This was the film that really introduced me to the world of proper martial arts movies. Beforehand it had been tame stuff like The Karate Kid, but No Retreat No Surrender gave me my first taste of Hong Kong choreography, and it blew my mind!
The film follows a predictable underdog story, but a teenager being trained by the ghost of Bruce Lee is all kinds of cool, and sets it apart from the films that others claim it rips off.
Soap Star Kurt McKinney of General Hospital fame gets his first screen role here, and his talent with kicking makes for some impressive fights. Of course, the big feature is Jean Claude Van Damme in his first martial arts film role. Although not in the movie for long, Van Damme is a menacing screen presence and plays a convincingly dangerous bad guy. There's also a wonderful turn by J. W Fails as the break dancing sidekick R. J., and he provides a lot of fun to the movie's more serious tone.
It also helps that the 80s synthesiser score is awesome, and really gets the blood pumping!
For me, there was no going back to Hollywood style fight scenes after this film. The choreography was just too powerful, and I became a lifelong fan of martial arts film due to it.
Ignore the negative reviews on here. Everyone should have the good sense to know what this film is and what to expect from the production values, so don't go to the bar and then complain that everyone is drinking beer.
The film follows a predictable underdog story, but a teenager being trained by the ghost of Bruce Lee is all kinds of cool, and sets it apart from the films that others claim it rips off.
Soap Star Kurt McKinney of General Hospital fame gets his first screen role here, and his talent with kicking makes for some impressive fights. Of course, the big feature is Jean Claude Van Damme in his first martial arts film role. Although not in the movie for long, Van Damme is a menacing screen presence and plays a convincingly dangerous bad guy. There's also a wonderful turn by J. W Fails as the break dancing sidekick R. J., and he provides a lot of fun to the movie's more serious tone.
It also helps that the 80s synthesiser score is awesome, and really gets the blood pumping!
For me, there was no going back to Hollywood style fight scenes after this film. The choreography was just too powerful, and I became a lifelong fan of martial arts film due to it.
Ignore the negative reviews on here. Everyone should have the good sense to know what this film is and what to expect from the production values, so don't go to the bar and then complain that everyone is drinking beer.