Highly Overrated But Still Good

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

WHILE THE MOVIE MIGHT NOT GIVE AS MUCH AS AN IMPACT AS THE ORIGINAL, I FOUND MYSELF WATCHING THIS NEW VERSION IN DELIGHT. Alain Moussi shows his talent and lives up to his Martial prowess. JCVD playing the new mentor is also a delight, although doesn't give the same feel as the original's local Master. I agree to this change because it has already been done. Dave Bautista plays Tong Po and offers a new and physically tougher version of a once feared enemy fighter. All in all this movie is a refreshing view to a genre that is slowly disappearing from the world of Cinema. But I will always welcome this Genre back as it shows the viewers the importance of training, improving, working and learning. All these which is sorely lacking in todays Movies. Thank you JCVD.

Sure the times have changed and improvising is needed. So you have a slightly different movie than the original ? Whats the big deal guys ? You would go watch Hunger games and all other shitty movies but wouldn't like this one because its a little different than the original kickboxer ? The only thing i would say that i didn't like about the movie which doesn't even matter that much is the Elephant were fake but i am glad they were and didn't freak out the animals for a silly movie scene. And for that i would like to Thank the creator of this movie for caring about the animal intentionally or non intentionally.All in all, huge fan of VD and Batista so i enjoyed the movie.

I want to premise I'm a huge fan of JCVD and I consider Bloodsport and Kickboxer his main success and my fav movies... I don't know who decided to remake Kickboxer, but this movie is really garbage. I watched it last night without being ever involved, everything was flat and poor, characters, dialogue, editing, soundtrack. Bautista as Tong Po is an insult to all Muay Thai lovers, why not to try to use a real Thai boxer? ..the fake Tong Po that nothing has to see with the original one played by Mohammed Qissi (much more credible as Thai ). The training scenes of Kurt are like homemade, I could have done better, same screenshots, no pathos, no emotions, just a loop of the same images. I watched it until the end but I was continuing asking myself how its possible to make such a ugly remake. And the budget was more than enough for a movie without special effect. Ong Bak in this way teach a lot. I do now believe why this movie has barely touched the theater, I can save only JCVD that is always one step ahead regardless his age, but he's ridiculous when he speak to Kurt during the fight and his role of "master with the hat". Less than a B-movie, I can't believe there will be a sequel. "Kickboxer" didn't need a remake...

'KICKBOXER: VENGEANCE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)A reboot/remake to the 1989 cult classic martial arts flick, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme returns to play the central character's mentor, while stuntman (turned martial arts actor) Alain Moussi stars in the film, as Kurt Sloane (the role that Van Damme played in the original movie). The story is once again about kick boxer Kurt Sloane wanting revenge for his brother's brutal beating, at the hands of a lethal Muay Thai champion. The film also costars WWE star (turned actor) Dave Bautista, Gina Carano (a former MMA star, turned actress), Georges St-Pierre (a former MMA star, turned actor), Sara Malakul Lane (a Thai model, turned actress) and the late Darren Shahlavi (a former stuntman, turned late martial arts actor). It was directed by actor, turned director, John Stockwell; who's directed such other B-movie cult classics as 'BLUE CRUSH', 'INTO THE BLUE' and 'IN THE BLOOD' (also starring Carano). The script was written by Dimitri Logothetis (who also co-wrote and directed the 2014 martial arts flick 'WINGS OF THE DRAGON'; also starring Moussi), and first time screenwriter Jim McGrath. The film received a direct to Video on Demand (and select indie theaters) release, and it's received mixed reviews from fans. Although it's extremely cheesy, I enjoyed it.After winning the World Karate Championship, Eric Sloane (Shahlavi) accepts a generously paid offer to travel to Thailand; and compete in an underground fight there. Eric's brother Kurt (Moussi) is extremely worried about the fight, and he attempts to talk his brother out of it. After Eric doesn't listen to him, Kurt travels to Thailand to watch the fight; and he arrives just in time to see his brother brutally murdered (in the fight) by his merciless opponent Tong Po (Bautista). Kurt then wants revenge, and he asks his brother's mentor there, Master Durand (Van Damme), to train him. Durand reluctantly agrees. The movie is pretty amateurish and cheesy; I'm actually amazed it was funded with a $17 million budget. Stockwell has made much better looking films than this, and so have several of the actors (Van Damme, Bautista, Carano, etc.). Still it is a great homage to the very cheesy, and extremely amateurish, original (which I'm a big fan of); and it's great that they got Van Damme to finally come back to the series (which has spawned multiple other sequels before this). I kind of wish it would have been more professionally made, but I also kind of like how campy it is. I enjoyed it.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GhHTPB4y30