Best of the best is probably the most underrated martial arts film ever but is also one of the best ever made..the characters prepare for a tournament against the unstoppable Korean taekwondo team, but they also prepare to overcome themselves to succeed ,they must learn that a team is not team if they don't care about each other...Eric Roberts and Philip Rhee are the stars of the film, they have their bigger fights on their inside during the movie...the final battle between the Rhee brothers is one of the best fights on cinema history and James Earl Jones make a perfect job as the trainer who needs to inspire his students to overcome themselves and have a chance to win to the Korean team...I'm a big fan of the film,every time I see it I get excited...A must seen film

First, let's get something straight. I've seen (and will continue seeing) countless movies of all genres (I'm a fan of Woody Allen, Oliver Stone, William Freidkin, John Frankenheimer, Ridley Scott, Milcho Mancevski, John Woo...) and lately cannot even make myself finish watching over-budgeted, lame, boring, horribly scripted Hollywood crap targeted at people with an attention span of a chicken.Nevertheless, among the usually inartistic and "less-intelligent" categories such as martial arts or romantic comedies one can find a real gem. The cast is right on the spot; James Earl Jones, Sally Kirkland, Eric Robert and Chris Penn, even though not crème-de-la-crème actors, are well known and deserve credit for acting along major A-list actors during their careers (Eric Roberts was in the Dark Knight and pretty good to be honest). Now let's get to "brass tacks": a. it has a realistic, unburdened and clear plot; b. the 2 lead characters are well developed; c. the dialogue is superb, all characters seem human with fears, dreams and commitment we can relate to; d. the fights, even-though a bit unrealistic - the fighters seem intentionally slow at times waiting to receive the punches, are not over-choreographed, are entertaining and believable (injuries, tiredness, etc. are adequately expressed); e. typical American "pump-up one-liners" are kept at a minimum and only during the last showdown; f. the ending is truly fitting and unexpected. So, looking only for movies that have down to earth, realistic dialogue and believable development of events, irrespective of their weirdness, heroism or even everyday life simplicity, I truly recommend this one to all eclectic movie aficionados.Oh, the soundtrack is nice and pass on the sequels (they are not worth it).P.S. Please check also the romantic comedy "Two Weeks Notice" with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock for a surprising touch of great realism and dialogue.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much when i started to watch this. Having seen other such films from this era and genre I didn't have high expectations. However, after the first few minutes even, you feel yourself starting to connect with the characters and occasionally throughout you have a strange compulsion to throw your fist into the air. All that aside, just like this era and genre dictate, you've got the ever popular montage training scenes as well as the rudimentary bar fight with disgruntled locals flying throughout. Going back to fists being thrown into the air, by the end of the film you almost feel like your fighting and training with the team and you want nothing more than to see them win. All in all, i thoroughly enjoyed this film and would recommend it to anyone. Top notch.

There were two main stories in the film. One is a very touching story about a retired martial artist with a bad shoulder. He lost his wife, and now has a 5 year old son and lives with his mom. He gets invited to try out for the US National Karate Team, and he decides to do it.The other is a heartfelt story about a young martial artist who just wants to make himself, as well as his family proud.This is a very touching, and VERY emotional film. Storytelling was very bad, and the amounts of heartfelt montages were just too much for me to handle. Even so, the acting was very good, the character development was done well, and the fighting scenes were GREAT! One of the best American-made martial arts movies I've seen. Go ahead and give this one a chance. You might be surprised.