Angelfist (1993) User Reviews

Angelfist is a treat.

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 1 January 2015]

Kat Lang (Sassoon) is a no-nonsense L.A. cop with an attitude. When her sister is murdered after taking clandestine photos of a political assassination in the Philippines, Kat travels to Manila to get answers. While there, she gets caught up in the female kickboxing circuit and meets the charismatic Alcatraz (Shaner) who helps her out and becomes her love interest. She also meets fellow fighters Lorda (Moore) and Sulu (Lintan - not George Takei in a wig) and decides if she wants to find who was responsible for her sister's death, she's going to have to enter the ring herself and fight in the popular tournament called The Kubate. This is clearly the female version of The Kumite devised by the same guy, who had a cold that day. So she hires Bayani (Dantes) to train her. When an underground terrorist group called The Black Brigade (made up of angry Filipinos) rears its ugly head, Kat truly snaps into action. Predating that band by many years, now we see the true meaning of Cat Power! The prolific Cirio Santiago strikes again with this outing which is classic 90's, an entertaining mixture of mindless shooting, Martial Arts fights, and shower scene-based nudity. Cat Sassoon, who we were familiar with because of Bloodfist IV (1992) and Bloodfist VI (1995), wears some amazing outfits, and it was nice to see her as the main hero. Melissa Moore, who we were also fans of, not least for appearing in the immortal classic Samurai Cop (1989), provides a worthy foil for Cat (or Kat, depending on which letter/person you prefer), and gets to do plenty of Melissa Moore-Fu. The movie as a whole is a pioneer in the genre of leotard-fighting, and there's some diversions into "Arnis", or stickfighting, and of course there's the prerequisite torture scene.

Shaner was also no stranger to the Bloodfist series, having appeared as none other than the infamous Baby in the original 1989 installment. With his Mitt Romney/Matt Dillon/Robert Davi-style looks, he stands out among the Filipino cast, but their line deliveries are much more priceless. Even news reporters get noteworthy moments - Apparently in the Philippines big stories are known as "newsbreakers". And we didn't even mention the classic "Mr. Big", the white-suited, bearded head of it all, named Carrion (Carreon - apparently Cirio isn't big on more than one-letter name changes). Plus, the embassy protests and murders make this movie more relevant today than ever. That's right, Angelfist is a relevant film! But of course, the showstopper is the nearly-naked fight scene where Cat fights off baddies wearing basically nothing. This scene is effective no matter how many times Cirio uses it (Silk 2 and Firecracker, anybody?).

While mindless, it's nice to see beautiful women beating up baddies and looking good in the process, rather than be in the background as news reporters or nagging wives. For a non-Rothrock girl-power movie, Angelfist is a treat.

Hot chicks and cat fights in the movie

[albert8180 · 6/10 · 29 March 2006]

Angel Fist was a decent low-budget martial arts movie, I've seen this movie lots. The main attractions are Cat Sassoon & Melissa Moore going undercover and competing in the kick boxing tournament wearing their tight spandex shorts and bathing suits/leotard. I normally watch this movie and fast forward to the fight scenes. I think Melissa Moore just looks so hot in her first match at the tournament, seeing her in dark blue spandex shorts and a yellow one piece bathing suit and in her second match later in the movie she was in her white sports bra and spandex shorts with a black swimsuit thong. As far as Cat Sassoon goes she was just in her sports bra and spandex shorts from her match in the kick boxing tournament to her last match near the end of the movie.

Enjoyable but well....

[destroyerwod · 6/10 · 11 February 2011]

OK first of all, lets just say Cat Sassoon, even if she is a renowned martial artist, is no Cynthia Rothrock in this movie. I mean seriously her fight scene are of bad choreography, there is not much "toughtness" coming from any fight in it. I enjoy tournament style movies such as Bloodfist, Bloodsport and co, but this didn't look that good. Then as for the story, it seem more as a bad out of nowhere reason to have Cat's character in the tournament. Seemed so out of nowhere...

But got to admit, the main actor from the male side(that appear in bloodfist) was goofy in a way he was enjoyable, the relation between Kat Lang and him is probably the only thing that seem reel.

But even after all that, got to admit all the T'n'A in the movie, especially the fight scene topless a fellow reviewer speaked about above, made this entertaining, as all the cover girls appeared nude. And even tough the story seemed out of nowhere in a way, i still enjoyed it. I would say that it was an OK film, didn't had the "shit it was awful" mood after it. I was more like "that was correct, could have been way better tough" , especially on the fight scenes, which is the main aspect of a movie like that. So an OK beer + martial arts = fun movie that is going into the collection, but that I'm ever gonna watch again just for the tits... I kind of feel cheap a little bit since Cat Sassoon past out in 2002, but I'm pretty sure she knew when making this that most people would watch it for that....

Perhaps the greatest movie of all time

[masercot · 16 March 2004]

Okay, I'm lying. The acting is bad. The sound is dubbed poorly. And, I've seen better fight choreography on the Batman television series. All that having been said, I have to admit, when it comes to breasts and martial arts, this movies has them both.

The late Cat Sassoon, though no great actress, gets kind of endearing by the end of this flick. I realized that, although she was in a bad movie and had nightcrawlers for lips, she probably couldn't help either. And, there were no good actors to make the bad actors look really bad. Two of the characters look so much alike, however, that the viewer might get confused for a while. Don't try to give this movie the benefit of the doubt...just enjoy it for what it is:

A b-movie worth seeing by anyone who enjoys female martial arts action...

