I saw this film when I was 12, in late '91. And, I still love it. I think the Tommy Lee/Dae Han fight is fantastic. Brilliantly captured, and I remember totally being engrossed into it. Tommys back story, his connections to Dae Han, all hitting home as powerful as the kicks themselves. I still think that the bittersweet ending makes it stands out from the other movies of its kind at the time. And - the soundrack is genuinelly amazing. The music that underscores the slo-mo dramatic scenes at the end, and the final scene itself is up there in my all time fave movie scores, I love it.
Preach on. This was the logical step up from Karate Kid. I watched it on a little 13" TV in my bedroom while sitting on the edge of the bed. Somehow I still remember that.
The whole end tournament scene is awesome, and the ending makes this one of the handful of legit films it is perfectly okay for manly men to shed manly tears over.
James Earl Jones was the first person to be cast in this movie. Phillip Rhee said he knew everyone else would fall into place once they found out he would be in the movie. Check out the Scott Adkins interview with Phillip Rhee!
At the pitch meeting: “Think the Rocky movies…but instead of Russians…it’s Aaaaaaaaaasians” I don’t know why, but I had Rich Evans voice in my head when I imagined the pitch meeting. Regardless, this movie is just every cliche from the eighties in a concentrated firm; Rocky, Karate Kid, and Gung Ho. And a big thumbs up for using the Wayne’s World clip in Eric Roberts “Oscar” clip!! That was hilarious! And I know others have suggest it, but No Retreat, No Surrender is another good 80s martial art film to review.
Haha it really is like 4 movies put in a blender. I ALWAYS think of Waynes World when I see those types of scenes lol. It was such a self aware masterpiece. Done! No Retreat, No Surrender will be on the short list of movies to do next friend. Thanks again for your support of the channel :)
100% agree that no retreat no surrender should be looked at. It’s another over the top, heavily derivative martial arts underdog epics that had a memorable first installment with an iconic song on the soundtrack that had a bunch of straight to video sequels that are connected in name only to the first movie. Oh and during the training montage there’s one particularly head scratching moment that throws off the otherwise badass training sequence. It will have you asking yourself “why? WHY ??? Why did they think that was a good idea?” You’ll definitely be able to mine some laughs from it, the jokes pretty much write themselves.
When Travis leaves the ring kicking the chair, I always thought it was one of the other fighters yelling hi-ya..but after watching your review, I think you are correct... which now makes that scene frickin hilarious!
I really loved this movie. I remember this was one of the most powerful and moving movies when I watched it growing up. The setup from the tournament fights to the ending was so perfectly done. The last scenes will be forever seared onto my memory.
i love this movie so much saw it on vhs back in the day. A reboot tv series could really flesh out the characters. The final act really sold it for me, Grady didn't "Rambo up" after the shoulder dislocation, Tommy didnt kill Kill Dae Hahn and they still lost.
This was my favorite movie for all of about 3 weeks when i was a kid, and i had since completely forgotten it existed. Thank god for RUclipsrs exploiting our natural tendencies toward nostalgia. =) Seriously, tho, pls continue.
Some of my best childhood memories are of watching movies like this, Double Impact, A.W.O.L etc. They're not objectively great movies like Mad Max II or Robocop but still so fun to watch. Great review BTW!
I've seen all of the "Best of the Best" movies and none of the sequels can touch the 1989 original. Even though the final fight scene between the Rhee Brothers was beautifully choreographed, the best part was the acting.
@@RedEyeReviews It really doesn't get any better than Tommy Lee vs. Dae Han but if you're a hard core action fan, you'll LOVE "Best of the Best 2" (1992) but be forewarned, those movies jump the shark on part 3&4...
@@jeraldmcclainofficial6005 oh I can't wait for the 2nd one. And Jumping the Shark is the theme of half my channel anyways haha. So I'm sure they will fit right in.
Loving the hell outta this channel! Bringing back all my good old favorites! If the channel owner was born after the nineties then I have the utmost respectt for him for showing such fondness for a genre that I grew up with.
It's no coincidence that James Earl Jones is in this flick. It's Field of Dreams for Koreans. They cry at the end, the way American men cry when Ray asks his dad if he would like to throw a few.
I did martial arts growing up and fought in many point based tournaments so I used to watch this everyday. I even did the 3 kick combo Tommy does in this movie in a real tournament I was so hyped back then.
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it :) Haha you made me look up that Chariots of Fire scene, and I will say the similarity is uncanny, Great catch!
The Bar Brawl in this movie too, is one of the best boozy bust ups on camera! Everything kicks off to Golden Earring's "The devil made me do It", and its so entertaining. I love at 6:00, the hilarious kick to the face the random barstooled guy gets. I think later in the fight, he gets pool table light swung into his face. Its fantastic. But, THAT ending. Had this been a typical film by say, Van Damme (like Kickboxer, also great), Tommy Lee would have gotten his vengeance, validation via a violent victory. Alas again, Dae Han in tears, reflecting his remorse and guilt regarding Tommy's loss. Its so unexpected, and the music is phenomenal. Oh yeah, Eric Robert's whining and dinings aint gonna give the Oscars a lookin,😂😂😀😀 but the whole movie in general is a superb nostalgia treat for me. I love watching it every now an' again with my brother, thinkin back to watchin it at the time.
