Bloodsport
Frank Dux has spent most his life being trained by Tanaka to participate in the Kumite, the ultimate martial arts tournament…
- Director: Newt Arnold
- Genre:Action / Sport
- Runtime:92 minutes
Cast
Jean-Claude Van Damme : Frank Dux (as Jean Claude Van Damme)
Donald Gibb : Ray Jackson
Leah Ayres : Janice Kent
Norman Burton : Helmer
Forest Whitaker : Rawlins
Based on supposedly real-life events which took place between 1975 and 1980–1981, Bloodsport tells the story of an American man named Frank W. Dux (Jean Claude Van Damme), who was trained from his youth in the ways of Ninjutsu by a Japanese master of the art, Senzo Tanaka (Roy Chiao). Primarily to honor his mentor out of gratitude and respect for having been allowed the training in place of Senzo Tanaka’s deceased and only son, Dux leaves for Hong Kong to participate in the Kumite — an illegal and underground, freestyle, single-elimination and occasionally deadly full-contact martial arts tournament to which the world’s best martial artists are clandestinely invited every five years.
The movie begins with the preparation of the Kumite somewhere in Kowloon Walled City. Then it shows a number of fighters preparing for the Kumite with their own training regimens (from climbing trees to bash coconuts to breaking big ice blocks and boards). Then it shows a man cleaning a platform when it finally shows Frank Dux kicking a speed bag in an Army gym. An officer talks to him about how the commanding officer found out about Frank leaving for the Kumite in Hong Kong and wanted to talk to him. Frank tells that he would take a shower and talk to him only to go AWOL from there.
Dux goes to the Tanakas’ house to say goodbye to his trainer and remembers back to his training days. A flashback sequence shows a younger Frank Dux being goaded by two schoolmates to steal a sword in Mr. Tanaka’s house. As Mr. Tanaka and his son Shingo walk in the house towards the room, the other schoolmates run away, leaving Dux to be the fall guy. Shingo kicks Dux, but Mr. Tanaka tells him to back off and leave. Tanaka then tells Dux that the sword cannot be stolen and it must be earned. Dux explains that he was not stealing, but trying to put the sword back in its rightful place. Tanaka uses the sword and cuts off the front of Dux’s cap, who doesn’t flinch during the ordeal. Impressed by his “fighting spirit,” Tanaka makes a deal where he will train Dux in exchange for not calling the police on him. Despite being used for a “punching bag” by Shingo during training (at one point Shingo disrespects Dux by calling him a “round-eye”), Dux saves Shingo from two bullies at school. Shingo confides in Dux that one day he would make his father proud by going to the Kumite. Shingo dies years later, and despite initial resistance to the idea, Tanaka agrees to train Dux as a member of the Tanaka Clan. Read more
Watch full Bloodsport online streaming for free
