Stuntman turned actor Mathis Landwehr, best known for his role in 2024’s The Last Kumite, returns to the martial arts genre with Lion Fist, an upcoming actioner from director Taim M. Adams (Scars of the Fatherland) that hits Digital and 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on September 15, 2026.
Martial artist Joe (Mathis Landwehr) emerges from four years of wrongful imprisonment to devastating news: His son needs an expensive operation to survive a life-threatening tumor. With no other options, Joe enters a brutal martial arts tournament offering $100,000 in prize money. Under Grandmaster Wu’s intense training, he faces some of the world’s strongest fighters (including fitness influencer Brice Akuesson) discovers his opponents will do anything to win.
The film features an all-star cast that includes Keith Cooke (King of the Kickboxers), Kurt McKinney (No Retreat, No Surrender), Gary Daniels (Bloodmoon), David Yeung (The Last Kumite), star of the legendary Bolo (Breathing Fire).
Also starring are Li Yan-Long (One Million K(l)icks), Konstantin Lindhorst (Sound of Falling), Michael Nesto (Bloodstorm), Lucian Roucka (Black Creek), Julin Täubner (The Running Games) and Joey Truninger (The Last Kumite).
Lion Fist is written by Sean David Lowe (The Last Kumite) and co-written by Keith W. Strandberg, noted martial arts screenwriter of cult favorites such as 1986’s No Retreat No Surrender, 1987’s No Retreat No Surrender II, 1990’s No Retreat No Surrender III, 1995’s Superfights, 1997’s Bloodmoon, and 1998’s American Dragons. Lion Fist marks Strandberg’s first film project in over 25 years.
🔥 Hot Link: If you haven’t already, check out our archive interview with Keith W. Strandberg. He shares incredible behind the scenes stories, including his troubled experience working with director Lucas Lowe (King of the Kickboxers), why Jean Claude Van Damme and Kurt McKinney never returned for No Retreat, No Surrender II, and how Keith Vitali ended up breaking his wrist in No Retreat No Surrender III. This info is the perfect companion piece to his upcoming book, No Retreat No Surrender Forever: An Insider’s Guide to Writing and Producing Action Movies.
Capelight Pictures is releasing Lion Fist on Digital and Physical on September 15, 2026. Watch the Trailer below:
Interesting cast!
Here’s some trivia COF can use… Lucas Lowe’s other name is Lo Yuen-Ming. He was an assistant director for Chang Cheh. He co-directed Five Element Ninja aka Chinese Super Ninja.
Is there some deep-seated aversion to colour in films that I’m unaware of? Feels like every movie whether from the US or China is steeped in grays and blacks, and it’s just visually unappealing.
I don’t think this is common in martial arts films, and it would be quite refreshing.
Mathis Landwehr should be best known for Kampfansage. (The Challenege) I can’t believe it’s been over 25 years since that came out. It’s too bad Lasko didn’t get a US release. (Other than the poorly dubbed Death Train that it’s connected to)1
I hope this is better than The Kumite. It doesn’t appear that the movie is trying to be bad on purpose to “emulate the 80’s.”
I watched Lion Fist on Tubi, and while it wasn’t as disappointing at The Last Kumite, it needed a lot of work.
The dialogue scenes are poor. Everyone delivers their lines stiff and awkwardly with too many pauses in between actors. This shouldn’t be a big deal in a martial arts film, but these dialogue scenes dominate the movie while the action only comes in short bursts.
It was very painful to listen to actors who can’t even pretend that they’re fluent in English, and everyone sounds so unnatural. The plot asks a lot of the audience as it deals with Mathis having willingly taken the fall for his ex-girlfriend’s drug possession, and he does four years in prison. Meanwhile she’s not even thankful for his sacrifice.
She just makes him sign his bank account over to her and blows it all off on more drugs and her new cartoon steroid Tommy Wisseau boyfriend. (It worked so well in The Last Kumite, that Lion Fist needed another one.) Then when he gets out, she tells him that their son is dying and he has to magically come up with 50 thousand dollars. No one thinks to call CPS on this junkie bitch.
Keith Cooke shows up and has better fight scenes than in Black Creek, but early on in prison, he’s shown to be a predator amongst inmates and Mathis has to teach him a lesson. Then when he gets out, he all of a sudden redeemed. What happened to him being a serial rapist?
The training scenes of Mathis preparing for the tournament should have been exciting, but it wasn’t convincing to watch him awkwardly move around and acting like a dolt even though his character has been studying for 10 years.
He even tries going to a gym earlier and the owner out of the blue tells him that membership is 500 dollars a month. Any gym that charges that much should be letting the members live there. When he can’t pay, one of the members beats the shit out of him and Maths ends up looking like a dumbass who can’t defend himself.
There’s a lot wrong with this movie, but Kampfansage is legally available for free on YouTube now, so it’s a good time to see Mathis Landwehr in his prime.
https://youtu.be/X5HOLQhKwCs?is=BRSwG1OoNYrsWFSW