Oh yeah I agree. This movie was such a blast to watch. My first time watching it was to make this video. And it was such a different and fun movie. The ending was actually pretty great, but the shoulder dislocation scene was rather hilarious to me and took me out of the moment just a bit lol. But the rest is awesome
I haven't laughed so much in a long time !!! Thank you so much !!! This movie came out when I was in high school so I have a lot of good memories. Thanks again Simon from Greece.
The cowboy was absolutely hilarious HONESTLY. When he was shadow boxing in front of the mirror LOLOLOL FUCKKKKKKK I was laughing so hard i pissd a little 🤣😬🤔😂
I remember the "Pop it Tommy!" line being my younger brother's favorite line. When we'd playfight as kids, he'd act like he put me in that situation whenever he got a little hit on me.
I loved the series. It’s crazy the cast that was in this. Philip Rhee co-wrote this film and wrote the fourth BotB. He was always the main lead but the cast was big in this. Rhee is rebooting the series and will produce it.
What a review! damn, i always loved this franchise. I described it as a "Martial arts version of Fast and the Furious" because this series was about a martial arts tournament then in the next sequels it turns into a random/mindless action movie lol :v . Philip rhee should have become a huge action star
Thank you so much! Oh I love Fast and Furious! So I am beyond excited to watch the rest of the series! And I totally agree! Phillip Rhee is AWESOME. Like a real legit martial artist. He could very easily have been a huge star, and should have been
Movie in this era were both iconic and cheesy all at the same time! Tough balance to maintain; making you fee emotional where you’re supposed to and making you laugh where you’re not!👍🏽
I took karate for about five years during my junior high/high school days. We had to do pushups on our knuckles similar to what they show here. We had to do them on our first two knuckles, though. They did them on the last four knuckles in the movie.
This movie put in every fighting movie troupe in history and I loved it growing up . Maybe I should watch it now that I'm older but sure it will take a piece of my soul realizing how bad it was .
Getting anything dislocated (especially the first time) hurts L.F. However, if you want to see a totally awesome fight scene that deals with it, check out Jet Li vs. Japanese General from Fist of Legend - I think it might be one of the best fight scenes ever filmed.
Yup, I dislocate my shoulder a few times a year and it always hurts like fuck. But nothing compared to when my ankles go, shoulders suck, ankles put me on the couch for days, sometimes weeks.
When you first said Chris Penn had the most punchable face, I wasn't looking at the video and I didnt really know who you were talking about. Then a minute later, I was paying attention when he's seen again and I was like "oh, yeah, shit. Fuck that guy. I've always wanted to punch him." I don't know why, but I agree.
Simon Rhee (Dae Han) and Philip Rhee (Tommy) are the sons of the late Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee Tae Kwon Do grandmaster and member of the presidents council on physical fitness.
This is a very well regarded film among martial arts movie renaissance connoisseurs of the late 80’s/early 90’s. Always bothered me that it is clearly predominantly Taelwondo competitors. I guess they thought people only knew what Karate was back then and were too stupid to know anything different.
"POP IT ! POP IT TOMMY !" is a movie line on par with Casablanca's " Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. " for me 😂😂😂
Fun Fact: Dae Han (who killed Tommy Lee's brother in the movie),, is actually his brother in REAL LIFE!! Their names in REAL life are, Phillip Rhee (who plays Tommy Lee),, and Simon Rhee. (who plays Dae Han)!! Edit: Oh $#it.... You JUST said that, RIGHT AT THE SAME TIME, that I got done typing it!!! (Yes,, I sometimes comment WHILE watching the video!! 😂🤣🤣👍)
Love the review of one of my favorites. As a young kid i was always upset how far Virgil put the team behind. Might have to queue up the dvd later. Will have to check out rest of your vids. Looks like we share similar likes
Dude, so glad I found this channel. If you haven’t done so yet, please look into Breathing Fire with Bolo Yeung, it also has the little kid from raiders of the lost arm and some c grade martial arts guys, so you know it’s awesome!
One of my favorite movies of all time. The only thing that always bugged me as a life long martial artist (partially because of this movie inspiring me) is that they used o.k. actors with zero martial arts skills instead of good martial artists with o.k. acting skills. Obviously Phillip Rhee is a martial artist and I thought Eric Roberts was convincing at least but the rest would have gotten smoked like a brisket at a southern barbeque and there was no convincing me otherwise. Still a great movie with one of the best onscreen representations of Tae Kwon Do ever in the final fight scene.
In high school my sophomore year I was on the JV football team and we went 0-10. After the season was over our coach had us come to the field house on a Saturday and cooked burgers for us and we watched this movie and it was awesome. gawd DAMN I loved the 80s.
This movie was so awesome when I saw it as a kid. Julia Roberts' brother and Sean Penn's brother, the greatest martial artists to hit the big screen, EVER!
