Kickboxer is a 1989 American martial arts film directed by David Worth and starring Jean-Claude van Damme. Former world kickboxing champion Dennis Alexio is also featured. It spawned several sequels.
A soundtrack containing songs from the film was released featuring songs from soundtrack specialist Stan Bush. The score for the film was composed by Paul Hertzog. The full score was remastered and released in 2006 by Perseverance Records in limited quantity.
The 2006 official score release does not include a previously released version of the score track titled “Buddha’s Eagle” which was released on the Best of Van Damme Volume 2 Compilation CD.
An expanded version of the 2006 album was released by Perseverance Records in July 2014. This album contained the remastered original 22 tracks plus 9 vocal performances that previously had only been available in Germany.
Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times called the film “egregiously dull” and a contender for one of “the dumbest action pictures of the year”, citing its “jarring shifts in tone, insurmountable plot implausibilities, rampant racial stereotyping, superfluous nudity and inhuman amounts of comically exaggerated violence”. Willman also questioned the manner in which characters seem to recover from serious injuries and major trauma.
Chris Hicks of the Deseret News criticized the film as a ripoff of The Karate Kid, with added elements from other films such as Rocky and Rambo. In addition to stating that the ending was predictable, Hicks also dismissed Van Damme as “little more than a low-budget Arnold Schwarzenegger wannabee” whose attempts at acting were in vain.
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 36% based on reviews from 11 critics. On Metacritic the film has a score of 33% based on reviews from 4 critics.