THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS (2012) Review

Directed by: RZA

Starring: RZA, Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu

As far as Tarantino-directed movies go I fucking love them all (definitely looking forward to DJANGO UNCHAINED) but the films with 'Quentin Tarantino Presents..." plastered all over their posters and dvd cases are an entirely different story. HERO? Loved it. HELLRIDE? Complete crap. So I was a bit wary in the lead-up to watching IRON FISTS. What eventually won me over was Eli Roth's name and even though I'm not a Wu-Tang fan at all, I know of their affinity with all things kung fu and so I was pretty sure RZA could at least craft a half decent throwback film. As for his acting ability... well that's a different matter entirely.

The plot is fairly simple. RZA plays a blacksmith who lives and works in a small village in feudal china. This village is also home to several warring factions including a group of warriors known as the Lion Clan. The leader Gold Lion is betrayed and killed by Silver Lion. Gold Lion's son X-Blade understandably wants revenge and along the way joins up with the blacksmith and Jack Knife (Crowe) a British emissary for the Emperor.
There's also a ton of gold being fought over, a brothel full of assassin whores and a beefcake who can change his skin into bronze. Add in a cast of eclectic characters, some wacky weapons and an assload of fight sequences and that pretty much wraps things up.

I'm confused as to why I've been hearing so much bad feedback in regards to this film. What exactly do people expect from a kung fu movie directed by one of the Wu-Tang clan and a tagline which reads 'You can't spell Kung Fu without F and U'? The trailer itself is enough to inform you that what you're going to watch is an homage to all of the old chop socky flicks of the 70s. It's not supposed to be a serious film so nobody should take it seriously.

IRON FISTS does definitely have its issues though, the biggest I think being that the movie focuses on RZA's blacksmith character. It's almost as if an old kung fu movie has been taken and the blacksmith character has been spliced in. I would have preferred if it focused on X-Blade and his quest for vengeance rather than RZA and his emotionless performance for an hour and a half. His narration isn't any better either.
The story is quite disjointed too although this may be due to the fact that the original cut was four hours long and they've decided to slice it down to a mere 90 minutes. That's a lot of missing footage. Russell Crowe's character didn't really add much to the film either and most of the time I was wondering why the fuck he was even there.

On the plus side however the movie looks fucking great. The costumes and sets are really nicely designed and detailed, the weapons are inventive, there's plenty of blood and dismemberment and the fight choreography is great. The dialogue isn't the best but whether this is done purposely to reference those cheesy kung fu flicks of old I can't be sure. There are also a heap of film references in here to if you keep an eye out. The overall style of the film is heavily reminiscent of some of Tarantino's work especially KILL BILL (the inclusion of Lucy Liu doesn't help) as well as classic kung fu films and anime. The fight scenes involve a lot of that physics-defying action that you see in a lot of martial arts films and the crazy hair and eyebrows bring back memories of watching that cheesy fucking TV show MONKEY MAGIC.

So the story may not be great, the dialogue and acting may be sub-par and the main character is an emotionless bore, but personally I think the entertainment factor and the sheer ludicrous fun easily make-up for these flaws. If you're a fan of classic kung fu films you're in for a treat, as long as you don't take this movie too seriously. It's far from the best movie I've seen this year but it's far from the worst as well. Would I watch it again? Probably. Would I recommend it to my friends? Easily.

THE RAID (2012) Review

Directed by: Gareth Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Donny Alamsyah

If anybody tried to tell me that an almost plotless Indonesian action movie was going to be one of the best and most exciting films of the year I probably would have told them that they were fucking crazy. First of all the only other Indonesian movie I can recall seeing was RUMA DARAH (MACABRE) and that was decent at best. And secondly, as much as I enjoy a good action movie I will be the first to admit that they are rarely ever brilliant. But now all of a sudden THE RAID has come along and blown my fucking mind.

As I mentioned there's barely anything you would call a story here, but what there is of a story revolves around a group of 20 SWAT officers who are preparing to infiltrate an apartment building. But this is not just any building, it's a hive of scum and villainy which is reigned over by a crime lord named Tama. Tama is the kind of guy who thinks that he's invincible, as the building has been fought over by warring factions many times in the past and he's still top dog. He dispatches his men (and his two right hand men Andi & Mad Dog) to take out the cops while he sits on the 15th floor monitoring everything. There is some subplot involving cop Rama (Uwais)'s brother but that's really not too important. Basically this is a big building filled with an assload of bad guys carrying knives, machetes and guns.

I also mentioned earlier that this is an Indonesian movie and therefore no it isn't in English and yes it you will have to read subtitles. I know this gets some people upset and there will no doubt be people saying things like "But I can't read at the same time that I'm watching stuff happen!" Don't despair though, because since there is minimal plot the dialogue isn't really that important for the most part, and while the movie is running along at full throttle (basically all the time) there is hardly any dialogue to worry about. So basically what I'm saying is that you can still watch THE RAID while ignoring the subtitles and still know exactly what's going on. Perfect.

Now since this is an action movie I suppose I should say something about the action sequences. First I will say that they fucking kick ass. Then if you were to ask me which ones were the best I would reply by saying "all of them!" That's right, every single fight scene or shoot-out in this movie is amazing. This is a very punchy, stabby, shooty movie chock full of violence and some of it is actually pretty brutal. I don't mean in the sense that there are people tearing each others limbs off or biting out throats of anything like that. (there aren't) but I mean simply in the way that everything is done without hesitation. A cop unflinchingly shoots a kid. Another has a bad guy on the floor and pumps not one, or two but three bullets into his skull. You know, just to make sure. And another repeatedly slams a guy's head against a concrete wall.

Everything about the action sequences is brilliantly done. The choreography, the way everything is framed and there are even some kickass super slow motion parts. One scene where the muzzle flare from a shotgun lights up a pitch black room and you see shadows moving across the walls in slo-mo is just fucking excellent. And the Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat really adds a nice flavor to the whole film.

But surely THE RAID has its negative points too, right? Well yes and no. You could easily criticise the weak plot and the imperfect acting and dialogue, but that would be like criticising a drama for having shitty action scenes. This kind of movie doesn't need top shelf acting or a deep plot, in fact a more in depth story would have just slowed things down, and that's exactly what THE RAID doesn't need. And just to prove how awesome this movie is, a US remake is already in the works (I'm not saying that's a good thing, just that it proves how good the original is). Go see this movie. Now.