Bloodsport
The second of two Jean-Claude Van Damme films on this list, ‘Bloodsport’ is also a late 1980’s flick. What makes the movie unique is it explores what modern day MMA is nearly 30 years ago. It first brought to public attention the biggest questions surrounding the sport back then.
What happens when you pit a boxer against a wrestler? A Karate master against a Capoeira practitioner? A Taekwondo black belt against a regular street brawler? This is the intrigue of mixed martial arts, hence the name, and ‘Bloodsport’ gave viewers back then a first glimpse at what MMA today looks like.
There are some negative connotations however — the excessive bloodshed, fighters dying — occurrences that just don’t happen in today’s MMA. But the overall package is absolutely great and to see Hong Kong in the late 80’s and early 90’s lent a sense of nostalgia to the whole thing.
Of course, it’s still laced with really cheesy and corny sequences, but it’s as epic as it can be for a movie of this era.
