No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990) Review

“No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers” Theatrical Poster

Director: Lucas Lowe
Cast: Loren Avedon, Keith Vitali, Joseph Campanella, Rion Hunter, Mark Russo, Luke Askew, David Michael Sterling, Wanda Acuna, Philip Benson, Sherrie Rose
Running Time: 101 min.

By Martin Sandison

Scott Adkins Youtube series Art of Action certainly kept me entertained throughout much of this hellish year, as Adkins interviewed many legendary action filmmakers, such as Richard Norton and Dolph Lundgren. Each revealed how they train, and stories about their adventures in the movie industry. Seeing behind the scenes footage of Norton vs Sammo Hung in Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars, one of the greatest fights ever filmed, is gold. The episode that really resonated with me was Adkins interview with Loren Avedon, who is easily one of the most neglected action stars of the golden age of martial arts cinema. He comes across as a really nice and humble, funny guy. He also isn’t afraid to show his emotion, such as when Adkins compliments him at the end, and he exclaims that he’s tearing up. Emotionally honest people appeal to me, and the world needs more of them. The interview made me want to rewatch Loren’s early forays into the film industry in the guise of No Retreat, No Surrender 2 and 3.

As a kid I had the first and third films in the series, and watched them to death, so this was a true nostalgia fest. As many of you will know, the special nature of these films lies in the fact that producer Ng See Yuen was in charge, and the movies feel like Hong Kong productions, but shot in America. Ng can lay claim to have discovered Jackie Chan, Hwang Jang Lee, and many others. With the first NRNS, he was the one to discover Van Damme, and that end fight has the muscles from Brussels in his youthful prime, under the masterful eye of Corey Yuen Kwai. For me those are his best fights ever. The 2nd movie replaced Van Damme and Kurt Mckinney with Avedon and Matthias Hues respectively, and the rumour goes Van Damme was too scared of being in the Cambodian Jungle filming location so backed out of the movie. Silly bugger, but yeah his next movie was Bloodsport. Go figure. NRNS2 is memorable for a number of reasons, like the match up between Cynthia Rothrock and Hwang Jang Lee, and of course the end fight Hues vs Avedon, plus it has a pretty cool Rambo-style feel.

The third movie in the franchise replaced Corey Yuen Kwai as director and choreographer for Lucas Lo on directing duties and Tony Leung Siu Hung as action director. Leung comes with a great pedigree, being the younger brother of old school legend and sometime Bruce Lee imitator Bruce Leung (Fists, Kicks and Evils). One of his first jobs as action director was Magic Crystal, featuring that fight for the ages, Cynthia Rothrock vs Richard Norton. I’ve seen some writing online suggesting that the fights in NRNS3 are not of the same level as the first two. This, for want of a better word, is bollocks. In fact, I would go as far as to say some of the intensity and impact of the fight action in NRNS3 is better than the first two. Leung has an instinctive way to place the camera, and ability to get the best out of the performers that places him high up there, especially when it comes to working with Western martial arts actors (despite the heavy use of doubles). Avedon looks deadly, his kicking a thing of wonder, especially in a mid-film bar brawl and the outstanding end fight.

The bare bones plot of the movie involves Avedon and Keith Vitali (Wheels on Meals) as feuding brothers whose father John (Joseph Campanella, Airwolf) is a retired spy. John is writing a book uncovering a terrorist organisation run by Franco (Rion Hunter, The Doors). When John is killed by Franco, the two brothers must see beyond their differences and combine to take down the nefarious villain.

Let’s throw the cards on the table, and get into the films faults. Some of the acting is excruciatingly bad. Vitali especially cannot emote to save his life, and his delivery of lines is amateur hour. While Avedon isn’t much better, he has a tongue in cheek way of delivering lines that began with the 2nd film in the series and continued on throughout his screen career, and is hilariously over the top. Here we have the classic line ‘Sit down, or say goodbye to your balls.’ Rion Hunter is surprisingly effective as the evil villain, cackling his way through the movie replete with a silver mullet, and conveying a palpable menace. In cameo roles Campanella and Luke Askew (Easy Rider) look to be there for the paycheck, but they display some much-needed acting chops.

I have a theory about why, at times, the filmmaking in the first three NRNS films is so bad. The Hong Kong filmmakers were not used to shooting in sync sound, and when you don’t film with sound it’s much easier to shoot around the corners. Like if you compare Corey Yuen’s masterwork Righting Wrongs, made in Hong Kong, to the first two NRNS made at the same time, at times there appears to be a massive gulf in filmmaking quality. Sound and editing cues when you shoot in sync sound are completely different to shooting without sound. I would imagine there were far more restrictions when it came to filming them too. Plus, the Hong Kong crew were not used to shooting in English. Anyway, it’s just a theory, and would explain away the problems.

Thankfully what we do get, and is right up there with anything produced at the time, is quality action. Both Avedon and Vitali had hit their stride when it came to this style of choreography, and move with the rhythm and timing that’s up there with any Hong Kong fighter of the early 90’s. It looks like they were not doubled much either, although the same can’t be said of Rion Hunter, sometimes you can see it’s a Hong Kong guy with a silver wig on. The 4-way end fight, which I’d watched so many times as a kid that this rewatch meant I could predict what the next moves would be, is something to behold.

It’s certainly a film that’s not too demanding on the old brain, and comes with a massive chunk of 90’s cheddar. If that’s your style and you want to see some of the best fight choreography in any American film, look no further. Unfortunately, some aspects of the movie haven’t aged as well as the cheese charm, such as undisguised homophobia. It’s par for the course in an American-scripted action film of the early 90’s. Side note: Vitali has a cast on one wrist from a gunshot wound at the beginning, actually it had to be written in as when he was showing his moves to Tony Leung he broke his wrist! 2nd side note: Avedon’s ride in the movie is a Morris Minor car (at least that’s what you call them in the UK), which made me burst out laughing, it’s not a car that is featured in many movies. They stopped making them in the 70’s!

Martin Sandison’s Rating: 7/10