Desert Kickboxer (1992) User Reviews (6)

Desert Hawk

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 13 September 2022]

Joe Highhawk has the most 1992 name ever as well as the most direct to video career path: he's a cop who is also a kickboxer. He's played by John Newton, who was Superboy on the syndicated series. But then his rage takes things past the limit and he kills a man in the ring. He quits his big city job, he leaves behind kicking people to death and heads out into the desert of his youth, where he lives in his grandfather's trailer on a reservation and serves as a deputy to Sheriff Larry (Biff Manard).

Meanwhile, an accountant named Claudia Valenti (Judie Aronson, American Ninja) notices that the books of her horse breeder client Carl Schultz (Paul Smith!) are off. One of the trainers helps her and her little brother Anthony (Sam DeFrancisco) get away. Also, she now has $20 million into a secret account, which enrages her boss, who is really a drug dealer named Santos.

Of course Joe helps them. Of course they hook up. Of course Santos and his men break that up, take Claudia and leave Joe for dead. But then we get what makes this movie so unique, as not only do Santos and his gang kill the little brother, but Joe has a phoenix - or hawk? - rise from near-death set to a montage as shirtless Joe comes back alive in the desert. Joe returns to decimate henchman Bruno (Michael M. Foley) and Santos pays. And by pays, I mean he gets kicked directly in the dick.

Director and writer Isaac Florentine also made

The tagline is "Navajo... Warrior... Kickboxer. Cross the line of his law and you'll live... to regret it." It's also a movie where a white guy plays a Native American and the Navajo are said to do the Ghost Dance and yet they never did it. He'd go on to make Undisputed 2, Ninja and work on the WMAC Masters show, just like nearly everyone that was involved in 90s non-Asian martial arts direct to video movies.

Almost good but with some complaint!

[kankawin25013 · 6/10 · 13 March 2009]

I saw Desert Kickboxer on my cable TV channel in the name of "Desert Hawk" which I thought that the channel believe that the name "Desert Hawk" is better than "Desert Kickboxer" However, I doesn't matter with it.

Desert Kickboxer had the 100% look of the independent film. The scene, the cast and the plot was very simply. However, I didn't like some scene of the movie which is too cruel. For example, the scene which Claudia Valenti was slapped and was sex harassed by the abominable gangster which try to caught her for their boss. I hate that stuff very much! This made me remember to Steven Seagal's Marked for Death which his sister (in the film) was slapped and was almost killed by the main villain's brother. I accepted that I hate the violence from men to women even I am a man. This is the main reason which I dislike many movie from that reason.

For the next subject, this movie has the good action scene but it could had more. John Newton was very good for his combat skill but the movie had a few area for him to show. I think if the production's crew put more the combat scene. It could be interested more. For the plot, I didn't have the problem with the plot but it could made the viewer confused, due to the Joe Highhawk's past but I didn't see that too much.

I believed that the financial and the size of film's crew made this movie had the less quality than the general film from the big brother company. However, it is OK at one level.

An interesting movie, which incorporate martial arts philopsophy with Native American mysticism.

[donrw · 7/10 · 24 June 2003]

An interesting movie, which incorporate martial arts philopsophy with Native American mysticism. I like the style of fight choreography in the film, its rough but still maintains a martial arts feeling and certain level of realism.

John Newton. He looks like a cross between Ken Wahl and John Stamos!

[tarbosh22000 · 6/10 · 12 July 2015]

Joe "Hawk" Highhawk is a former kickboxer turned mulleted lawman in the dusty deserts of California. After a tragedy in the ring, Hawk now devotes most of his time to whittling. And also to his job as Deputy. He even has some form of PTSD, constantly flashing back to what happened in his earlier life. When diabolical drug runner Santos (Smith), and his lieutenant Bruno (Foley) start causing trouble in the dusty ol' town, and start going after his newfound friends Claudia (Aronson of American Ninja fame) and Anthony (DeFrancisco), it gives Hawk a reason to live again, and to dust off his old kickboxing skills to use them against the baddies. Will Hawk triumph in the war against drug runners and find redemption? Right from the beginning of his career, Isaac Florentine was turning out solid movies like this, and even his trademark sound effects are here. Lots of whooshing, crunching and "splat!" noises are heard on the soundtrack, for even the most mundane actions. If someone moves a muscle, it sounds like some guy has mic'd up a bunch of Nickelodeon products like Gak, Floam, and Zzand and are throwing them around with abandon. But where Florentine shines, of course, are the Martial Arts/fighting action scenes, and those are some of the highlights of Desert Kickboxer. It's easy to see why he followed this up with the similar Savate (1995).

This was our first exposure to one John Newton. He looks like a cross between Ken Wahl and John Stamos. Evidently Hawk is supposed to be some kind of Indian in the film, though Newton looks about as Native American as Regis Philbin. Even Mark Gregory in the Thunder trilogy was closer to Indian than this (and come to think of it, there are a lot of similarities to the Thunder movies in Desert Kickboxer). Newton's Martial Arts abilities are competent, however, and if nothing else, we can admire his mullet, which was clearly crafted as carefully as the sound effects and the Martial Arts. Naturally, before his final assault on the baddies, he does some form of shirtless Native American Tai Chi on some high desert rocks.

But as Hawk is going through his character arc from flat and none-too-likable to flat and sensitive, he has to deal with some pretty tough baddies. Sure, we all love Paul L. Smith, but his lackey Bruno is far more intimidating, not to mention agile. You know if a baddie is doing Martial Arts in a suit, the guy is going to be a hard opponent to beat. Bruno is so tough and evil, he uses actual Mexican migrant workers as human training dummies. But he didn't reckon on one thing: the awesome power of Newton.

Featuring some great early-90's computers, Desert Kickboxer is perfect for Florentine fans that may not have seen his early work. It's a testament to its entertainment value that, to anyone else, it would have been just another DTV item, but to fans of the genre it retains its staying power.

Newton stinks up the screen

[tallguyunc · 15 December 2003]

Wow, this was a really cheesy, bad movie. The acting was so bad. The lead, guy, was stiff as a board. But I saw him again in in some gay porn movie many years later. He was doing a scene with that guy from Fraternity Vacation. He seemed to have loosened up a little and was acting more naturally.