As the 'benefactor' of one biological older brother and four boys my mom and dad pretty much raised I saw EVERY major action movie between 1989-1995, Best of the Best among them and their absurdity becoming deeply ingrained into my own burgeoning sense of humor. This review is great!! I really enjoyed it. I also said that the thing I took away from these movies was an attraction to Asian men, a love of good bad flicks, and a love of Bruce Campbell. Ah, childhood. 🤣 It also made me feel better that I'm not the only one who wants to kick Miss Love-Interest-Du Jour--in the you know what and slap Chris Penn (RIP).
Saw this whenI was young and the best part that became an inside joke with my cousins and I was …” *Nooo* “ and it was glorious my Sith friend. And even back when I first saw it we were thinking “just say Korean” we know you main star and villain are South Koreans so why not say Korean.
I had in a icehockey game someone who dislocated his shoulder after he run into the boards behind my goal. You cannot imagine his high pitched screams. Dislocating by your self is one thing (if you cab do it it doesnt hurt) But getting your shoulder in a forcefull dislocated its hurts realy bad. The other plyer needed help to get up because of the pain
I just stumbled on your channel. Looking for reviews of movies. I have been binge watching ever since. I can’t quite put my finger on it. But I think your show or voice maybe makes it easy on the ears. Very calming. And funny. Thank you for the entertaining show. Love the reviews. Seen most of the movies you show on here so it’s nice to here which ones you do like or don’t.
It wasn’t until 2014 when I finally got around to watching beat of the best after the song from the soundtrack with the same name got me curious about it. It wasn’t a particularly amazing movie, about as generic and derivative as movies like these from that time got. Still this one is one of the more memorable ones although the sequels go off the rails very quickly. Oh yeah and I highly recommend reviewing No Retreat No Surrender. It is kinda similar except it is way more over the top and is absolutely hilarious but it does have some genuinely good moments and JCVD is very convincing as the villain
I agree. It just weirdly sticks in your brain for awhile after watching it. I actually have No Retreat No Surrender on my upcoming list. I have never seen it before so I am super excited.
@@RedEyeReviews trust me you won’t be disappointed with no retreat no surrender. It has lots of funny moments that weren’t intended to be funny. The best one is a particular moment during the training montage. I won’t spoil it but trust me you’ll know it when you see it. I just about spat my drink out when I saw it because of how out of place it is in that whole sequence
@@RedEyeReviews I’m looking forward to it. I think it might be worth my while to subscribe given that I like the humor and reviewing style of this channel. Keep up the good work
I joined Tae Kwon Do after I watched this movie. Faced a bully and my fears, and had a 25 year career in law enforcement. The 80-90s! Men were men and dresses were for your mom.
Same with me and bloodsport got in to wrestling sambo boxing and judo then muay thai . Had a fight with a guy 5 years older than who absolutely bullied me i dropped him with a head kick then took his back suplexed him to k.o him worked in construction well still training had 23 .NHB fights trained to become a cop
Just found your channel and I love your reviews especially the Seagall movies. Great production and super funny content. Keep up the great work. Yeah I don't know why crash penn bothers me but I feel it too lol.
The dislocating shouler leg joke was epic. I had 13 surgeries on left shoulder including 3 replacement. The lethal weapon version is closer to reality.
I have forced at least six people to watch this movie when I found out they hadn’t seen it yet. A few are exes…. Anyways love this film! Eric Roberts trying to act is worth the price of admission. POP IT TOMMY!!!
Had a few TKD instructors take part in this film and the sequels. Back then the TKD community was HEAVY in these type of home grown pop up Martial art flix.
In GTA San Andreas I learned from Samuel L Jackson that cops are a forced not be mess with because they can be hella' dangerous. But I also learned from Sean Penn in GTA that cops can have a punch able polygon face
Gee I actually remember seeing this movie on VHS back in the days, what a movie. I do pushups the korean style, minus the stone bridge and hit by a stick, those just seems to be extreme.
Yeah Chris Penn likes to play total assholes, lol. My initial response to his characters is the same, can’t stand his characters lol. But he’s a good actor, he makes you hate him immediately.
There's always a guy like Penn's character in every karate dojo in America...especially from the 60s to the 90s. The 60s tournaments were tough but full of respect...but at the dojo in the 60s people got hurt more than you can imagine. No safety gear along with very good fighters that haven't fully learned control yet. People like Penn's character in the 60s easily got their asses kicked as much as they showed up for more trying to put others in the hospital and succeed in doing it. Zero safety gear. I personally know a man that's a 10th degree blackbelt and started in the early 60s. He was in the military and after getting his blackbelt he was stationed in Japan. So, being like Penn, he found Gogan Yamaguchi's dojo asking to "see" him. They said he wasn't there. So he decided to take on every blackbelt in there and had no problem piling them up. Much of it he said was their size being smaller people in Japan. Yamaguchi called my friends sensai and said "Don't ever let that man come back here again!"
Man I don't know if I should subscribe or not?, On one hand this review does exactly what it says on the tin and gives a "comedic review" About the film, on the other it seems like it's being overly mean (not sure how else to say it) about the film, did he actually like it or not? For my part I loved it, yes it has loads of cheesy 80's clichés but that's what makes it great just like a lot of others from that time.
