Bloodsport 4: Dark Kumite
Wow! It’s amazing how many film franchises Jean Claude Van Damme started, but never continued (and lately a few that he’s now coming back to).
After filming one of the best marshal arts movies ever, Van Damme moves on the only slightly better things, and was replaced by Daneil Bernhardt, a fantastic stunt fighter who on ocasian has enjoy a starring role in a few low budget films.
Seems like he has taking over the Bloodsport movies (the same way Sasha Michell took over the kickboxer franchise (until Van Damme came back).
Bernhardt plays a cop named John Matthew Keller who dabbles in underground fighting to keep his skills sharp. At the beginning of the film, it looks like he was going to end his fighting career claiming that the kumite use to be about honor and now it’s just a Bloodsport (see what they did there?)
Keller goes deep undercover in a prison where a convicted cop killer who was suppose to have been executed was sent in order to fight in the dark kumite. How perfect, as Keller use to fight in the regular kumite.
Fitting the archetype of action movies about deadly competition, the prison is filled with some colorful charaters. From deadly criminals who want to see the cop that put them inside dead to looney inmates who want to befriend Kelly cause they find him interesting(or are undercover federal agents). Than there is the cheesy bad guy running the dark kumite who proves to be even the warden’s boss.
The movie is a little too over dramatic for me. It’s something that they purposely did. Like with the warden’s room, which looks a little like Dracula’s tomb.
It’s hard to pin point weather Bernhardt’s acting is really bad or is it just the filmmakers wanted him to overact. Either way the dramatic art direction and acting only succeed in enhancing the corny.
The marshal arts is pretty good but for the most part one sided as it seems only Bernhardt really knows something or just has more experience making it look good on celluloid.
I don’t want to say the 4th installment of Bloodsport sucks, but in comparison to the original, it’s such a poor follow up. As I watched it, I got the feeling I see it before. Much of what was going on got me a dejavu feeling. This is kinda bad, simply because it shows how forgettable the film is, and it is forgettable.
