The much discussed reboot of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s breakout vehicle, Bloodsport is finally moving forward with Ninja Assassin and V for Vendetta director James McTeigue at the helm and with a script originally written by Taken’s Robert Mark Kamen, getting a rewrite by Craig Rosenberg. Industry paper Variety reports that the new version will follow a war-weary mercenary who finds redemption when he gets caught up in the underground fight world in South America
The Impact team did like V for Vendetta, but weren’t the biggest fans of Ninja Assassin which especially disappointed some from a martial arts point of view. Some great action WAS shot for the film - much of which can be seen online in the various training and rehearsal videos - but something clearly went very wrong in the editing process. We’re hoping that Bloodsport’s action doesn’t get so mangled and mishandled when this moves forward. There's no word yet on cast or fight-choreographer, but it would be a nice nod of the proverbial hat to see Jean-Claude himself turn up in a supporting role perhaps as the hero’s mentor, or the very least a cameo appearance.
The Bloodsport franchise isn’t the only JCVD martial-arts franchise getting a reboot, Rader Pictures whose credits include The Last Samurai and Riddick have spoken of their plans for a new Kickboxer with House of Fury and Tai Chi Zero, / Tai Chi Hero helmer Stephen Fung set to direct.
The original Kings Road Entertainment release of Kickboxer saw Van Damme playing Kurt Sloane whose brother Eric (Dennis Alexio) is crippled by the brutal Tong Po (Michel Qissi) in Thailand, and only with the guidance of Master Xian (Dennis Chan) can Kurt master the skills required to redeem his family name. The film was a huge success around the world and spawned four official sequels, including the slick Kickboxer 2: The Road Back directed by Albert Pyun - which introduced Sasha Mitchell as the third Sloan brother and saw Qissi return as Tong Po; Kickboxer 3 set in South America, Kickboxer 4 which saw the return of Pyun to the helm and ventured into Enter the Dragon territory with Tong Po (now played by Kamel Krifa) being a drug lord hosting a tournament of martial arts at which Sloan finds himself an unwilling participant, and Kickboxer 5 which killed off the Sloans and saw Mark Dacascos starring in the South African-set actioner, also featuring Kill or be Killed star James Ryan as the villain, and Gavin Hood (the helmer of X-Men: Origins - Wolverine) as a young kickboxer!
Fung’s reboot is being fast tracked to begin production in 2014, while Albert Pyun has announced his plans for a Kickboxer web series that would see the return of Sasha Mitchell to the martial arts movie-making world.
There’s also talk of possible reboots for several other Van Damme movies including TimeCop and Hard Target, while the man himself has a number of projects set for release including the comedy Welcome to the Jungle, the dark Enemies Closer, Swelter and is in the midst of a new edit for The Eagle Path that will feature plenty of new material that expands upon ideas from the original cut.
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