Synopsis: A computer virus has invaded a virtual reality computer game leaving a rebellious teen trapped within. Now, the boys father must enter the tainted program and battle his way through a deadly maze of martial arts fighters to save his son.

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Views: Don 'The Dragon' Wilson and Art Camacho team-up once again for more cheesy martial arts hi-jinks in X-Treme Fighter – more widely known by its original title of Sci-Fighter, the name of the game the movie is based around. I have to admit, when I first saw this film I thought it was from the mid-to-late 90s due to its basic production values and story, but it turns out that X-Treme Fighter was made almost a decade later. While on paper the movie may come across like an early version of Ready Player One (2018), X-Treme Fighter is more like a re-tread of Jalal Merhi's 1997 film Expect To Die or Jingle Ma's Hot War from 1998 – only with more family friendly themes and tournament based fights (much like many of Don Wilson's movies would deliver). Another thing it has more of is comedy, whether it is intentional or not, X-Treme Fighter has some hilarious moments thanks to some really bad acting, silly side characters, and a god-awful script. This would be down to Thomas Callicoat with Sci-Fighter being his first major project as a writer, co-producer, and visual effects artist. While he does an okay job for his first feature film, which was clearly a little overly-ambitious, Callicoat went on to work in the VFX department on films such as Maleficent (2014), Edge Of Tomorrow (2014), and Into The Storm (2014), as well as teaming up with Art Camacho and Don Wilson in 2006 to co-produce Soft Target (which was a little better than this).

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I've never seen the appeal of Don Wilson as an action star, although his movies are somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me admittedly. His performances often flit between over-acting and poor delivery, and his fight moves lack any really power or skill compared to that of Hong Kong's real action-heroes and even his co-star, Cynthia Rothrock (who is pretty much wasted here). Don plays the son of a scientist and the father to a moody teen, as well as a martial arts teacher of course. He lost his wife in an attack many years ago and has the same attitude to his own father as his son has to him. His scientist father is played by Aki Aleong, a prolific actor with over 130 credits to his name having appeared in titles such as V The Series (1983), General Hospital (1963), Deadly Target (1994), Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993), Martial Law (1998), and Pound Of Flesh (2015). Aki has created a VR machine called Sci-Fighter that allows players to enter a world of martial arts tournaments built around the skills of real martial artists, and gives it as a birthday gift to his grandson Brad – who soon finds himself trapped in the virtual world. Of course, it's up to his father (Wilson) to follow him in there on a rescue mission which, in turn, helps to fix their broken relationship along the way. Brad is played by the super-cute Daneya Mayid, a highly skilled martial artist of Thai and Italian descent who was discovered by Wilson at a tournament. This would be his first role which is obvious, but he definitely steals the show when it comes to moves as he kicks and flips his way through the fight scenes, and leaves his more accomplished co-stars in the dust. The wonderful Miss Rothrock plays dual roles here with the first being a lab-assistant to Aki and potential love interest of Don's. Her second role is based in the game that sees her fly around in a flowing white cape, while helping Don find his son. As a huge Rothrock fan, I have to say that I wasn't overly excited for her in this – although truth be told, I could say that for most of the films she stars in alongside Wilson. The same could be said for Renegade (1992) star, Lorenzo Lamas – the soap star turned action hero, who really doesn't get to do much here either. No, this is (once again) all about Don 'The Dragon' Wilson!

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The less said about the other co-stars and bit-players the better, made up by a collection of American martial artists including Eric Lee, twins Simon and James Kim, and Michael Matsuda. Bob Wall stars in an extremely brief cameo as himself, commentating on a match at one of Wilson's tournaments. It's a far cry from his on-screen roles in Enter The Dragon (1973), Game Of Death (1978), and Way Of The Dragon (1972), but as a good friend of Don's, I'm sure it was just a fun favour for the film. Sci-Fighter was directed by highly regarded martial artist and action director, Art Camacho, a man who has had many credits on many titles in many positions and was the director of films such as Gary Daniels Recoil (1998), Soft Target (2006), 13 Dead Men (2003), Half Past Dead 2 (2007), and Redemption (2002) also with Wilson and Rothrock, as well as many more. As I look through his filmography, I can honestly say that there isn't much on it that I would rush back to see with X-Treme Fighter confirming his lack of strength as a director (as well as a lack of creativeness regardless of the budget). While it isn't a complete write-off, X-Treme Fighter does pass the time for the wrong reasons and had me in stitches many times, from the fighters in an early blocking pose while awaiting a strike from their opponents, to the rare display of ninjas that make Godfrey Ho's colourful assassins look legit. It's totally ridiculous, but there's obviously an audience out there for it...

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Overall: Dreadful for the most part, X-Treme Fighter is ridiculous in every sense but still makes for a fun watch!