No Retreat, No Surrender

van Damme only appeared at the first and last scene of the movie the movie was not what I expected from the editing but I know it not a upgraded version of edit

Oh my God! I can't believe that it's even legal to make a movie so incredibly bad. Even though it must have been at least two years since I saw this film, I can still remember every single scene. I would not advice that you see this film, unless you want to lose a few hours from your life... The action scenes are horribly bad, the plot is non-existing, and I'm not even gonna start on the acting. It's just nothing good about this film... Not even Jean-Claude Van Damme. I said it before, and I'll say it again: Yuck!

This movie might by nothing more than yet another baaaad Karate Kid copy if it wasn't for Van Dammes appearence. In my opinion its van Dammes best movie, because he doesn't have the lead role and doesn't need to "act". However, his fighting performance and his physical shape is quite impressive. What kills the movie is the fact that McKinney cannot keep up with van Damme, so when McKinney enters the ring, van Damme suddenly looses all of his fighting skills to let McKinney win. Not really worth watching for anyone but van Damme fans.

Tthis movie is entertaining from begining to end. It never stops with pure entertainment. It's a great movie. It may be poorly edited, but you over look that because it's so entertaining.One of my all time favorite movies. I give this movie ***1/2 out of ****

Kurt McKinney stars as Jason Stillwell a typical 80's teen who worships Bruce Lee, sports a mullet has a break dancing black friend and is in fact getting his ass kicked by bullies that is until the ghost of Bruce Lee teaches him the tricks of the trade and improving his skill immensely. Enter Jean-Claude Van Damme a Russian kickboxer who Kurt goes up against to prove himself. Despite having a fondness for Jean-Claude Van Damme, this is a movie I never got the chance to see, I honestly don't remember when it came out and therefore it was an obscurity until Van Damme really hit it big. I still hadn't seen No Retreat No Surrender because I never got around to it. Now after Van Damme's career has come full circle (From Hollywood star to straight to video) I finally got around to seeing it. No Retreat No Surrender is unfortunately not very good. It is often times hilarious but generally not on purpose. I must admit though that fight sequences at the end are impressive and Van Damme despite having minimal screen time ends up stealing what little show there is. Other absurd notions to surface is "The ghost of Bruce Lee" subplot, the mobsters from New York wanting to take the gym from Seattle. However what is even funnier is that the New York agent says "We have radio shows covering it, as well as every paper!" only the next scene finds our heroes fighting in a high school gym, complete with fold in chairs. That's just rich. Still there are some amusing moments that surface just enough to make it a hilarious camp-fest or a decent Karate Kid rip off, which it aims for. Also the whole Russian angle seems to have been ripped off from Rocky IV which was also terrible .(Though far more boring) *1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

1 of all, any movie that has Van Damme as a bad guy just sucks. Van damme rules but this is his 1st appearance on the screen. This is just dumb & lame, VD should have been the good guy. its a cheesy 80's action film that is lame. plus what is this thing with Bruce Lee, its not even him. anyway, dont see this unless u r a die hard VD fan like me.

The basic plot of No Retreat, No Surrender is horribly familiar with bits of silliness thrown in for good measure. It goes something like this: a young man in a new town is pushed around and made to feel an outcast. Through training, hard work, and the help of Bruce Lee's ghost (who he prays to?), he makes himself into a karate expert. In the end, he alone will be forced to face-off against the New York-based karate thug to save the Seattle dojo from being taken over by organized crime. Sound ridiculous? It is. I must be missing something, because I'm at a loss to explain all the positive comments on IMDb for No Retreat, No Surrender. Other than some pretty decent fight choreography, I can't find much else positive to say about the film. I know it was one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's first roles, but let's be honest, outside of the fights at the end, he's barely even in the thing. The acting is pathetic, some of the characters are cringy, the dialogue sounds like it was written by a 10 year-old, and the whole Bruce Lee's ghost bit is beyond ridiculous. It doesn't help that the dude they hired to play Bruce looks nothing like Bruce. A real stinker.

This movie is a classic, it makes me laugh hard whenever I watch it. All-round bad acting, story, directing, etc. but it has a charm and rewatchability. Unintentionally the funniest movie ever made!

Quite possibly the funniest film of all time. Outrageous performances from all of the cast. J.W. Fails as RJ is one of the most unmissable performances of the 80's. In terms of films that are so bad that they are good, it doesn't get any better than this. This film also has some pretty damn good fight scenes, with some nice choreography from the ever reliable Jean Claude Van Damme. It spawned a series of excellent sequels. 2,3,and 4 are all stupendously awesome, however, in spite of being sequels they have no ongoing story lines or characters. Number 5 is pretty good, but with no story line of any kind, it fails to be as satisfying as the others.

Plain and simple this movie was complete toss-fest and although one of my favorite action stars Mr. muscles from Brussels was in it i still felt like killing myself when i saw the the Dad try and act.LMFAO i nearly died the enthusiasm *cough cough* and crap fest he showed makes you think is there a God. I know it might have been a low budget action movie and set in the 80's but come on Bruce Lee comes back from the dead FFS i mean I've seen some funny 80's action movies but when i saw this for the first time i thought WTF am i doing. Nearly all of the other Van Damme movies besides Black Eagle which had to BE his worst movie ever i love he was really the only reason why i sat down and watched the rest of the movie if he want in it then i wouldn't have bothered LOL