I loved this movie when I saw it as a kid got it from my local video rental shop, I would have been about 11 or 12 at the time. Started to go off these kinds of movies over the following few years. So I think was the last of the genre I really liked. It’s a shame Chris Penn passed away so young, he was in reservoir dogs not so long after this. It’s amazing how terrible they were in hindsight though.
Hahah, "he could have kicked him a little". I watched this movie tons of times when I was a kid, I loved it, and every time I would think the same thing. Tommy doesn't have to do his reverse side kick at full strength. A sweet, or a front kick to the chest might have been sufficient. It was only one point he needed if I'm remembering correctly. Maybe the deal with Chris Penn is his character in Pale Rider. I get that feeling from him too because of that. However, when I was a kid, Travis was my favorite character in this movie because I was big like him and obsessed with Taekwondo, lol.
Yes, Tommy and Eye Patch Guy (Dae Han) are the "Rhee" brothers in real life. Also, Fun Fact, Eye Patch Guy/Dae Han/Simon Rhee is actually one of the guys in that credit card knife seen in that Steven Seagal movie Glimmer Man, he doesn't have the eye patch or the facial hair in that movie though, so you might not have recognized him. Also, if you have seen that Rob Schneider movie Big Stan, the kids karate instructor is also played by Simon Rhee (Eye Patch Guy/Dae Han)
here's the deal: the first time you dislocate a joint, it hurts BIG TIME. but each time after that, it get easier and easier and les and less painful and sometimes dislocates with minimal effort.
Am the other way around, have seen Best of the Best 2, 3 and 4 but bizarrely never got around to seeing the original. Part 2 is a decent action movie co-starring, erm, Wayne Newton.
@@RedEyeReviews if it’s a movie made in Las Vegas, you can pretty much bet he’s in there somewhere. Reminds me a lot of Martin Sheen. Killer sequel though with lots of B-movie faces, Eric Roberts sans mullet and arm-breaks that would make Seagal proud.
I saw this film when I was 12, in late '91. And, I still love it. I think the Tommy Lee/Dae Han fight is fantastic. Brilliantly captured, and I remember totally being engrossed into it. Tommys back story, his connections to Dae Han, all hitting home as powerful as the kicks themselves. I still think that the bittersweet ending makes it stands out from the other movies of its kind at the time. And - the soundrack is genuinelly amazing. The music that underscores the slo-mo dramatic scenes at the end, and the final scene itself is up there in my all time fave movie scores, I love it.
The fight between Han and Tommy really is good, because both of them know how to fight. Really good Teakwondo action there
Preach on. This was the logical step up from Karate Kid. I watched it on a little 13" TV in my bedroom while sitting on the edge of the bed. Somehow I still remember that.
Wait, this movie is like Top Gun for Karate.
The whole end tournament scene is awesome, and the ending makes this one of the handful of legit films it is perfectly okay for manly men to shed manly tears over.
I haven't seen the others in the series but I'm going to guess that this is the best of the best of them...
haha without a doubt it has to go downhill pretty quickly
Ha!
Number 2 is good and its a sequel. But 3 and 4 suck.
They did go downhill. Aside from Dae Han being in part.. 2? Not worth it.
It is indeed the best of the best of the best.
Okay, I love this movie and I’ll say it, the ending makes me tear up every damn time 😂 No shame
James Earl Jones was the first person to be cast in this movie. Phillip Rhee said he knew everyone else would fall into place once they found out he would be in the movie. Check out the Scott Adkins interview with Phillip Rhee!
My friends and I loved this movie. We were on the junior Olympic team for TKD and we felt it was made for us.
At the pitch meeting: “Think the Rocky movies…but instead of Russians…it’s Aaaaaaaaaasians”
I don’t know why, but I had Rich Evans voice in my head when I imagined the pitch meeting. Regardless, this movie is just every cliche from the eighties in a concentrated firm; Rocky, Karate Kid, and Gung Ho.
And a big thumbs up for using the Wayne’s World clip in Eric Roberts “Oscar” clip!! That was hilarious!
And I know others have suggest it, but No Retreat, No Surrender is another good 80s martial art film to review.
Haha it really is like 4 movies put in a blender.
I ALWAYS think of Waynes World when I see those types of scenes lol. It was such a self aware masterpiece.
Done! No Retreat, No Surrender will be on the short list of movies to do next friend.
Thanks again for your support of the channel :)
100% agree that no retreat no surrender should be looked at. It’s another over the top, heavily derivative martial arts underdog epics that had a memorable first installment with an iconic song on the soundtrack that had a bunch of straight to video sequels that are connected in name only to the first movie. Oh and during the training montage there’s one particularly head scratching moment that throws off the otherwise badass training sequence. It will have you asking yourself “why? WHY ??? Why did they think that was a good idea?” You’ll definitely be able to mine some laughs from it, the jokes pretty much write themselves.
When Travis leaves the ring kicking the chair, I always thought it was one of the other fighters yelling hi-ya..but after watching your review, I think you are correct... which now makes that scene frickin hilarious!
This movie was awesome. I watched this and the 2nd one at least 100 times when I was a kid
I really loved this movie. I remember this was one of the most powerful and moving movies when I watched it growing up. The setup from the tournament fights to the ending was so perfectly done. The last scenes will be forever seared onto my memory.
i love this movie so much saw it on vhs back in the day. A reboot tv series could really flesh out the characters.
