Films featuring Kickboxing

The tournament structure lets fighters of different styles meet — Brazilian jiu-jitsu, sambo, capoeira, muay thai. As a quick side-by-side of styles it is one of the clearest films in the genre.

Scott Adkins plays Boyka here for the first time, his kicks grounded in real gymnastics and taekwondo training. The choreography by Larnell Stovall and J. J. Perry is among the best in direct-to-video film.

The film that introduced Muay Thai to Western audiences. The training scenes — kicking palm trees, the ram muay dance — are exaggerated, but the elbow and knee techniques themselves are accurate.

The film presents itself as the true story of Frank Dux, yet neither the tournament nor the training under the Tanaka clan has ever been substantiated. It cannot be treated as a record of events — as a parade of 1980s styles, it can.