Roger Corman–produced, futuristic-set tournament fight flick ‘Dragon Fire’ is some cheesy B-movie action made palatable by a fun vibe and copious amounts of decent fight action. Despite being set in the future, this matters little (other than giving proceedings a slight post-apocalyptic vibe), as the narrative is action movie 101: the brother of a renowned fighter (Dominick LaBanca) who was slain in an underground fight tournament comes looking for his sibling’s killer and thus enters said tournament to weed out the culprit and extract revenge.

Reminiscent of the many cheap-jack (but often fun) actioners Don “The Dragon” Wilson churned out in the 90s for Corman (it kinda feels like a sequel to Wilson’s own Corman-produced favourite ‘Future Kick’), ‘Dragon Fire’ is lo-fi, unpretentious fight fun. Utilising the minimum of sets and boasting a roster of (at the time) national and world kickboxing champions (as the opening credits inform us!) as fighters, ‘Dragon Fire’ gets straight to business, offering oodles of 90s American-based kickboxing action. On those simple terms (and for those of us who feel nostalgic for this type of film, i.e. this reviewer), ‘Dragon Fire’ is a load of kickboxing fun. Helmer Rick Jacobson (no stranger to this type of 90s B-movie: ‘Blackbelt’, ‘Full Contact’, ‘Night Hunter’) keeps proceedings tight and action-focused, even squeezing some fun comedy sidekick shenanigans from Harold Hazeldine (‘Out for Blood’), who also shines in his fight scenes. Lead Dominick LaBanca may be a bit wonky in the acting department but is impressive in the copious fight scenes and at least comes across as a likeable hero.

The fight action is almost non-stop, competently handled by co-star Kisu (‘Shootfighter 2’), and while never overly intricate, is satisfyingly punchy and crunchy. Michael (brother of Billy) Blanks gets many of the best fights as the main bad guy, and this being a 90s-produced Corman cheapie, there is plenty of nudity and absurdness to fill the brief interludes between all the fight action. Not one for the more serious film critic/connoisseur out there, but a fine example of fun—albeit very silly—1990s American-produced kickboxing action.