American Shaolin (1991)

the audience applauded

Thanks for the memories!

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Having been a great fan of the No retreat No Surrender films and King Of The Kickboxers since I was a boy in the 80's I had never got around to seeing this sequel to the series.As a direct sequel to King Of The Kickboxers first off I must say that its no where near as good. The acting is more atrocious than usual in these kinds of films but the big flaw is that the fight's are almost no- where to be seen and for a martial arts film that's bad news. After the opening fight almost an hour passes with no action whatsoever. The ones that do crop up are acceptably choreographed but are slow, short and lack the intensity of any of the previous films due to some slow movements and very tight close camera-work.It's an OK film though, most likely because it is a complete rip off of Bruce Lee's Kung-Fu starring David Carradine. A few monks talking with American accents sort of spoil the feel and the main character is pretty unlikable and a bit arrogant.A few more regular fights and more imaginative choreography and it would have been great but as it stands it's not a patch on King of the Kickboxers, or any of the Karate Tiger series for that matter.

this has got to be one of those films where the trailer is 50 times better than the movie itself.I first saw the trailer in 1991, it looked great.Since then i have always wanted to see it but could never find it.....until today, yes, 14 years later.lets just say I was so disappointed its unreal, OK i knew it wouldn't be an Oscar winner but still had hopes that it would be a fun no-brain film in the bloodsport mold. Unfortunately it was not, it's Poohwhats with all the American rock and roll music and the acting was so bad it was quite frightening.The fight scenes were rubbish and look fake.this DVD only cost me £5 and I believe I was overcharged by £7Now I'm sad as I know that I will never get that hour and a half back.

If you've ever seen a movie about the Shaolin Temple, then you've seen half of this, what sets 'King of the Kickboxers II' apart from the rest is the inability of the hero to keep his pants up, and air-guitar styling of the Shaolin disciples. Awesome.'King of the Kickboxers II' opens with our hero, Drew Carson, facing a bad-dude known as Trevor (what an evil name) in a martial arts tournament. Trevor beats Drew by pulling his pants down (just how does he untie Drew's belt whilst wearing gentlemen's sport gloves?). The obvious solution for Drew is to go the Shaolin Temple, so its off to China and good-bye to Trevor for most of the movie. Somehow, Drew doesn't have any communication troubles in China, because everyone at the Shaolin Temple speaks English, even when in the villagers talking to people speaking Chinese.Anyway, most of the movie is your standard Shaolin Temple stuff - training sequences and fights, but all from the perspective of a loud-mouthed American who constantly gets in trouble. The fights are good, but nothing special. If you're looking for Shaolin action ala 'Shaolin Temple', you will be disappointed, but if you just want some martial arts fun, then this is for you.5/10

Some 'Gee whizz' kid goes to China to learn Shaolin Kung Fu after getting knacked and humiliated in a martial arts tournament. They teach him Kung Fu, he teaches them to rock n' roll with broomsticks. God bless America!