Best of the Best: So not long ago I did a double feature of Best of the Best and Best of the Best 2 so why not do a double feature review. Best of the Best is one of those films of the late 80's that most people consider it as a Rocky/Karate Kid-ploitation The film stars Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, and Darth Vader himself James Earl Jones. The plot goes that five American fighters are handpicked to participate in a invitational match against Korea's five handpicked fighters. The film does tend to drag a bit because most of the time we see these fighters training but we do see character development from Roberts character Alex and Rhee's character Tommy. Alex is exactly what you think he's more of the Rocky Balboa of the film. Getting back into fighting despite in the film he has a plastic shoulder. Hell there's even a "Cut me Mick" moment when his shoulder gets dislocated during the invitational match. As for Tommy it's revealed that his older brother was killed in a match against one of the Korean fighters years ago. In all Rocky clichés the film ends with the Americans lost the invitational match due to Tommy hesitating to put the final blow on the same fighter who killed his brother. However there's a sentimental moment when the Korean fighters complimented the American fighters.
Best of the Best 2: This is the 1993 sequel with Eric Roberts and Phillip Rhee returning as the main characters Alex and Tommy sorry no Darth Vader this time. Along with one of the Americans fighter from the first film but he dies ten minutes in by this films villain Brakus who is this GIANT MAN MOUNTAIN MOTHERFUCKER! In this film Brakus runs a underground fighting arena where he's the undefeated champion. When he's challenged by Alex and Tommy's friend Travis from the first film; Travis is immediately defeated and killed by Brakus. So now it's up to Alex and Tommy to infiltrate the underground arena and defeat Brakus. Unlike Best of the Best this film has more stuff going on but there are a few things that you fine awkward. For example when Alex and Tommy found out that Travis is dead/missing they went out looking for him. By that I mean Tommy goes looking for Travis while Alex just lingers around his home during absolutely nothing...seriously. Long story short they meet up with Brakus at a casino where the fighting arena is being held and there a small fight breaks out leading to Tommy scarring Brakus's face which made him extremely pissed. Brakus decides to send his gunmen to fine and retrieve Tommy to fight him in the arena. Alex and Tommy decided to hideout at Tommy's relatives who Native Americans...yeah that's another awkward moment in the film. In the first film it's established that Tommy is Asian Americans with Asian parents, how exactly does an Asian American have Native American relatives is anybody’s guess. But hey at least we get to see the actor who played Billy from Predator who is Tommy's...brother...uncle...father...they never explained except that he fought Brakus once before. So the film pads out as "Billy" trains Alex and Tommy until Brakus's men found them and brought Tommy to Brakus. The last twenty minutes of the film takes place at the arena where Tommy has to fight three other fighter before facing Brakus. While that's going on we get to see Alex infiltrate the arena along with one of the Korean fighters from the previous film. Well at least it's nice to see Eric Roberts being a bad ass which is pretty impressive. Now of course it's obvious that Tommy defeats Brakus and then unintentionally kills Brakus. With only a few minutes left we get to see something that's pretty funny, Wayne Newton getting punched in the face by Eric Roberts.
Further thoughts on Best of the Best 2: This may gonna sound weird but I really need say this to get the point across; looking back to this film I keep thinking to myself. Why couldn't this film be a Street Fighter movie? Seriously this film has the applications of being a Street Fighter movie; an underground tournament, an overly powerful antagonist, and well-choreographed fight scenes. It has almost everything that would be deemed passable as a Street Fighter film. Hell the guy who played Brakus (Ralf Möller) makes a much better chose to play Bison than Raúl Juliá I bet he can easily dwarfs Raúl Juliá by ten feet in scale. But I guess he never got the role for Bison due to thick German accent. The plot in the Best of the Best 2 is a bit more coherent from games than both of the Street Fighter films put together. This film was made in 1993 a whole year before the Street Fighter movie, they could have easily written off as a Street Fighter movie. Hell I might as well take the script open it in Microsoft Word replaced the film characters names with the Street Fighter characters and then BAM there's your goddamn Street Fighter movie. You know what I count Best of the Best 2 as the official Street Fighter movie, in fact it replaces both of the Street Fighter films altogether. So what do you think of that?
My verdict while the first film is average but bearable if you're in to Rockyploitation films, the sequel is a tad bit better and much more intentional of being a Street Fighter film. So I recommend giving these films a browse if really bored or just to kill time. Stay tuned next time when I review Bug.