The final act really sold it for me, Grady didn't "Rambo up" after the shoulder dislocation, Tommy didnt kill Kill Dae Hahn and they still lost.
It would get ruined by todays writers
This was my favorite movie for all of about 3 weeks when i was a kid, and i had since completely forgotten it existed. Thank god for RUclipsrs exploiting our natural tendencies toward nostalgia. =) Seriously, tho, pls continue.
I think South Park made fun of the scene: "Because I'm scared, alright!!" in the episode: "The Losing Edge" S09
Some of my best childhood memories are of watching movies like this, Double Impact, A.W.O.L etc. They're not objectively great movies like Mad Max II or Robocop but still so fun to watch. Great review BTW!
Double impact is a savage film, might be my favorite ever
I've seen all of the "Best of the Best" movies and none of the sequels can touch the 1989 original. Even though the final fight scene between the Rhee Brothers was beautifully choreographed, the best part was the acting.
I am really excited to see the sequels but for REAL the fight between the Rhee Brothers is genuinely awesome.
@@RedEyeReviews It really doesn't get any better than Tommy Lee vs. Dae Han but if you're a hard core action fan, you'll LOVE "Best of the Best 2" (1992) but be forewarned, those movies jump the shark on part 3&4...
@@jeraldmcclainofficial6005 oh I can't wait for the 2nd one. And Jumping the Shark is the theme of half my channel anyways haha. So I'm sure they will fit right in.
Loving the hell outta this channel! Bringing back all my good old favorites! If the channel owner was born after the nineties then I have the utmost respectt for him for showing such fondness for a genre that I grew up with.
So glad you like it! I was born early 90s. So some of these I am watching for the first time still :)
@@RedEyeReviews That’s awesome bud! Keep up the excellent work! Subbed!
@@RedEyeReviews I was watching this video when I heard of the death of James Earl Jones. Goodnight and Godspeed Frank Couzo.
"His little Tiny Tim crutch."
Had me dead.
It's no coincidence that James Earl Jones is in this flick. It's Field of Dreams for Koreans. They cry at the end, the way American men cry when Ray asks his dad if he would like to throw a few.
two of my former teachers were in this. Philp Rhee, with whom I trained in '93, and Hee Il Cho with whom I received my 2nd and 3rd Dan black belts
This movie simply hits all checkmarks. It's like soft but still chilled butter.
16:25 my ex and her sisters walked in on me watching this part lol
I did martial arts growing up and fought in many point based tournaments so I used to watch this everyday. I even did the 3 kick combo Tommy does in this movie in a real tournament I was so hyped back then.
Eric Roberts as a non-villain just doesn't work for me.
I could only imagine him being dropped from a building by Batman this entire movie lol
@@RedEyeReviews XD
as an anti hero type, I recommend Runaway Train. Not as a cliche movie, but a really good one.
Exceptional review!!!!! So entertaining. 🤩 Not to mention the beach running scene looks an awful lot like Chariots of Fire…with socks! 😂
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it :)
Haha you made me look up that Chariots of Fire scene, and I will say the similarity is uncanny, Great catch!
I believe that Chris Penn's punchability on display is a result of his resemblance to Jonah Hill.
Lol that might be a solid reason.
The Bar Brawl in this movie too, is one of the best boozy bust ups on camera! Everything kicks off to Golden Earring's "The devil made me do It", and its so entertaining. I love at 6:00, the hilarious kick to the face the random barstooled guy gets. I think later in the fight, he gets pool table light swung into his face. Its fantastic. But, THAT ending. Had this been a typical film by say, Van Damme (like Kickboxer, also great), Tommy Lee would have gotten his vengeance, validation via a violent victory. Alas again, Dae Han in tears, reflecting his remorse and guilt regarding Tommy's loss. Its so unexpected, and the music is phenomenal. Oh yeah, Eric Robert's whining and dinings aint gonna give the Oscars a lookin,😂😂😀😀 but the whole movie in general is a superb nostalgia treat for me. I love watching it every now an' again with my brother, thinkin back to watchin it at the time.
Oh yeah I agree. This movie was such a blast to watch. My first time watching it was to make this video. And it was such a different and fun movie. The ending was actually pretty great, but the shoulder dislocation scene was rather hilarious to me and took me out of the moment just a bit lol. But the rest is awesome
The main 'villan' from the bar fight is kane hodder aka Jason voorhees
I haven't laughed so much in a long time !!! Thank you so much !!!
This movie came out when I was in high school so I have a lot of good memories.
Thanks again Simon from Greece.
I'm so glad! I love when movies bring back some nostalgia
The cowboy was absolutely hilarious HONESTLY.
When he was shadow boxing in front of the mirror LOLOLOL FUCKKKKKKK
I was laughing so hard i pissd a little 🤣😬🤔😂
I remember the "Pop it Tommy!" line being my younger brother's favorite line.
When we'd playfight as kids, he'd act like he put me in that situation whenever he got a little hit on me.
