Jason Stillwell, a Bruce Lee fan, is beaten numerous times and trains from the ghost of Lee. Jason then must use his newly acquired skills to save Seattle from a crime syndicate, whose top martial artist is the deadly Ivan. The premise is simple bullied karate enthusiast seeks spiritual and martial guidance from celebrity stiff yet the result is harmless and pleasing enough. McKinney plays the underdog Jason, a troubled youth new to Seattle, hassled by the harder kids, befriended by a disco-strutting dated stereotype and his martial arts training isn't going too well either. His prayers seem answered when Kim Tai Chong arrives in the shape of the spirit of Bruce Lee Jason's idol and mentor who teaches him the Jeet Kune Do rudiments. Of course it sounds as silly as it is but Sensai Lee trains him well enough to combat the main baddie of the piece Van Damme's earliest action role as a Russian syndicate fighter set to beat up Seattle's finest. With some rather impressive training sequences, and a great Jean-Claude support (easily the best fighter here, apart from Master Lee of course), the biggest trouble you'll have here is admitting you actually enjoyed it. Not much to be said for this typical 80s action flick, except for the the jaw-dropping fight at the end. A young man and his dad, a Lo Angeles dojo owner, move to Seattle after some New York mob types injure the dad and take over his dojo. In Seattle (where they apparently have palm trees), the kid, who knows a little karate, takes a beating from some local karate bullies and ends up training with the ghost f Bruce Lee, whom the kid worships. Yep. That's what I said. The ghost of Bruce Lee. This leads to a final confrontation with one of the New York hoods who hurt his dad. Van Damme is that hood, and he is only in the film for about five or 10 minutes. Basically a ripoff of The Karate Kid. Skip all but the last seven or eight minutes of the film. Your jaw is guaranteed to drop, if you're a martial arts fan. The legendary Corey Yuen directed this no-budget B movie. A deliciously bad reworking of The Karate Kid, with just a touch of Rocky IV tossed in.
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365 weeks ago