I find this film really good despite the cheesiness of this film, I can relate to the character of ken in this film as I was bullied my self, it is hard to make friends n school when you get some ass picking on you.The thing that most people don't know is that the actor that play ken is actually one of the turtle in the teenage ninja turtle film back in the 1990.I found this film to be like a karate kid type film where he get fed up with being bullied for trying to make friend with a beautiful girl that is the girl of the bully's it come to a big fight between them.Billy banks is a brilliant performance in this film as well as a retired cop trying to keep himself to himself after an incident from he past but as they say your past will always catch up with you an old enemy pops up his force to train the kid to defend himself &find himself fighting for his own self respect.I think this film is so underrated for a 4.5, I would at least say this film is a 7 for what it is, you be hard pressed not to like this film to be honest, this is one film tho that your find hard to find as its a rare film.

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.

It's 3am right now, and I had the TV on just to fall asleep to. And up comes Showdown. With the awful Flock of Seagulls hairdos and worse wardrobe (denim as far as the eye can see), I just assumed it's a mid 80s Karate Kid knockoff. But it's from 1993!!!! Post grunge. But none of the filmmakers knew that. It's actually two movies. One about Billy Blanks who's good at kicking backside (and apparently is a janitor). The other's about some high school doof who likes Christine Taylor, and is willing to use his lame karate to win her over (sort of like how I woo'd my wife). I watched two scenes back-to-back and LITERALLY thought I had changed the channel.I have never been more confused by anything. Ever. Movies written entirely in the Apocalypto language would make more sense. And to top it off, one of the last lines of the movie is... "You did it." "No, we did it" I can't imagine anyone will ever watch this intentionally. But if you do, please let me know your thoughts.

I'm a sucker for the high school genre. And while this definitely echoes 'Karate Kid', it's has a John Hughes feel as well...sort of Midwesterny. Then I found out it was shot in Arizona...Anyway, this is a really funny action film from Imperial Entertainment. It's a howler, suffers from technical problems, but moves along quickly to it's inevitable feel-good conclusion. Kenn Scott as the lead is such an annoyingly nice guy that YOU want to beat him up, but he does grow on you. Christine Taylor is the girlfriend of the bad guy teenager. The bad guy teen has some of the worst fashion and haircut I've seen in a long time; maybe he had stock in Merry Go Round. Brion James turns up in another Imperial Entertainment release in a throwaway role as the vice principal. Maybe he had a contract with them.Apparently there's a PG-13 as well as the R rated version I saw, which explains once again why Imperial's films have that weird family vibe, then all of a sudden someone's cursing or spitting blood into the camera lens. Billy Blanks is a terrible actor; during SHOWDOWN, my friend kept screaming "He sucks so bad!!" and kept hitting his head, but believe me, he meant it in the nicest possible way. I tell you this....I'd rather watch a Blanks vehicle then a Wesley Snipes big-budget borefest any day of the week.A true classic of the growing straight to video action cult. These were our drive-in films of the 90's, folks, so if you complain about the lack of that sort of New World/regional independent drive-in fodder you lovingly associate only with the 70's and early 80's, you better start backtracking. There's a lot of stuff to catch up with.