Ken Marx (Scott) is a 35 year old high school senior (judging by sight anyway) who transplants to a new school filled with punks, ne'er-do-wells and miscreants. But Ken is just your good-hearted American guy. He quickly makes friends with class clown Mike (Asher) and develops a serious crush on the beautiful Julie (Taylor). But there's a problem: Julie's boyfriend Tom (McLeod) is an angry, smothering jerk of the highest order. He goes to Martial Arts training under the militaristic, inhuman monster Lee (Kilpatrick) who teaches his students to have no mercy. Though he's in over his head, Ken teams up with Billy (Blanks), an intriguing man who is the school janitor but was a former cop. Billy trains Ken extensively in Martial Arts so he can defend himself in general and against Tom in particular. It all comes to a head at the evil dojo where, unsurprisingly, Lee stages underground Punchfighting matches. Who will be victorious in the final SHOWDOWN? You gotta love these high school-set action movies. They range from annoyingly bad (Detention, 2003) to lots of fun (A Dangerous Place, 1995). Thankfully, Showdown falls towards the latter. It's entertaining, fast paced, and fun. If you've seen A Dangerous Place, you'll note the similarities. We've all seen the "troubled school" scenario - kids acting wild, smoking, and even - just so you know things are out of control - riding skateboards in the halls. Brion James does nothing in this movie except harangue students and exhort to them the school rules. We've never seen him so animated, and he put as much life into the small role as he could, but James should have been given more.Billy Blanks this time around is administering the training, as opposed to receiving it, a la Balance Of Power (1996). He's even called at one point "Kung-Fu Janitor". We never get tired of training sequences, especially if they have the right song behind them. In this case, "Draw The Line" by A.Z.R.O. fits the bill nicely. Playing opposite Billy as your classic evil sensei is Patrick Kilpatrick, who puts in an over the top performance. He's not quite at John Miller levels, but seems to be aiming for it. So needless to say, we enjoyed it wholeheartedly. Compare and contrast to Marshall Teague's performance in A Dangerous Place for further examination. Kenn Scott as Ken Marx clearly is stretching his acting chops, playing a dude with only one "N" in his name.There are classic 90's wisecracks, humor and sarcasm on display, and even a few movie references. It was obvious that the 90's were upon us at this point. But rather than be irritating, it's aged well, especially if you have nostalgia for that period in time. Clothing is the same way - note the color schemes which seem to include a lot of purple. Predating the current trend of constantly "raising awareness" about bullying, this movie should be shown in high schools (is that why there's an edited version?). But director Radler (of Best of the Best 2 (1993) and The Substitute: Failure Is Not an Option (2001) - sticking with the whole high school theme) keeps things upbeat and moving at a good clip.At the evil dojo, there are posters for China White (1989), Trained To Fight (1992), Black Eagle (1988), and King of the Kickboxers (1990), which featured Billy Blanks. It's interesting to spot them, and some of them are fellow Imperial titles. The referential thing pops up again.We liked Showdown (not to be confused with the Leo Fong Showdown, 1993 though we liked that one too), it's an enjoyable film and is worth seeing.For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

You have to admire any movie that willingly acknowledges its source material right there in the dialogue. In the case of "Showdown," directed by Robert Radler and written by Stuart Gibbs, that source is "The Karate Kid" (1984). You also have to admire star Billy Blanks. The guy tries so hard and yet never really comes off as anything more than just Billy Blanks, that Karate/Kickboxing/Tae Kwon Do master who would later find fame as the founder of the popular exercise system Tae Bo.The movie plays pretty much like a watered-down version of "The Karate Kid," except "Showdown" seems more and more like some lame after-school children's special though obviously it's aimed more at teenagers. In the beginning of the movie, Ken Marx (Kenn Scott) arrives on his first day of school after moving from Kansas with his mom. From the get-go as the new kid, Ken doesn't fit in with the other students, his only friend being Mike (John Mallory Asher), another local outcast who shows him the ins and outs of his new environment.Right away, Ken makes the mistake of hitting on the pretty blonde Julie (Christine Taylor), instantly making mortal enemies out of her extremely possessive boyfriend Tom (Ken McLeod). Of course, Johnny... er... Tom, is a violent Karate black belt, instructed in a macho, unethical form of martial arts under the macho, insane Lee (Patrick Kilpatrick). Ken takes several brutal beatings from Tom, until one day he's saved by the school's janitor, Billy (Blanks). Billy decides he's going to teach Ken to defend himself, so that he can finally stand up to Tom and win over Julie."Showdown" plays out more than just a repeat of "The Karate Kid." Gibbs's script combines elements from several completely separate genres and places them in one movie, the two most noticeable being the cop movie and the bullied-teen movie. Yes, I said the cop movie. As it turns out, Billy's an ex-cop with a tragic past that eventually comes back to haunt him in the present. Using his old partner who's still on the force, the two work together to bring down a full-contact fighting circuit organized by Lee that pits teenagers against each other for money. In the meantime, Billy doesn't know that Ken has accepted a challenge to face Tom in this same arena."Showdown" also aims to poke fun at the high school movie genre, but doesn't quite succeed at this either. There are plenty of lame sight gags, the usual bullies, cliques and reversals, and even Brion James drops in as the stereotypical hard-nosed principal. But none of this really gets the attention you think it deserves, since the filmmakers went to some lengths to put this stuff there in the first place.On the plus side, I guess the acting is good from this cast and the movie seems to have a heart and a good message, but it's weighed down by the fact it's been done before. Radler seemed to be onto something when he made the otherwise excellent "Best of the Best" in 1989, but "Showdown" proves to be another tedious entry into an overdone genre. It's best that you save "Showdown" for an afternoon where you have nothing to do, or just want a late-night feel-good martial arts flick where the good guys win, and the bad guys go to jail. Now, isn't that what we all want?4/10P.S.: Is also available in both "PG-13" and "R"-rated formats. This review was based on the "R"-rated version.

The previous post hit the nail right on the head with its summary of this movie. I just wanted to elaborate a bit more on the sheer cheese factor of this film because there really is SO much of it to be discussed. Namely though, the music. This movie's score seems to consist of exactly two songs: one for the good guys and one for the crazy/psycho cult dojo members (think Cobra Kai + Marilyn Manson). It is HILARIOUS just how repetitive the soundtrack gets and yet, just like an awful car wreck, you just can't look away. This movie really is JUST like Karate Kid in terms of of its storyline but the final battle scene takes it all a whole other step further. Not only do the rival teens get to face off in a tournament, but the sensei's end up dueling as well providing for yet ANOTHER opportunity to play the awesomely/disgustingly cheesy "good guy theme" theme. Imagine Mr. Myagi taking on the Cobra Kai sensei but 40x cheesier than what that might be like. In closing, a memorable quote from Billy Blanks at the end of the film that should be heeded by all:"I'M NOT GONNA LET YOU HURT ANY MORE KIDS, LEE!" *CUE Cheesy GOOD GUY THEME**SPINKICK*-- THE END --

The first time I saw this movie, I actually cried from laughing. (I swear that is 100% true) It is such a hideous movie that after I saw it on Showtime, I rented it to make sure that I hadn't hallucinated the entire thing. To my delight, the movie is real.... real bad.I don't know why it didn't do better as a cult film - it is pretty much a dead-on parody of itself and all other films spawned from the Karate Kid mania of the mid eighties.It isn't worth describing the plot in any other terms than "carbon copy of Karate Kid".For some true belly laughs, rent this one. I had to check 5 or 6 different video stores to find it, but it is well worth it.