Film

Kickboxer: Vengeance

Name: Kickboxer: Vengeance
Genre: Action, Drama
Released: 2016
Cast: Alain Moussi, Dave Bautista, Sara Malakul Lane, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Darren Shahlavi

Action

A revenge thriller that remakes the 1989 Van Damme original with modern intensity. Kurt Sloane trains in Thailand to avenge his brother's crippling defeat by Muay Thai champion Tong Po. It's lean, visceral, and focused—a straightforward story about honour and redemption told through fight choreography. For people who want their action grounded and their martial arts credible.

TMDb rating

2.5

If you liked this

John Wick2014

Another revenge film that treats fighting as an art form and meditation. Keanu Reeves learns and masters a discipline; the action is precise, balletic, and earns emotional weight through restraint and craft.

But It's slower and more philosophical than Kickboxer—less about the body's strength, more about the mind's clarity. If you want non-stop action, this will frustrate you.

The Raid 22014

Indonesian martial arts cinema at its peak. The fight choreography is hypnotic and brutal; every combat sequence feels like a conversation between bodies. The plot barely matters; the execution does.

But It's very violent and graphic. The story is thin and sometimes confusing. It demands patience between fights, and the pacing is deliberately slow-burn.

Warrior2011

Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as brothers in an MMA tournament. It has the same DNA as Kickboxer—spiritual struggle, physical mastery, family reckoning—but adds real emotional heft and two powerhouse performances.

But It's nearly two and a half hours, and much of it is dialogue and character work. If you're here purely for fights, you'll find yourself in heavy dramatic territory.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Kickboxer: Vengeance

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

First Blood1982

Both films are about a man trained for violence rediscovering why he fights. Kickboxer is about mastery; First Blood is about what mastery costs. They're opposite sides of the same coin.

You think it's about action. It isn't. Sylvester Stallone's Rambo is a veteran broken by war, hunted by a small town. It's a character study about trauma and isolation that builds to violence as desperation, not triumph.

But There's almost no action until the final act. It's introspective and bleak in ways that feel alien to the sequels. If you want spectacle, you'll be disappointed.

Bloodsport1988

The original Jean-Claude Van Damme film that created this template. A soldier competes in an underground martial arts tournament in Hong Kong. It's earnest, weirdly moving, and utterly of its era.

But It's dated. The dialogue is clunky, the production values are thin, and Van Damme's acting is... generous to call it that. It's genuinely goofy in places.

Ong-Bak2003

Tony Jaa's breakthrough: pure Muay Thai action with no wires or CGI. A Thai monk travels to Bangkok to recover a stolen Buddha head. The stunts are jaw-dropping and the physicality is unmatched.

But The plot is thin and the dialogue sometimes incomprehensible (poor dubbing). Long stretches have almost no story at all—it's basically a series of fight setpieces.

Never Back Down2008

A teenager discovers MMA and has to prove himself in the cage. It hits the same beats as Kickboxer—training montage, mentor figure, final confrontation—but with more heart and better character development than expected.

But It's a teen sports drama that can feel generic. The dialogue isn't clever and some of the emotional beats feel manipulative.

Undisputed2002

Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames face off in a prison boxing tournament. It's grittier and darker than typical sports action; the boxing is credible and the atmosphere is genuinely tense.

But It's a low-budget direct-to-video film that shows its limitations in pacing and production. The plot takes a backseat to the fighting, which some will find repetitive.

Best of the Best1989

American martial artists compete in Korea against a ruthless taekwondo team. It's earnest and unironic about honour and discipline; the training sequences are meditative and the fights feel earned.

But It's aggressively 1980s and the acting is wooden. The dialogue is heavy-handed and some of the cultural attitudes haven't aged well.

Fist of Legend1994

Jet Li in a martial arts classic about a student avenging his teacher's death in 1930s Shanghai. The choreography is intricate and the film moves with balletic grace through its action sequences.

But It's a subtitled Hong Kong action film with a non-linear structure that can be hard to follow. Some viewers find Jet Li's dramatic scenes overwrought.

Harakiri1962

Both centre on a protagonist training in martial discipline to face an enemy. But Kickboxer asks 'Can I win?' while Harakiri asks 'What is winning?'—they're about different relationships to the same code.

A samurai film about honour, ritual, and the cost of conviction. Every frame is composed like a painting; the action (when it comes) is economical and devastating. It asks what discipline means when the system is corrupt.

But It's black-and-white, slow-paced, and entirely in Japanese. It's a tragedy, not a triumph. The ending is bleak and offers no catharsis, and the violence—when it arrives—is shocking.