FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/25/20

 

Some movies take material that's unused or left over from other films, shoot new footage to augment it, and repackage it all as a new film. But every once in a while a movie is such a mishmash of various elements that it looks like something out of Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory.

Which brings us to the 1980 martial arts monstrosity FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH (Film Detective), one of the most stupefyingly shameless Bruce Lee death-sploitation pastiches you'll ever see.

Being that he was the most popular martial arts superstar of all time, Bruce Lee's death brought on an endless parade of cash-ins that used either random footage of the man himself or lookalikes pretending to be him, or both, all hoping to appeal to fans of actual Bruce Lee films such as ENTER THE DRAGON.

Here, exploitation producer Terry Levene discovered a print of a black and white film called "Thunderstorm" which featured a very young Bruce Lee in a pedestrian family drama.

Redubbing it to turn it into a story of a young man who wants to be a martial artist despite his parents' wishes, Levene also added lengthy scenes from an unrelated samurai film as flashbacks, its lead character now identified as Bruce's great-grandfather who was a great warrior.

But Levene wasn't done yet. To this he added new scenes with action star Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, martial arts legend Ron "The Black Dragon" Van Clief, and fight promoter and star Aaron Banks, in a wraparound scenario which takes place during a major fight event at Madison Square Garden in which a new successor to Bruce Lee is to be named.

Some of the ring action is as fake as WWE wrestling (one fighter plucks out an opponent's eyeballs and tosses them to the fans) but there are also some exhibitions of skill and a climactic kickboxing match.

With Banks promoting the actual event, a non-union film crew was allowed access disguised as a TV news crew, including golden-voiced actor Adolph Caesar (who would later be nominated for an Oscar for A SOLDIER'S STORY) serving as both sports commentator and the film's narrator.

Caesar's narration and interviews with actual fight stars give the film a mockumentary quality at times, and his reminiscences about Bruce Lee's early life serve to introduce the "Thunderstorm" footage.

This storyline fails to generate much interest save for the novelty of seeing the charming young star playing a "gee whiz" teen who just wants to skip homework and attend the big karate match.  The "samurai" scenes are even less compelling since we keep joining them in progress and don't really know or care what's going on in them.

In fact, when the film starts juggling scenes from these different old movies in earnest, you may want to start chapter skipping through them just to see what this dizzying patchwork narrative has in store for us next.

I like the Fred Williamson storyline, with some funny touches such as having everyone mistake him for Harry Belafonte. When he fights over a taxi with a nerdy white dude in a suit, I even laughed out loud at the obviousness of the guy's name (scripter Ron Harvey as "Jasper Milktoast").

Later, martial arts star Bill Louie rescues two women from being raped in the park, fighting off a horde of thugs while dressed as Bruce Lee's character "Kato" from TV's "The Green Hornet." And interlaced with all this is actual interview footage of Bruce Lee, dubbed with new dialogue.

Restored from the original 35mm camera negative, the print is not bad at all for an old grindhouse flick such as this. Special features include trailers and a lengthy making-of featurette with Levene, Harvey, Williamson, Van Clief, and director Matthew Mallinson which I actually found more enjoyable than the feature (!) The keepcase includes liner notes from Will Sloan and Justin Decloux, hosts of The Important Cinema Club podcast.

Bottom line: if you get a kick out of this sort of cinematic oddity, then you know just what you're in for and should view FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH in a state of giddy delight. If not, then chances are you'll like it about as much as a swift kick in the teeth.




SPECIAL FEATURES

    Restoration from the original 35mm camera negative
    A featurette of behind-the-camera takes on the film in brand new interviews with Fist of Fear, Touch of Death actors Fred Willaimson and Ron Van Clief, producer Terry Levene, director Matthew Mallinson, and scriptwriter Ron Harvey
    Original theatrical trailer
    Liner notes from Will Sloan and Justin Decloux, hosts of The Important Cinema Club podcast

Release Date: 3-31-2020
Runtime: 82 minutes
Genre: Action
Language: English
Rating: R
Color/BW: Color

FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

BREAKER! BREAKER! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 3/11/16

 

I wouldn't have been caught dead going to a redneck trucker flick in 1977.  Or even renting it or watching it on HBO in 1988.  Especially if it had anything to do with CB radios, which I regarded with utter disdain.  Not only did I not see movies like CONVOY back in the day, but the C.W. McCall song itself made my soul hurt.

