For years now Kino Lorber has been one of my favorite Blu-ray labels. They release a nice variety of films and a lot of titles you just don’t see from other labels. Just recently Kino Lorber released a title that speaks directly to my heart. I am, of course, talking about No Retreat, No Surrender!
No Retreat, No Surrender is likely most known for being the feature film debut of Jean-Claude Van Damme and rightfully so, because JCVD is a big deal. But before you watch No Retreat, No Surrender it’s important to know that this isn’t a JCVD movie. That’s not a bad thing, I truly love this movie, but this just isn’t a JCVD movie as we know them.
The star of the film is Kurt McKinney and he plays Jason Stillwell, a high school student that idolizes Bruce Lee and spends all his free time practicing karate. Fortunately for Jason his father Tom (Timothy D. Baker) owns a dojo in California which is perfect for studying karate! Unfortunately for Jason some Russian mobsters stop by the dojo late one night and make Tom an offer – let the Russians run the dojo and be protected or lose the dojo. The plan, presumably, is that the Russians are taking over all the major dojos in the US and then will use the dojos to run their crime syndicate. Tom refuses to give into their demands so the Russians top goon Ivan Kraschinsky (Van Damme) breaks his leg. Tom doesn’t want to work with the Russians but also fears for his family’s well being so he closes up the dojo and moves his family to Seattle.
Does this plan by the Russians make a whole lot of sense? I don’t know. I can’t really add all the pieces together, but then I’m not a Russian mobster so how could I possibly understand all the details? Either way, I don’t care!
Once Jason and his family arrive in Seattle he quickly makes a new friend in R.J. (J.W. Fails) R.J. is a cool, hip dude. Within about ten minutes of making his first on-screen appearance R.J. shows off his skilled basketball handles and his sweet break-dancing movies. After finding out Jason is a big Bruce Lee fan R.J. readily agrees to take him to Lee’s gravesite, which is conveniently located in Seattle!
Not everyone in Seattle takes to Jason, however. For some reason another kid who lives down the block named Scott (Kent Lipham) hates Jason right off the bat. At first it seems like Scott hates Jason because he’s into martial arts and Bruce Lee. At one point Scott even makes a comment about Jason being a freak for being into those things, but then later in the movie Jason goes to the local dojo and it’s the same dojo Scott attends! So I guess Scott is just a jerk bully and as it turns out everyone else that attends the dojo is a jerk bully too and like typical jerk bullies they bully Jason.
Jason wants to fight back but his dad is against it as he feels karate should not be used for violence. That’s when Bruce Lee shows up to train Jason! You read that right, Bruce Lee trains Jason! Bruce Lee is played by Tai Chung Kim who looks nothing like Bruce but that’s ok! Lee agrees with Jason’s father in that you shouldn’t learn karate to use it violently, but you also have to stand up for yourself. He then puts Scott through a rigorous training program that features one of the greatest training montages of all time!
While Jason is training the Russians continue their way up the west coast and arrive in Seattle to take over the Seattle dojo. The Seattle dojo will not be pushed up and they decide to have a battle for control. The dojo’s top three students will due battle with Ivan, winner takes all! I wonder if Jason will show up to save the day? Hmm.
No Retreat, No Surrender is a wildly silly movie. There are so many things about it that make little to no sense. For example Jason has a girlfriend in example. Apparently it’s an old friend and they previously dated or something but none of that is explained ever. I guess maybe Jason and his family are originally from Seattle? I don’t know, the script doesn’t bother with these details. None…of…this…matters!
The flaws are irrelevant to me because the movie has it’s heart in the right place. For all the things No Retreat, No Surrender does wrong you can’t deny that it’s full of heart. Plus it has JCVD. JCVD is always an added bonus.
You don’t get a lot of Van Damme here. You can tell his English isn’t great and he’s playing the villain which is a bit odd, but you can see his star qualities. Basically Van Damme’s Ivan is Dolph’s Drago from Rocky IV, which came out a year earlier. Which is actually perfect because No Retreat, No Surrender is like Rocky IV meets The Karate Kid and it’s awesome!
Kino Lorber did a terrific job with their Blu-ray release of No Retreat, No Surrender. You can tell the source material had some rough patches, but all things considered there’s a good bit of detail delivering an overall impressive picture. But I’m not a stickler for PQ, as long as the picture doesn’t look awful, I’m on board. What makes this release a winner, aside from the simply fact that it exists, are the special features, which are fairly limited but very good. There are two cuts of the film – the US cut and an international cut that is about 15 minutes longer. Both cuts are enjoyable, but the international cut does make slightly more sense, so I’d recommend going with that. In addition to the two cuts of the film there is an audio commentary (US cut only) from the film’s writer Keith W. Strandberg and a really good interview with McKinney.
In case I haven’t made it clear, I freaking love No Retreat, No Surrender. You’ll know within the first two minutes if this movie is for you and if it is you’ll love it too.
No Retreat, No Surrender is available now on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.
