No Retreat, No Surrender

No Retreat, No Surrender (1986) is a martial arts actioner from director Corey Yuen you can watch online on iFILM. A karate-obsessed teenager gets coached toward his big fight by the ghost of Bruce Lee himself.

Jason Stillwell's family relocates to Seattle after mobsters break his father's leg right inside their dojo. Dad swears off fighting for good, and the local bullies turn Jason into their favorite punching bag. So the kid trains alone outside an abandoned house, where the spirit of Bruce Lee starts showing up to drill him in secret. When a brutal Russian kickboxer from a rival school rolls into town, Jason has to face him down in a tournament.

The real draw is Jean-Claude Van Damme's debut as the ice-cold Russian fighter Ivan, the role that put him on Hollywood's radar. The plot is naive, the training montages are pure eighties cheese, and the champion-spirit speeches go way over the top, but that's exactly the charm. Nostalgic fist-fighting fun for anyone raised on video-store action. Stream No Retreat, No Surrender (1986) online on iFILM.