Billy Blanks headlines in this hilariously cheesy Karate Kid rip off as an ex-police officer turned school janitor(!) who makes it his mission to break a cruel kickboxing tournament whilst simultaneously teaching one poor wimp how to defend himself against the local school bully. Well, if you enjoy movie clichés then you'll absolutely LOVE this little gem! Yes, it's all here; new kid getting bullied by karate bad boy who trains under a psychopath; both share the same love interest; kid learns karate to defend himself and is an expert in about......um.....all of what appears to be a about a week(!!!!) Of course the newly trained student must inevitably meet up for a climatic showdown with his bullying nemesis whereupon by seeming contractual obligation he is subsequently beaten to the point of apparent near death but suddenly, as if by some divine intervention an ostensible miracle transpires and he subsequently leaps back to his feet (plus rips off his shirt to reveal his macho, oiled down physique) and administers a miraculous and victorious come back (wow!!!!!!) then for the grand finale the psychopath instructor by clichéd obligation of course faces off against the kids teacher - cue our Billy in turn taking a brutal beating to near coma before suddenly realising that good guys are supposed to win and getting back to his feet (now obviously sans his shirt in order to show off his macho, oiled down physique) and forgetting his pronounced injuries, wins in style (with a series of lovingly shot, slow motion spin kicks no less!) Great Scott! - This doesn't have an original idea in it's body but frankly who cares - it's pure dumb fun of the highest calibre.

As a final note (or is that insult?) although this was made in 1993, judging by the hair styles and clothing the students (who curiously all look as though they are actually in their thirties and forties!!!!!) wear, it looks more circa 1980's! Tremendously daft stuff and a real hoot if you're in the correct frame of mind.

You have to admire any movie that willingly acknowledges its source material right there in the dialogue. In the case of "Showdown," directed by Robert Radler and written by Stuart Gibbs, that source is "The Karate Kid" (1984). You also have to admire star Billy Blanks. The guy tries so hard and yet never really comes off as anything more than just Billy Blanks, that Karate/Kickboxing/Tae Kwon Do master who would later find fame as the founder of the popular exercise system Tae Bo.

The movie plays pretty much like a watered-down version of "The Karate Kid," except "Showdown" seems more and more like some lame after-school children's special though obviously it's aimed more at teenagers. In the beginning of the movie, Ken Marx (Kenn Scott) arrives on his first day of school after moving from Kansas with his mom. From the get-go as the new kid, Ken doesn't fit in with the other students, his only friend being Mike (John Mallory Asher),another local outcast who shows him the ins and outs of his new environment.

Right away, Ken makes the mistake of hitting on the pretty blonde Julie (Christine Taylor),instantly making mortal enemies out of her extremely possessive boyfriend Tom (Ken McLeod). Of course, Johnny... er... Tom, is a violent Karate black belt, instructed in a macho, unethical form of martial arts under the macho, insane Lee (Patrick Kilpatrick). Ken takes several brutal beatings from Tom, until one day he's saved by the school's janitor, Billy (Blanks). Billy decides he's going to teach Ken to defend himself, so that he can finally stand up to Tom and win over Julie.

"Showdown" plays out more than just a repeat of "The Karate Kid." Gibbs's script combines elements from several completely separate genres and places them in one movie, the two most noticeable being the cop movie and the bullied-teen movie. Yes, I said the cop movie. As it turns out, Billy's an ex-cop with a tragic past that eventually comes back to haunt him in the present. Using his old partner who's still on the force, the two work together to bring down a full-contact fighting circuit organized by Lee that pits teenagers against each other for money. In the meantime, Billy doesn't know that Ken has accepted a challenge to face Tom in this same arena.

"Showdown" also aims to poke fun at the high school movie genre, but doesn't quite succeed at this either. There are plenty of lame sight gags, the usual bullies, cliques and reversals, and even Brion James drops in as the stereotypical hard-nosed principal. But none of this really gets the attention you think it deserves, since the filmmakers went to some lengths to put this stuff there in the first place.

On the plus side, I guess the acting is good from this cast and the movie seems to have a heart and a good message, but it's weighed down by the fact it's been done before. Radler seemed to be onto something when he made the otherwise excellent "Best of the Best" in 1989, but "Showdown" proves to be another tedious entry into an overdone genre. It's best that you save "Showdown" for an afternoon where you have nothing to do, or just want a late-night feel-good martial arts flick where the good guys win, and the bad guys go to jail. Now, isn't that what we all want?

4/10

P.S.: Is also available in both "PG-13" and "R"-rated formats. This review was based on the "R"-rated version.

An entertaining little early 90s 'The Karate Kid' knock-off. Way more enjoyable, and competent than I expected. Billy Blanks plays the Mr Miyagi role. Patrick Kilpatrick in the John Kreese role. Christine Taylor in the Alli Mills role. Then you have a scene stealing Brion James wandering the school grounds berating students as the deputy principal and Linda Dona seductively toying around.

The formulaic plot provides the usual cheesy goods. Including a new kid (Kenn Scott) in town who gets beaten up by the school bullies, falls for the girlfriend (Taylor) of the hot-headed leader, and gets help from the school janitor (Blanks) which leads to a couple training montages before the big final clash involving illegal underground fighting. Saving the best for last between Blanks and a psychotic Kilpatrick, which their characters share an unforgettable past. The fight scenes are well-staged, which is no shock with the director's other work (Best of the Best 1&2). However the best moments, which shouldn't surprise, always involved Blanks.