Boyka: Undisputed IV (2016) Review

“Boyka: Undisputed IV” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Todor Chapkanov
Co-director: Isaac Florentine
Cast: Scott Adkins, Teodora Duhovnikova, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Julian Vergov, Brahim Achabbakhe, Paul Chahidi, Tim Man, Andy Long Nguyen, Hristo Petkov
Running Time: 86 min.

By Paul Bramhall

Few actors get to portray a character that comes to embody a franchise so much, their name brings more recognition than the franchise itself. Rambo did it with the 1st Rambo sequel, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Braddock did it with the 3rd Missing in Action entry, Braddock: Missing in Action III, and our friends at Golden Harvest attempted the same principle when they finally took The Master off the shelf, and re-titled it Wong Fei Hung ‘92. To add to the prestigious roll call, in 2016 Nu Image made it clear that the name Boyka now meant more than Undisputed, the series in which he was first introduced (in the 2006 DTV sequel of all places). So it is, the long awaited 4th instalment of the Undisputed franchise comes with the title of Boyka: Undisputed IV. If Rambo is anything to go by, we can expect the next instalment to drop the Undisputed naming convention all together.

In 2016 it’d been 6 years since we last saw Boyka in action, back when he faced off against Marko Zaror in 2010’s Undisputed III – Redemption. Fans had been begging for another dose of everyone’s favorite Orthodox Christian stamp collector since, but rampant piracy of the modestly budgeted 3rd instalment made for an unappealing proposition to any potential producers of a 4th. Who wants to throw their money into a production which isn’t going to make any? Thankfully Adkins did some of his best work in-between, with the likes of 2012’s Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and 2013’s Ninja: Shadow of a Tear marking career highs (admittedly, he also did some of his worse, but we won’t talk about the likes of Legendary or The Legend of Hercules).

Adkins had a long running partnership with director Isaac Florentine, who helmed both Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing and Undisputed III – Redemption (as well as the previously mentioned Ninja: Shadow of a Tear), and my personal theory is that their 2015 cheapie Close Range was most likely thrown together to fund what would become Boyka: Undisputed IV. Interestingly though, Florentine’s name isn’t on Boyka under the director credit, instead stepping back into a producer role. While IMDB states he stepped back from director duties due to the untimely passing off his wife, I’ve also heard from a source close to the production that Florentine did in-fact ghost direct the 4th instalment, but due to various behind the scenes technicalities, his name couldn’t be on it as a director credit. Whatever the case, it’s Todor Chapkanov who receives director billing, a Bulgarian TV movie director who notably hasn’t helmed a movie since.

Whether you believe Florentine was on ghost director duty or if Chapkanov took over the reins is best left for the viewer to decide, but when comparing the style against the other sequels, I know who my money is on. What definitely is different to previous instalments though, is that Adkins is no longer restricted to the prison environment, he’s a free man! Now splitting his time between fighting in local tournaments and donating bibles to the local church in Ukraine, his one ambition is to make it into the big time where he can prove to the world he’s “the most complete fighter in the world.” That chance comes when its revealed scouts for a major fight tournament will be watching his next bout, all he has to do is impress, and he’ll have his golden ticket to the major league, where he can show off his (what he believes to be) God given talent of beating the crap out of people.

Squaring off against French martial artist and stuntman Emilien De Falco, Adkins finds himself facing off against a fighter who reminds him of his own tenacity to not give up, and ultimately the fight only concludes when Adkins pummels him into a concussion, which he later dies from. With his new found conscience, Adkins learns his opponent was a fighter from Russia much like himself, and in the belongings he left behind finds a letter written from the fallen opponent to his wife. Despite the risk of crossing the border into Russia where he’s a wanted man, he makes it his mission to deliver the letter to his opponents’ widow, who turns out to run a local community center and is heavily indebted to the local mob boss. Looking to do the right thing, Adkins agrees to fight in the mob boss’s underground tournament, on the condition that if he beats the champion, the debt of the widow is cleared and she’s free.

