Best of the Best (1989) - Comedic Movie Review 

I saw this film when I was 12, in late '91. And, I still love it. I think the Tommy Lee/Dae Han fight is fantastic. Brilliantly captured, and I remember totally being engrossed into it. Tommys back story, his connections to Dae Han, all hitting home as powerful as the kicks themselves. I still think that the bittersweet ending makes it stands out from the other movies of its kind at the time. And - the soundrack is genuinelly amazing. The music that underscores the slo-mo dramatic scenes at the end, and the final scene itself is up there in my all time fave movie scores, I love it.

The whole end tournament scene is awesome, and the ending makes this one of the handful of legit films it is perfectly okay for manly men to shed manly tears over.

Okay, I love this movie and I’ll say it, the ending makes me tear up every damn time 😂 No shame

James Earl Jones was the first person to be cast in this movie. Phillip Rhee said he knew everyone else would fall into place once they found out he would be in the movie. Check out the Scott Adkins interview with Phillip Rhee!

I haven't seen the others in the series but I'm going to guess that this is the best of the best of them...

My friends and I loved this movie. We were on the junior Olympic team for TKD and we felt it was made for us.

At the pitch meeting: “Think the Rocky movies…but instead of Russians…it’s Aaaaaaaaaasians” I don’t know why, but I had Rich Evans voice in my head when I imagined the pitch meeting. Regardless, this movie is just every cliche from the eighties in a concentrated firm; Rocky, Karate Kid, and Gung Ho. And a big thumbs up for using the Wayne’s World clip in Eric Roberts “Oscar” clip!! That was hilarious! And I know others have suggest it, but No Retreat, No Surrender is another good 80s martial art film to review.

I think South Park made fun of the scene: "Because I'm scared, alright!!" in the episode: "The Losing Edge" S09

When Travis leaves the ring kicking the chair, I always thought it was one of the other fighters yelling hi-ya..but after watching your review, I think you are correct... which now makes that scene frickin hilarious!

"His little Tiny Tim crutch." Had me dead.

I believe that Chris Penn's punchability on display is a result of his resemblance to Jonah Hill.

This movie was awesome. I watched this and the 2nd one at least 100 times when I was a kid

I really loved this movie. I remember this was one of the most powerful and moving movies when I watched it growing up. The setup from the tournament fights to the ending was so perfectly done. The last scenes will be forever seared onto my memory.

i love this movie so much saw it on vhs back in the day. A reboot tv series could really flesh out the characters. The final act really sold it for me, Grady didn't "Rambo up" after the shoulder dislocation, Tommy didnt kill Kill Dae Hahn and they still lost.

I've seen all of the "Best of the Best" movies and none of the sequels can touch the 1989 original. Even though the final fight scene between the Rhee Brothers was beautifully choreographed, the best part was the acting.

This movie simply hits all checkmarks. It's like soft but still chilled butter.

It's no coincidence that James Earl Jones is in this flick. It's Field of Dreams for Koreans. They cry at the end, the way American men cry when Ray asks his dad if he would like to throw a few.

Eric Roberts as a non-villain just doesn't work for me.

Loving the hell outta this channel! Bringing back all my good old favorites! If the channel owner was born after the nineties then I have the utmost respectt for him for showing such fondness for a genre that I grew up with.

I remember the "Pop it Tommy!" line being my younger brother's favorite line. When we'd playfight as kids, he'd act like he put me in that situation whenever he got a little hit on me.

Exceptional review!!!!! So entertaining. 🤩 Not to mention the beach running scene looks an awful lot like Chariots of Fire…with socks! 😂

James Earl Jones saying the word 'Laid' is all I needed in my life

It's a tear jerker. You have to be prepared with a box of tissue for Eric Roberts. The tissues aren't for you it's for Roberts. 😭

This was my favorite movie for all of about 3 weeks when i was a kid, and i had since completely forgotten it existed. Thank god for RU-vidrs exploiting our natural tendencies toward nostalgia. =) Seriously, tho, pls continue.

two of my former teachers were in this. Philp Rhee, with whom I trained in '93, and Hee Il Cho with whom I received my 2nd and 3rd Dan black belts

That brother bit was the best lmfao

I did martial arts growing up and fought in many point based tournaments so I used to watch this everyday. I even did the 3 kick combo Tommy does in this movie in a real tournament I was so hyped back then.

