Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor

MOVIE #2,290 • SCORE 6/10 • 02.13.24
SERIES: ALBERT & AKERMAN

Everything that’s great about Pyun is distilled in a bar fight sequence early in Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor, a film which works as a direct sequel to Kickboxer 2 (as long as you ignore the fact that Sloan — Sasha Mitchell reprising the role for a final time — got married, gets framed for murder and thrown in jail and has his wife kidnapped by the evil villain, Tong Po, in the interim). This scene is expertly choreographed and features a character getting thrown out of a window and then immediately hit by a car which propels him crashing back through another window. After a third toss out of the pub, Pyun playfully (and comically) flirts with a fourth glass crash that, naturally, comes to fruition…


But unfortunately they can’t keep the momentum going and the end result is an incredibly disjointed movie. Mitchell does a complete 180 here with his titular lead. Gone is the carefree valley boy and in his place, a brooding, tortured soul — it’s not his strong suit.

Another strange turn is the fact that Po is no longer being played by Michel Qissi. Replaced by Belgian actor Kamel Krifa who dons some horrifying facial prosthetics to make him like the original bad guy. It’s unsettling…


(That scene gave off Jandek vibes, no?)

There’s also a legit softcore porn sequence featuring three totally random characters that has no bearing on the plot or anything else. Pyun’s films haven’t been entirely sexless or void of nudity, but this is the first time he’s waded in these waters simply for the sake of playing to his target audience.

All toll, this is definitely one of his lesser efforts. That the uncanny valley face of faux Po/Qissi is burned in my mind forever isn't really a fun consolation prize.

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Kickboxer 4 (stylized on-screen as Kickboxer 4: The Aggressor) is a 1994 American direct-to-video martial arts film directed by Albert Pyun. The film is the fourth entry in the Kickboxer film series. This was the last film to star Sasha Mitchell, who reprises his role as David Sloan. It was released on March 3, 1994.