MMA spectacle swings and misses
Mixed martial arts fans awaiting another chapter in the “Kickboxer” movie series can rest easy: “Kickboxer: Retaliation” has arrived in all its brutal, lunkheaded glory to scratch that particular itch.
This sequel to 2016’s “Kickboxer: Vengeance” — a reboot of the 1989 JeanClaude Van Damme hit “Kickboxer” (which spawned four sequels in the 1990s) — is essentially an overlong excuse to showcase an endless string of fight sequences. Scenes are either preludes to fights, preparations for fights or the fights themselves.
It all makes for dizzying, bone-cracking battles, most of which involve Kurt Sloane (Alain Moussi), a hunky MMA champ who finds himself wrongly imprisoned in a Thailand jail and at the mercy of an underworld gangster (Christopher Lambert).
But when Kurt agrees to face off against the monstrous, drug-induced, 400pound Mongkut (“Game of Thrones’ ” Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) in an underground “death match,” he’s sprung from prison and reunited with now-blind martial arts master Durand (Van Damme, in Belgian Mr. Miyagi mode) to train for the final showdown.
Director Dimitri Logothetis, again scripting with his “Kickboxer: Vengeance” co-writer James McGrath, barrels through the chockablock action with requisite energy. But dialogue and performances (including Mike Tyson as Kurt’s prison mate), are often laughably subpar.
“Kickboxer: Retaliation.” Not rated. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes. Playing: Arena Sunset Cinelounge, Hollywood; also on VOD.