This is an unusually plotted film in as much as Eric Roberts is top billed as martial arts fighter Alex Grady, but the job of bringing the story to an emotional climax is given to Phillip Rhee in his match against Dae Han Park (Phillip Rhee's real life brother, Simon Rhee). The movie resonated with me much more when I saw it years ago, closer to it's original release. Today it has a rather tired look against some of the more outstanding martial arts movies out there. For all the talk about the fighters selected for the American National Karate Team to operate as a unit, it took the longest time for Travis Brickley (Chris Penn) to realize that he was being a jerk most of the time, something which came naturally to him. James Earl Jones on the other hand, had to work at being a jerk as coach Frank Couzo, who's over-emoting and general lack of self awareness was embarrassing most of the time, and very much in evidence when Grady's son was seriously injured in an accident. It all works out over the course of the story, with the championship tournament in Korea proving that you don't have to win a fight to maintain integrity and reveal true sportsmanship. The moving tribute offered by Dae Han to his defeated rival Tommy was the kind of scene designed to bring a tear to the eye of the viewer, followed up in due fashion by the rest of his teammates. It can be an inspirational story for younger viewers, though not to be confused over the idea that three months of training is sufficient to over power practitioners of Tae Kwon Do who have been doing it for a lifetime.

Basically this film is one of the better low budget martial arts films to come our way in the late 80's and early 90's. The plot is for all to see within the first 20 mins or so, it doesn't really get anymore complicated than that other than 1 vital bit of info that is kept from us until 20-30 mins to go. Oh, and also the film doesn't end like most and was quite refreshing to see to be honest.....(I won't spoil it for you, you have to watch it to find out). Yes it's cheap but it is also chearful in a "got nothing else to do or watch one evening kinda way". The VOICE of Darth Vader - James Earl Jones is in a starring role as well as Oscar winner Eric Roberts (Julia's older brother) in a weird role for him, guess money must have been tight back then.....

Go see it......worth a watch.

My title says it all....

There's no rhyme or reason why I like this movie.

It is what it is

If your brain requires a 90+ minute shutdown - this is your film...

Thank you