But that was then.  Now, in retrospect, I can enjoy a low-rent indy truck opera like Chuck Norris' BREAKER! BREAKER! (1977) as I bask in its retro-retro charm.  In fact, this simple little tale of good guys vs. bad guys and righteousness against injustice is such utterly unassuming and straightforward fun that its purity is practically bracing.

In only his first starring role, Chuck is hardly the fabled Superman he would later become although he can already spin-kick his share of butt.  Here, with his youth and lack of facial hair making him look a bit unformed, he's an easygoing truck driver who'd rather mind his own business than have to prove how tough he is.

 
But prove it he must when his younger brother, Billy, gets detoured through the small town of Texas City, California during his very first trucker run and finds out its one of those places where everyone is dishonest, especially the scummy police and the man who runs everything as mayor, judge, and whatever else he wants to be at any particular time--namely, the loathesome Judge Joshua Trimmings. 

The Judge is played by familiar character actor George Murdock (EARTHQUAKE, ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN), who was born to play a smalltown tyrant in a baggy off-white suit.  (Not to mention God in STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER.)  He convicts our hapless Billy of various cooked up crimes and sentences him to pay up or go to jail. 

Billy balks, gets beaten up, and disappears.  Cue big brother Chuck coming to town to rescue him and you've pretty much got the rest of the plot figured out.

The big rig angle actually comes into play only at the very beginning of the film and again for its finale, with most of the running time consisting of Chuck dealing with the local yokels (this is one of those Southern-like towns that seems to have been plunked right down in the middle of California) who are all either shining him on or trying to kill him.

Chuck, needless to say, handles himself capably but does so with a minimum of fancy fight choreography, making do with a well-placed spin-kick here and there in addition to some good old-fashioned fisticuffs.

Even the big fight at the end is kept fairly simple, save for lots of slow-motion a la "The Six Million Dollar Man." The mayhem tends to be on the lighter side, too, with nary a fractured limb or geyser of blood spewing from someone's mouth after a crushing blow.

Murdock, naturally, takes home the acting honors, while ERASERHEAD's Jack Nance gets to overact as a manic redneck trucker.  As for Chuck, his skills are pretty basic here--in one scene, it looks as though director Don Hulette filmed closeups of him expressing various emotions so that he could simply insert them wherever needed.  Of course, it's not like we really watch Chuck Norris movies for the acting.

As Arlene, a local woman and single mother who sides with Chuck against the town's corruption and becomes his romantic interest, Terry O'Connor is an appealing presence.  Their romance is quick and virtually without dialogue, with a brief, sappy ballad and a montage of them strolling around in the woods for a minute sufficing to encapsulate their courtship. 

The Blu-ray from Olive Films is in widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound.  No subtitles.  The sole extra is the film's trailer.

With all of Chuck's trucker friends converging on the town for what might be called a "smashing" finale, BREAKER! BREAKER! finally breaks a sweat after pleasantly coasting along like a big rig on a downward grade for an hour-and-a-half.  It's hardly a blockbuster action thriller, but if you love the 70s, then movies like this are probably one of the reasons why.


Release date: March 22, 2016

Pictures shown are not taken from the Blu-ray

BREAKER! BREAKER! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 3/12/17

 

"My first two kung fu movies consisted of a double feature of super-cheap, super-obscure flicks at my local cinema one night back in the early 70s.  The titles have long receded into the sodden recesses of my memory but I wouldn't be surprised if their trailers appear somewhere on this disc."

My review of the previous kung fu trailer collection from Severin Films, KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, began with this poignant moment of wistful nostalgia, and the same goes double for this new follow-up disc.

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, or "The Night the Kung Fu Trailers of Fury Came Home--Again", is more and more, and yet still more (35, to be exact)  gloriously goofy previews of all those cheapo kung fu flicks that were being churned out by the rickshaw-load in Hong Kong back in the 70s. 

 

Rest assured, this bursting-at-the-seams batch of fists 'n' feet potboilers contains no CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON-level epics.  It's all gloriously grade Z, as though Ed Wood himself had opened up a school for action directors in Hong Kong.

Often these condensed versions are better than the actual feature films, because they cut out all the boring exposition and lame character interplay and get right down to the pure, unadulterated chop-socky action. 

And that's what this non-stop parade of trailers is--just one furious clash after another, accompanied by some deathless dialogue and hilarious text exclamations such as "Intriguing story!" and "Good Actors From Many Nations Makes This Film Outstanding!"

 

The collection features about an equal ratio of contemporary urban dramas and historical tales with lots of flowing white hair and bushy eyebrows. Regardless of the technical quality of each individual film, the stuntwork and choreography are rarely short of amazing.

