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In 1991 we were treated to Jeff Speakman’s Perfect Weapon, a weapon apparently so perfect he killed one guy in the entire film. Jeff Speakman was the personification of wimpiness. Watching The Perfect Weapon was like drinking non-alcoholic beer. With the vastly superior Double Impact, Showdown In Little Tokyo, Stone Cold and Out For Justice appearing around the same time, why said film became a cult film still escapes me. However, on the flipside is Bloodmatch a film so warped and mean spirited it was like Tequila after a rough day at work. Ah, the numbness…

Anyway our hero played by Thom Mathews is named “Brick Bardo” and he’s looking for the bastards responsible for the death of his brother. There are 4 ex-kickboxing champions who are responsible for the death of Brick Bardo and the whole film is basically Thom Mathews beating the crap out of 4 people and tormenting them before delivering the killing blow. How mean is Brick Bardo? So mean he kidnaps little kids to force one of the fighters to show up, so mean he gives fighters ring burns by sliding the head of said fighter against the ring ropes and of course so mean he kills the people that he knows didn’t actually kill his brother directly. For instance, he gets 4 names from some guy in the beginning of the film, despite the fact he knows who’s responsible for his brother’s death. Brick Bardo tortures said guy into telling him who was responsible despite the fact he already knows. Talk about mean.

Anyway the meanness continues as he tells said fighter that he killed his daughter and that he’s gonna kill his son after killing said fighter. In another instance, instead of killing another fighter quick, he lets him go so he can revel in the moment of inflicting severe pain to a dying man. This is all brilliant to watch. The hero in this film is a pyschopath much worse than any of the characters in the film. His brother might’ve been killed but he tortures people for information he already knows. This is a kickboxing hero.

Thom Mathews gives a pretty decent performance. I mean he’s no Oscar contender but he overshadows the rest of the awful cast with ennui to spare. Indeed as I saw his screen chewing performance I wondered why Mathews didn’t do more martial arts movies. I mean this guy is a bad ass and makes the film memorable. Return Of The Living Dead is probably my favorite horror movie and Friday The 13th Part VI:Jason Lives is my favorite entry and both star this guy and that I think speaks for itself that this guy got a raw deal from Hollywood. That being said, the rest of the cast is awful. Hope Marie Carlton, playing Mathew’s old love interest, is just painful to watch. Also, she can’t do martial arts and why she was chosen is anyone’s guess. Benny Urquidez, Thunderwolf and Dale Jacoby are just as awful, but at least they can fight and well that’s all I look for in such a movie.

Indeed, the thing that really hurts this movie is the really stupid idea of a twist ending, I mean all of a sudden it becomes hazy as to who our hero in the film is. Is he the dead brother? Is he the brother? Or is he a cyborg? I have no idea and the explanation, as well as the redemption found at the end, really upsets the bad ass atmosphere set up by Pyun. I mean he had the perfect premise, a vengeance seeking martial artist confronting the guys who killed his brother. Why the hell did Pyun screw this up with such a dumb ending? What if Jean-Claude Van Damme was beaten by the bad guy in Cyborg? What if Sasha Mitchell had lost to Tong Po in Kickboxers 2 and 4? Can we say anti-climatic?

Still, I label Bloodmatch as a guilty pleasure. This is a movie that has a hero so fucked up he kidnaps little kids, torments people for information he already knows and in one memorable moment kills the lover of said fighter for no reason what so ever. The fight sequences are well staged, Thom Mathews is good, and the movie is nothing but people getting their asses kicked. So while the ending ruins what could’ve been a 8/10, Bloodmatch is still recommended to people who want to see the meanest kickboxer since Sonny Chiba destroy the guilty and innocent.

This movie is one reason I can’t hate Albert Pyun. (Others would include Cyborg,Dollman, Kickboxer 2, Kickboxer 4 and Nemesis.)

Burning Question: I wonder if this Brick Bardo is related to Tim Thomerson’s Dollman?

Bloodmatch
6/10

Tags: 1991, action, adventure, albert pyun, kung fu, latest movie reviews, martial arts, recent, revenge, thom mathews, vincent klyn