Some of my best childhood memories are of watching movies like this, Double Impact, A.W.O.L etc. They're not objectively great movies like Mad Max II or Robocop but still so fun to watch. Great review BTW!

The fact that you call James Earl Jones Mufasa cracks me up 😂😂

The Bar Brawl in this movie too, is one of the best boozy bust ups on camera! Everything kicks off to Golden Earring's "The devil made me do It", and its so entertaining. I love at 6:00, the hilarious kick to the face the random barstooled guy gets. I think later in the fight, he gets pool table light swung into his face. Its fantastic. But, THAT ending. Had this been a typical film by say, Van Damme (like Kickboxer, also great), Tommy Lee would have gotten his vengeance, validation via a violent victory. Alas again, Dae Han in tears, reflecting his remorse and guilt regarding Tommy's loss. Its so unexpected, and the music is phenomenal. Oh yeah, Eric Robert's whining and dinings aint gonna give the Oscars a lookin,😂😂😀😀 but the whole movie in general is a superb nostalgia treat for me. I love watching it every now an' again with my brother, thinkin back to watchin it at the time.

Simon Rhee (Dae Han) and Philip Rhee (Tommy) are the sons of the late Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee Tae Kwon Do grandmaster and member of the presidents council on physical fitness.

I haven't laughed so much in a long time !!! Thank you so much !!! This movie came out when I was in high school so I have a lot of good memories. Thanks again Simon from Greece.

Just found your channel and I love your reviews especially the Seagall movies. Great production and super funny content. Keep up the great work. Yeah I don't know why crash penn bothers me but I feel it too lol.

I just stumbled on your channel. Looking for reviews of movies. I have been binge watching ever since. I can’t quite put my finger on it. But I think your show or voice maybe makes it easy on the ears. Very calming. And funny. Thank you for the entertaining show. Love the reviews. Seen most of the movies you show on here so it’s nice to here which ones you do like or don’t.

Getting anything dislocated (especially the first time) hurts L.F. However, if you want to see a totally awesome fight scene that deals with it, check out Jet Li vs. Japanese General from Fist of Legend - I think it might be one of the best fight scenes ever filmed.

I took karate for about five years during my junior high/high school days. We had to do pushups on our knuckles similar to what they show here. We had to do them on our first two knuckles, though. They did them on the last four knuckles in the movie.

Give the Cannon movie "Runaway Train" a watch. More Eric Roberts fun. Probably the most competent Cannon film I've seen.

-You killed my brother. -No. *I* am your brother..

I was working at a video rental store when this came out on 📼. I don't think anyone rented it, but we watched it on the monitor a few times.

Dude, so glad I found this channel. If you haven’t done so yet, please look into Breathing Fire with Bolo Yeung, it also has the little kid from raiders of the lost arm and some c grade martial arts guys, so you know it’s awesome!

Movie in this era were both iconic and cheesy all at the same time! Tough balance to maintain; making you fee emotional where you’re supposed to and making you laugh where you’re not!👍🏽

In high school my sophomore year I was on the JV football team and we went 0-10. After the season was over our coach had us come to the field house on a Saturday and cooked burgers for us and we watched this movie and it was awesome. gawd DAMN I loved the 80s.

What a review! damn, i always loved this franchise. I described it as a "Martial arts version of Fast and the Furious" because this series was about a martial arts tournament then in the next sequels it turns into a random/mindless action movie lol :v . Philip rhee should have become a huge action star

here's the deal: the first time you dislocate a joint, it hurts BIG TIME. but each time after that, it get easier and easier and les and less painful and sometimes dislocates with minimal effort.

