Customer Rating: Summary: intense must-see martial arts action Comment: Shootfighter is just about the best American-made martial arts movie ever. There is a decent story, good characters (2 from the Karate Kid movies), lots of action, and superb cage fighting - with weapons.
The movie begins in Hong Kong, with Shingo (played by Bolo Yeung) and Lee (played by Martin Kove) who are about to fight off in the Shootfighter finals. Before Lee makes it to Shingo, he is banned from Shootfighting for killing his prior opponent. Lee begins his own Shootfighting tournament in Mexico, with weapons in the final round. In order to regain his honor, Lee lures 2 of Shingo's students (William Zakba and Michael Bernardino) to participate in the tournament in hopes that Shingo will follow.
The fighting in the movie is extreme and intense, especially the weapons matches in the final round. There is plenty of blood and some gore, and the fights are lengthy, look real, and are evenly matched. There is also a lot of wonderful choreography. The finals alone last for about the final 30 minutes of the film. The scene for the tournament is in a pretty decent looking locale: an underground caged ring with a screaming dinner audience of betters.
As far as the characters go, the movie has a decent list. Most notable are Martin Kove and William Zakba from the Karate Kid movies. There are also a couple of good fighters from other movies, played by John Barret (American Kickboxer 1) and Thunderwolf (Bloodmatch). Most of the acting isn't too bad, but there are cheesy moments. Unfortunately, if you are a fan of Bolo Yeung, this is not his best role. He doesn't do the good guy much justice, especially with the plenty of dumb one-liners he has. He does get a chance to kick some butt pretty good in the end though.
Overall, Shootfighter is fast paced and above average quality as far as American-made martial art movies go. If you are looking for some of the most intense fights, look no further. This is easily an hour and half of enjoyable movie watching.
Customer Rating: Summary: The true art of shootfighting. Comment: I am sure that 9 out of 10 reviews you will find about this movie will define it as CRAPPY, TERRIBLY BAD or even worse, but to me it is quite a great product. While the editing sucks, that I admit, the action will make you breathlees; the fights are perfectly coreographed, and the blood factor will leave blood-thirsty people more than happy. Here's the story: Shingo, a great Shootfighter, has reached the finals of the tournament after beating his opponent quite easely. The other semifinal match will confront Mr. Lee and Shingo's buddy. Despite threwing a few punches, Shingo's friend finds himself in front of a very powerful fighter, who, after punching him as if he was a PC that has just broken down, rips the poor guy's throat. Mr. Lee is then banned from Shootfighting, and decides to star his own Shootfighting bussiness in Mexico. Ruben and Nick, Shingo's karate students,and two great fighters, are tracked by Mr. Lee who, decided to take revenge from Shingo, convinces them of participating in Shootfighting, and of course the excitement for no-ruled fighting, and the need of money (typical!) will make them sign up in a tournament where defeat means DEATH. Customer Rating: Summary: Extreme!!! Comment: Enter the most merciless combat arena ever imagined, as international martial arts wizard BOLO YEUNG stars with WILLIAM ZABKA, MARTIN KOVE, EDWARD ALBERT JR., and MARYAM D'ABO in this bone-crushing, full contact action spectacular! Karate Champions Ruben and Nick are lured by the menacing Mr. Lee across the border to compete as "shootfighters," a forbidden sport so brutal it's banned from the civilized world. But when Ruben and Nick are forced to face each other in the ring, they realize they're only pawns in Lee's deadly masterplan: a final, fight to the death grudge match between Lee and the legendary founding father and unconquered king of shootfighting - Shingo.
