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6 Degrees Entertainment

Bloodfight + Ironheart [Bolo Yeung Double Feature]
(Bolo Yeung, Julian Lee, Richard Norton, Britton K. Lee, Yasuaki Kurata, et al / Blu-ray / NR / 2020 / MVD Visual)

Overview: 'Bloodfight' takes you back to the arena of death. Chang (Bolo Yeung Jean Claude Van Damme's final opponent in 'Bloodsport' and Bruce Lee's nemesis in 'Enter The Dragon' is the ruthless and unbeatable title holder of the World Free-Fighting Tournament.

In 'Ironheart,' martial arts expert, John Keem (Britton K. Lee) is out for revenge, but he's in for the fight of his life. His target is, Milverstead (Richard Norton, Mad Max: Fury Road), the ruthless drug dealer that killed his best friend.

Blu-ray Verdict: On the heels of 'Bloodsport' (1989), director Shuji Goto snagged the formidable Bolo Yeung, attempting to capitalize on that film's success for his similarly titled, 'Bloodfight'.

The plot echoes 'Rocky IV' as retired world champion martial artist, Masahiro Kai(Yasuaki Kurata), now the trainer of a fledgling gym, prepares for his main event fight against Chang Lee(Bolo Yeung), the one responsible for the murder of a former pupil, Ryu Tenmei (a really young Simon Yam).

Kai watched as Ryu battled against a group of bullying punks, led by Stuart Smith, seeing a possible champion-in-the-making, hoping to take him under his wing.

At first Ryu resists, instead concerned with a career in basketball that is until he has another altercation with the punks, left battered and bruised.

To the dismay of girlfriend Milly, Ryu will abandon his potential basketball career, working hard with new trainer Kai, preparing for a tournament in the hopes of becoming world champion.

In truth, 'Bloodfight' is an unexpectedly serious action flick that has some good, at times artistic camera work. Unlike most Chinese martial arts films, this one does not have the awful English overdubs that make these films so bad.

The Chinese actors are actually speaking English, albeit with heavy accents, and it lends an extra level of quality to the production. The story is good, if not very original.

Kung-Fu cult icon, Bolo Yeung is his usual demonic self as the fighter who takes the kid's life. Basically a revenge flick, but with some decent character development and higher production values. In 'Ironheart' (1992), Richard Norton really lights the screen up in this Portland, Oregon-based martial arts masterpiece. Norton, an Aussie heartthrob, plays the evil Mr. Milverstead who runs a successful import/export business both smuggling arms and participating in the female flesh trade.

Usually the women are plucked from his favorite dance club with the help of a squad of goons the most well known of who is Bolo Yeung, playing the role of Ice.

Trouble comes for Milverstead when a new cop in town John Kim (Britton Lee) is out to avenge his dead partners murder at the hand of Milverstead's organization.

If you have time to see only one (or in this case, two) martial arts movies this year, don't miss this quite brilliant Double Feature classic. This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1 / 1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

'Bloodfight + Ironheart' [Bolo Yeung Double Feature] [Blu-Ray] is out August 11th, 2020 via MVD Visual.

www.MVDvisual.com





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