"POP IT ! POP IT TOMMY !" is a movie line on par with Casablanca's " Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. " for me 😂😂😂

Love the review of one of my favorites. As a young kid i was always upset how far Virgil put the team behind. Might have to queue up the dvd later. Will have to check out rest of your vids. Looks like we share similar likes

Not only a great film but an outstanding review! Love your humour. That's an instant sub from me 👍

The cowboy was absolutely hilarious HONESTLY. When he was shadow boxing in front of the mirror LOLOLOL FUCKKKKKKK I was laughing so hard i pissd a little 🤣😬🤔😂

I loved the series. It’s crazy the cast that was in this. Philip Rhee co-wrote this film and wrote the fourth BotB. He was always the main lead but the cast was big in this. Rhee is rebooting the series and will produce it.

Dude, you're killin' it....Subbed

I love this series of reviews - hilarious watched so many times 😂😂😂

I love you dude. Thanks for all the laughs.

Mind blown! Never knew they were brothers!! Thanks for the info

This movie put in every fighting movie troupe in history and I loved it growing up . Maybe I should watch it now that I'm older but sure it will take a piece of my soul realizing how bad it was .

There's always a guy like Penn's character in every karate dojo in America...especially from the 60s to the 90s. The 60s tournaments were tough but full of respect...but at the dojo in the 60s people got hurt more than you can imagine. No safety gear along with very good fighters that haven't fully learned control yet. People like Penn's character in the 60s easily got their asses kicked as much as they showed up for more trying to put others in the hospital and succeed in doing it. Zero safety gear. I personally know a man that's a 10th degree blackbelt and started in the early 60s. He was in the military and after getting his blackbelt he was stationed in Japan. So, being like Penn, he found Gogan Yamaguchi's dojo asking to "see" him. They said he wasn't there. So he decided to take on every blackbelt in there and had no problem piling them up. Much of it he said was their size being smaller people in Japan. Yamaguchi called my friends sensai and said "Don't ever let that man come back here again!"

Have you seen "No Retreat, No Surrender"? Another classic with Van Damme.

16:25 my ex and her sisters walked in on me watching this part lol

You should review the 1985 masterpiece Gymkata next. "A new kind of martial arts combat! The skill of gymnastics. The kill of karate." How do you say no to that tagline? 🤔 🤣

Excellent review

This movie taught me very valuable lession, that there is always more ice cream.

The shoulder scene 16:32 is hilarious i remember laughing when i was a kid back then 😂😂

The saddest part is that they didn't even put ice cream in the cone, just on top. He got ripped off.

My new favorite channel

The dislocating shouler leg joke was epic. I had 13 surgeries on left shoulder including 3 replacement. The lethal weapon version is closer to reality.

this was hilarious lol, glad i came across this channel

Why in the heck did they not have alternates. When Alex and Tommy quit did one of the other guys think, "Maaaaan, now I have to fight Han Cho AND Dae Han?!? Dang it...."

Fun Fact: Dae Han (who killed Tommy Lee's brother in the movie),, is actually his brother in REAL LIFE!! Their names in REAL life are, Phillip Rhee (who plays Tommy Lee),, and Simon Rhee. (who plays Dae Han)!! Edit: Oh $#it.... You JUST said that, RIGHT AT THE SAME TIME, that I got done typing it!!! (Yes,, I sometimes comment WHILE watching the video!! 😂🤣🤣👍)

John P. Ryan was also in Class of 1999, a movie you should definitely put on your list.

10yr old Me loved this damn movie... it was during the Bloodsport Era... I forgot about it... thanks for reminding me how great my taste in Film was.

I can remember watching this as a kid, and thinking the same thing in the final match. He could have just pushed him over or swept his legs.

This is one of my favorite movies. I still use songs from the soundtrack as training music. My humble opinion this is a true martial arts movie.

Have you done a review for “Only the Strong” - I used to love that flick back when it came out. The soundtrack is brilliant and it’s typical 90s “bad HS flick” w Capoiera Brazilian martial arts. I was gonna do something on my channel w that movie - but wud love to see ur review too!!!

