Bloodfist III: Forced To Fight - 2/5

After reading the extremely small description on the back of the box art I knew this wasn't going to be a true sequel to the glorious Bloodfist I and II. How could two kickboxing movies turn into a prison picture? My hunch was right and Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight was not originally made to be a Bloodfist film. It was filmed simply as Forced to Fight. The original trailer even portrays this title. Shortly before release Roger Corman's distribution crew decided to retitle the film Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight due to the "success" of Don Wilson's earlier Bloodfist films. This was a sloppy retitling however as the title at the end of the film still reads Forced to Fight. Sighs of millions of fans were let out since there will never be a true third chapter into the Bloodfist legacy as every sequel from here on out is unconnected except for the simple fact they all star Don "The Dragon" (hell the ninth entry doesn't even star him).

The plot however has a little more substance than the previous films. Like the funny quote on the box cover, Bloodfist III is "A martial arts film that's actually about something." That quote cracks me up every time I read it. Don Wilson this times plays Jimmy Boland, a man sent to prison for killing in self-defense. You get it? He's innocent so that means we can trust his character. While there he befriends some misfits and makes enemies with some racists. Perhaps it's because Wilson looks like he has more ethnic backgrounds then even the likes of Vin Diesel.

What's a hero in a prison picture without his mentor? The film goes all Shawshank as Wilson finds a mentor in the form of Shaft himself Richard Roundtree. From here on out the film has the basic premises of: fight scene, talk by mentor, fight scene, talk by mentor, etc until finally morel is learned. Also what's a prison movie without a riot? Oh yes, we also get a riot at the end.

Overall I just found this sequel so cliché of other prison pictures that it didn't hold my interest. It just lacked the B-movie entertainment value of the previous pictures despite having more of a "plot", no matter how cliché it is.

Written By: Eric Reifschneider