In the martial arts world, some strive to be champions, but only a select few can call themselves the best of the best. One of those is none other than Phillip Rhee, former champion of the Korean Olympics and star of the popular “Best of the Best” franchise. The “Best of the Best” series focuses on the battles and travails of Korean-American martial artist Tommy Lee, but since 1998, Tommy has seemingly long-since retired, as has the “Best of the Best” franchise itself. That is, until Phillip took to his Instagram recently to share a snapshot of a script – the script in question bearing the title of “Best of the Best 5: Honor the Brave”!
Co-written by Phillip Rhee and Marc Nemcoff, the script’s title and announcement came out of left field from Phillip, who has mostly been out of the film industry spotlight since 1998’s “Best of the Best: Without Warning”, save for a brief return in 2015’s “Underdog Kids”. Phillip previously spoke of plans to reboot “Best of the Best” in an interview with The Action Elite in 2015, while Phillip’s brother Simon also hinted at development on “Best of the Best 5” in a social media pic re-uniting the Rhee brothers with their original “Best of the Best” co-star Eirc Roberts. Regardless, with confirmation of “Best of the Best 5” coming straight from the horse’s mouth, martial arts fans have just as much reason as everyone at KFK to be excited for the return of one of the greatest martial arts movie franchises of all time!
“Best of the Best” & “Best of the Best 2” Are Martial Arts Classics Of The ‘80s & ‘90s
The first two “Best of the Best” movies hold a cherished place in the hearts of martial arts fans around the world, and very deservedly so. The original “Best of the Best” is one of the quintessential martial arts tournament movies of the 1980s. Coming on the heels of the popularity of “The Karate Kid” and “Bloodsport”, “Best of the Best” told the tale a collection of American martial artists prepping for a match with the high skilled team from South Korea. Eric Roberts’ Alex Grady was technically the first billed of “Best of the Best”, Alex being a former competitive champion who gets another shot at glory. At the same time, Phillip Rhee was the true heart of “Best of the Best” as Tommy Lee, an ace Taekwondo competitor who finds himself being pitted against the formidable Dae Han (Simon Rhee), who killed Tommy’s brother in a previous match. Though the American team loses, “Best of the Best” ended with an emotional feeling of victory for the team, including Alex and especially Tommy in his reconciliation with Dae Han, and the movie’s flashy fight scenes made “Best of the Best” into awe-inspiring tour-de-force.
1993’s “Best of the Best 2” ramped up the stakes, the action, and the power even more with Alex and Tommy entering the deadly underground arena known as The Colosseum to defeat the ruthless, towering Brakus (Ralf Moeller) after he kills their friend Travis Brickley (Chris Penn) in the arena. “Best of the Best 2” was released when underground death arena plots were all the rage in American straight-to-video martial arts films, and was the rare instance of one making it into theaters. Additionally, “Best of the Best 2” was also well ahead of its time with the warriors of The Colosseum blending many different fighting styles together, making “Best of the Best 2” one of the first true MMA movies before MMA as we know it had really even come into being. “Best of the Best 2” is also even more action-packed and adrenaline-filled than its predecessor, with Tommy’s epic Colosseum showdown with Brakus one of the best David vs. Goliath martial arts movie fights of all time. Together, the first two “Best of the Best” movies are undisputed martial arts classics from the ‘80s and ‘90s.
The “Best of the Best” Sequels Pack A Strong Punch Too
While the latter two “Best of the Best” sequels went straight-to-video, they’re also great, action-packed fun for martial arts fans, with Phillip Rhee even stepping into the director’s chair for both. 1995’s “Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back” takes Tommy Lee back to his small-town roots, with the champion martial artist forced to battle a white supremacist group gaining power in the town. 1998’s “Best of the Best: Without Warning” focuses on Tommy Lee in a later stage of his life as a single father and police self-defense instructor, who must fight a gang of Russian mobsters after a top secret disc comes into his possession.
Phillip Rhee in Best of the Best 3 No Turning Back
Both “Best of the Best 3” and “Best of the Best: Without Warning” not only show Phillip Rhee as a fantastic action star and fight choreographer, but also an action filmmaker of the same caliber as American straight-to-video greats like Isaac Florentine and Jesse V. Johnson. Moreover, the “Best of the Best” series also stands as something extremely unique among Western-made martial arts films.
Phillip Rhee Is Arguably Hollywood’s Greatest Ambassadors Of Korean Martial Arts
The low-key nature of Phillip Rhee’s Hollywood career, and the fact that it is largely centered within the “Best of the Best” franchise, is truly mind-boggling. With black belts in Taekwondo and Hapkido and his true skill in both martial arts, Phillip Rhee was perhaps the single greatest representative of Korean martial arts that Hollywood has ever known. Phillip’s punches and kicks were the purest highlight of Taekwondo’s speed and power, with the same being the case for his use of Hapkido’s joint locks and throws.
The two combined saw Phillip present a cinematic fighting style that had never been seen before in American martial arts films, and which possibly has never been seen since, Phillip tossing his opponents with a precision wrist throw one moment and spin-kicking them in the face with devastating speed and power the next. However underappreciated Phillip Rhee’s talents might have been in the time of the “Best of the Best” franchise’s original run, the series has nonetheless been a generational hallmark for Korean martial arts ever since.
Why “Best of the Best 5” Is Exciting News For Martial Arts Fans
The fact that “Best of the Best 5” is officially in the works is an electrifyingly exciting development for martial arts fans for several reasons, the first being that Phillip Rhee himself will be back in action as Tommy Lee and potentially in the director’s chair as well. That already sets up “Best of the Best 5” as a legacy sequel in which Tommy Lee is pulled out of retirement for one last martial arts showdown, itself a great metaphor for Phillip’s own return to his signature role nearly three decades after the world last saw Tommy Lee in action. Additionally, there’s also great potential for “Best of the Best 5” in who Phillip could bring aboard with him.
Phillip’s brother Simon Rhee has been a Hollywood stunt man and fight choreographer for decades, so that immediately opens the possibility of Simon also returning as Dae Han. Phillip might even endeavor to get as much of the original “Best of the Best” band back together as possible. That certainly seems like a distinct possibility with Simon and Phillip’s aforementioned social media pic with Eric Roberts, which could hint to Tommy potentially teaming up with Alex for what the doubtlessly harrowing stakes that the smackdown of “Best of the Best 5” will throw at them.
Additionally, there are also endlessly exciting possibilities for modern day martial arts stars who broke out after the original “Best of the Best” run to join “Best of the Best 5”. Imagine none other than Scott Adkins as Tommy Lee’s newest adversary or ally in “Best of the Best 5”? Or Michael Jai White? How awesome would it be to see Mark Dacascos or Marko Zaror in a “Best of the Best” sequel? Ditto for Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, or Bren Foster of “Life After Fighting” fame. And why only bring dudes on-board when tons of phenomenal female martial arts stars like Jeeja Yanin, JuJu Chan Szeto, or Amy Johnston being just as well-positioned for “Best of the Best 5”? The possibilities for Tommy Lee’s long-awaited return are as endless as they are exciting, and with Tommy Lee’s past four butt-kicking adventures so beloved by martial arts fans around the world, the side-by-side returns of Tommy Lee and Phillip Rhee truly could rank among the Best of the Best!
