Bullet Points: Best of the Best
The Tommy Lee character led an interesting life.
In 1993, Tommy infiltrated an underground fight ring to avenge the death of his friend.
Two years later, the same Tommy Lee rid a small town of a group of ruthless white supremacists.
Then in 1998, Tommy Lee battled Russian mobsters.
That’s a lot for one man to deal with in a lifetime, but personally I prefer Tommy Lee’s humble beginnings in 1989’s Best of the Best…
- You’re Invited: The movie begins with our two main characters, single dad/automotive worker Alex Grady (Eric Roberts, Runaway Train) and Taekwondo instructor Tommy Lee (Phillip Rhee), receiving invitations to try out for a team that will represent the United States of America in a Taekwondo competition against a team from South Korea. At the qualifiers we meet the other three competitors who will end up comprising team USA… there’s Sonny Grasso, Virgil Keller (John Dye, The Perfect Weapon) and the hot head cowboy Travis Bickley (Chris Penn, Future Kick). We also meet the coach of the team, Frank Couzo (James Earl Jones, Excessive Force).
- Team Building: After Couzo officially announces the five members of the team, he has a meeting with the guys where he lays down the law… #1, there will be no women, no alcohol and no drugs while they are in training… #2, they will eat, sleep and shit competition… #3, The should NEVER be late… Then he announces that the guys will have one more night of freedom, so Assistant Coach Don takes the guys to a local bar. It is at the bar where things go sideways when Travis invites a woman to dance with him, which infuriates her boyfriend Burt (Kane Hodder, Steel Frontier) and Travis and his new teammates find themselves in the obligatory action movie bar fight!
- Training Days: During the training portion of the film we meet another character, Catherine Wade (Sally Kirkland). Wait a second… a female coach!?!?! That’s right! Wade is there to make sure that Team USA’s spirits and minds are as ready as their bodies but she proves she is a badass in her own right impressing Coach Couzo and the team… Speaking of impressive, to help build up Team USA’s opposition we get to see the South Korean team training out in the elements and looking like world class athletes.
- Off the Rails: After Couzo announces the individual match ups for the competition, including Alex Grady vs. Sae Jin Kwon (James Lew, Mission of Justice) and Tommy Lee vs. Dae Han Park (Simon Rhee, Showdown in Little Tokyo) things go south. Tommy is freaked the eff out about having to square off with South Korea’s best, Dae Han Park and rightfully so, years earlier they eye patch wearing Park killed Tommy’s older brother in a tournament. This eventually leads to Tommy quitting the team. Grady is ready to fight his opponent, but real life gets in the way when his son is injured and in a coma. When Grady finds out about this he naturally wants to go and be at his son’s side. But Couch Couzo goes into hardass mode and tells Grady if he leaves he is off the team… Grady leaves.
- Heart and Seoul: Fortunately for us and for Team USA, both Tommy Lee and Alex Grady are able to overcome their personal obstacles and Team USA is whole again moments before they have to board the plane to Seoul. And with Team USA in Seoul that means it is time for the competition they’ve been building up since the first few minutes of the film. The USA vs. South Korea competition is a purely sports based presentation. Points are awarded to each fighter during the course of the individual match ups, but the overall winner will be determined by the total points accrued by each team. We get more drama surrounding Alex Grady and Tommy Lee, with Grady dislocating his shoulder during his fight and Tommy Lee having the chance to avenge the death of his brother in what was probably the most tense scene of the film.
Best of the Best is such a unique entry in the martial arts genre because it plays everything straight. They resisted making the South Korea team criminals when they weren’t competing or having a member of Team USA up to his eyeballs in debt with a loan shark and being asked to throw the fight.
The real world sports like feel of Best of the Best is probably why it is more of a surprise that the franchise evolved (or devolved depending on your point of view) the way it did.
But no surprise here, we are wrapping this review up the best of the best way we know how with some Bonus Bullet Points…
- Familiar Faces: John P. Ryan of Avenging Force and Death Wish 4: The Crackdown fame, played Jennings, the rich guy who was bankrolling Team USA… Sportscaster Ahmad Rashad played sportscaster Ahmad Rashad, covering the competition between Korea and the USA for an unnamed television network.
- Out of Context Quote: “I want him. I want his balls!” – Burt
- If You Ever: …wanted to hear Chris Penn ask a woman if she was going #1 or #2 as she entered the ladies room, then Best of the Best is the movie for you.
- Words of Wisdom: “A team is not a team if you don’t give a damn about one another.” – Frank Couzo
