This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

If it hadn't been for Rifftrax, I would never have seen this steaming pile.Sexist, racist, obnoxious in it's portrayal of humans as walking stereotypes, and a story a five year old might have put together with about as much continuity and depth.It's sad to think people saw this mess as anything but a bad parody.I realize 80's tech doesn't compare to what we have now but it still looks and sounds like it was filmed and recorded using a potato.What 'story' there is, consists of the plot from any generic, low-budget, Kung-fu movie.The 'filler' between the laughably choreographed fights consists of training montages, an attempt at a music video, some terrible characters being terrible, and lots of pointless, awful dialogue.If you watch this movie without Rifftrax, you are wasting time that you will never get back. Don't do it. It's not worth it.

„No retreat , no surrender „ is very bad , but very watchable bad B-class action movie. It rips off "Karate Kid" and it's one of Jean Claude Van Damme's first movies. Here he appears for 5 minutes , speaks very little and plays an evil Russian working for the mob. Reminds you of Ivan Drago ? Yeah , me too. Van Damme fans can skip this movie .It's impossible to treat this movie seriously. It's a story about young boy who can't find his place in life. Thankfully the ghost of his idol – Bruce Lee appears and starts teaching him kung fu which makes everything better . If you aren't laughing reading this , well , then something is seriously wrong with you're sense of humor. I can't watch this movie without crying with laughter. This is supposedly to be an inspirational movie for teenagers , but the best and probably only way to watch it is to treat it like a comedy. An unintentional comedy of course , because that's not what the director and writer had in mind.There are some objectively good things about this movie. Korean actor Tai Chung Kim who plays sensei Lee had been a double/stand-in for the real Bruce Lee in "Game of death" movies. He looks and speaks like real Bruce Lee and also gives the best performance in the movie. The fight scenes in this movie are actually really nice and worth watching . Director Corey Yuen later made "Transporter" with Jason Statham so he knows something about martial arts. "No retreat, no surrender" is never boring and has certain charm. It's definitely not the worst movie ever made or painful to watch. It is still a bad movie. Kurt McKinney is a very fine martial arts fighter , but a horrible actor. Same goes for Timothy D. Baker who plays his father and JW Fails who plays his friend. Other actors (with exception of Kim and Van Damme) aren't too good either. The screenplay is full of stereotypes , clichés and incredibly silly moments (two finger push ups !). The dramatic moments are terribly forced and include a lot of shouting. Dialogues are mediocre at best and the music is forgettable.It's a good movie to watch for laughs and really decent fight scenes. However , if you're looking for an inspirational movie better watch "Rocky" or "Karate kid". If you're looking for good martial arts movie better watch "Kickboxer" or "Bloodsport". I give it 3/10.

This is more of a comment on the reviews rather than a review of the movie. This is one of my favourite movies of all time and like so many other people have said it helped me through my childhood. Everyday after school i would come home and watch No Retreat, No Surrender on our VHS machine. I just wanted to say how happy i was to read so many reviews saying exactly how i felt about this movie. Sure it has some of the worst acting for it's time but that just added to it's charm. Movies like No Retreat, No Surrender, Iron Eagle, Just One of the Guys, Lost Boys and the Wraith and music by Roxette, West End Girls (English Girl Band) & Michael Jackson, this was my 80's and i miss it terribly.Cheers :-)

This is my absolute favourite BAD movie. I love it.The plot is ludicrous, the acting atrocious and the score is straight out of a Z-grade '60's Western. Barack Obama looks more like Bruce Lee than Tai Chung Kim.But it's the dialogue that makes this movie great.Who can forget Van Damme's immortal line: "So, it is you!"?To be fair, Van Damme looks great and speaks little and there are some good fight scenes if you can stick it out.This movie is so bad that I own a copy and watch it at least once a year. Laugh out loud from beginning to end.A must-see. Preferably with a few friends and a bunch of beers.