No Retreat, No Surrender - A campy, cliched classic

If you've seen any of the marketing material surrounding 'No Retreat, No Surrender' then you'd probably think that it was going to be a martial arts epic in the same league as Jean Claude Van Damme's similar films such as 'Bloodsport' and 'Kickboxer.' His face is - normally - all over the cover in order to 'lure you in.' However, despite him showing up in the first scene, you won't be getting much more from 'the Muscles From Brussels' until the final showdown.

Instead, you get a weird mish-mash of a martial arts story that could be anything from 'teen comedy' to 'supernatural drama.' Apparently, gangs of organised criminals want to take over all karate centres in America and force a young man's family out of L.A. to Seattle where he takes lessons from Bruce Lee's ghost in order to face down those who wronged his father.

The film kind of bounces from one genre to another.  It starts with some graphic violence and later switches to a wacky slapstick comedy at the expense of an overweight local bully.  In fact... if I could use one word to sum up 'No Retreat, No Surrender,' then it would be 'cliché.' It's practically an hour and a half long list of one cinematic cliché after the next.  Sometimes it's almost like it's trying to use every last movie trope of the eighties in order to form some sort of filmic Frankenstein's monster of madness.

If you're a fan of JCVD then you may get some bonus enjoyment out of watching one of his earliest performances.  Yes, there are some martial arts scenes, but they hardly make up the bulk of the film and almost seem like an afterthought to the 'coming of age romantic teen comedy-drama.' Sometimes a film might be bad, but that doesn't mean that it's not enjoyable.  If you're in the mood for one of those 'so-bad-they're-good' films then this one is right up there with the best of them (or should that be WORST of them?).  It's very silly, but also very entertaining, so if you're in the mood for something daft and forgiving then you could do worse than this delightful pile of eighties nonsense.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights