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Cast:
Loren
Avedon
Keith
Vitali
Joseph
Campanella
Wanda
Acuna
Rion
Hunter
Luke
Askew
Action:
Tony
Leung Siu Hung
Producer:
Ng
See Yuen
Director:
Lucas
Lo
Score:
 
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NO
RETREAT, NO SURRENDER 3
AKA:
Karate Tiger 3 ||
Blood Brothers
Year:
1989 Reviewer: Tony
Ryan
Although
these films are titled "No Retreat, No Surrender",
they actually bare little resemblance to each other with
varying plotlines and different characters. However, 'Blood
Brothers' at least has Loren Avedon return from the previous
instalment to add some sort of continuity.
As
you may have read from my reviews of 'No Retreat, No
Surrender' parts 1 & 2, I am a big fan of these types of
80's martial arts films, and part 3 follows in a similar vein.
Like it's predecessors, it is produced, choreographed and
directed by Hong Kong filmmakers and as a result is a much
better action film than most of the American B-movie actioners
of the time.
In
terms of action, there are plenty of fight sequences, which
are high-tempo, well choreographed affairs, if a little short
by Hong Kong standards. That said, most of the performers do
their jobs admirably, especially Loren Avedon, who proved in
part 2 (as well as other films such as 'King
of the Kickboxers') what an excellent screen fighter he
is. The other main star, Keith Vitali (of 'Wheels
on Meals') also performs well and has rarely looked
quicker on screen. The action is of a comparable standard to
the 2 prequels but is not up there with 80's Hong Kong output.
But to be fair, nothing could be!
The
story is the usual generic revenge tale; involving 2 brothers
who don't get along being reunited to avenge their father's
death. It isn't particularly well acted, and is fairly
implausible at times, but this only adds to its novelty value.
Ultimately, it is the quality of action that we are really
interested in, and as a result the film gains a firm 3 star
rating.
I
have mentioned it before, but from watching films like this, I
am very surprised that Avedon never made the move to perform
in Hong Kong films, as the Western villain was particularly
popular in the late 80's and he is one of the better American
screen fighters of the time in my opinion. However, if you
want to see more of him, he made (and still is I believe)
plenty of straight-to-video American fight films with people
like Cynthia Rothrock.
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