Movie Name: Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight
Producer: Oley Sassone
Director: New Concorde (Roger Corman))
Actors: Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Richard Roundtree, Laura Stockman, Richard Paul, Rick Dean, Stan Longinidis, Pete "Sugarfoot" Cunningham
Release Date: January 3rd, 1992
Box Office: $35,154 (Limited Release)
Introduction
So we continue with another B-Movie in this series with Bloodfist III. Again, this was available on Prime Video. I am sure that you can find it elsewhere.
The funny thing about this movie, it was apparently not supposed to be a Bloodfist movie. As per IMDB,
This film was not originally intended to be a Bloodfist film. Concorde Pictures made it under the title Forced to Fight (it was even advertised with this title in trailers) but the title was changed to Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight before release to capitalize on Don 'The Dragon' Wilson's success with the first two Bloodfist films. The end credits also still portray the title Forced to Fight. This explains why star Don 'The Dragon' Wilson plays Jimmy Boland, a different character than the Jake Raye character he played Bloodfist I and II.
The funny part about the above is that, this was the last movie technically released at the theatres. All future sequels would be straight to video due to the poor performance. Yet, they put it as a Bloodfist movie to bank in on the Don "The Dragon" Wilson's name.
Let us see if this movie merits its place in the B-Movie category of the video store.
Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight Trailer
Story
This time Don "The Dragon" Wilson plays the character of Jimmy Boland. Boland is a prisoner for a murder that he did not commit. The initial goal is staying alive within those prison walls.
The movie starts with Boland witnessing one of his inmate friends being sodomized and he comes to the rescue, killing the aggressor. The warden who is up for re-election wants Boland to be silenced so he sends him to the toughest part of the prison. The warden assumes that Boland will not make it. At least that is the vibe that you get.
Boland tries to be neutral and not creating any waves. However, he does warm up to his cellmate Stark (played by Richard Roundtree). Samuel Stark is a veteran of the prison. He has been around for a very long time and is well respected. He heads a group of diverse personalities. They are guys that are considered "nice" compared to other prison inmates.
During that time, there's a group of white supremacists that see what Boland has done by killing a black guy and think that he would like to join their group. Unfortunately, Boland does not like this and ends up beating up that faction. The leader of this group called Wheelhead (played by Rick Dean) says that he assures that Boland is a dead man.
The guy that Boland killed at the beginning of the movie, was a drug trafficker for Blue. Blue is not very happy that his drug operation has been hampered with and he also wants Boland dead.
In the end, both Wheelhead and Blue work together to try to get rid of Boland. Unfortunately, it does not work out. In the last moments of the movie, we see Stark being stabbed and we assume that he is dead. He was only a few days from being set free into the real world. We come to realize that Stark survives and he will try to help Boland to get him out of prison. I guess this is his way of saying Thanks for saving his life.
Bottomline
I think that out of the first 3 movies, this one is the best by far. The acting is better and the action scenes seem more refined than in previous films.
Let us start with the action. The action is pretty good. Unlike the first 2 films, the choreography is actually pretty good. It looked a little more natural. I think in the series, this is where Don Wilson was coming onto his own. Until, this point he had a few more movies under his belt and it showed. In addition to Bloodfist I and Bloodfist II, he also starred in Ring of Fire and Future Kick. He looked more comfortable in front of the camera.
The story has been done numerous times before and will not win any Oscars. It is very paint by numbers. The dialogue is ok at best but depending on the actor, the delivery is either hit or miss.
There are a few fight scenes that stand out to me. One of them, is the opening fight scene. It showed that the quality of the movie would be better than predecessors. Here are some of my favourite fight scenes from the movie.
Bloodfist 3 - Fight Scenes
I would have to say that the laundry room fight was pretty good as well. Now, I know what you will say, there are movies that did such a better job. The answer to that is yes but that is why I still consider this movie as a B-Movie. if I compare to some martial arts movies with Van Damme and Steven Seagal, this fits right in.
There are some decent actors in this movie. You have Richard Roundtree (Shaft (1971), and Gregory McKinney (Mortal Kombat, Eraser and Beverley Hills Cop III).
Richard Roundtree plays the character of Samuel Stark. Similar to Shaft, he plays a cool and calm character. He has been inside the person for a very long time and nothing really phases him. I really liked him and I think he added an element of cool to the movie.
Gregory McKinney played a typical bad guy. To be honest, his character was kind of forgettable. He could have been replaced in the movie with any other actor and it would have been the same thing. Unfortunately, McKinney would pass away in 1998 from a Brain Aneurysm. Having them in addition to Don Wilson, added a certain level of quality.
Same goes with Rick Dean who played Wheelhead. These are just generic bad guys which takes away from the movie. You never feel as if anyone was ever in danger.
I find that some of the supporting actors were better than the main cast. This is especially true with Stark's group. They all have their own quirks and funny lines which I think added a lot to the enjoyment of the movie. Most of those actors, we never remember their names. For example, Andre Rosey Brown. He has played in numerous movies, just that no one really remembers who he is, but he has that recognizable face.
The one thing about this movie that I always laughed at was the title. I understand that it was not a movie that was originally supposed to be part of the series. However, in each movie until this point, Don "The Dragon" Wilson was always forced to fight. In the first Bloodfist, he avenges his brother. The second movie, he is kidnapped to fight in this underground showcase. Any of those movies could have had the same title.
Another thing that I thought about when watching this movie. The movie series is called Bloodfist but Don Wilson always plays a kickboxer. This makes sense as he was a kickboxer champion. I know that i am over thinking it but I always found that funny.
All in all, this movie is the best in the series until this point. There was clearly a bigger budget and the choreography was pretty good. Although the bad guys were generic, there was enough here in terms of story and action to keep me entertained. I think that if you had to choose a movie to watch in the series, this would be a good one to start with.
What do you think? Let us know at the coordinates below.
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