Kurt McKinney stars as Jason Stillwell a typical 80's teen who worships Bruce Lee, sports a mullet has a break dancing black friend and is in fact getting his ass kicked by bullies that is until the ghost of Bruce Lee teaches him the tricks of the trade and improving his skill immensely. Enter Jean-Claude Van Damme a Russian kickboxer who Kurt goes up against to prove himself. Despite having a fondness for Jean-Claude Van Damme, this is a movie I never got the chance to see, I honestly don't remember when it came out and therefore it was an obscurity until Van Damme really hit it big. I still hadn't seen No Retreat No Surrender because I never got around to it. Now after Van Damme's career has come full circle (From Hollywood star to straight to video) I finally got around to seeing it. No Retreat No Surrender is unfortunately not very good. It is often times hilarious but generally not on purpose. I must admit though that fight sequences at the end are impressive and Van Damme despite having minimal screen time ends up stealing what little show there is. Other absurd notions to surface is "The ghost of Bruce Lee" subplot, the mobsters from New York wanting to take the gym from Seattle. However what is even funnier is that the New York agent says "We have radio shows covering it, as well as every paper!" only the next scene finds our heroes fighting in a high school gym, complete with fold in chairs. That's just rich. Still there are some amusing moments that surface just enough to make it a hilarious camp-fest or a decent Karate Kid rip off, which it aims for. Also the whole Russian angle seems to have been ripped off from Rocky IV which was also terrible .(Though far more boring)
*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)
*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)