Bloodsport v/s. Kickboxer I can see why people would…
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Bloodsport v/s. Kickboxer
I can see why people would prefer Bloodsport over Kickboxer, simply because the former has a lot more fighting, while the latter has only one long-drawn, staggered fight in the climax. Those who are simply looking for a proper bang for their buck will be predisposed to prefer the former.
However, I prefer Kickboxer because it has more of a plot than Bloodsport and also the emotional stakes are much higher.
In Bloodsport, there isn't much of a reason to root for the protagonist and hope that he defeats the antagonist, because there aren't any defined stakes. Even when his friend is injured in the ring, he is shown to completely recover in the end, so even that's not much of a conflict. The subplot where the military cops are chasing him is also superfluous as I was not sure why he had to go AWOL in the first place.
In Kickboxer, however, there is a genuine urgency to the protagonist's mission as his brother is deliberately injured by the antagonist to the point of becoming a paraplegic. Tong Po is just shown to be outright sociopathic and evil and I genuinely wanted him to be brought down. The training period gives the protagonist a hero's journey arc which was largely missing in Bloodsport.
I will say that there is definitely one area where Bloodsport scores way above Kickboxer, though and it's the the antagonist's characterization as well as the choice of the actor to play him. Chong Li is ferocious, terrifying and borderline psychotic - but also has charisma and panache. He loves the crowd and loves to give them what they want. And Bolo Yeung plays him perfectly and it becomes more impressive considering he had to convey most of this only with his expressions, as his dialogue was limited to very few lines. Tong Po, on the other hand, is a one-dimensional villain - easy to fear and hate but not admirable like Chong Li.
TL;DR: IMO, Kickboxer is the better film while Bloodsport has the better antagonist.
#movies #video
I can see why people would prefer Bloodsport over Kickboxer, simply because the former has a lot more fighting, while the latter has only one long-drawn, staggered fight in the climax. Those who are simply looking for a proper bang for their buck will be predisposed to prefer the former.
However, I prefer Kickboxer because it has more of a plot than Bloodsport and also the emotional stakes are much higher.
In Bloodsport, there isn't much of a reason to root for the protagonist and hope that he defeats the antagonist, because there aren't any defined stakes. Even when his friend is injured in the ring, he is shown to completely recover in the end, so even that's not much of a conflict. The subplot where the military cops are chasing him is also superfluous as I was not sure why he had to go AWOL in the first place.
In Kickboxer, however, there is a genuine urgency to the protagonist's mission as his brother is deliberately injured by the antagonist to the point of becoming a paraplegic. Tong Po is just shown to be outright sociopathic and evil and I genuinely wanted him to be brought down. The training period gives the protagonist a hero's journey arc which was largely missing in Bloodsport.
I will say that there is definitely one area where Bloodsport scores way above Kickboxer, though and it's the the antagonist's characterization as well as the choice of the actor to play him. Chong Li is ferocious, terrifying and borderline psychotic - but also has charisma and panache. He loves the crowd and loves to give them what they want. And Bolo Yeung plays him perfectly and it becomes more impressive considering he had to convey most of this only with his expressions, as his dialogue was limited to very few lines. Tong Po, on the other hand, is a one-dimensional villain - easy to fear and hate but not admirable like Chong Li.
TL;DR: IMO, Kickboxer is the better film while Bloodsport has the better antagonist.
#movies #video
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