Okay, well I have had the 1993 movie "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" on DVD laying around for several years before I actually got around to watching it. Having picked it up at a cost of next to nothing in the local thrift shop, I only got around to watching it after a friend said it was actually a good movie.
I had always put off the movie on two accounts, first and foremost because of the lousy title. I mean, "Shootfighter", come on. What does that even mean? It is just hands down one of the worst and most laughable titles I have seen to a movie. And I can't claim that I have been much of a fan of Bolo Yeung neither.
However, I must admit that "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" was actually a good movie, it was somewhat reminiscent of the "Blood Sport" movie in many way, yet mixing in elements from other martial arts movies. But still, writers Judd Lynn, Larry Felix Jr., Peter Shaner and Robert Ginty managed to put together an enjoyable enough script for director Patrick Alan to bring to life on the screen. Sure, the storyline was pretty straight forward and somewhat generic for an early 1990s martial arts action movie, but isn't that what makes it all the more enjoyable?
Something that definitely surprised me about "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" was the cast ensemble. They definitely had a lot of familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Bolo Yeung, William Zabka, Martin Kove, George Cheung and Gerald Okamura. I have to admit that "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" was actually one of the better movies that I have seen Bolo Yeung in, aside from "Blood Sport". And it definitely was fun to have Martin Kove and William Zabka back on the screen together after having seen them in the movie "Karate Kid" and later again in the "Cobra Kai" series.
There was a good amount of display of martial arts in the movie, and let's just be honest here, that is why we watch these movies, isn't it? To see impressive martial arts and fight sequences. And "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" definitely has that. Sure, some of the martial arts performers weren't really great actors, but they definitely knew their fighting well enough.
I found "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" to be genuinely entertaining and enjoyable. It was a trip down memory lane and back to when I was a teenager, growing up with these martial arts movies. Just look beyond the laughably bad title, and you have a rather enjoyable movie on your hands.
My rating of "Shootfighter: Fight to the Death" lands on a six out of ten stars.
