The '80s Jean-Claude Van Damme Martial Arts Movie That Launched A Franchise Is Streaming On Prime Video

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American martial arts cinema was in transition in the mid-1980s. Chuck Norris had segued out of hand-to-hand combat to gun-toting heroics in films like "Invasion U.S.A." and the "Missing in Action" trilogy, while Jackie Chan had, after a brief Hollywood dalliance with "The Big Brawl" and two "Cannonball Run" flicks, returned to Hong Kong to show the entire world how it's done with classics like "Police Story," "Project A," and "Wheels on Meals." There was still an appetite for martial arts action stateside, but studios were struggling to find an actor who had the right mixture of skills and star presence to carry a movie. They were hoping for the next Bruce Lee. They got Jean-Claude Van Damme.

If you were a die-hard martial arts cinema fan, Van Damme landed on your radar as the shockingly limber villain of 1985's schlock classic "No Retreat, No Surrender." He was also intermittently impressive as Shō Kosugi's antagonist in the awful "Black Eagle" (where, rather than face down Kosugi in a climactic fight, he gets chopped up by a boat propeller). He was athletic, handsome, and a tad marble-mouthed due to his thick Belgian accent. Fortunately, those first two qualities canceled out the third, which led to Cannon Films' Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus giving him a shot as the star of "Bloodsport" (which is currently streaming on Prime Video).

The film wasn't an immediate box office success upon its tepidly promoted 123-screen release on February 26, 1988, but word of mouth spread over the next few months. Fans of the genre caught wind that "Bloodsport" was a mixed martial arts showcase (long before UFC was a thing) that boasted unusually dynamic fights for an American production. "Bloodsport" ultimately became a sensation in the home entertainment window, and a not-terribly-impressive franchise was born.

"Bloodsport" was exciting in 1988 primarily because of the various fighting disciplines on display. In the opening montage that introduces us to the various participants of the kumite, we get to see practitioners of Muay Thai kickboxing, monkey kung-fu, jiu-jitsu, hapkido, and bare-knuckle brawling — all of which get thrown into a (let's face it) poorly designed, rectangular-shaped fighting surface (one that, for some reason, is raised on the edges for the final bout).

The film was ultimately a hit, but it did not spawn immediate sequels the way Van Damme flicks like "Kickboxer" and "Cyborg" did. Rather, "Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite" did not appear until 1996, by which point Van Damme, a legit movie star, had priced himself out of the franchise. (Thus, the incredibly capable Daniel Bernhardt, likely a better pure fighter than his predecessor, took over the lead role.) There would be three more entries in the property ("Bloodsport III," "Bloodsport IV: The Dark Kumite," and "Lady Bloodfight"), and they're worth checking out if you're a genre obsessive (especially "Bloodsport III," which features "John Wick" director and longtime stuntman Chad Stahelski as one of the combatants).

I still think 1988's "Bloodsport" is the ne plus ultra of kumite movies, but that could change if Stahelski, David Leitch, and the 87North Productions team wind up shooting their proposed remake. They could easily top the original film. Can you imagine Keanu Reeves and the master Donnie Yen (among others) in a "Bloodsport" format? This would be jaw-shattering bliss.