By Geno McGahee
I am a huge fan of the 1989 KICKBOXER with action superstar, Jean-Claude Van Damme. It is a classic and was incredibly popular, prompting a series of straight to video sequels. In 1991, we saw KICKBOXER 2: THE ROAD BACK, with Sasha Mitchell as the new lead. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either. One year later, KICKBOXER 3: THE ART OF WAR was released, once again with Sasha Mitchell, and this was as bad as it gets. I think they knew that they had to redeem themselves and in 1994, KICKBOXER 4: THE AGGRESSOR hit the shelves and as much as I have trashed the sequels to the original and the acting of Sasha Mitchell, we have taken a huge step forward here. This film was quite enjoyable.
David (Sasha Mitchell) came back from Rio de Janeiro and, for some reason, Tong Po has returned to his life and set him up, placing him in prison for over two years. Still having sour grapes, Tong Po has also kidnapped David’s wife and his holding her as a sexual slave. The Feds inform David that they will get him out of prison to go to Mexico and stop Tong Po (Kamel Krifa). Po has left Thailand and now has a huge complex in Mexico where he is holding a huge fighting tournament with one million dollars to the winner. David agrees and heads over but has to deal with some bikers first and this is where I realized that Sasha Mitchell was improving. His delivery of “you can’t take your girlfriend anywhere, can you,” to a biker and his friend was hilarious. Amazingly, Mitchell’s acting is a lot better overall in this one. They had to put him through some acting classes in between the third and fourth entry, or it could just be better direction. Whatever the case, Mitchell deserves some credit for bringing a better performance here.
When he arrives at the complex, David has to fight a small female, Megan (Michelle “Mouse” Krasnoo). He doesn’t want to, but chokes her out and walks away. He also meets up with an old friend, Lando (Brad Thornton), who is also competing in the tournament. The three form a union and see that there is something wrong with Tong Po…other than the bald cap he’s wearing.
Tong Po has really improved on his English too. In the other movies, he could speak a sentence or two, but the two years after he set David up have been productive for him. He now speaks perfect English. He must have learned it in Mexico…OK, maybe some elements of this movie don’t make a great deal of sense, but this should not be overanalyzed. All that matters is that Tong Po can now express his true feelings to David in a way that he will understand. I thought that it might have meant less violence between the two because they can see where they’re coming from, but they fight again.
Po’s right hand man, Bill, is played by Thomas Matthews. Matthews played Tommy Jarvis in JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART VI. I’m glad that he got more work. He was good in this as the slimy henchman to Po. He had a terrible knife tattoo on his neck. I don’t know why they used it. It looked incredibly fake, but the same guy that did the bald cap for Po must be responsible for this too.
The tournament turns into a fight to the death and a final showdown between David and Tong Po. Without question, Po was in his prime in 1989. Since then, his fighting skills have diminished and he doesn’t take punishment very well. After taking some punishment, he hauls ass to fight another day. You can’t kill Tong Po!
KICKBOXER 4: THE AGGRESSOR is actually pretty good. It’s a silly, fun, stupid action movie that was common around this time. As much as the 1990s were a bad time for film, the action genre had some gems and despite the hate I might get for saying this…this is a gem. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 7/10
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