“Very Good. But Brick Not Hit Back”: How Bolo Yeung’s One Line Defines the Legacy of ‘Bloodsport’

The Ultimate Legacy of 'Bloodsport'

As far as action movie lines go, it doesn’t get more memorable, awesome, or simply ultimate than this line from Bolo Yeung. An accomplished martial artist, bodybuilder, and actor in his own right, Yeung Sze, aka Bolo Yeung, became famous to Western audiences for his numerous villain roles in action and martial arts films of the '80s and '90s.

Yeung had an imposing physique that was the perfect counter to Van Damme’s thin, but still ripped, classical martial arts body type. The duo was such great foes that they faced off in several films over the era, with rematches from Bloodsport in other Van Damme vehicles like Double Impact, Breathing Fire, and Ironheart.

However, Yeung’s most iconic and remembered role is as Chong Li in Bloodsport, and his most iconic line actually comes quite early in the film, too, as Van Damme, a stranger competing in a strange land, must prove his worthiness to enter the Kumite death-battle tournament by performing the Dim Mak, which was taught to him by his Tanaka clan master.

“Very Good. But Brick Not Hit Back”

After successfully demonstrating the Dim Mak, a focused open-handed attack that blows up a brick from the bottom of a stack, Yeung’s Chong Li is not impressed. And to demonstrate his disdain, he utters the famous line:

“Very Good. But Brick Not Hit Back” - Chong Li (Bolo Yeung)

And there we have it. Chong Li, an imposing force who will go on in the film to nearly kill Frank Dux’s (Van Damme’s character) best friend in the tournament in battle, and who will deviously try to cheat to win in a final battle against Dux by blinding him with dust, is ultimately bested in a final fight for the ages.

Van Damme’s Dux, of course, emerges victorious, but not before risking losing everything he holds dear, including his new friendship, a budding relationship with a reporter who is at the secretive underground tournament for some reason, and even his citizenship, as he’s been tracked by two Criminal Investigation Command agents seeking his arrest for deserting the forces to compete in the Kumite.

Yet, in the annals of action movie history, Bloodsport is still the template for the perfect tournament-style martial arts film, and there have been few leads or bad guys who have matched the iconic level of Van Damme’s and Yeung’s performances.

In the end, the brick does hit back. And that’s why we, as film fans and aspiring action filmmakers, keep coming back as well.