MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Up 511 this week

Only the Strong (1993)

 -  Action | Drama  -  27 August 1993 (USA)
6.1
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 6.1/10 from 2,893 users  
Reviews: 47 user | 13 critic

Ex-Special Forces soldier Louis Stevens returns to Miami to find his former high school overrun by drugs and violence. A master of the Brazilian martial art, capoeira, Stevens pledges to ... See full summary »

Director:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 258 titles created 16 Apr 2011
 
a list of 1473 titles created 23 Oct 2011
 
a list of 4252 titles created 21 May 2012
 
a list of 5035 titles created 11 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Only the Strong (1993)

Only the Strong (1993) on IMDb 6.1/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Only the Strong.

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Sanctuary (1998)
Action
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 4.7/10 X  

Luke Kovak is part of a covert group within the CIA that works on illegal black ops involving blackmail and assassinations. When his boss orders the murder of one of the team, Luke realises how expendable they all are and gets out (taking proof of their activities with him). He now lives as a priest until the group start to get close to tracking him down.

Director: Tibor TakĂ¡cs
Stars: Mark Dacascos, Jaimz Woolvett, Kylie Travis
Action | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.

Director: Brad Bird
Stars: Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg
Action
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 4.6/10 X  

An American reporter teams up with a martial arts expert, whose half-brother is a "yakuza"--Japaneser mafia--drug dealer to battle swordsmen from around the world n a Turkish arena.

Director: Sam Firstenberg
Stars: David Bradley, Mark Dacascos, Valarie Trapp
The Defender (1994)
Action
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.2/10 X  

A corrupt businessman commits a murder and the only witness is the girlfriend of another businessman with close connections to the Chinese government, so a bodyguard from Beijing is ... See full summary »

Director: Corey Yuen
Stars: Jet Li, Christy Chung, Kent Cheng
Action
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.1/10 X  

A young Chinese Security Officer, Darren, is called for Team 808, which fights against the smuggling of drugs and corruption. Noriko, a Japanese Interpol officer, collaborates with Darren ... See full summary »

Director: Stanley Tong
Stars: Aaron Kwok, Norika Fujiwara, Leehom Wang
Action | Crime | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A SWAT team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.

Director: Gareth Evans
Stars: Iko Uwais, Donny Alamsyah, Ray Sahetapy
Action | Adventure | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.8/10 X  

Perseus braves the treacherous underworld to rescue his father, Zeus, captured by his son, Ares, and brother Hades who unleash the ancient Titans upon the world.

Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Stars: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes
Ong Bak 3 (2010)
Action
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 4.7/10 X  

Ong Bak 3 picks up where Ong Bak 2 had left off. Tien is captured and almost beaten to death before he is saved and brought back to the Kana Khone villagers. There he is taught meditation ... See full summary »

Directors: Tony Jaa, Panna Rittikrai
Stars: Tony Jaa, Primorata Dejudom, Dan Chupong
Ong bak 2 (2008)
Action
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

A young Thai boxer learns the skills and inner meaning of martial arts.

Directors: Tony Jaa, Panna Rittikrai
Stars: Tony Jaa, Sarunyu Wongkrachang, Sorapong Chatree
The Master (1992)
Action
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.5/10 X  

Uncle Tak, the old martial-arts master and medicine in normal life has severe problems with his former student Jonny, who wants nothing more than to kill his old master to show everyone who... See full summary »

Director: Hark Tsui
Stars: Jet Li, Wah Yuen, Crystal Kwok
Flash Point (2007)
Action
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.7/10 X  

A hot-headed inspector takes on a small but powerful Vietnamese-Chinese gang, after a series of crimes and murder attempts committed and putting an undercover cop and his girlfriend in great danger.

Director: Wilson Yip
Stars: Donnie Yen, Louis Koo, Collin Chou
Action
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.2/10 X  

After being humiliated in the ring by a dirty kickboxer who pulled down his shorts and then hit him, a martial arts master decides to travel to China and enter a monastery where he may ... See full summary »

Director: Lucas Lowe
Stars: Reese Madigan, Trent Bushey, Daniel Dae Kim
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
Paco Christian Prieto ...
...
Cochran
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter ...
Philippe
...
Roman Cardwell ...
Shay
Ryan Bollman ...
Donovan
Christian Klemash ...
Eddie
John Fionte ...
Hector Cervantes
Joselito 'Amen' Santo ...
Javier
John Gregory Kasper ...
Coach Kasper
Phyllis Sukoff ...
Mrs. Esposito
...
Green Beret Sergeant
Edit

Storyline

Ex-Special Forces soldier Louis Stevens returns to Miami to find his former high school overrun by drugs and violence. A master of the Brazilian martial art, capoeira, Stevens pledges to straighten out a dozen of the school's worst students by teaching them this demanding and highly-disciplined fighting style. Slowly, his program begins to work, giving the students new hope and purpose. But the local drug lord, himself a martial arts expert, vows to stop Stevens' positive influence. Now Stevens must fight to save his own life, as well as the lives of his rebellious young students. Written by Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

The ultimate martial art.

Genres:

Action | Drama

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for gang violence | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Official Sites:

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

27 August 1993 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Street Fighters  »

Filming Locations:


Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$3,273,588 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

(Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stunt coordinator and fight choreographer for this movie was Frank Dux - the full-contact martial artist whose life was portrayed by Jean-Claude Van Damme in the movie Bloodsport. Moreover, Dux has a cameo appearance as one of the men fighting Louis Stevens in the car workshop. See more »

Goofs

About mid-way through the film, during a training sequence between Louis and Shay as Mr. Carrigan walks into the firehouse, someone off camera shouts out, "Hey Mark!" See more »

Quotes

Louis Stevens: All right, you wanna sleep on the bus, sleep on the bus.
[Stevens picks up his bag]
Louis Stevens: I like the beach - I will sleep on the beach.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley (1998) See more »

Soundtracks

"Babalu Bad Boy"
Performed by Mellow Man Ace
Produced by DJ Muggs
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

 
Unique Brazilian martial arts exhibited in a mediocre movie
29 December 2004 | by (za worudu) – See all my reviews

The real star of "Only the Strong" is the capoeira style of Brazilian martial arts (which is the pre-cursor of many break dancing moves) exhibited throughout the film. There are many movies that concentrate on wushu, taekwondo, karate, aikido, and many others styles from different parts of the world, but capoeira movies are far and few between, which makes "Only the Strong" that much more unique.

The story is nothing short of rehashed and predictable; a well meaning soldier (Mark Dacascos) with martial arts background from his previous station in Brazil, comes back to the U.S. and attempts to take charge of the rebellious, rival students in a troubled neighbourhood. He attempts to give them a focus in life with the art of capoeira, which combines martial arts, music and dancing, as well as stressing teamwork between the players/fighters. The troublesome students take a while to be won over by Decascos efforts, but eventually play along.

Things get complicated when it turns out that one of the students is the son of a Portuguese gangster, a capoeira maestre himself, that is the terror of the town, leading to some battles and a showdown between the ruthless criminal and his followers and the well meaning teacher.

The acting and the story is sub-par as mentioned previously, but this is , at the time of this writing, the only movie focusing on capoeira as a whole, and as such deserves a closer look by martial arts fans everywhere who are ready for something truly different.


8 of 11 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Is Capoeira Effective? coreyterminator
This Is The BEST MOVIE EVER MADE! leag_gael1
Any other capoera movies? alex_piyevsky
Question about Capoera johnatcollege
Was that supposed to be a Brazilian accent or even Portuguese??????????? El_Ingeniero
Bon na na what? pclarkcomic
Discuss Only the Strong (1993) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?