Bullet Points: To the Death
I was not a huge fan of American Kickboxer 1… a big part of my dislike was that the title of the movie was American Kickboxer 1. Who did this movie think it was just presuming that anybody would want a sequel?
Digging in, I found out there was in fact a sequel to American Kickboxer 1, but it was titled To the Death… although there is another movie out there titled American Kickboxer 2 and it has no direct connection to American Kickboxer 1. Confused yet?
When I recently came across 1992’s To the Death, despite my ill will towards the original film, I decided to give it a try… a big part of that was when I remembered the film starred Bulletproof Action favorite, Michel Qissi…
- Retirement Speech: The movie kicks off with our heroic kickboxing champion Rick Quinn (who was known as BJ Quinn in the original film) announcing to the world that he is retiring from competitive kickboxing. The first question Quinn (once again played by John Barrett of Gymkata fame) is asked by ace kickboxing reporter Willard (once again played by Ted Le Plat of American Ninja 4: The Annihilation fame) is what Rick thinks his kickboxing rival and the man he defeated for the title, Denard, will have to say about this shocking and stunning development… Rick just blows it off, not really giving a damn what Denard thinks. Spoiler alert… Denard isn’t happy!
- Rematch Demands: Denard (now played by Michel Qissi of Kickboxer fame, taking over the role of “The Bad Boy of Kickboxing” from Brad Morris) hops on his motorcycle and goes to Quinn’s house and demands that Quinn give him a rematch for the title. The two rivals are screaming at one another when Quinn’s wife Carol comes outside with a shotgun and scares off Denard. It should be noted that the Carol character was also re-cast from the original.
- Dinner Invitation: The Quinns are invited to a fancy dinner by a well to do gentleman named Dominique Le Braque… at this point we know that Dominique promotes private kickboxing matches for wealthy clientele that come from around the globe to wager on the fights… but when Rick Quinn finds out the reason he was invited to break bread with Dominique was so Dominque could recruit him for his private fights… Rick Quinn and Carol storm out of the room, even when the offer for him to fight is increased from the original $50,000 to $100,000… Rick Quinn is retired from kickboxing. Point. Blank. Period.
- One Way or Another: Rick and Carol are preparing to start their new kickboxing free life, but before they can get out of town, Willard the reporter shows up to shoot the breeze with the Quinns and drop a little 411 on Rick at the same time. Willard tells Rick about how kickboxers from California and Thailand have gone missing as of late. Rick mentions the offer he received from Dominique Le Braque, but neither of them put two and two together at that point… then something catastrophic happens. Carol is about to run an errand so she says goodbye to her husband and Willard, but when she turns on the car it explodes! Carol is instantly dead (and to add to the tragedy, we later learn that she was with child).
- Three Months Later: Rick Quinn is a broken man, he is drinking heavily (an issue he had in the original film) and is staying in some flea bag hotel. One night Denard finds him at a local bar and he takes issue with what Rick has been saying about him… you see Rick wrongfully believes it was Denard that planted the car bomb that killed his wife and unborn daughter. So Denard has a legit gripe here… but when some guys try to step in before the situation escalates, Rick ends up beating the shit out of them… the cops are called… Rick is arrested and bailed out by none other than… Dominique Le Braque.
- Out of Retirement: Rick finds himself indebted to Dominique for bailing him out of jail. Couple that with the fact that Rick has lost his family, it is no surprise that Rick Quinn returns to the only thing left that he loves… kickboxing. Rick Quinn is a guest/prisoner at Dominique’s compound while he prepares for the fights that Dominique is paying him to compete in… what Rick doesn’t know and will soon find out is that these private fights are TO THE DEATH! Which as you may imagine is a huge motivator for Rick to win his fights. Things get further complicated for our hero, when Rick and Dominique’s wife Angelica are caught fornicating… this angers Dominique to no end, but he doesn’t let his personal feelings get in the way of business so he sets up one last fight for Rick Quinn and his opponent will be none other than Denard!
As the To the Death gets into the home stretch, there are four emotionally charged characters in Rick, Denard, Dominique and Angelica and something has got to give. I wasn’t entirely sure how they were going to wrap things up and it required a couple of twists to give the movie a satisfying conclusion.
After watching this sequel, I am on the fence if I should go back and give American Kickboxer 1 another shot. What I am not on the fence about is sharing these Bonus Bullet Points with you…
- Disturbing Quote: “If you touch her, I’ll fry your balls and broil your dick!” – Dominique
- Filming Location: Despite the story being set in California and the movie containing cars with California plates and Willard wearing his Los Angeles Raiders hat… To the Death was shot in South Africa.
- Cannon Connection: To the Death was distributed in the United States by Cannon Home Video.
- Nice Make Up: The ring announcer for Le Braque’s private fights was a bad comedian who wore mime make up. But since mime silence would be a horrible trait for a ring announcer, the ring announcer only looked like a mime and did not sound like one.
- Hooker Quote: “Hi gorgeous, got 50 bucks for a quick hand job?”