With two remakes of Don “The Dragon” Wilson’s star debut, BLOODFIST (1989), in the can, Concorde Pictures remakes the film one more time for the 21st Century. The result is something in the vein of Hong Kong’s infamous “cut-and-paste” Ninja films of the 80′s, a true mixed bag. In other words, there are truly pros and cons.

Taking the reins and making his film debut is Matt Mullins, a protege of Xtreme Martial Arts (XMA) founder Mike Chaturantabut, who got noticed after appearing in the 2003 documentary XTREME MARTIAL ARTS. Mullins plays Alex Danko, an outsider who arrives to Los Angeles in the year 2050 to see his brother Johnny (James Paolelli). However, he learns from Johnny’s girlfriend Nadia (Beverly Lynne) and her brother Randy (Glen Meadows) that Johnny was killed after competing in “The Pit”, an underground fight ring while celebrating his victory.

Alex, not one to let anything go, decides to go to the police. There, he meets Detective “Slick” Marino (Joe Sabatino), who is the officer investigating Johnny’s murder. Slick tells Alex of “The Pit”, where the competition is fierce. Some of the favorites include American fighter Bruegger (Chris Brewster) and Ahmed Khan (Monsour del Rosario). As Alex comes closer to the truth, he learns that there is more at stake than just finding out who is responsible for his brother’s murder.

At a running time of only 78 minutes, the film is reminiscent of Hector Echavarria’s recent foray into the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) action films, where they had the tendency to be half action, half softcore erotica. However, while half the film has scenes at a strip club, some of the erotic dancing was actually comprised of old stock footage. It is as if director/producer Cirio H. Santiago, using the pseudonym “Leonard Hermes”, took a page from Hong Kong-based producer Joseph Lai, who did the cut and paste method for his Ninja films in the 80′s.

While the stripper scenes truly make up nearly half the film and as a result, truly are the cons of the film, thankfully, the action here is worth seeing. Filipino action director Ronald Asinas, who had worked with the likes of Don “The Dragon” Wilson and Jerry “Golden Boy” Trimble, truly crafted some of his best fight scenes to date. He got to understand Mullins’ style of XMA and uses it to his advantage. In the non-Pit fight scenes, Mullins takes on the same gang on two separate occasions, showing his athlectism with his combination of dynamic kicking and acrobatic skills. In “The Pit”, Mullins takes on various fighters. One of his best fights in the film pits him against Chris Brewster, who was a former member of the Sideswipe Performance Team with Mullins.

What also drives the film is the appearance of two BLOODFIST veterans. Joe Mari Avellana, who played Kwong in the original film and then as main heavy Su in BLOODFIST II (1990), plays the MC and referee of “The Pit”. A great scene involving the MC involves him setting a side better on fire after he warns the guy that there are no side bets allowed. Filipino taekwondo champion Monsour del Rosario, who played Tobo Castanera in BLOODFIST II, joins the ranks of Kris Aguilar and Michael Blanks, as the top favorite of the “Pit”, Ahmed Khan. As Khan, del Rosario looks quite impressive with his taekwondo skills and makes for a worthy opponent.

Following BLOODFIST, FULL CONTACT (1993), and DRAGON FIRE (1993), BLOODFIST 2050 is truly a worthy look at XMA stylist Matt Mullins. However, the overdose of the strip club scenes will give you a reason to enjoy the fast-forward and just enjoy the action scenes of the film.

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  • Dac113

    Matt Mullins was recently the end villian in Michael Jai White's “Blood and Bone”. Their fight is fantastic. Mullins performance actually made me look up this film.