Description
Title: The Best of the Best (1989)
Genre: Action / Sports / Drama
Plot Synopsis
A widowed American karate practitioner with a young son earns a spot on a five-member U.S. national martial arts team assembled to compete against South Korea. Each team member carries private struggles—loss, insecurity, rivalry, identity—and tensions mount as they train under a demanding coach. When tragedy strikes the team, the remaining fighters must overcome grief and internal conflict to unite and rise to the challenge.
Cast and Crew
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Director: Robert Radler
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Writers: Paul Levine, Max Strom
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Cast:
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Eric Roberts as Alex Grady
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James Earl Jones as Frank Couzo
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Phillip Rhee as Tommy Lee
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Chris Penn as Travis Brickley
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Sally Kirkland as Catherine Wade
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YouTube Trailer: The Best of the Best | Trailer
IMDb Link: The Best of the Best (1989)
Reviews from Letterboxd
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Yves Bouwen – ★★★☆☆
“Best of the Best is a super rad movie about an international karate contest where the US National Team has to compete against South Korea, the most dominant and scary team in the world.” -
mosquitodragon – ★★★★☆
“It’s really cheesy and mawkish and the plot makes no sense at all. There’s also the fact that this is a martial arts movie about the US national team playing in a tournament against Korea … They only select 5 guys for the team … based on criteria which seem unclear…” -
kittlekaa – ★★★½
“lowk got hella emotional at the ending” -
MackMonMay87 – ★★★½
“Tommy Lee and Alex Grady are the best live action Ryu&Ken we’ve ever had. As corny as it is, it does show men being vulnerable with their emotions … even if it’s through extreme macho-grease melodrama.” -
Pee-Dot’s Big Adventure – ★★★★☆
“These are your opponents, gentlemen. If you were to fight them today, you’d all be carried out on stretchers… I’ve probably watched this movie a dozen times or so over the years … the film is grounded by Eric Roberts…”
Meta Description:
1989 action-sports drama in which five flawed American martial artists unite to challenge Korea in a high-stakes tournament, confronting personal tragedy and testing their resilience.
Title: The Best of the Best 2 (1993)
Alternate Title: Best of the Best II
Genre: Action / Martial Arts
Plot Synopsis
After returning to the U.S. from South Korea, Alex Grady, Tommy Lee, and Travis Brickley open a martial arts school in Las Vegas. Travis begins fighting secretly in a brutal underground arena known as The Coliseum, where challengers must win three no-rules bouts to face the reigning champion, Brakus. Travis is ultimately killed by Brakus, and his death is witnessed by Walter Grady, the son of Alex’s longtime friend. Alex and Tommy set out to uncover the truth behind the underground club, avenge Travis’s death, and bring down Brakus once and for all.
Cast and Crew
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Director: Robert Radler
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Writers: Max Strom, John Allen Nelson
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Cast:
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Eric Roberts as Alex Grady
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Phillip Rhee as Tommy Lee
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Chris Penn as Travis Brickley
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Edan Gross as Walter Grady
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Ralf Moeller as Brakus
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YouTube Trailer: The Best of the Best 2 | Trailer
IMDb Link: The Best of the Best 2 (1993)
Reviews from Letterboxd
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bogdanoff_ – ★★★½
“Completely ridiculous sequel to the completely ridiculous original. I have a soft spot for the insanely melodramatic first one, which is basically just The Karate Kid except with adults crying a bunch. This one is more like…Mortal Kombat meets Cobra. Does that sound awesome? Of course it does! So it must be good then? Of course it’s not!” -
LandonLynch – ★★★½
“This rips. Maybe the best direction the series could’ve possibly been taken in. If you look hard enough you can find mortal kombat-esque death battle colosseums inhabited by the top 1 percenters irl trust me.” -
RobZen – ★★★½
“Don’t ever f-ing touch me” -
Krautsalat – ★★★★
“> Brakus would stay, even if it meant death.
The best of the Best of the Best pictures. An improvement over the first one in every aspect except Eric Roberts’ hair.” -
mosquitodragon – ★★★★
“In my review for Best of the Best, I made the claim that the movie, rather than being so bad it’s good, was actually awful and great simultaneously. This might seem like splitting hairs, but the big difference is that I found that the movie genuinely worked in the way it intended, while at the same time making so many goofs and bad decisions.”
Meta Description:
1993 martial arts action sequel where a brutal underground fighting arena unleashes vengeance, as Alex and Tommy confront the ruthless champion Brakus after Travis’s tragic death.
