Showdown Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.5

Showdown Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 28, 2019

Several of the talking heads assembled for the rather in depth retrospective on Showdown included on this Blu-ray disc as a supplemental feature make no bones about the similarities between this film and The Karate Kid, but some may feel it takes a special kind of chutzpah (perhaps mispronounced as it was infamously was by a Minnesota politician a few years ago) on the part of director Robert Radler when he suggests that had his film come first (i.e., before The Karate Kid ), it would have made umpteen million dollars. The reason why that statement may seem to be a bit of unbridled “optimism” on the part of Mr. Radler is that there was nearly a decade between The Karate Kid and Showdown. Maybe Mr. Radler’s pronouncement could have carried a bit more weight had The Karate Kid beaten Showdown to the big screen by a matter of days, weeks, or conceivably even months, but when you’ve got a good nine years between the properties, it might be best to just leave things at the “yeah, it’s basically the same movie” admission that some of the talking heads (including Radler himself, it has to be stated) offer in the bonus features on this disc. Of course, that is all said in jest, and in fact everyone interviewed for the supplements on this disc seems to have a more than bounteous sense of humor about it all. The Karate Kid rather famously offered Pat Morita in an Academy Award nominated turn as Mr. Miyagi, a karate sensei who took a hapless Ralph Macchio under his wing. In Showdown, the “Mr. Miyagi” role is assumed by Billy Blanks, playing Billy Grant, a guy shown to be a good cop in what amounts to the film’s prelude. Unfortunately some inadvertent action on the part of Billy during a police crackdown leads to unexpected consequences, and Billy more or less retreats from public life, or at least life devoted to public service. He’s picked up the pieces (both literally and figuratively) as a high school janitor, which is where he meets and eventually schools new kid in town Ken Marks (Kenn Scott), who, much (okay, exactly) like in The Karate Kid, draws the ire of a big man on campus who also just happens to be a martial artist of some skill.

In a very real way I could simply point you all to my colleague Martin Liebman's The Karate Kid Blu-ray review from long ago, have you substitute a few character and/or actor names, and you'd pretty much be set to go in terms of understanding this film's plot dynamics and character motivations. It's kind of amazingly hilarious that Showdown doesn't really try to hide its source (where was the Writers Guild in all of this?), though equally hilariously, scribe Stuart Gibbs evidently originally pitched an idea that even he admits had similarities to Lionheart.

While there's arguably a bit different dynamic (and history) between this film's "evil dojo master" Lee (Patrick Kilpatrick) and Billy, the rest of Showdown is quite unmistakably similar to The Karate Kid, with new kid in town Ken making an unwise move on pretty girl Julie (Christine Taylor), which in turn invites the outrage of Julie's boyfriend Tom (Ken McLeod). Tom is one of Lee's students (gang members might be a more apt term), and of course things devolve to the point where Billy is enlisted to give Ken some much needed self defense lessons.

The fight scenes are decently staged, but just about everything else in this film will probably strike many as a pale reflection of The Karate Kid. There are some fleeting stabs made at injecting the same kind of heart into this film that the earlier entry had in abundance, but I think as good as Blanks is here, he simply can't quite match the built in gravitas of Morita. My favorite moment in this film is completely inconsequential, but it still provided me with a hearty laugh. Take a gander at screenshot 5, and notice how the production design crew wanted to leave nothing to chance in terms of clearly spelling out Billy's past employment. It's admittedly "little" touches like this that actually helped to differentiate this film from The Karate Kid for me personally. Still, there probably are people who caught this film before they saw The Karate Kid, and those fans should be excited not just to have this title in high definition, but to see so many of the cast and crew talking about it in some of the supplements included on this disc.

Showdown Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Showdown is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual's MVD Rewind Collection imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Fans of this film will probably be gobsmacked that it's even out on Blu-ray, and the good news for them is many of the sun drenched sequences look really good, with a nicely saturated palette and excellent detail levels. Things do vary, though, and there are fluctuations in densities and saturation, with some moments later in the film looking a bit faded, with a kind of gray undertone. Grain is fairly heavy throughout the presentation and actually can look downright gritty in some of the darkest interior moments, but aside from occasional yellow splotchiness (aside and apart from some of the expected upticks during montages with dissolves), there aren't any major compression issues. Damage is limited to very minor specks and dirt.

Showdown Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audiophiles may be at least a little disappointed that this release only offers lossy Dolby audio in either 5.1 or 2.0, but that said, the surround track, while arguably lacking the midrange and low end energy that a lossless track would have provided, does do a good job of splaying effects, especially in some of the fight sequences, notably the big climax smackdown. Effects ranging from the crunches of hand to hand combat to the swell of crowd roars help to evoke a somewhat chaotic ambience. Dialogue is rendered cleanly, and the film's use of pretty "era specific" sounding cues also sounds fine.

Showdown Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Showdown (1080p; 1:38:27) is a great in depth piece that explores a number of nooks and crannies in the film's development and production, and includes some really engaging interviews featuring several members of the principal cast and crew.


• The Fights of Showdown (1080p; 46:44) is another really well done piece that includes interviews and which breaks down some of the key sequences.


• Billy Blanks: Martial Arts Legend (1080p; 14:52) is a nice interview with the star.


• Robert Radler: Portrait of a Director (1080p; 11:58) features Radler, who discusses his background in documentaries and other history (Jim Morrison fans, take note), as well as his association with this production.


• Behind the Scenes Gallery (480i; 1:38)


• Artwork Gallery (480i; 2:35)

Additionally the keepcase holds a folded mini-poster.

Showdown Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Showdown is just undeniably derivative, as its creative crew kind of cheekily admits outright in some of the supplements included on this disc. And in fact it's those very supplements that may well be the biggest selling points to at least some interested consumers, as the "Making Of" and "Fights" featurettes are both consistently interesting, as are the accompanying separate interviews with Blanks and Radler. Video has some variabilities, but is generally solid, while audiophiles may wish that the okay sounding Dolby tracks had been delivered via a lossless codec.