A Martial Arts fighter named Masahiro Kai (Yasuaki Kurata), retired for years from the free fighting form, wants someone else to carry on his legacy so he seeks a student he can train. His first choice, a young punk, turns out to be too filled with anger and violence to ever amount to anything. He has better luck with young Ryu Tenmei (Simon Yam) who starts out seeking revenge against a group of punks who attacked him and his girlfriend, including Kai's former student, but soon comes to put his hatred aside and replace it with an appreciation and understanding of the true benefits of adopting the martial arts philosophy and lifestyle. Soon Ryu is good enough to fight in the deadly World Championship free-fighting tournament and the result proves shocking and unexpected, a result that may force Kai out of retirement and back into the fighting field seeking retribution for his fallen student. But can Kai possibly succeed against the powerful, devilish Chong Lee (Bolo Yeung)? Honestly I like BLOODFIGHT far more than BLOODPSORT even though it has largely the same plot. There's a more believable edge to BLOODFIGHT I feel and it's helped by the fact it's an actual Hong Kong based film presentation. The fighting is quite good but even better is the emotional range the performers show managing to overcome language barriers with strong use of body language and the extra time and attention given to building up characters, something decidedly lacking in BLOODSPORT. Still there are problems. I believe they made a mistake filming this in English because most of the performers simply had not mastered the language even though it was an interesting exercise to watch them attempt it and a nice try on the part of those behind the film to presumably reach a larger audience and perhaps tap into some of the financial success BLOODSPORT enjoyed. Finally the resolution isn't fully satisfying as the punishment doesn't quite seem to match the crime that was perpetrated. That said, I ended up liking this far more than I expected I would.

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS*At first, BLOODFIGHT seems like your typical tournament kung-fu film. There are interestingly strange fights at the beginning, and two competitors stand out as the best. Soon, however, the movie turns into a prolonged flashback with several fresh additions to the genre.After winning the World Fighting Championship, Masahiro Kai has retired from the deadly sport to maintain his gym. Seeking a new protege, he finds an a**hole of a white guy, who is always seen with his Japanese posse in a "F*** YOU" Jeep. Kai wants to focus the punk's energy into fighting spirit, but all the punk wants to do is beat the crap out of people. Soon, Kai takes on a different student (one who is at odds with the group of punks), Ryu Tenmei. Torn between his dedication to the martial arts and his feelings for his girlfriend, Ryu finally makes it to the World Championship about halfway through the movie."But what's this?" you ask. "The movie can't be over yet!" That's when things take a turn for the grisly...the villain of the tournament, played intimidatingly as always by Bolo Yeung, kills Ryu. Yes, that's right, I didn't see it coming either. From this point on, the movie turns into a vengeance tale, with Kai seeking to retrain himself and enter into the tournament to make peace with Ryu and himself.Several elements make this movie a good one. First, the unique plot and characters make it a memorable '80s movie. The movie is shot entirely in English, so the white-guy punk has a decidedly bitchy edge to him that instantly makes the viewer hate him. Also, Bolo Yeung's character doesn't appear on screen much, thus making him less the villain and more the supreme obstacle for Ryu and Kai to overcome. As noted before, the movie is shot in English (no dubbing or anything), which can cause some confusion with the female actors (Kai's wife, Ryu's girlfriend) due to their THICK accents. This is easily overcome by the emotion and depth in Ryu and Kai's characters, and how they play off each other quite ingeniously.Overall, BLOODFIGHT may seem to be a vehicle for Bolo Yeung, having just finished the similar BLOODSPORT. In my opinion, however, BLOODFIGHT stands on its own as an interesting '80s martial arts movie. My rating: 7.5/10

As far as low-budget, poorly made martial arts movies go, this one isn't bad...it has every element of the classical martial arts movie: an underground tournament, an aging sensei, an eager young student, an evil villain who kills said student so that the sensei has to overcome his alcoholism and seek revenge...If you like acting, this isn't the movie for you. If you like cheesy fights and training montages, check it out.

For some strange reason, I like this movie. I's partly a spoof of _Bloodsport_ and partly your typical Hong Kong movie. The martial arts tournament is named the "Free Fighting Tournament," and Bolo Yeung plays basically the same character that he did in _Bloodsport_ (the name is spelled Chang Lee here). The fights are downright weird: a sumo wrestler smothers his opponent by squatting on his face; an Indian fighter who must be seven feet tall and who wears high-top sneakers accidentally breaks a floodlight with a high kick and tells the stage people, "Up, up, up"; a monkey-style kung fu fighter rolls around on the mat without making much attempt at fighting, then rips a tuft of hair off the Indian fighter's chest (as Bruce Lee did to Chuck Norris in _Return of the Dragon_). As if that wasn't bizarre enough, the master wanders around Hong Kong, tangling with some American punks (who have a very familiar obscene phrase spray-painted on their jeep). Even though _Bloodfight_ is really just your typical Hong Kong chopsocky flick, I am fascinated by it, maybe because I have an interest in anything Asian. Fans of Jackie Chan should give it a shot, as well as anyone who likes Simon Yam (who has worked with John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat in other films).