Title: Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1995)
Alternate Title: Best of the Best 3
Genre: Action / Martial Arts / Thriller
Plot Synopsis
In the small town of Liberty, a ruthless neo-Nazi gang terrorizes residents, burning a church and killing the local pastor. While visiting his sister and brother-in-law, Tommy Lee intervenes when his sister is attacked, and learns of the gang’s plan to seize local land. He defends schoolteacher Margo Preston when she becomes their target, and with the help of the town sheriff, resists the extremists’ efforts. When the gang kidnaps children and stages an assault on his family, Tommy leads a daring assault on their heavily fortified base. In the climactic confrontation, Tommy defeats their leader but refuses to kill him; a young gang member ultimately fires the fatal shot, ending the bloodshed.
Cast and Crew
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Director: Phillip Rhee
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Writers: Barry Gray, Deborah Scott
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Cast:
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Phillip Rhee as Tommy Lee
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Christopher McDonald as Sheriff Jack Banning
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Gina Gershon as Margo Preston
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Mark Rolston as Donnie Hansen
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Peter Simmons as Owen Tucker
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YouTube Trailer: Best of the Best 3 | Trailer
IMDb Link: Best of the Best 3 (1995)
Reviews from Letterboxd
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Chuck Dowling – ★★★☆☆
“Tommy Lee (Philip Rhee) goes to visit his sister and her family in Small Town, USA… a town absolutely littered with white supremacists. The Nazis are led convincingly by Mark Rolston and R. Lee Ermey, the latter of whom might not have been acting. There are immediate confrontations. This spends a long time making you absolutely hate these racists, but you have to do more than just roundhouse kick these fuckers in the face. Eventually some of them die, but man, just roughing them up a bit is NOT the solution. But then the way things wrap up as a result of most of them not dying? Hahahaha, nope.” -
GSamsa – ★★★☆☆
“The lesson of this film is that you shouldn’t punch nazis, you should spinning heel kick them or 360 degree spinning roundhouse kick them. Then they will change.” -
glimmerman96 – ★★★½☆
“Eben noch Ralf Möller im Duell auf Leben und Tod die Lichter ausgeblasen, schon muss Tommy Lee in irgendem abgestandenem Südstaaten Kaff ein paar KuKluxKlan-Nazis die Kauleisten polieren. Natürlich wird mir als Zuschauer die Friede Freude Eierkuchen-Botschaft genauso erbarmungslos ins Hirn geprügelt, wie den Nazis die Hohlbirnen weichgekloppt werden. Best of the Best ist Phillip Rhees’ Auf brennendem Eis, quasi. Aber egal, denn Spaß macht es trotzdem. Für Teil 3 der Reihe ist das schon ziemlich hochwertig produziert und Phillip Rhee hat glücklicherweise einen sehr guten Unterstützungscast (inklusive Gina Gershon ). Er selbst spielt nämlich wie gewohnt mit der Grazie eines Holzbretts, so wird’s in den ernsteren Momenten dann noch dezent unfreiwillig komisch. Und am Ende darf er eingeölt, schwitzig, und natürlich mit nacktem Oberkörper, in Zeitlupe gen Horizont laufen, während im Hintergrund alles explodiert. So beendet man Filme richtig…” -
Krautsalat – ★★★★☆☆
“Surprisingly Eric Roberts is no longer part of the franchise, this was made back in the day before he decided to appear in every movie ever made. Instead it’s all about Phillip Rhee kicking Nazis in the face, sometimes even while dressed as a clown. That’s one of those things that could improve any picture.” -
Curtis – ★★★☆☆
“Tommy Lee (Phillip Rhee) leaves Las Vegas and heads to the small town of Liberty, where his sister Karen (Anzu Lawson) and brother-in-law Jack (Scooter McGavin) live. Unfortunately, Liberty is also home to a thriving nest of racist skinheads who are plotting their usual racial cleansing nonsense in their pretend fort at the local quarry. Connecting with local teacher Margo (Gina Gershon) at the fun fair, Tommy will have to join with the non-genocidal townspeople to drive out the raging monsters in their midst. Or bury them. Frankly, whichever works is fine. While I do think this might have been improved slightly by Tommy Lee bringing Alex Grady on his roadtrip, it’s still an enjoyable enough slice of 1995 “racist assholes need wrecking.” The main problem here is that we take a lot of time setting up what absolute terrors we’re dealing with, and the wrecking which they experience isn’t quite as satisfying as I, personally, would like.”
Meta Description:
1995 action martial arts thriller in which a hometown hero battles a neo-Nazi gang to defend his family and a small town.
