We’re now getting our first proper look at ‘Kickboxer: Vengeance’ with some familiar faces and poignant performances…
The full trailer for Kickboxer: Vengeance has finally been released. It’s not been the easiest journey through production for the project, which began life with Into The Badland’s Stephen Fung at the helm, but finally arrives credited to John Stockwell (who shot the American portion of the film, while Dimitri Logothetis and Jean-Claude Van Damme helped with the direction of the films Thai portion of filming).
The story for those who don’t already know… Eric (Darren Shahlavi) and Kurt Sloane (Alain Moussi) come from a long line of martial artists, but following his victory at the Karate World Championship, a wily promoter lures Eric to Thailand to fight despite his brothers protests. Tragedy strikes and Eric dies while fighting the vicious Muay Thai Champion Tong Po (Dave Bautista), and Kurt’s forced to track down Eric’s former teacher, Master Durand (Jean-Claude Van Damme) to learn the skills needed to take revenge.
The trailer hints at what’s to come: they’ve taken key elements from the original film but added some new twists, with Bautista’s take on Tong Po seeming to be a far more sophisticated (but just as brutal) character. The film was screened at both Bangkok and Montreal for the Fantasia Film Fest this last week and early word suggests the final production to be well worth the wait. It’ll be interesting to see Alain Moussi’s portrayal of Kurt Sloane, while the Trilby wearing Master Durand seems to give Jean-Claude a chance to deliver a mischievous take on the various Masters he encountered in his early movies. The film was shot on locations in New Orleans and Thailand, with Gina Caranom George St Pierre, Caine Velasquez, Fabricio Werdum and Sara Malakul Lane rounding out the cast. The late great Darren Shahlavi (pictured here) makes his final appearance as Eric Sloane, and its a little disappointing to see him not listed as one of the key cast in the trailer, considering his character’s destiny affects so many things in the movie.
The film hits theaters and VOD in North America on 2nd September 2016, with the rest of world to follow shortly. The shooting has started on a second Kickboxer adventure for Moussi’s character, alongside Mike Tyson and a returning Van Damme…
