Showdown (1993)

Absolutely Brilliant!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This movie is like a car crash on the side of the highway....You know you shouldn't look, but once you do, you can't pull yourself away.First off, this movie definitely has an "80's" feel to it.The only problem is - it was made in 1993.The movie actually plays well as a "parody" of 80's high school/teenager movies - especially "Karate Kid" (it's a virtual copy).The only problem is - it parodies these movies unintentionally."Showdown" is the perfect example of a movie that is hilarious, without ever once trying to be funny.As others have stated, Billy Blanks really steals the show in this one, and the other main character is played by a former Ninja Turtle.....what great casting! All the high school students appear to be in their late 20's or early thirties - although if you pay close attention, you can probably find a few pushing 40.Here's the deal.....if you watch this movie as it's SUPPOSED to be watched you will hate it (if you don't, check your pulse!).But if you watch it as a parody of movies like the "Karate Kid" than you will find yourself laughing throughout the film.

Showdown, starring Billy Blanks and Christine was an excellent movie and I recently purchased it at my local video store. Although some of the acting wasn't up to par, the movie had great action and an excellent storyline. The violence scenes are a mixture of karate and UFC- style fighting. Most of the movie centers around Ken's new high school or the fighting dojo. This is a must watch. Some of the actors such as Ken Marx and Christine Taylor performed excellently though others such as Master Lee were a joke. This independent film is currently out of print and is hard to find. You may purchase on Ebay or Amazon or get lucky like I did.

For starters: This movie is nothing without Billy Blanks. Although the main character really is OK, it's Blanks who give this movie all the musclepower it needs. Initially, the whole movie seems like the most low-budgeted and poorly acted (and written) high-school movie ever, but all of that changes when Blanks comes into business. I really liked his role in this one, as the calm and lone janitor who long ago retired from the fighting scene (of course). When he decides to help our hero, we get the classic training scenes with great background music. Pretty standard like many other movies of this kind, but it always works. Cool fighting at the end, even though I've seen better. This movie proves that you don't need that much money to make an entertaining movie.

Dear God, thank you for this little piece of brilliance! This is a terrible film, but it works for some reason. A few observances:1.) Apparently 40 year olds have to attend high school now. 2.) Have you ever seen that many people get their asses handed to them at school? 3.) I guess this actually is plausible, because the creepy principal is always too busy smoking confiscated cigarettes and hitting on the oh so sexy sex education teacher. "I hope we can work together sometime." coy smile. Brilliance. 4.) Ben Stiller's wife is the "love interest". If I ever meet him or her, I'm going to have to ask about some memories from the making of this little gem. 5.) The writers knew that everyone was going to call it a Karate Kid rip off, so they slip in the reference to wax on/wax off when the kid is cleaning the bathroom. This still feels like a second rate karate kid. 6.) Villain - "You know where the door is. Leave through it." Isn't this a little redundant? Couldn't he have just gotten away with the first part? 7.) The bad kid (cough) looks a hell of a lot like Dr. Cox from scrubs. That's actually what prompted this little rant, I wanted to see if it was his kid. 8.)Billy Blank's Haircut should've won best supporting actor. 9.) This club where the people fight for money... Do they serve beer there? Is there a place like this in my town? I'm there in a minute.Truly entertaining film. Waiting on the director's cut DVD. Watch it, live it, enjoy it.