First up is THUNDERBOLT, and right off the bat there's some of that incredibly fake-looking wirework that we all love. YELLOW-FACED TIGER is yet another "new Bruce Lee" flick, this time offering Don Wong as the hero and none other than a young Chuck Norris as a formidable bad guy with an equally formidable moustache.

THE STORY OF CHINESE GODS, described as "China's first full-length color animation feature!" boasts a 3-eyed Bruce Lee character and some not-so-hot animated action.

 

Other titles include BRUCE AND THE IRON FINGER, SHAOLIN INVINCIBLE STICKS, INVISIBLE TERRORIST, REVENGE OF THE SHAOLIN KID, HELL’S WINDSTAFF, THUNDERING MANTIS, THE LEGENDARY STRIKE, KUNG FU KILLERS, CRAZY HORSE & INTELLIGENT MONKEY, THE AVENGING BOXER, and SNUFF-BOTTLE CONNECTION.  They add up to a full 134 minutes.

My favorite moment comes during the preview for a wacky comedy called KUNG FU MASTER NAMED DRUNKEN CAT, which, in addition to its distinct Benny Hill influence, makes this bold promise to potential viewers: "It's John Cheung vs. The Midget! Funny!"

It's interesting to see these trailers in Blu-ray since they're so wonderfully battered and scratched-up in the great grindhouse style.  Are we supposed to be happy that all the scratches and imperfections that make these old trailers so distinctive are now in high-def? 

Having grown up watching old movie prints in theaters and on late-night TV, I love that old beat-up look. These trailers have it in abundance, and it suits me just fine to see it so well-preserved here.  

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound and English subtitles.  The wall-to-wall commentary track is highly informative thanks to a panel of kung fu cinema experts including writer Ric Meyers ("Films of Fury"), Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival), Ric Stelow (Drunken Master Video), and martial arts instructor Greg Schiller. 

If you got a kick out of Severin's first volume of kung fu trailers, then RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY should strike your fancy as well.  It's solid entertainment for lovers of no-frills kung fu cinema. 

Buy it from Severin Films

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/18/16

 

My first two kung fu movies consisted of a double feature of super-cheap, super-obscure flicks at my local cinema one night back in the early 70s.  The titles have long receded into the sodden recesses of my memory but I wouldn't be surprised if their trailers appear somewhere on this disc. 

For fans of Hong Kong chop-socky cinema, Severin Films' KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY doesn't disappoint.  I mean, how could they mess up something as simple as a collection of kick-ass martial arts movie trailers?

This baby is wall-to-wall chops, socks, kicks, flips, bad subtitles, insane wirework, and general weirdness of a kind that can only be found in the wildest and most creative examples of the martial arts genre. 

These newly-rediscovered trailers give us an overview of the early Hong Kong action films, whether contemporary crime dramas or the period mini-epics that mix fanciful Chinese historical atmosphere with furious kung fu action.

Many of them are part of the "Bruce-ploitation" wave of films that followed the death of superstar Bruce Lee, who helped popularize such films in the West, by cashing in on his image and offering a series of clone versions such as Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, and Bruce Leung.  

We also get to see Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris in some of their early screen moments, as well as the young Sammo Hung who played up his "weighty" stature in such films as ENTER THE FAT DRAGON. 

Since the majority of these films were churned out like sausage, they're cheap, quick, and usually a lot of bad-movie fun with some amazing martial arts on display.  Given the rushed schedules on these films, much of the fight choreography is amazing.   

Their frenetic trailers are an interesting montage of the evolution of the genre, how it became Hong Kong's equivalent of the matinee western, how it came to capture the imaginations first of a country and then an entire world, and how it was eventually refined into something of an art form in itself.

To keep us abreast of who's who during this dizzying parade of film highlights, the disc offers an informative commentary track by experts Ric Meyers (author of "Films of Fury"), Michael Worth (author of "The Bruceploitation Bible"), Martial Arts Instructor Greg Schiller, and Rick Stelow of Drunken Master Video.

I was going to watch the film first and then watch it again with the commentary, but soon realized that since I can't understand anything the actors are saying and it's all subtitled anyway, I might as well just put on the commentary track to begin with. 

This turned out great since Rick and company are fountains of knowledge and enthusiasm for these films and to hear them discuss the trailers as we watch gives a whole new level of appreciation for them.   (I especially enjoyed hearing about the first meeting between Bruce Lee and Sammo Hung.)

