Ok I am utterly confused. This question is for any serious movie buffs out there. In Van Damme's very first "KICKBOXER" movie, his nemesis was a hulking Thai named "Tong Po". During the credits at the end of the film, it says Tong Po is played by Tong Po (himself). Yet in subsequent sequels to "KICKBOXER", Tong Po is played by Michel Qissi(in makeup), a close friend of Van Damme. Here's the real headscratcher. I checked up on Michel Qissi's bio and time and time again, it says he played Tong Po, even in the first movie. So the question is, IS THERE A REAL Thai boxer named TONG PO out there? Or did they simply decide to be frivolous with the credits and disguise Michel Qissi's identity as Tong Po himself? Or am I reading false information??
I heard he was actually a friend/training partner of Van Damme. Not sure if it's true. And I actually wondered about that before.
Michel Quissi is actually Tong Po, what they did was give him a prosthetic face and forehead to make him look more neanderthal like. He played the guy in Bloodsport where Chong Li breaks a guys legs and is left bleeding on the floor. The reason why I believe was that Michel was so unrecognisable that they just credited him as Tong Po. Although rumour has it (I used to work for the film company that made it) that it was actually a typo by a Production Assistant. The Quissi's (there are 2 brothers i think Michel and Abdul i think) are friends of Van Damme and appear in several of his movies, usually as comical background characters or stand ins. Michel played the bumbling foreign legion hunting Van Damme in AWOL aka Lionheart, while his Brother Abdul played the big hulking bad guy at the end, Atilla. (spot the Billy Blanks cameo ) In the Order, Abdul played the big Arab (shaved head, moustache) fighting VanDamme in the town centre.
Mushroom: You mean you actually worked for the film company and you know for a fact that ALL the Tong Po's were played by Michel Qissi? So the credits could be a typo or a bit of a gimmick put in by the makers of the film?
Mushroom nailed it. He's absolutely right. Except in Kickboxer 4, starring Sasha Mitchell. The character of Tong Po wasn't played by Michel Qissi in that one. He was played by Kamel Krifa. Also a friend of Van Damme's. (He plays a barkeep in Double Impact. Gets killed by Corey Everson and Peter Malota.) So no, there's no real Tong Po. It's just Qissi with a prosthetic brow. Stuart
I've only seen Kickboxer 1 and 2, same with the Bloodsports. Didnt even know the character of Tong Po carried on. I didnt work for the company at the time, i wouldve been only a teenager. I got the info, mostly from being a fan/film freak and asking around. Typos happen all the time. Jean Claude Van Damme played the character of Ivan in No Retreat No Surrender....but look at the credits and his name is Boris. go figure.
I've seen all the entries in both series. I'm sick. Tong Po appears in Kickboxer 1, 2, and 4. Number 3 takes place in Rio with Ian Jacklin playing the main opponent and Sasha Mitchell the hero. And Kickboxer 5 (The Redemption) stars Mark Dacascos. It's got so little bearing on the first ones that it's actually been released some places as just The Redemption. (Though they do make reference repeatedly to the murder of David Sloan, Sasha Mitchell's character from Kickboxer 2-4.) Huh. I hadn't noticed that. If anybody's interested, by the way, I've got a review of No Retreat, No Surrender in my MAP journal. Stuart
I was wondering what someone was going on about Mark Dacascos being in Kickboxer 5, I havent seen it around tho, I'm a big fan of Mark Dacascos. IMO, he's only been used properly in Drive and Brotherhood of the Wolf. I tried watching Kickboxer 3 and Bloodsport 3 but I just had to switch it off after 10 minutes.
Kickboxer 5 is okay. Dacascos has some good moves. Not as good as Drive or BotW though. The plot is awful though. Even for that genre. And James Ryan (Ryan James?) (whatever his name is) isn't a very compelling bad guy. Kickboxer 5 is probably just for die hard Dacascos fans. And even then, be warned. Sounds about right to me. Stuart
remember this pic? http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/40b474a1_213f/bc/My+Documents/Tong+Po+vs+DEA+Agent.jpg?bfwTHXBBhtn_TuQK its from kickboxer 4. tong po does a wing chun type move and headbutts the guy to the floor. very cool move