Female blood fist

[DogFilmCritic · 5/10 · 31 October 2016]

Its the fifth time i see this plot redone and never understood how it was so popular, if you saw blood fist all the other rip...remakes are extremely predictable and you spoiled yourself meaning your watching it for the fight scenes and in this case for the tits. In this take its women doing the fighting in gymnastic tights cause why not. As it feels very generic its at least goes back to its roots meaning its shot in Philipines, in a female karate tournament to please horny men as they watch women beat the living hell out of each other.

Not going to get into the plot as if you saw the other movies you pretty much know everything but if you don't my guess you saw this to get off watching women fighting and seeing them naked, the only character from the original is Baby and this time he is given a ridiculous name as well Alcatraz why...never explained but he gets the His butt kicked around most of the movie. Why would you watch this well i listed some people that would and there reasons if not well to say nostalgia?

Be my guest and look at another take on a story so redone that its most likely someone will use it now a days.

A New Appreciation For Leotards

[refinedsugar · 6/10 · 16 August 2023]

On the hunt for vintage T&A flicks I hadn't seen, I came across 'Angelfist' on a list. I was intrigued. It was unique. It stood out from all the screwball comedies, hot lady cops, prison flicks, love trysts, missions to get laid and countless bikini romps within the genre. It's low budget thru & thru, but I felt an undeniable charm here and some obvious doses of female skin didn't hurt. The story is paper thin but serviceable.

When her kickboxer sister Kristie (Sibel Birzag in her only credit) is killed while competing in the Philippines, tough LA cop Kat Lang (Kat Sassoon) goes down there looking for answers. Inserting herself into the tournament, she finds out her sister was witness to the murder of an American Army Colonel having took photos and there's a conspiracy at the heart of the country's civil unrest.

I naively hoped 'Angelfist' could deliver the required nudity and somehow be a female equivalent to 'Kickboxer' in terms of decent production values and fight sequences. I know, I know. The fight choreography is weak. I had forgotten for a moment that even a cheap b-movie can spring for a decent movie box and this has a fantastic cover that isn't truthful.

Produced by legendary Roger Corman and directed by Philippines director Cirio H. Santiago, this film didn't deliver like I sheepishly wanted. However it's not without charms. There's some awful dubbing, cheese grade acting, woefully inadequate villains (some of who run around dressed like ninjas) and gratuitous shower scenes. Not to mention showing Kat in action as a LA cop and saying she's a black belt in taekwondo like that's a legit fighting style. Plus how they marketed her in real life as a World Karate Association North American Champion (hint: it's made up).

The late Sassoon is easy on the eyes. The topless fight scene is a treat. As is Melissa Moore as a rival fighter. She once posed for Playboy and is probably most well known for her appearance in the cult film 'Samurai Cop'. With an 80 minute runtime, things move at a brisk pace allowing 'Angelfist' to be a mildly fun, titillating piece of work if you're game.

good action

[mattkratz · 16 September 2001]

Perhaps the main highlight of this film is the action and fighting-both on and off the mat. There is plenty of action during the kickboxing tournament sequences, and those are well done. There is also a fairly coherent plot-surprise!-as Cat Sasoon tries to avenge and get to the bottom of her sister's death. All in all, an adequate film with lots of action. See it for that and the lovely Cat Sasoon and gorgeous Melissa Moore.

** 1/2 out of ****

A femme fatale film without any femme fatales

[AlxSmits · 4 February 1999]

Once again I fell victim to deceptive video box art. Even though actress Melissa Moore appears prominently on the cover brandishing a gun, there is no gunplay in this pathetic low budget martial arts action film. The biggest problem with this film about a female kick-boxing competition is that none of the girls can fight! The main actress, who is billed as a legitimate award winning martial artist, only exhibits a handful of different moves, and all of her semi-competent fight scenes are laughably performed by a male stunt double in drag! Another fine example of an American girl-fu film that completely misses the mark.

If you enjoy fake-breasted kung-fu girls, this one's a classic

[evans-3 · 2 June 1999]

No one could be "fooled" by the box in which this film is marketed: it depicts martial arts chicks, flexing and fighting in their Spandex thongs, and that is exactly what it delivers. Cat Sassoon is even better here than in her previous masterpiece "Dance With Death" - when she fights off several ninjas wearing nothing but a pair of black bikini panties, any true fan of the genre should shudder in the grim knowledge that A) this is a truly cheesy film, and should be enjoyed as such, and B) Sassoon's are some of the fakest breasts in Hollywood, and that's saying a lot. Even during roundhouse kicks, they stand hard and fast, refusing to move. Now that's grade Z kung fu cinema. Grade: A-

Below par for Corman and Santiago

[Wizard-8 · 14 January 2012]

Filmmaker Cirio H. Santiago must have really liked his 1974 martial arts movie "T.N.T. Jackson", because he remade the same basic story in two more movies before his death, "Firecracker", and this movie. I didn't like the first two versions, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that I didn't like this version. It's technically inept, with poorly recorded (or dubbed) dialogue and sound effects. It's also very poorly made elsewhere, with fight sequences that are not only badly choreographed, but directed and edited in ways that suck the little life there is in the combat. As for Cat Sassoon, she doesn't come across well, not looking terribly beautiful (she has freckles all over her face and body), but also acts in a way that often doesn't make her character endearing. The only plus that the movie has is some gratuitous nudity, but it's not as frequent as it should be. Even those who love movies where women kick ass will be bored by this.