So we have an escaped convict fighting in an illegal tournament for the benefit of a widow running a community centre for disadvantaged kids. What happened to the Boyka who punched the throat in of anyone who looked at him the wrong way? Call it character development, but despite the unusual sight of seeing a character like Boyka eager to please a front row of scouts, as the plot progresses it genuinely does feel like we’re witnessing a character that’s grown from where we first met them in 2006. Of course, despite the broader environment Boyka takes place in, it also becomes clear that an Undisputed movie hinges its success on one factor – in the ring fight scenes. There’d been some rumblings after Undisputed III that perhaps another instalment would move away from the tournament structure, so if anything this round seems to clarify that, if the name Undisputed is on it, then expect a tournament.

Just as likely a reason, is budgetary constraints. Boyka obviously doesn’t have a big budget, and a lack of big budget automatically translates to a lack of time. By knowing that every fight scene is going to take place in a restricted area of the same size and space, it at least allows the fight choreographer to make the most out of the circumstances they have to work with. Here Tim Man replaces the previous instalments Larnell Stovall on fight choreography duty. At this point Man had already worked with Adkins once before, when he choreographed Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, which also featured the pair go head to head. Since Boyka, Man has worked with Adkins extensively, orchestrating the fight action in Eliminators, Accident Man (in which he squares off against Adkins again), Abduction and Triple Threat. Here he pulls off some truly impressive work, which still honours both Stovall and J.J. Perry’s work from the previous 2.

The fight action is gratuitous, and you’ll easily lose count of the number of time Adkins spins through the air before kicking someone within the first 30 minutes. However the gratuitous nature of the action offsets the somewhat overly familiar surrounding it takes place in. In terms of fights, if Undisputed 2 introduced us to Boyka, and Undisputed III placed him front and center, then Undisputed IV feels more like a continuation than it does something new or refreshing. However for those simply looking for Adkins to do his thing, and that’s most likely a sizable portion of the audience, then there’s plenty to enjoy here. Unlike Undisputed III, which at least gave some screen time to other match-ups not involving Adkins, here’s it’s the Boyka show through and through. 

Best of all, Tim Man again gets in on the action, pairing up with Luc Van Tien: Tuyet Dinh Kungfu star Andy Long as brothers for a fantastic 2 versus 1 against Adkins in the ring. The intricacy and impact of this fight is a joy to watch, and is one of the highlights of the series. The champion that Adkins has to face off against comes in the form of Jackie Chan Stunt Team member Brahim Achabbakhe, who with nonsensical insults like “You’re fucking get it”, thankfully fights better than he talks. It proves to be a worthy showdown, and would be the perfect place to wrap up, but Boyka has another trick up its sleeve. Earlier on we’re introduced to man mountain Martyn Ford (Accident Man), a 6’8” bodybuilder who plays a monolithic psychopath led to the ring chained and in a mask, easily decimating any opponent who has the misfortune of facing off against him. 

It’s pure stunt casting, with there being no relationship or tension between Adkins and Ford, but a loophole in the deal Adkins made with the mob boss means he must also face off against Ford to clear the widow’s debt. The fight feels almost as if it’s been tagged on, even though it’s clearly supposed to be the main event, but the lack of any emotional investment makes it hard to care. Luckily, Ford is a little nimbler than the likes of Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who faces off against Alain Moussi in the lamentable Kickboxer: Retaliation, so we at least get a half decent fight, but there’s an inescapable feeling that it wasn’t really needed.

In a way that could be said for Boyka: Undisputed IV overall, it’s nice to have it in the way that it gives us more Boyka, so if you were a fan of the series before you’ll enjoy it, and if you didn’t care for it then it won’t change your mind. I wish Chapkanov (we’ll stay true to the credits) hadn’t insisted that rap music still needs to be played over the fights like we had to endure in Undisputed III, and it would have been nice to see a fight or 2 take place outside of the ring, but the fact that we have Boyka at all feels like a minor miracle. The ending suggests that if we do get a 5th instalement, we’ll be back to a one-location setting, but for me, if this is the final swansong for the character, then it’s arguably a strong note to go out on.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10