Here's my impressions about RZA's movie debut. I never thought that this movie will get to cast good actors including Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, and a lot of Hong Kong martial arts actors. Here are some points.
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| Photo courtesy of UIP. |
RZA's character, The Blacksmith, also narrates. The only problem with the narration is the choice of words. He speaks not of that time period. He's using black slang. But he is an interesting skill and background. Russell Crowe's character, Jack Knife, really caught my attention. He has a weapon similar to Final Fantasy's gun blade. His speaking lines also have a religious slur in one of his scenes that may be seen as offensive so don't be surprised if you happen to hear it.
As for Lucy Liu, I can't differentiate her character, Madame Blossom, from Kill Bill Vol. 1's O-Ren Ishii but she is just as interesting. It is also Dave Bautista's first cinematic debut. The half-Pinoy pro-wrestler already appeared in several home videos.
There are a number of Asian actors which is essential for this movie. Story wise, even if you can't understand the story, it doesn't matter. The martial arts stunts will speak for itself. The blood in this movie flowed like rain. I think this movie deserves a video game. There are many characters and they make good fighting game characters. Most of the fight scenes are graphic. The Man With The Iron Fist is locally released by Solar Entertainment and distributed by United International Pictures.
Cerebral, this film isn't but since its a nod to 70's Kung-Fu films embellished with modern special effects, the film came out as a popcorn movie, with almost no depth in the story and with minimal character development due to the number of roles involved. The acting was cheesy at best but as mentioned, its a nod to 70's english dubbed kung fu films.
ReplyDeleteTitular character RZA was like bootleg beer. Bland, in both capacities as thespian & action hero. However the film is his, so.. you get the idea. Lu's character was sinister but redeemable. Initially helpless & useless Jaime Chung's character was equally flat & Batista, the typical musclehead WWE wrestler cast as himself--with armor. Crowe attempted to channel Seagal and succeeded somehow due to his uncomfortable girth. He could've, SHOULD have lost a few kilos before tackling on the role since it was obvious that body doubles were used for some of the shots, just like Sensei Steven.
The film was a waste of time in my opinion, a lengthy Wu Tang Clan music video with a touch of Tarantino.
Still, props to Tarantino for without him, this would be just another expensive chopsocky, wire effect/CGI generic slugfest.
"The Man With the Iron Fists" is the type of movie that feels like you are always coming in half-way through, even if you watch it from the beginning. As an exercise in genre, this is the highest compliment.
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