The Blu-ray from Severin Films also contains the featurettes "A Brief History of Kung Fu Cinema" with Meyers and fellow expert Frank Djeng, and "The Way of the Cube", the story of a UK cinema devoted to showing martial arts films (where the original 35mm trailers were rediscovered).

Some of the trailers included in this collection are: THE WAY OF THE DRAGON, FISTS OF BRUCE LEE, KUNG FU VS. YOGA, DEATH BLOW, TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN, DAGGERS 8, SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW, SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN, THE DAMNED, THE STORY OF DRUNKEN MASTER, ENTER THE FAT DRAGON, and BRUTAL BOXER.

While the Blu-ray's picture quality is fine, the trailers themselves still retain their aged "grindhouse" look, just the way you might've seen them on the big screen way back when.  For me, this is a nostalgic plus.

KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY is non-stop kung fu action without plots or dialogue scenes to get in the way--just a potpourri of freaky, frenetic, and often dazzling kung fu filmmaking that's done on the cheap but with lots of skill and, more importantly, lots of heart.

KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

SHAW BROTHERS COLLECTION II -- DVD Review by Porfle

(Brothers Five/ Holy Flame of the Martial World/ Journey of the Doomed/ Brave Archer and His Mate)

Originally posted in 2010

More lightning fists, flying feet, and clanging blades collide in SHAW BROTHERS COLLECTION II, a four-disc DVD set containing further fantastic adventures in the "Sword Masters" series. 


BROTHERS FIVE (1970), a raucous frenzy of clashing swords and impossible feats of derring-do, has just enough story to string together one blade brawl after another. We're back in ancient China again, where evil Long Zhen Feng (Feng Tien) and the villainous cutthroats of Flying Dragon villa keep the countryside in a state of terror.  Young swordsman Gao Wei (Yueh Hua) travels there to settle an old score with Long Zhen Feng, who murdered his father and took over the villa from him. 

On his way there, he meets beautiful Miss Yan (Cheng Pei Pei), who informs him that he has four brothers and that it was his father's dying wish that they someday reunite and avenge him.  Eventually the five brothers--Gao Wei, burly blacksmith Gao Hao, scholar Gao Zhi (Kao Yuan), dashing bandit Gao Xia (Lo Leih), and Security Bureau chief Gao Yong (Chang I)--join forces to take on the bad guys.

Once the exposition is taken care of, the story barely gets in the way of a succession of battle scenes that seem to crop up every few minutes or so.  Blacksmith Gao Hao settles an altercation in the street with the Flying Dragons by swinging his mighty hammer with deadly effect, while Shaolin-trained bookworm Gao Zhi has a nifty battle against two of them in a restaurant.  Gao Yong's Security Bureau men are ambushed and wiped out on an isolated road, and his assistant Chu, played by a very young Sammo Hung, is killed. 

Most of the fighting takes place in and around the Flying Dragon villa, with the brothers going up against impossible odds time after time.  The group choreography is excellent, with foreground fighters surrounded by several other fairly realistic battles going on all around them.  There's plenty of sword-clanging action and some pleasingly fake wirework, including one astounding shot in which kung fu mistress Miss Yan makes her escape by suddenly and inexplicably flying away like Superman.  The drawback here is that a monotonous sameness begins to set in after awhile, with one drawn-out clash beginning to pretty much resemble the next.  But it's all solidly directed by Wei Lo and expertly performed.

The topper comes after Miss Yan introduces the brothers to the special Five Tigers kung fu technique ("Five tigers, one heart") which requires five men with different skills to pull it off.  During their climactic free-for-all against a seemingly invincible Long Zhen Feng, they go into their rotating Five Tigers formation, which resembles one of those razzle-dazzle cheerleader formations and is pretty funny to look at.  The five brothers whirl around in this position for awhile, which seems to confuse Long Zhen Feng and leave him open to attack, so they start leaping at him.  I won't give away the exciting conclusion.

With nice period atmosphere, furious swordplay and martial arts mayhem, and likable characters (Miss Yan is particularly captivating and the brothers are a robust bunch), BROTHERS FIVE overcomes a tendency toward occasional monotony and is ultimately a pretty colorful and entertaining adventure. 

Making just about every other movie in the world seem slow-moving and mundane in comparison, HOLY FLAME OF THE MARTIAL WORLD (1983) is about as close to a total cinematic freak-out as you could imagine. 

