Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight (1992)

Kickboxing champion Don “The Dragon” Wilson is back in this third installment of the popular Roger Corman-produced series, which takes him behind the iron bars of prison. While some of the action looks to be good, overall, it just falls flat in the end thanks to a dose of clichéd villains that do not have much to offer but just be the bad guys.

Jimmy Boland (Wilson) is a half-Asian prisoner in the toughest prison in the state. While it is never confirmed what he is in prison for, Jimmy does whatever it takes to survive. When he sees a young man being beaten up, he does what it takes to protect the young man but when the bully, Luther, stabs the victim, Jimmy knocks down Luther, who proceeds to take two knives and attempts to stab Jimmy, who is able to turn the knife so Luther stabs himself in the process. When Jimmy is shown on the surveillance tape, the warden transfers Jimmy to the toughest cell block in the prison, Cell Block C.

It is there where Jimmy’s world begins to turn upside down. When the fellow prisoners at the cell block believe a rumor that Luther’s death was “racially motivated”, Jimmy gets heat from local thug Blue (Gregory McKinney) yet when he is invited to join the Aryans, led by Wheelhead (Rick Dean), Jimmy refuses and now finds himself the constant victim of harassment. However, when he does get help from his cellmate, Stark (Richard Roundtree), Blue and Wheelhead decide to work together to kill Jimmy, eventually causing a frenetic prison riot, one even the warden will be unable to control.

This third entry in Roger Corman’s produced martial arts action series once again features champion kickboxer Don “The Dragon” Wilson. Unlike the previous two films, this is only an in-name sequel as Corman virtually used the BLOODFIST name with most of Wilson’s films for Concorde Films after BLOODFIST II (1990). Instead of Jake Raye, we have Wilson playing Jimmy Boland, a half-Asian prisoner caught in a race war. We learn that Jimmy was falsely imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit when he talks to Stark, his cellmate. For some reason, it is always a delight to see the original SHAFT, Richard Roundtree on the screens. He always tends to play the wise talking conscience of the film, both here and in the film BALLISTIC (1995).

As with the previous entries, Wilson leads a group of fellow kickboxing champions who have supporting roles as fighters that are there for Wilson to beat up. In this film, we have Australian-born K-1 competitor and kickboxing champion Stan “The Man” Longinidis taking on Wilson in the best fight of the film, in which the two duke it out in a prison courtyard. Peter “Sugarfoot” Cunningham appears in the film as well, but only gets laid out after one hit and is pretty much wasted.

While the film’s message about racial prejudice and the obstacles to overcome it seem settling in a prison environment, this film just suffers from typical comic bookish villains, a warden who is pretty as dumb as dirt, and lackluster fight sequences. The only reason to even consider seeing BLOODFIST III: FORCED TO FIGHT is to see Wilson and Roundtree play cellmates turned allies.