The performances are nothing special. Leah Ayres probably does the best acting. Newt Arnold does an okay job with the direction, and the plot is just a standard tournament movie. The action is classic 80s U.S. martial arts action. Van Damme shows off his muscles and flexibility, and that’s about it. Early signs of different martial arts styles are used, but the choreography is lame and so are the fighters.

Although it's a great staple in the history of martial arts films, there's little that contemporary fans will enjoy.

Van Damme’s acting varies from surprisingly good to expectedly bad. Tsui Hark’s direction is interesting, but not like his direction in "Knock Off". The plot is relatively standard and slightly weird. The movie's good action picks up in the end. The first good fight is when Van Damme fights Xin Xin Xiong. The last fight is also good, considering the other bad action scenes.

If you're a Van Damme fan, you should definitely check this one out.

Most of the acting is not that great and the direction appears to be almost non-existent. Plus, the movie looks like it was practically shot on home video. The story is relatively unoriginal and uninteresting, but I do give it credit for throwing in the occasional thoughts or musings about the martial arts. None of the characters are that great and many are annoying, too. Some of the suspense elements kept the story going for a short while. The action scenes are very disappointing. Many of the fighters are not very good, and those that are tend to be wasted on crappy choreography.

A true disappointment that you'll be better off not seeing.

The overall acting is pretty good. Actors like Tommy Lee Jones are, of course, great. Andrew Davis’s direction was pretty good. The action was slightly disappointing. Maybe it was just because there seemed to be a lack of action sequences. Seagal had a good knife fight, and there were a few good shootouts. The knife fight at the end was good, but was shot and cut too oddly.

Not Seagal's best, but still enjoyable.

There are no noteworthy performances throughout the film, which is sad because there are one or two talented actors in this film. I think the story was just far too corny for them to have any substance to work with. The capoeira scenes are excellent. Some hardcore capoeira fans may complain that Mark's capoeira is no good, but I think it still stands as some of the best capoeira captured on film, and the integration of the style wasn't half bad.

Very corny action movie from the 90s uses capoeria to make it above average.

For the most part, the acting isn’t that great. Frank Gorshin is pretty good, though. The directing is good, but nothing special. The storyline is REALLY goofy. The action (which there is a lot of) is done in trademark Hong Kong style. There’s not only some good fighting, but good stuntwork, too. The choreography is very good, but I think some of the fighters need work.

If you can get past the goofiness and small production value, you'll be pleasantly surprised by great fights in this film.