I loved the series. It’s crazy the cast that was in this. Philip Rhee co-wrote this film and wrote the fourth BotB. He was always the main lead but the cast was big in this. Rhee is rebooting the series and will produce it.
That brother bit was the best lmfao
lol thank you :)
It's a tear jerker. You have to be prepared with a box of tissue for Eric Roberts. The tissues aren't for you it's for Roberts. 😭
💀💀💀
What a review! damn, i always loved this franchise. I described it as a "Martial arts version of Fast and the Furious" because this series was about a martial arts tournament then in the next sequels it turns into a random/mindless action movie lol :v . Philip rhee should have become a huge action star
Thank you so much! Oh I love Fast and Furious! So I am beyond excited to watch the rest of the series! And I totally agree! Phillip Rhee is AWESOME. Like a real legit martial artist. He could very easily have been a huge star, and should have been
@@RedEyeReviews unlike the Fast and Furious I guess they forgot to put it in their contract that they can't lose a fight.
@@ThingNoAware mistakes were made haha
Movie in this era were both iconic and cheesy all at the same time! Tough balance to maintain; making you fee emotional where you’re supposed to and making you laugh where you’re not!👍🏽
I took karate for about five years during my junior high/high school days. We had to do pushups on our knuckles similar to what they show here. We had to do them on our first two knuckles, though. They did them on the last four knuckles in the movie.
This movie put in every fighting movie troupe in history and I loved it growing up . Maybe I should watch it now that I'm older but sure it will take a piece of my soul realizing how bad it was .
James Earl Jones saying the word 'Laid' is all I needed in my life
This is one of my favorite movies. I still use songs from the soundtrack as training music. My humble opinion this is a true martial arts movie.
Give the Cannon movie "Runaway Train" a watch. More Eric Roberts fun. Probably the most competent Cannon film I've seen.
That movie is awesome.
The fact that you call James Earl Jones Mufasa cracks me up 😂😂
Getting anything dislocated (especially the first time) hurts L.F. However, if you want to see a totally awesome fight scene that deals with it, check out Jet Li vs. Japanese General from Fist of Legend - I think it might be one of the best fight scenes ever filmed.
Yup, I dislocate my shoulder a few times a year and it always hurts like fuck. But nothing compared to when my ankles go, shoulders suck, ankles put me on the couch for days, sometimes weeks.
Ouch Amanda
No the raid 2 is best fight scene ever filmed
@@jonsnipe5484 You mean the kitchen fight? That one's great, too. The Raid: Redemption has a couple of great ones as well.
When you first said Chris Penn had the most punchable face, I wasn't looking at the video and I didnt really know who you were talking about. Then a minute later, I was paying attention when he's seen again and I was like "oh, yeah, shit. Fuck that guy. I've always wanted to punch him."
I don't know why, but I agree.
Haha thank you! Just something about him.
Simon Rhee (Dae Han) and Philip Rhee (Tommy) are the sons of the late Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee Tae Kwon Do grandmaster and member of the presidents council on physical fitness.
Excellent review
This is a very well regarded film among martial arts movie renaissance connoisseurs of the late 80’s/early 90’s. Always bothered me that it is clearly predominantly Taelwondo competitors. I guess they thought people only knew what Karate was back then and were too stupid to know anything different.
"POP IT ! POP IT TOMMY !" is a movie line on par with Casablanca's " Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. " for me 😂😂😂
Fun Fact: Dae Han (who killed Tommy Lee's brother in the movie),, is actually his brother in REAL LIFE!!
Their names in REAL life are, Phillip Rhee (who plays Tommy Lee),, and Simon Rhee. (who plays Dae Han)!!
Edit: Oh $#it.... You JUST said that, RIGHT AT THE SAME TIME, that I got done typing it!!! (Yes,, I sometimes comment WHILE watching the video!! 😂🤣🤣👍)
Love the review of one of my favorites. As a young kid i was always upset how far Virgil put the team behind. Might have to queue up the dvd later.
Will have to check out rest of your vids. Looks like we share similar likes
Thank you!
Dude, so glad I found this channel. If you haven’t done so yet, please look into Breathing Fire with Bolo Yeung, it also has the little kid from raiders of the lost arm and some c grade martial arts guys, so you know it’s awesome!
Me too! Of course I'll take a look
One of my favorite movies of all time. The only thing that always bugged me as a life long martial artist (partially because of this movie inspiring me) is that they used o.k. actors with zero martial arts skills instead of good martial artists with o.k. acting skills. Obviously Phillip Rhee is a martial artist and I thought Eric Roberts was convincing at least but the rest would have gotten smoked like a brisket at a southern barbeque and there was no convincing me otherwise. Still a great movie with one of the best onscreen representations of Tae Kwon Do ever in the final fight scene.
Totally agree, Virgil AKA 'Buddhist Guy' deserves no medal. After all the training,including running in socks on the water, his fight was a let down.
-You killed my brother.
-No. *I* am your brother..
In high school my sophomore year I was on the JV football team and we went 0-10. After the season was over our coach had us come to the field house on a Saturday and cooked burgers for us and we watched this movie and it was awesome.
gawd DAMN I loved the 80s.
