Martial Arts on display.
Unlike a number of films that spend too much time building up to a martial arts displaay, this film allows Van Damme to show off his skills. These include his trademark splits and of course the totally fictional death touch, break the bottom brick.
Bolo Yeung also does an excellent of playing the bad guy, in a similar style to that he played in Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. Therefore it is no surprise that these two end up in the final battle, which is of course very, very, good.
We have our "hero" Frank that has been trained his entire life in a number of martial arts by a neighbour Tanaka. Frank wants to honor Tanaka by entering a no holds barred under ground martial arts tournament called the Kumite.
Frank is in the army at the time of the tournament, and his superiors aren't about to let him participate as it is too dangerous. Frank manages to escape and makes his way to Hong Kong where the tournament is being held.
Frank soon learns that the defending champion Chong Li is ruthless and has killed a few opponents if the crowd cheer loud enough. It soon becomes evident that Frank will have to face Chong Li. Can Frank beat Chong Li in a fair fight assuming that Chon Li will fight fair of course?