Bullet Points: The Redemption: Kickboxer 5
When the original Kickboxer starring Jean-Claude Van Damme was released back in 1989, Mark Dacascos’ acting career was just getting started. Fast forward six years and Dacascos found himself in the starring role of The Redemption: Kickboxer 5…
- Visionary: Mr. Negaal (James Ryan, Kill and Kill Again) is a man with a dream of starting his own kickboxing league known as the Negaal Kickboxing Federation. Negaal has a grand plan and wants to get kickboxing champions from around the world to sign with his NKF… unfortunately for these champions, Negaal is not just a man with a grand vision… he is also a criminal of epic proportions. Negaal is involved in all sorts of criminal enterprises and has developed a reputation in his native Johannesburg as a man you don’t want to cross. The kickboxing deal is a passion project for Negaal. It is also a project born out of spite. Negaal was a former professional kickboxer who was suspended from competition by the World Kickboxing Council years earlier for killing his opponent in the ring. Negaal’s killing hasn’t stopped either… because anyone who has turned down an offer to join the NFK has ended up dead… including David Sloan!
- We Need a Hero: For the uninitiated, David Sloan was the hero in the previous three Kickboxer sequels. David Sloan was played by Sasha Mitchell in the previous sequels but Mitchell was not in The Redemption: Kickboxer 5. We learn of David’s off camera death when our new hero, Matt Reeves, reads about the tragic event in the newspaper. Matt Reeves (Mark Dacascos, Only the Strong) was a friend of David Sloan and was a former kickboxing champion who left the sport after he was tired of dealing with greedy promoters. Reeves now has his own martial arts school where he teaches kids. But he still has friends in the professional kickboxing game, like the newly crowned American Kickboxing Champion Johnny Styles. Matt was in attendance to see Johnny win and also was present when Mr. Moon (Tony Caprari, Merchant of Death), a representative of the Negaal Kickboxing Federation, offers Johnny a contract with the NKF. Matt speaks up and tells Johnny not to take the deal, even calling the contract toilet paper… but Moon extends an invite to Johnny to come and discuss the deal at the luxury hotel Moon is staying at in Los Angeles. Johnny figuring it won’t hurt to hear the NKF pitch agrees to the meeting.
- Timing is Everything: Johnny Styles pays Mr. Moon a visit… after reading the contract Johnny comes to the conclusion, Matt was right and he’s not going to sign. Mr. Moon then sicks his two goons on Johnny and they beat the crap out of Johnny… while this was going on, Matt finds out that Mr. Moon also paid David Sloan a visit just before his death… putting two and two together, Matt races over to the hotel. But he is too late… Johnny is dead! Matt goes to the police… but between having no hard evidence that Negaal ordered the murders of Johnny and David and the fact that Negaal is in a different country, there’s not a helluva whole lot the cops can do.
- Rage to Kill: Mr. Negaal is pissed that he does not have an American representative for the NKF and he holds Matt Reeves directly responsible and now Negaal wants Matt dead. One of Negaal’s henchmen has the bright idea to have one of their former associates, currently incarcerated in Los Angeles, to do the job… all they have to do is reach out to a crooked judge on their payroll. And they do and next thing you know, Paul Croft (Geoff Meed) is released and is handed an envelope with instructions to kill Matt Reeves and a plane ticket back to Johannesburg. But it turns out Croft is not the same man he was when he landed in prison… he doesn’t want to kill Matt, but pays him a visit at his dojo to warn him that Negaal wants him dead.
- Tag Team: Matt decides he’s not going to wait for another Negaal hitman to show up and instead he is going to go to South Africa and deal with Negaal himself. As luck would have it, Matt finds himself sitting next to Croft on the flight… something Croft is not a fan of. But like it or not… Matt and Croft now have a common enemy and they find themselves dealing with this common enemy as soon as they land which leads to a fun foot chase/fight in the airport that was probably my favorite scene in the movie. Matt and Croft make a great team and after vanquishing Negaal’s goons a second time they find themselves being thrown in jail on some trumped up charges. Realizing they are sitting ducks in jail, the duo manage to convince their cell mate to help them bust out of the joint!
- Party Crashers: The jailbreak is a success and thanks to an assist from Croft’s sister Angie, the two fugitives find sanctuary and a chance to formulate their next plan of attack. When they learn that Negaal is throwing a swanky party to celebrate the formation of the NKF, they realize that is the perfect opportunity to confront Negaal and confront Negaal they do! Matt makes an absolute fool out of Negaal in front of all Negaal’s guests… but Negaal plays it cool and excuses himself, knowing full well that Matt will follow him and then Negaal can kill Matt Reeves himself… but he may be underestimating the skills of Matt Reeves. Kill or be killed, right Mr. Negaal?
1995’s The Redemption: Kickboxer 5 was another quality entry in the Kickboxer franchise. Mark Dacascos stole the show with his amazing athleticism, in what is really one of the more underrated movies in Mark’s filmography.
James Ryan was convincing as Mr. Negaal, a man who lives in his own warped reality. Even when one of his underlings points out the obvious, that sooner or later the authorities are going to figure out that all these championship caliber kickboxers disappearing or showing up dead all point back to Negaal… Negaal blows it off saying “it happens all the time”… that moment encapsulated the tunnel vision Negaal had to make his NKF dream come true.
If you have been dreaming of this review ending with some Bonus Bullet Points, your dream is about to come true…
- Montage Alert: Prior to crashing Negaal’s party… Matt Reeves takes some time to have an early morning workout on the Croft Family farm which means… MONTAGE!
- 1995’s Comeback of the Year: When Negaal and Matt Reeves first meet at Negaal’s party, Negaal takes a look at Matt and tells him he is not at all what he expected. Matt fires back with “Well, you’re exactly what I expected… a butt face!”
- Words of Wisdom: “Movement without spirit is nothing.” – Matt Reeves
