Blu-ray Synopsis: Dragon Sound, the house band at Orlando's #1 nightclub is made up of five orphans and university classmates, all of whom are experts in Taekwondo, with a musical mission to share the importance of love and friendship. One of the band members, john, is engaged in a budding romance with Jane, sister of Jeff, a kingpin in one of Florida's toughest drug pushing gangs. A resentful rival band enlists the help of Jeff and his crew of violent, motorcycle riding thugs to exact revenge for their bruised egos, against Dragon Sound. The five best friends are soon forced to put their fighting skills to the ultimate test, not just to defend themselves, but their entire community from the iron grip help over it by these narcotic trafficking hooligans. An international cult sensation and tribute to the unwavering power of friendship, Woo-sang Park (aka Richard Park) and Grandmaster Y.K. Kim's MIAMI CONNECTION was the cinematic passion project of Florida based martial arts teacher, Grandmaster Kim, and combines explosive action set pieces, daring and elaborate fight sequences, and live musical performances from Dragon Sound. Featuring a cast comprised of Kim's students along with plentiful local talent, MIAMI CONNECTION offers the best traits of regional exploitation filmmaking through the aesthetic of Cannon-esque 80s action, and finally comes to UHD from Vinegar Syndrome, exclusively restored in 4K from recently unearthed negative materials and loaded with plentiful archival and newly shot extras. Plus, this edition includes the world home video debut of its long lost pre-release version, ESCAPE FROM MIAMI, which features numerous additional and extended scenes as well as a completely different ending! (86 Mins)

 

Views: Popular rock band Dragon Squad have just been made the regular House Band at the biggest nightclub in Orlando, stepping on a few toes that soon see them under threat from the biggest motorcycle gang in the State. After losing their spot to Dragon Squad, the previous band hold a grudge and make a deal with the ninja bikers to get rid of them. Jeff, the leader of the gang, is more than happy to help as he already despises the band – one of whom is dating his sister Jane, their main vocalist. Before they know it, Dragon Sound are fighting for their lives on the Florida streets against violent bikers, sword wielding ninjas, and more!

 

Beautifully restored by the team at Vinegar Syndrome, Miami Connection is an action-packed and fun 80s flick whose flaws are easily forgiven when you learn about the love, passion, and hard work put into the production by a team of first-time filmmakers. Having directed 7 independent features myself, I can totally relate to Miami Connection in many ways. And while I'd love to have had even half the budget that Y.K. Kim put into this, I know that the only thing that makes up for a lack of money is creativity and dedication. This is something quite evident in the film, perhaps only marred by its typical 80s style story, cheesy lines, and bad acting – but it's most definitely there and evident in the choreography, SFX and on-screen energy. We also have to remember that these were actual martial artists and musicians, not actors; and I have seen worse many times over the years. So while it has its flaws and may be laughed at by today's modern audience, I take my hat off to Grandmaster Y.K. Kim and his team for creating a damn entertaining martial arts flick. Miami Connection proved to be somewhat of a box-office bomb flop made worse by a heavy load of negative reviews. This obviously pained Y.K. Kim after the amount of money and work he had put into it, and retired him from the film industry almost immediately. Thankfully, over the years, Miami Connection gained somewhat of a cult following with the film finally getting the release it deserved courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome much like that of John Liu's lost opus, New York Ninja, and I can only hope that it manages to gain a new audience that sees it for what it is. Fans can also rejoice with the same release as it also contains Escape From Miami – the pre-release version of Miami Connection which features a number of different scenes, both extended and additional, as well as a completely different ending and is just as entertaining...

 

For me, I would say that martial arts and music are the biggest attraction of Miami Connection, with both playing a huge part of the story and both proving to be very entertaining. Since watching this for the first time, I have constantly been singing 'Friends For Eternity' and 'Against The Ninja' to the point where my husband keeps asking me to shut up. But I can't – because Dragon Squad rock and just loved these tracks! The songs for the band were created by Angelo Janotti and Kathy Collier, with both being cast on the spot as the actual band members and the latter playing the lead singer Jane. Although both were actually dating at the time, it would be written that Jane was in a relationship with another character which I'm sure went down a blast when it came to their kissing scenes. Not only did Y.K. Kim help write and produce the film, as well as play one of the leads, but he also helped choreographed the martial arts-action alongside Kwon Yeong Moon while putting his finest students to the test over a host of fast and furious fight scenes. I have to be honest when I say that I wasn't expecting much from the choreography, but I was pleasantly surprised with what was on offer. From street-fights to ninja battles and more, Y.K. Kim delivers on the kicks and body-impact that sees some impressive stunt-work and swordplay – which is often followed by a flying arm or head. As I've said, Miami Connection has its flaws but there's no denying its entertainment value (whatever way you take it) and as a fan of 80s independent flicks, I had a great time watching it. On top of that, I can't praise this Vinegar Syndrome edition which gives fans and Miami Connection, exactly what it deserves!

 

Overall: A fantastic piece of 80s independent fun, Miami Connection is a fight-filled flick with plenty to enjoy!

 

Vinegar Syndrome 4K UHD Blu-ray Extras: 4K Restoration, Audio Commentary with Grandmaster Y.K. Kim and Joseph Diamand, Resurrecting The Dragon: Exclusive Making of Featurette, Friends For Eternity: Making of Featurette from 2012, Dragon Sound Reunion: 25th Anniversary Concert from 2012, Archival Promotional Videos with Grandmaster Y.K. Kim, Re-release Trailer from 2012, Escape From Miami – Original Pre-release Version of Miami Connection