Day 30: "Bloodsport" (1988)

 30 Damme Movies in 30 Damme Days!

The 30th Damme Day:



"Bloodsport" (1988)


Well, here we are on day 30, the final Damme day of my Damme 30-day marathon! I watched a JCVD movie every day for 30 days and didn't miss a single one. It was an awesome experience. 


I saved the movie "Bloodsport" for the last Damme day. I saw this one in the theater when it originally came out in 1988. Seeing it on the big screen for the first time was truly an awesome experience.

I feel like this is the film that everyone knows JCVD from... you could mention his name over the next decade or so and people would say "ah, the guy from Bloodsport." Although he had a couple of prior films, I think this one is the one film that finally made a superstar out of him and put him on the way to become a legendary icon and a household name.


In this film, JCVD playsa the real life person Frank Dux. In this movie, he is a soldier in the Army and deserts in order to compete in a secret, deadly, invitation only, martial arts tournament in Hong Kong known as the Kumite. He was trained since childhood by an Asian martial arts master and has all the skills.

In Hong Kong, he befriends another fighter, an American who's big, clumsy and dumb. He's played by the guy who played "Ogre" on "Revenge of the Nerds." He also befriends a beautiful reporter trying to find where this secret tournament takes place so that she can get a story on it.


The whole time he's in Hong Kong, JCVD is being chased by two government agents, one played by a young Forrest Whitaker. These agents are trying to capture him and bring him back home to face charges for desertion.

The Kumite is know as "Bloodsport" because of all the bloody carnage inflicted in this bare fisted marital arts tournament. It is so violent that many contestants are killed by their opponents right on the stage in front of the audience.

JCVD entered the tournament to pay honor to his master, but after some events play out during the competition, it becomes more of a mission of vengeance for him.


The main villain in the movie is played by the sensational martial arts movie star Bolo Yeung from Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon." Bolo will later go up against JCVD in a movie 3 years later as one of the main henchmen in "Double Impact."

The fight scenes are incredible and JCVD uses all of his trademark splits, flying kicks, spinning kicks, and punches that he has become so famous for.


I really love this movie and it's a blast to watch. It's not his best film ever, but you see him in his prime and at his humble beginnings. It's fun to go back and watch his early films and see how much he has grown as an actor. I give this one a 6 out of 10. Give it a watch and let me know what you think.

This past 30 days has been a very enjoyable journey for me. JCVD still hss more than another 30 movie to his credit. Many I've seen and many I haven't. I'm going to keep watch ing them until I've seen every one of them, but I'm going to watch them a couple a month or one every weekend. The 30 consecutive nightly screenings was a lot to keep up with.

Thanks for reading my blog. Hope you enjoyed taking the 30-day Damme journey with me.

I'll catch you on the flip flop!

- Patrick

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