image courtesy of On The Set
Rating:
6
AKA: King of the Kickboxers 2, Karate Tiger 5, No Retreat, No Surrender 5
Year of release: 1991
Company: Seasonal Film Co.
Genre: martial arts
Director: Lucas Lowe
Script: Keith Strandberg
Action director: Corey Yuen
Producer: Keith Strandberg
Cinematography: Viking Chiu, Luis Cubilles
Editor: Allan Poon
Music: Richard Yuen
Stars: Trent Bushey, Kim Chan, Billy Chang, Kim Chan, D.D. Delaney, Michael Depasquale Jr., Alice Zhang Hung, Cliff Lenderman, Reese Madigan, Daniel Dac Nim, Andrew Shue
Rated PG-13 for violence
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Note: for an interesting look on how the movie was made, check out Keith Strandberg's On The Set.
American Shaolin: King of the Kickboxers II
Reese Madigan (left) meets Kim Chan. Image courtesy of On The Set.
While John Woo is often lauded as the director who built the modern bridge between Hong Kong and American film-makers, there were a few people who laid the initial groundwork for future blockbusters like Mission: Impossible 2. One of the main innovators was a producer named Ng See-Yuen, who through his Seasonal Film company created a series of low-budget martial arts films that managed to bring in a bit of Hong Kong flavor to American cinema screens (or, more aptly, American VCRs). Though often overlooked by Western fans and scholars, Ng's cohesive use of American and Chinese crews provided one of the first true meldings of the regional styles of film-making versus older productions, such as the ones done by Golden Harvest in the late 1970's, which were really much more American than Chinese in flavor. Like many of Seasonal's other productions, American Shaolin: King of the Kickboxers II isn't anything mind-blowing, but the infusion of Hong Kong elements into an average US B-movie ups the ante for the viewer's enjoyment.
The plot centers on a young kickboxer named Drew Carson (Reese Madigan) who is humilated in a tournament by a dirty fighter (Trent Bushey) and so heads to China to train as a Shaolin monk. As he studies there, all of the usual cliches come into place: Drew doesn't fit in right away, but soon gains a comedic sidekick (Billy Chang). The hard-ass instructor (Cliff Lenderman) hates Drew at first, but grows to like and even defend him. The guy who hates Drew the most (Daniel Dae Kim) eventually becomes his best friend. Of course, there's also a wise old monk (Kim Chan), and Drew even manges to find a nice Chinese girlfriend (Alice Zhang Hung). Everything, as you might guess, leads to a final confrontation where Drew must decide whether or not to use his new skills to defend his honor.
Monks in training. Image courtesy of On The Set.
This workaday plot is helped along immensely by Trent Bushey's performance. He creates a surprisingly endearing character that helps the viewer to overlook such flaws as the fact that all of the Shaolin monks speak perfect English (in case you can't tell, this isn't the kind of movie to watch if you're a nitpicker). Note must also be made of the production value in this film. For the budget the film-makers had to work with, they did a great job. The sets (along with some stunning natural locations) and costumes look really good, and the movie is shot and edited well.
As you might expect with Corey Yuen helming the action scenes, there's a good deal of excitement there as well -- I just wish there would have been more of it. The climatic 36th Chamber of Shaolin-style training sequence and end kickboxing match are great stuff, but there is a good deal of fluff to get to them. I would have much rather had a couple more scenes of the talented fighters going at it, rather than gawking at copies of "Playboy" or having food fights. But I digress. If American Shaolin had managed to get away from some of the cliches of the genre and deliver more action, it might have been a great film instead of a good one. But it's still worth a viewing if you like good mindless martial arts action.
