To many, the first Kickboxer was undoubtedly, the best in the series and expectedly, like many other films, it had spawned a string unwanted sequels responsible in dragging the series down to its ultimate demise. What had started out in 1989 as a decent, but unoriginal martial arts epic had now become nothing more than a pitiful excuse for a cash cow on the part of greedy producers & bad writers. If the producers had really wanted to make a sequel to the series, the least they could do was come up with a more believable storyline but what we got with KB4 was beyond awful. The plot was by far, the corniest I’ve seen in all my years of having to put up with cheap, B-grade martial arts flicks.

The dreaded Tong Po, who was once Thailand’s greatest kickboxing legend during the first movie is now a powerful Mexican drug lord on the DEA’s most wanted list. Alright, I know what you’re thinking. Perhaps, you might have read the first sentence wrong. No, I’m not joking here. There is indeed something seriously wrong with this picture. On a scale of 1 to 10, this would have clearly been an 11 in terms of sheer corniness, and maybe even a 12 when it comes to overall stupidity. The writer had made no effort whatsoever in explaining how a down & out Thai kickboxer like Tong Po had somehow ended up becoming Mexico’s top drug lord. It’s pretty obvious as to why there wasn’t an explanation to this. It just can’t happen!

Attempting to come up with an excuse for this would have made the entire plot look even stupider than it already is. By the way, how many champion Thai kickboxers do you know who are now billionaires living off their South American drug money? It’s funny how this only happens in cheap B-grade movies written by Albert Pyun, the same guy who disgraced Christopher Lambert with that awful Adrenalin flick along with Natasha Henstridge. Even worse, the movie’s chief baddie, Tong Po wasn’t even played by the original actor. Instead, we now have some poor unknown who’s being forced to endure a 3 inch layer of make-up, yet he still looks nothing like the original Tong Po. The make-up job was horrible and I'm not the only one pointing this out. One look at those phony eyebrows pretty much says it all.

Former hero, David Sloan ( Sasha Mitchell ) is now behind bars for some unexplained reason ( Pyun’s bad writing ) while arch-nemesis Tong Po is currently living off his drug money, pre-occupied in organizing no-holds barred type street fights in his backyard. Later we are introduced to Sloan’s wife who’s silly enough to get herself kidnapped by Tong Po & used as bait to torment her already imprisoned husband. We begin to see the age-old revenge driven plot now taking shape with Sloan negotiating an early release in return for his work with the DEA on the Tong Po case. Predictably, he ends up down south, smack in the middle of Tong Po’s backyard, where he must once again beat the crap out of his arch-nemesis in a showdown similar to what we saw in KB2.

The final showdown certainly ranks among the worst I’ve seen in a martial arts flick. The choreography was about as bad as it was in KB2 but this time, instead of a simple ring, the fight takes place around an outdoor buffet table, complete with a red tablecloth & scraps of leftover food. The action resembled more like a WWF grudge match than something you’d expect out of a kickboxing flick. If I had wanted to see people getting pushed around & thrown off tables, I could have spared myself the agony of having to sit through all this by simply renting an episode of WWF Smackdown. Comparing this crap to the original Van Damme showdown from the first film should be more than enough in putting a cringe of disgust on the face of any martial arts fan.

The acting, like the movie itself was B-grade, while the storyline was clearly deserving of an F. The already unoriginal plot, marred further by its corny twists makes this movie the worst among the 5 in the Kickboxer series. The story should have ended with the first film back in 1989, but someone had to make some money off the franchise and as a result, the series had literally destroyed itself, putting it alongside other equally dismal sequels from Revenge of the Nerds, Universal Soldier & Bloodsport. Overall Grade: D


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age
Special Effects: Well at least you can't see the strings