Also known as Karate Tiger, this is one of the very few movies that Jean-Claude Van Damme has done where he doesn’t play the benevolent hero role. Kurt McKinney is the hero in this movie and puts on a decent performance, so much that he doesn’t seem at all out of place – Van Damme doesn’t overshadow him at all here. Meanwhile, Van Damme plays the role of the main enemy and does an good job of it.
This movie is packed with uplifting training scenes backed by good soundtracks (although the music varies between versions and some are far better than others). It’s got a low quality of acting by all but the lead characters but is a story you can really enjoy and get motivated by, like many mild-quality martial arts movies are when they have a classic action hero tale, a good lead performance, and good soundtracks. The plot works, although it’s a bit thin.
It was first released in Italy on 20 October 1985, but wasn’t released in the UK & USA until over 6 months later, on 2 May 1986 – hence why IMDB & Wikipedia say it’s a 1985 movie but some sources think it’s a 1986 movie.
Watch it online
You can currently watch the full movie online for free here if you don’t mind about 25 inconvenient advertisement interruptions (or use a download site).