I always wondered something. What do Kickboxers think of Jean Claude Van Damme's movie Kickboxer? Do all Kickboxers automatically hate it, like it, or does it vary? Side Note - I personally love it. It's my 2nd favorite Van Damme movie. I thought the Kickboxing action was awesome, the training was cool and sometimes funny, and the Thai trainer was just fantastic. Before I found out of HK Cinema (Jackie Chan, Jet Li) all I used to watch was Van Damme movies with my Dad. And this is one of our favorite movies. Also besides that one movie what do you think of the series: Kickboxer 2: The Road Back Kickboxer 3: The Art of War Kickboxer 4:The Aggressor Kickboxer 5 2-4 was played by Sasha Mitchell and 5 was by Mark Dacascos. Side Note - Even though none of them come close to the first, I think 2 was pretty good, same with 3, and I thought 4 was better than 2 and 3, but still didn't come close towards the first, and 5 was an abomination.
i never saw 3-5, and havent seen 2 for so long I cant remember what happens. the first one is great though. The only thing that annoys me about the movie is that it is responsible for half the muay thai myths out there (especially in regards to training) bit of trivia, the guy who plays his brother in the first movie guy who gets crippled) is none other than Dennis Alexio, one of the all time greatest american kickboxers.
Awesome, I love the film, it's great. And I know about one of the myths, you can't kick a bamboo tree like that or you'll break a bone, but they used to kick banana trees. Don't know about the other myths. I didn't that the guy was actually a real Kickboxing champion. I'm trying to find info on him, but only found a small bit.
The guy who played the Thai champ, Tong Po, was actually JCVD's close friend Michael Qissi. They used to practice karate together way before JCVD became famous. He does not look like that in real life...it was just make-up and special effects to make him look Oriental. I'm not sure, but I think that his original ethnicity might be Moroccan or something like that. Actually, you can see him in some of JCVD's other movies. I'm just going by memory but, in Lionheart, he was one of the two tough French Foreign Legion guys in dark suits who travelled to the USA to find Leo (a.k.a. JCVD) who'd gone AWOL. BTW, MQ is the darker looking of the two. Also, I believe that MQ played one of the fighters in Bloodsport. I think that he was the Capoeira stylist. Anyway, he's the guy who's leg bone breaks and sticks out as a result of the treacherous Chong Lee (a.k.a. Bolo Yeung, one of Bruce Lee's enemies in Enter the Dragon).
I was the same, I discovered van damme first. I watch the films now though and it seems like jean claude uses the same moves over and over again.
^ That doesn't bother me at all. No what happened was the guy who played Tong Po was on the set (working I think as a cameraman) They need a guy who had a certain look and who did have a background in Muay Thai, so he got the job as Tong Po.
i didnt like it vann damm showed no techniques of muay thai exepct maybe when he fought the guy in the middle of the film and they were kicking each other in the ribs. most of it looked like TKD style kicks to me. and the training.... yea after he kicked that tree down he wouldnt be able to train let alone walk for another year.
Ugh. Van Damme was the Kickboxer, American Kickboxing Kickboxer. Tong Po (that names rocks) was the Muay Thai Kickboxer.
.. hello he was thaught muay thai by that dude after his bro got beat. and in the begining of the movie he sed he wasnt even into fighting. his brother who was the best around American kickboxer was totaly demolished by Tong Po the Thai Boxer. so Vann damm was supposed to be using Muay thai to fight tong Po but due to his lack of knowlege on the sport his fight scenes showed little if any influence of Muay thai. yes this includes the scene when his brother gets wrecked by Tong Po, his clinch work seemed weird IIRC and the elbow he threw he hit with the back of his elbow which is more blunt oppsed to the side ur supposed to hit with, which cuts. Vann Damm made up these fight scenes himself. so it was the AMERICAN Muay Thai boxer Vs the Thailand Thai Boxer. and still i dont think the moves he used vs tong po were even from Kickboxing