That's a great memory
This movie was so awesome when I saw it as a kid. Julia Roberts' brother and Sean Penn's brother, the greatest martial artists to hit the big screen, EVER!
Academy Award Winners in cast: 2
Other Academy Award Nominees: 2
Other Golden Globe Winners: 1
Other Emmy Winners: 1
It is the Best of the Best.
As the 'benefactor' of one biological older brother and four boys my mom and dad pretty much raised I saw EVERY major action movie between 1989-1995, Best of the Best among them and their absurdity becoming deeply ingrained into my own burgeoning sense of humor. This review is great!! I really enjoyed it. I also said that the thing I took away from these movies was an attraction to Asian men, a love of good bad flicks, and a love of Bruce Campbell. Ah, childhood. 🤣 It also made me feel better that I'm not the only one who wants to kick Miss Love-Interest-Du Jour--in the you know what and slap Chris Penn (RIP).
The shoulder scene 16:32 is hilarious i remember laughing when i was a kid back then 😂😂
Ohhh man havent seen this since I was like 10. Saw it like 20 times back then.
Strange cast for a karate movie
Saw this whenI was young and the best part that became an inside joke with my cousins and I was …” *Nooo* “ and it was glorious my Sith friend. And even back when I first saw it we were thinking “just say Korean” we know you main star and villain are South Koreans so why not say Korean.
I had in a icehockey game someone who dislocated his shoulder after he run into the boards behind my goal. You cannot imagine his high pitched screams. Dislocating by your self is one thing (if you cab do it it doesnt hurt) But getting your shoulder in a forcefull dislocated its hurts realy bad. The other plyer needed help to get up because of the pain
I just stumbled on your channel. Looking for reviews of movies. I have been binge watching ever since. I can’t quite put my finger on it. But I think your show or voice maybe makes it easy on the ears. Very calming. And funny. Thank you for the entertaining show. Love the reviews. Seen most of the movies you show on here so it’s nice to here which ones you do like or don’t.
I'm so glad you like it! Hope you continue to enjoy the channel
It wasn’t until 2014 when I finally got around to watching beat of the best after the song from the soundtrack with the same name got me curious about it. It wasn’t a particularly amazing movie, about as generic and derivative as movies like these from that time got. Still this one is one of the more memorable ones although the sequels go off the rails very quickly.
Oh yeah and I highly recommend reviewing No Retreat No Surrender. It is kinda similar except it is way more over the top and is absolutely hilarious but it does have some genuinely good moments and JCVD is very convincing as the villain
I agree. It just weirdly sticks in your brain for awhile after watching it.
I actually have No Retreat No Surrender on my upcoming list. I have never seen it before so I am super excited.
@@RedEyeReviews trust me you won’t be disappointed with no retreat no surrender. It has lots of funny moments that weren’t intended to be funny. The best one is a particular moment during the training montage. I won’t spoil it but trust me you’ll know it when you see it. I just about spat my drink out when I saw it because of how out of place it is in that whole sequence
@@unstoppableExodia You are making me want to move it up the list. I love me some training montages lol
@@RedEyeReviews I’m looking forward to it. I think it might be worth my while to subscribe given that I like the humor and reviewing style of this channel. Keep up the good work
@@unstoppableExodia Thank you so much! I really appreciate the support
I can remember watching this as a kid, and thinking the same thing in the final match. He could have just pushed him over or swept his legs.
Right?! It was so dramatic
Crane kick his ass!
Have you seen "No Retreat, No Surrender"? Another classic with Van Damme.
John P. Ryan was also in Class of 1999, a movie you should definitely put on your list.
Done and done.
oh God yes...there's an android who looks like Mike Pence going crazy delivering a spanking. Its a must-see.
I joined Tae Kwon Do after I watched this movie. Faced a bully and my fears, and had a 25 year career in law enforcement.
The 80-90s! Men were men and dresses were for your mom.
Same with me and bloodsport got in to wrestling sambo boxing and judo then muay thai . Had a fight with a guy 5 years older than who absolutely bullied me i dropped him with a head kick then took his back suplexed him to k.o him worked in construction well still training had 23 .NHB fights trained to become a cop
Just found your channel and I love your reviews especially the Seagall movies. Great production and super funny content. Keep up the great work. Yeah I don't know why crash penn bothers me but I feel it too lol.
Thank you so much!
Yeah I just don't like him lol. I'm sure he was a nice guy but I can't do it.
The dislocating shouler leg joke was epic. I had 13 surgeries on left shoulder including 3 replacement. The lethal weapon version is closer to reality.
My new favorite channel
Thank you so much!
I used to watch this movie over and over just to watch Eric Roberts cry. Hilarious.
I have forced at least six people to watch this movie when I found out they hadn’t seen it yet. A few are exes…. Anyways love this film! Eric Roberts trying to act is worth the price of admission. POP IT TOMMY!!!
Eric Roberts overacted the shit out of this movie
Had a few TKD instructors take part in this film and the sequels. Back then the TKD community was HEAVY in these type of home grown pop up Martial art flix.
In GTA San Andreas I learned from Samuel L Jackson that cops are a forced not be mess with because they can be hella' dangerous. But I also learned from Sean Penn in GTA that cops can have a punch able polygon face
Dude, you're killin' it....Subbed
Thank you!
