The novelty of the "Kumite," an underground competition in which the world's toughest fighters are pitted against each other, has long since worn thin for action-movie fans, and nothing in this wholly predictable sequel does anything to enliven it.
On a camping trip with his 10-year-old son Jason (David Schatz), Alex Cardo (Daniel Bernhardt) tells him about his adventures after winning his first Kumite. Making a living as a gambler in the Far East, he is lured to the house of crime boss Duvalier (John Rhys-Davies). Duvalier wants to stage
another Kumite, one in which Cardo will lose (fairly or for pay) to his fearsome new discovery, a hulking war criminal from Kazakhstan known only as The Beast (Nicholas Oleson). When Cardo refuses to fight for money, Duvalier spitefully orders his men to kill Cardo's mentor and teacher, Sun (James
Hong), with a booby-trapped telephone.
In need of vengeance, Cardo turns to Judge Macado (Master Hee Il Cho), Master Sun's brother. He leads him through a rigorous training program in the jungle. Cardo decides the best revenge will be to win the Kumite, ensuring that Duvalier sustains heavy gambling losses. Although Duvalier orders his
men to kill Cardo should they see him trying to enter the arena, he sneaks in disguised as a fighter's attendant. Once Cardo has been spotted by fans, Duvalier has no choice but to let him compete. After besting his other opponents, Cardo faces the Beast and defeats him.
As transparent as water and about as surprising, BLOODSPORT III does nothing but kill time for an hour until the Kumite begins. Our hero spends this time in the inevitable training sequence (in which he must learn to catch an arrow) and perfunctory flirtations with Sun's daughter Shari (Uni Park)
and Duvalier's daughter Crystal (Amber Van Lent, whose nightclub song is more painful than any of the kicks or headbutts). Every so often Cardo, being after all the hero, is forced to battle a group of thugs, who don't so much fight him as run into his flailing limbs (one at a time, of course). As
for the Kumite sequence, the contestants are fewer and less heterogeneous than in the previous films, although each has a bit more time to fight. If you consider that a plus, add an extra half star. (Violence, sexual situations, adult situations, profanity.) leave a comment
