seemingly less than lethal force targeted at specific areas of the body.
Paul Hertzog is an American film composer and educator. In his brief career in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Hertzog composed the soundtracks for two Jean-Claude Van Damme movies, Kickboxer and Bloodsport, as well as the scores for Breathing Fire and My Chauffeur. Hertzog was a teacher at Hart High School in Santa Clarita, California, where he taught English and Music Theory.
Michel Qissi is a Belgian Moroccan actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Jean-Claude Van Damme, having starred in Breakin' (1984), Bloodsport (1988), Kickboxer (1989), in which he portrayed the villain Tong Po, Lionheart (1990), and Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016).
Daniel Bernhardt is a Swiss actor, stuntman, martial artist, and former model. He is known for his work on various action films. He made his acting debut in the leading role in the martial arts film Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite (1996), and appeared in two of its sequels, Bloodsport III (1997) and Bloodsport 4: The Dark Kumite (1999).
The Bloodsport franchise consists of American martial arts-sports action-thriller installments including two theatrical films, two straight-to-home video sequels, and one limited release reimagined genderswap-followup. Based on the purported true story experiences of Frank Dux, which have since been called into question, the series centers around the original story written by Sheldon Lettich. The plot involves American characters who compete in underground life-or-death mixed martial arts tournaments, while also competing for the honor of their instructors.
The Last Kumite is a Kickstarter-funded 2024 low-budget martial arts film. It is directed by Ross W. Clarkson with a soundtrack by Paul Hertzog and Stan Bush. It is an homage to popular action movies of the last century.