The Last Kumite | |
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The Last Kumite | |
Directed by | Ross W. Clarkson |
Written by | Ross W. Clarkson Sean David Lowe |
Produced by | Sean David Lowe Wayne A. Graves |
Starring | Mathis Landwehr Kurt McKinney Billy Blanks |
Cinematography | Ross W. Clarkson |
Edited by | Oliver Harper |
Music by | Paul Hertzog Stan Bush |
Production companies | Loewe Media Capelight Pictures |
Distributed by | Capelight Pictures MPI Media Group (USA) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 135 minutes |
Countries | Germany United States |
Language | English |
The Last Kumite is a Kickstarter-funded 2024 low-budget martial arts film. It is directed by Ross W. Clarkson [1] with a soundtrack by Paul Hertzog and Stan Bush. It is an homage to popular action movies of the last century.
Martial artist Michael Rivers wins an official martial arts competition, attracting the attention of Ron Hall, a promoter. Hall, also a human trafficker who does business mainly in Eastern Europe, invites Rivers to compete in an underground tournament in Bulgaria for a million dollar prize. Rivers, who has already decided to retire, declines the offer.
Hall needs to recruit challengers to face infamous underground champion Dracko, who is in the habit of crippling and killing his defeated opponents; he kidnaps Rivers' daughter Bree to force him to participate. On Rivers' arrival in Bulgaria, he meets Damon Spears and Lea Martin, other fighters who have been blackmailed out of retirement in a similar manner. They team up to save their family members during the tournament. Other martial artists Master Loren, whose wife was murdered and daughter kidnapped by Ron Hall, "Lightning", and Dracko's former Sensei Julie Jackson prepare Rivers for victory.
In August 2023, Capelight Pictures released a 4K UHD DVD version of Bloodsport , which included a variety of features. [2] As Bloodsport proved to be still popular, Capelight re-invested some money in a Kickstarter project titled The Last Kumite, "inspired by the likes of Bloodsport, Kickboxer and No Retreat, No Surrender ". [3]
Bolo Yeung's son David Yeung also appears in the film. [5] [6]
Paul Hertzog composed the score, with added songs by Stan Bush. Hertzog described their renewed cooperation as "a bit of a nostalgic nod to Bloodsport and Kickboxer". [7] [8]
Karate (空手), also karate-do, is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts under the influence of Chinese martial arts. While modern karate is primarily a striking art that uses punches and kicks, traditional karate also employs throwing and joint locking techniques. A karate practitioner is called a karate-ka (空手家).
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. With the desire of becoming an actor, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he did odd 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.
Bloodsport is a 1988 American martial arts sports action film directed by Newt Arnold and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Leah Ayres, Forest Whitaker, Donald Gibb, Roy Chiao and Bolo Yeung. The film centers on Frank Dux, 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.
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.
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.
Stan Bush is an American singer-songwriter and rock musician. He is perhaps best-known for his song "The Touch", featured in the 1986 movie The Transformers: The Movie.
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.
Kickboxer is a 1989 American martial arts film directed by David Worth and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Former world kickboxing champion Dennis Alexio is also featured. It spawned several sequels.
Dennis Raymond Alexio is an American former professional kickboxer and actor who competed in the light heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. Starting out as a light heavyweight, Alexio kicked off his career with an extensive, knockout-laden undefeated streak before losing a decision to Don "The Dragon" Wilson in a World Kickboxing Association (WKA) World Super Light Heavyweight Full Contact Championship match in 1984. He rebounded from this by winning the Professional Karate Association (PKA) World Light Heavyweight title that same year before moving up to cruiserweight and taking the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) World Cruiserweight Full Contact strap. In the late 1980s, he began his transition to the heavyweight division where he won six world titles and was considered the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. He faced the two toughest tests of his career in 1992 against Branko Cikatić and Stan Longinidis - both of whom were heavier fighters - fighting to a controversial draw with Cikatić and losing to Longinidis via an early low kick KO which resulted in a broken leg.
Stan "The Man" Longinidis is an Australian retired heavyweight kickboxer and 8-time world kickboxing champion. Born in Melbourne of Greek ethnicity, Longinidis is one of the few fighters to win world titles in four different styles of kickboxing competition: international rules, Oriental rules, full contact and Muay Thai. He holds notable victories over Branko Cikatić, Adam Watt, Peter Graham, Musashi and Dennis Alexio.
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.
Kickboxer 2 is a 1991 American martial arts film directed by Albert Pyun and written by David S. Goyer. The film is the second entry into the Kickboxer film series, and stars Sasha Mitchell in the role of David Sloan, the brother of Kickboxer's lead character Kurt, portrayed by Jean-Claude Van Damme.
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.
Ultra HD Blu-ray is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray supports 4K UHD video at frame rates up to 60 progressive frames per second, encoded using High-Efficiency Video Coding. These discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players.
Ultra-high-definition television today includes 4K UHD and 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These were first proposed by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories and later defined and approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), formerly known as Jersey Championship Wrestling (JCW), is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in New Jersey. The promotion was originally founded by Ricky Otazu in 1999; it was rebranded under its current name in 2015, after a sale to Danny Demanto and current owner Brett Lauderdale. The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling, as well as mixed martial arts–inspired shoot style matches.
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.