Gee I actually remember seeing this movie on VHS back in the days, what a movie. I do pushups the korean style, minus the stone bridge and hit by a stick, those just seems to be extreme.
Yeah Chris Penn likes to play total assholes, lol. My initial response to his characters is the same, can’t stand his characters lol. But he’s a good actor, he makes you hate him immediately.
Chris Penn is also deceased. Not sure if he “likes” playing assholes currently. Since he is no longer living.
There's always a guy like Penn's character in every karate dojo in America...especially from the 60s to the 90s. The 60s tournaments were tough but full of respect...but at the dojo in the 60s people got hurt more than you can imagine. No safety gear along with very good fighters that haven't fully learned control yet. People like Penn's character in the 60s easily got their asses kicked as much as they showed up for more trying to put others in the hospital and succeed in doing it. Zero safety gear. I personally know a man that's a 10th degree blackbelt and started in the early 60s. He was in the military and after getting his blackbelt he was stationed in Japan. So, being like Penn, he found Gogan Yamaguchi's dojo asking to "see" him. They said he wasn't there. So he decided to take on every blackbelt in there and had no problem piling them up. Much of it he said was their size being smaller people in Japan. Yamaguchi called my friends sensai and said "Don't ever let that man come back here again!"
Man I don't know if I should subscribe or not?, On one hand this review does exactly what it says on the tin and gives a "comedic review" About the film, on the other it seems like it's being overly mean (not sure how else to say it) about the film, did he actually like it or not? For my part I loved it, yes it has loads of cheesy 80's clichés but that's what makes it great just like a lot of others from that time.
I love you dude. Thanks for all the laughs.
this was hilarious lol, glad i came across this channel
Thanks friend
I loved this movie when I saw it as a kid got it from my local video rental shop, I would have been about 11 or 12 at the time. Started to go off these kinds of movies over the following few years. So I think was the last of the genre I really liked. It’s a shame Chris Penn passed away so young, he was in reservoir dogs not so long after this. It’s amazing how terrible they were in hindsight though.
One of the Koreans shown is a real Korean Tae Kwon Do master. Hee IL Cho
Not only a great film but an outstanding review! Love your humour. That's an instant sub from me 👍
Yeah! Im so glad you liked it
I love this series of reviews - hilarious watched so many times 😂😂😂
..."He has an eye-patch; definitely a bad guy "...😂
God damn you, Best of the Best was one of the best, and now I can’t stop laughing!
So glad you like it :)
Mind blown! Never knew they were brothers!! Thanks for the info
Commenting right at the beginning.. so, I love this movie! JEJ.. “No.. no Tommy, no” Also JEJ in SW “Noooo” 😂
This movie is fucking awesome. If you don't cry at the end you're a robot
10yr old Me loved this damn movie... it was during the Bloodsport Era... I forgot about it... thanks for reminding me how great my taste in Film was.
Hahah, "he could have kicked him a little". I watched this movie tons of times when I was a kid, I loved it, and every time I would think the same thing. Tommy doesn't have to do his reverse side kick at full strength. A sweet, or a front kick to the chest might have been sufficient. It was only one point he needed if I'm remembering correctly.
Maybe the deal with Chris Penn is his character in Pale Rider. I get that feeling from him too because of that. However, when I was a kid, Travis was my favorite character in this movie because I was big like him and obsessed with Taekwondo, lol.
I was working at a video rental store when this came out on 📼. I don't think anyone rented it, but we watched it on the monitor a few times.
One of my all-time fave cheesy 80's karate flicks that I loved as a kid. Good review, though that points out a lot of the said cheesiness.
Yes, Tommy and Eye Patch Guy (Dae Han) are the "Rhee" brothers in real life. Also, Fun Fact, Eye Patch Guy/Dae Han/Simon Rhee is actually one of the guys in that credit card knife seen in that Steven Seagal movie Glimmer Man, he doesn't have the eye patch or the facial hair in that movie though, so you might not have recognized him. Also, if you have seen that Rob Schneider movie Big Stan, the kids karate instructor is also played by Simon Rhee (Eye Patch Guy/Dae Han)
Great stuff, but work on the pronunciations. Rhee for instance is literally exactly how it's spelled. RH-EE. Not sure where RAY came from lol
Damn. Yeah I say several things weird I've been learning haha
here's the deal: the first time you dislocate a joint, it hurts BIG TIME. but each time after that, it get easier and easier and les and less painful and sometimes dislocates with minimal effort.
I can believe that
One of the best martial arts movies ever!
The dislocated shoulder scene is so epic.
Am the other way around, have seen Best of the Best 2, 3 and 4 but bizarrely never got around to seeing the original. Part 2 is a decent action movie co-starring, erm, Wayne Newton.
Like the singer Wayne Newton? oh god
@@RedEyeReviews if it’s a movie made in Las Vegas, you can pretty much bet he’s in there somewhere. Reminds me a lot of Martin Sheen. Killer sequel though with lots of B-movie faces, Eric Roberts sans mullet and arm-breaks that would make Seagal proud.
@@michaelmyers3709 you had me at Arm Breaks lol