This run-of-the-mill action picture may satisfy genre fans, but its ridiculous plot line--about a teacher at a children's karate academy who enters an extreme-fighting contest to keep his school from falling into the clutches of his hoodlum landlord--will bore all other viewers to tears.
Karate instructor Niko (Billy Blanks) tries to keep his son and the other children in his neighborhood on the straight and narrow by teaching them martial arts. He encounters trouble in the form of his mobster landlord, Mr. Hatsushita (Denis Akiyama), who just happens to be fresh out of
contestants for his lucrative fighting contests. To encourage Niko's participation, and to punish him for a late rent payment, Hatsushita's slimy associate, Slater (Adrian Hough), orders his henchman, Takamura (James Lew), to run over Niko's favorite student, Billy (Adam Bonneau), with a car.
At first, Niko doesn't make it through the grueling preliminaries for Hatsushita's contest. Then he seeks help from Takamura's former tutor, Matsumoto (Mako). Working his way up the ranks of fighters thanks to Matsumoto's counseling, Niko threatens Takamura's winning streak. Hatsushita attempts to
stack the deck by kidnapping Matsumoto's granddaughter, Jasmine (Lisa Boynton). As the climactic bout unfolds, Jasmine is freed by martial-arts students sympathetic to Matsumoto. When Niko is victorious over Takamura, Hatsushita tries to run out on his grumbling bettors. After Matsumoto vanquishes
Slater, Niko grapples with Hatsushita, who winds up impaled on a dungeon gate. Niko is happily reunited with Billy, who has recovered from his injuries.
If you eliminated all the scenes of Billy Blanks training for the contest from this film, you'd be left with a 30-minute featurette--20 minutes of which would be devoted to the final showdowns at the contest itself. Action fans may spit on anything as silly as intelligent plotting, but even they
expect the brawling to subside at sensibly-spaced intervals to allow for chances to pick up snacks and visit the restroom. BALANCE OF POWER weakens its high-kicking potential with too much low-energy mysticism, anemic characterizations, and pathetic dialogue. (Graphic violence, extreme
profanity.) leave a comment
