It's hard to decide what's more surprising: the fact that the Bloodfist series has managed (as of this writing) to have nine entries or that they helped make Don "The Dragon" Wilson, a martial arts champion with minimal acting skill, into a minor star on the low-budget action circuit. What's also surprising is that most entries in the franchise managed to be serviceable and fairly entertaining low-budget karate flicks.

While I'd recommend that if you're curious about the series you'd be best to skip the first two movies and go for the third (as Wilson fights to survive in a maximum security prison), this second entry is still a more entertaining flick than the original and actually is a watchable time for low-budget martial arts fans. Wilson is pretty wooden here and the comparisons to Enter The Dragon and American Ninja 2 have their warrants but it's hard to complain much when the last third of the movie is just various, moderately well-done fight scenes and spearings with one face-off against a Roman wrestler worth waiting around for.

Wilson is back as Jake Raye who's vowed to never fight again, in the ring or out, when he accidentally kills an opponent in a title match. But that might all be about to change when he gets a desperate call from his best friend Vinny (Maurice Smith) who's gotten into big trouble with some the criminal element over there. This, of course, leads to the first of many seemingly random action scenes as some thugs jump him after arriving in town via cab and visiting a local gym.

Things go for bad to worse when he ends up being drugged and whisked off to the island of the evil Su (Joe Mari Avellana) who's gathered together some of the most skilled fighters in the World to take part in a to-the-death tournament - and also because he wants to sell an undetectable steroid he's injected into some of the fighters to prove that it works.

So while trying to stay alive in a series of brutal fights, Jake also sneaks around the island Bruce Lee style avoiding and fighting various guards as he tries to uncover Su's nefarious plot and help his pal out.

As with the first movie, the main thing that Bloodfist II proves is that as a general rule you don't just cast professional fighters in roles because, even though their championships and accomplishments may look cool in the credits, you're not going to get any sort of "performance" out of them. In fact, most of the acting on hand here (if you can call it that) is pretty atrocious with the exception to the rule being Avellana who's the best thing here as Su thanks to his over-the-top line deliveries and evil deeds - which isn't bad considering he's doing a complete 360 from the role he played in the original movie as Wilson's mentor.

Having a lot in common with the (better) American Ninja 2 this does manage to not be a complete dud thanks to scripter Catherine Cyran not having the focus on Wilson's character all the time even if it seems her writing ability was watching the aforementioned flicks it copies and cutting and pasting various bits of them into some sort of loose narrative. It also has better fights than the first (gotta love the "bendy table toss" in the final fight with Su... you'll see) and has enough low-rent action in the finale to be a goofy waste of 84 minutes.

Director Andy Blumenthal would fall off the face of the Earth after making this and that's the Deathstalker himself Rick Hill as Bobby Rose (aka: the Army dude who fights in the tournament). (Chris Hartley, 9/11/07)

Directed By: Andy Blumenthal.
Written By: Catherine Cyran.

Starring: Don Wilson, Maurice Smith, Timothy Baker, James Warring.