As the 'benefactor' of one biological older brother and four boys my mom and dad pretty much raised I saw EVERY major action movie between 1989-1995, Best of the Best among them and their absurdity becoming deeply ingrained into my own burgeoning sense of humor. This review is great!! I really enjoyed it. I also said that the thing I took away from these movies was an attraction to Asian men, a love of good bad flicks, and a love of Bruce Campbell. Ah, childhood. 🤣 It also made me feel better that I'm not the only one who wants to kick Miss Love-Interest-Du Jour--in the you know what and slap Chris Penn (RIP).

In GTA San Andreas I learned from Samuel L Jackson that cops are a forced not be mess with because they can be hella' dangerous. But I also learned from Sean Penn in GTA that cops can have a punch able polygon face

Ohhh man havent seen this since I was like 10. Saw it like 20 times back then. Strange cast for a karate movie

Great channel!

I have forced at least six people to watch this movie when I found out they hadn’t seen it yet. A few are exes…. Anyways love this film! Eric Roberts trying to act is worth the price of admission. POP IT TOMMY!!!

This movie is fucking awesome. If you don't cry at the end you're a robot

Academy Award Winners in cast: 2 Other Academy Award Nominees: 2 Other Golden Globe Winners: 1 Other Emmy Winners: 1 It is the Best of the Best.

Totally agree, Virgil AKA 'Buddhist Guy' deserves no medal. After all the training,including running in socks on the water, his fight was a let down.

I loved this movie when I saw it as a kid got it from my local video rental shop, I would have been about 11 or 12 at the time. Started to go off these kinds of movies over the following few years. So I think was the last of the genre I really liked. It’s a shame Chris Penn passed away so young, he was in reservoir dogs not so long after this. It’s amazing how terrible they were in hindsight though.

God damn you, Best of the Best was one of the best, and now I can’t stop laughing!

This is a very well regarded film among martial arts movie renaissance connoisseurs of the late 80’s/early 90’s. Always bothered me that it is clearly predominantly Taelwondo competitors. I guess they thought people only knew what Karate was back then and were too stupid to know anything different.

say what you will but Eric Robert's hair in this movie was amazing.

I used to watch this movie over and over just to watch Eric Roberts cry. Hilarious.

Kun-grad-you-lay-shuns, you made another great video!

That guy who looked confused when awarded with the win.

You missed my favorite part of the movie. Where Travis "Chris Penn" loses decidedly on the brick breaking and looks at the ref and says "what are you counting them for?". lol

Saw this whenI was young and the best part that became an inside joke with my cousins and I was …” *Nooo* “ and it was glorious my Sith friend. And even back when I first saw it we were thinking “just say Korean” we know you main star and villain are South Koreans so why not say Korean.

I looked up Eric Roberts and at the time I looked him up he had 99 project about to be released, filming, in post production or in pre production this is one busy guy

Another gem from the 80s was No Retreat No Surrender.

There is a Best of the Best video game as well that came out in 1992! I can't see any reference to the film on it's Wikipedia page, so I'm not sure if they actually had any kind of permission or connection to whoever made this film, but it's definitely based on the film anyway. Apparently it's a very technically sound martial arts game for it's time as well. Pretty neato

Bro I decided to check out your other material besides Steven segal ,which is great and I’m glad I did. 😃

He is the brother of Sean Penn and he was the voice of Officer Pulansky, Officer Tenpenny's henchman in GTA San Andreas.

Man I remember watching this movie as a kid...the German dub for Roberts isn't as silly

The dislocated shoulder scene is so epic.

Gee I actually remember seeing this movie on VHS back in the days, what a movie. I do pushups the korean style, minus the stone bridge and hit by a stick, those just seems to be extreme.

When you first said Chris Penn had the most punchable face, I wasn't looking at the video and I didnt really know who you were talking about. Then a minute later, I was paying attention when he's seen again and I was like "oh, yeah, shit. Fuck that guy. I've always wanted to punch him." I don't know why, but I agree.

One of my all-time fave cheesy 80's karate flicks that I loved as a kid. Good review, though that points out a lot of the said cheesiness.

Had a few TKD instructors take part in this film and the sequels. Back then the TKD community was HEAVY in these type of home grown pop up Martial art flix.