This article is dedicated to the movie "Blood Sport". The actors who starred in it became legends both in Russia and in the West. In Russia, they became legends much earlier, immediately after the film was released.
In the article, only two Bloody Sports actors will be scrutinized: Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bolo Yen. The reason for this selectivity is simple: the whole plot of the film is held in opposition to this pair. Along the way, comparing "Bloody Sport" and "Double Strike", we derive some universal scenario for many militants of this genre.
Plot
Since the actors who starred in the movie "Bloody Sport" are legendary personalities, we will not spread our thoughts on the tree and outline only the main points. The main character, Frank Dyuks, is a professional military man who arbitrarily left the ranks of the American army to take part in an underground martial arts tournament. The best “killing machines” from around the world will come to him. This is Frank's old dream, but he does not do it for himself, but for his teacher S. Tanaki. Usually, the Tanaka clan passed on its knowledge only by inheritance, but then a tragedy occurred and the teacher lost his only son, so Frank asked the teacher to devote him to all the wisdom of martial arts. Tanaka did just that.
Teacher. Friend. Enemy. Revenge. Triumph
The actors who starred in the Bloody Sports film equip the film with a standard structure. The main character has a noble goal - to win the tournament and to honor his teacher who has lost his son. Frank has a friend Ray Jackson (Donald Gibb), and an enemy appears - Chong Lee (Bolo Yen) - the main contender for the victory in the tournament and holder of all the main records of the competition. The expected plot twist: the main rival meets with a friend of Frank and almost cripples him. So there is a universal motive for almost all the fighters in this genre - revenge. The protagonist must avenge his friend.
This was noted by M.N.Zadornov, that all American militants are building on the revenge of someone for someone, and it was Van Damme who was the pioneer.
Then everything happens like a dash: Frank goes to victory. In the final, of course, he first loses, he is almost killed in the ring by Chong Lee, and then he defeats the villain on moral-volitional qualities and makes him surrender, thereby the villain Chong Lee completely loses strength, and good triumphs over evil. In fact, "Bloody Sport", whose actors embodied the future classics of the genre, is an example for all subsequent films of this kind. Himself J.-K. Van Damme has repeatedly turned to the scheme that was used for the first time in Bloody Sport.
"Double punch"
The film about the twin brothers (played by J.-K. Van Damme) reproduces the same scenario. There is a teacher Frank (played by Jeffrey Lewis), there is a motive for revenge - the villains killed the parents of the main characters. One of the most important villains is Moon, played by Bolo Yen. And again they are with J.-K. Van Dammme converge in the final battle, and again one of the main characters is almost defeated, but at the last moment he gathers and wins. Thus, the actors of the film "Bloody Sport" gave the world the archetype of an action movie in which the hero prefers to deal with enemies using combat skills.