Bloodsport
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Bloodsport |
| Original title | Bloodsport |
| Country of production | USA , Hong Kong (then United Kingdom ) |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1988 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Newt Arnold |
| script |
Sheldon Lettich Mel Friedmann Christopher Cosby |
| production |
Cannon Films Mark DiSalle |
| music | Paul Hertzog |
| camera | David Worth |
| cut | Mark Conte |
| occupation | |
| |
Bloodsport (alternatively: Bloodsport - A True Story ) is a martial arts film by the director Newt Arnold from 1988 and was the breakthrough of the then 28-year-old Jean-Claude Van Damme .
action
As a teenager, Frank Dux and friends of the same age break into the house of the Tanaka family. Surprised by the returning family, the boys flee, except for Frank. When Tanaka realizes Frank's inner potential, he offers his father to help with his son's martial arts training. Tanaka's son becomes a friend of Frank, but dies as a young man. Frank now asks Tanaka to train him further in the art of martial arts. Tanaka agrees and teaches Frank his martial arts. Then Frank goes to the army , where he becomes a highly decorated soldier.
Frank promises his bedside sensei to win the Kumite (a secret full contact championship in Hong Kong hosted by "the Brotherhood of the Black Dragon") and thus to honor his sensei. The Army learns of his participation in this competition and puts him under arrest. However, Frank secretly travels to Hong Kong, followed by two government agents (Helmer and Rawlins) who are supposed to bring him back and chase him across Hong Kong in vain.
In Hong Kong, Frank befriends the American boxer Ray Jackson, who also takes part in the Kumite, and the reporter Janice, who absolutely wants to write a report about the Kumite. When the kumite starts, it quickly becomes apparent after the first fights that it is very bloody there. The big favorite for the title is the undefeated champion Chong Li, who wins his fights pretty quickly and ruthlessly and has the whole audience behind him because of his presence of power. However, Frank surprisingly wins his first fight in record time, breaking the record set by Chong Li and quickly attracting attention. Chong Li also registers this and begins to look carefully at Frank's fighting style.
As the tournament progressed, the ranks of the fighters thinned until only a few remained (including Frank, Ray and Chong Li). Ray and Chong Li also meet, in which Ray quickly succeeds in sending Chong Li briefly on the mat with hard blows to the head, but Chong Li manages to send Ray himself onto the boards in an inattentive moment to meet him then seriously injured with a targeted kick on the head. He loots Ray's Harley-Davidson headband. In the hospital, Frank swears the unconscious Ray to take revenge on Chong Li. Janice cannot approve of this and is afraid for Frank's life. Therefore, she reports the events to the police, who then inform the two agents, Helmer and Rawlins, and bring them to the arena on the day of the final.
Frank can defeat Paco, a Muay Thai fighter, in the semifinals . In the semifinals, Chong Li meets an accomplished kung fu fighter, whom he kills with a broken neck. It comes to the final of the Kumite tournament, in which Frank and Chong Li now face each other. As a provocation and psychological intimidation, Chong Li tied Ray's headband around his leg. Frank dominated the final fight from the start in all situations, so that Chong Li uses the situation in an unobserved moment to blind Frank with the help of a powdered tablet. Since Frank can no longer see anything, he has to accept hard kicks and punches, but remembers his training with Sensei Tanaka in flashbacks. Among other things, this taught him to control his surroundings with his eyes blindfolded and thereby sharpened his hearing. Using this training, Frank again manages to control the fight and bring Chong Li to his knees. Under threat of a broken neck, Frank forces Chong Li to give up, takes Ray's headband and wins the tournament. He then receives the traditional katana sword from the Brotherhood of the Black Dragon, which he dedicates respectfully to his Shodushi Tanaka. He says goodbye to Ray in the hospital and gives him back his headband. He then says goodbye to Janice at the airport and flies back to the USA accompanied by Helmer and Rawlins.
background
Bloodsport is based on the supposedly true story of the American fighter Frank W. Dux . The truth of Dux's statements is, however, very controversial: To this day, he has not been able to provide any evidence that the kumite depicted in the film ever existed in a similar form. This does not detract from the success of the film, because despite its age it is still one of the most famous martial arts films. However, it almost overtook the fate of many other low-budget productions, and it would have gathered dust in the film distribution warehouse, because it was initially cut so "miserable" (quote from Jean-Claude van Damme) that one would not be successful with a release promised. It was only on Van Damme's personal initiative that the film was re-cut, partly by himself, especially with regard to the fight scenes; he also added material that had previously been removed from the original version. This enabled him to be seen in the fight scenes more often than DiSalle actually intended and the fights visually increased significantly in hardness, speed and drama. In addition, van Damme provided a new recording of the music. Newt Arnold and Sheldon Lettich wanted to object to the release of the new cut, but DiSalle recognized the potential of the now fundamentally restructured film. Success proved him and van Damme right: Bloodsport eventually became one of the most successful martial arts films in the world and one of the most successful films in the history of Cannon Films ; he has grossed over $ 12 million in the United States alone. There is no longer a copy of the original version, as the original film rolls were used for the editing. The shooting took place at the end of 1986, due to the described problems in post-production, the film premiere in the USA did not take place until spring 1988.
The real Frank W. Dux was responsible for the stunts and the fight choreography in the film, as well as for the training and preparation of van Damme.
Bolo Yeung, who played the role of Chong Li, was 42 years old when it was set. He later played alongside van Damme in Concentrated Charge .
There is a defused FSK-16 version of the film. Not only are fight scenes classified as too brutal missing in this one, parts of the framework and the training also fell victim to the cut.
In the English version, Frank's last name Dux is pronounced phonetically according to the French spelling Düx (based on his French film background) . In the German version it is incorrectly pronounced Dax .
The scenes in the narrow streets of Hong Kong were filmed in the Hak Nam slum settlement , which was demolished five years later (1993).
criticism
"With this banal story, the hitherto unknown Van Damme pounded into the hearts of all martial arts fans."
Sequels
Except for the second part, these are video productions. The main actor in all three films is Daniel Bernhardt .
- 1996: Bloodsport 2
- 1997: Bloodsport 3
- 1999: Bloodsport IV
Web links
- Bloodsport in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Bloodsport in the online film database
- BloodSport atrotten tomatoes(English)
- Comparison of the cut versions FSK 16 - FSK 18 by Bloodsport at Schnittberichte.com