Wan Ching Chung and his wife are killed by white-haired, bushy-eyebrowed Grand Master Jing Yin (Leanne Lau) and her associate Monster Yu (Jason Pai Piao) after they're forced to reveal the location of the Creed of the Holy Flame.  The Phantom (Philip Kwok) swoops in and rescues the dead couple's baby boy Wan Tien Sau, pledging that in 18 years the boy will return to get revenge.  Jing Yin takes their baby girl Dan Fung and raises her as a warrior in the all-female Er Mei clan, telling her that the Phantom killed her parents. 

Eighteen years later, Wan Tien Sau (Max Mok) is sent off to seek the Holy Flame.  Along the way, he rescues the beautiful Juan Er (Mary Jean Reimer) from the evil Blood Sucking Clan and she inadvertently gains great power in her index finger after touching an enchanted snake's bladder.  Meanwhile, Jing Yin, who possesses a Yin version of the Holy Flame, sends Dan Fung to avenge herself against the Phantom and retrieve the Holy Flame's Yang counterpart, which will give Jing Yin great power.  This sets the stage for a series of battles like you wouldn't believe between Wan Tien Sau, Dan Fung, Jing Yin and Monster Yu, Monster Yu's impetuous young apprentice Duan, Golden Snake Boy, the wacky Eight Righteous Clans, and Juan Er's Mighty Finger.

I just don't know what to think about this movie.  It's like taking an acid trip on a rollercoaster.  I'd call it cartoonish, but I doubt if even Tex Avery ever made a cartoon with such a breakneck pace and rapid-fire editing, nor such a dizzying, non-stop bombardment of bizarre images.  Director Tony Liu Jun-guk couldn't be less concerned with how realistic the wirework is, which doesn't matter anyway because characters continuously zip around all over the place in fast-motion like a bunch of flying speed freaks.  In addition to this is the precision fight choreography that is quite impressive, and lots of colorful FX animation.

The characters also display a wonderful variety of super-powers.  The Phantom's main weapon is his "Ghostly Laugh"--he sits crosslegged and convulses with broad, forced laughter, creating a deadly cyclone all around him which terrifies Jing Yin and Monster Yu until they learn how to make their ears close up by themselves.  In return, they attack with the horrific Bone Incineration By Fire and Merry-Go-Round techniques.  Wan Tien Sau is able to make his Devil Sword fly around as though he were operating it with an invisible remote control. 

Blaring music and an endless cacophony of sound effects bombard the viewer along with the freakish visuals.  One of the best sequences is when a 1,000-year-old corpse, which Lam May Heung brought home from a trip out West, comes to life spouting English phrases such as "I KILL YOU!" and, sure enough, decides to kill him.  Another is Wan Tien Sau's search for the Holy Flame inside the Moon Cavern, where he's attacked by cool cartoon ghosts and giant Chinese text that pops off the floor and flies around trying to do him in. 

From the moment this utterly kooky film bursts out of the gate it just doesn't stop, plunging headlong through a rapid-fire succession of breathtakingly off-the-wall scenes until the hilarious conclusion.  Possibly the downright nuttiest movie I've ever seen, ever, HOLY FLAME OF THE MARTIAL WORLD is funny, exciting, stupefying, and wonderfully endearing.

After HOLY FLAME, 1985's JOURNEY OF THE DOOMED seems positively sedate.  Despite some comedy here and there, it's mainly a tale of tragic romance with intermittent swordplay and some surprisingly adult elements.

The madame of a classy brothel, Big Sister, gets in hot water with an evil client named Mr. Duan after he cruelly breaks in a new girl whose best friend, Shui-erh, an orphan whom Big Sister has raised since childhood, throws a snake at him.  Shui-erh is actually the illegitimate daughter of a prince who's next in line to become Emperor, and Big Sister figures that this scandalous information will be valuable to the second-in-line prince so she reveals it to him in return for squaring things with Duan.  Second Prince sends the Three Knights--Fei-hsia, Xi Ma Cross, and Swallow 13--to capture Shui-erh so he can show her to Dad, while First Brother sends bad warrior Shan and two murderous Black Dragon Order swordswomen, Spicy Double Wind Eel and Monkey Lin, to kill everyone in the brothel.

Shui-erh escapes into the woods and is helped by a handsome young fisherman whom she calls "Knight."  It turns out that he is the younger brother of Spicy Double Wind Eel, which complicates things a bit.  Shui-erh and Knight fall in love while living in the secluded beach shack of a kindly mute girl, but Shui-erh becomes jealous of her and runs away, falling into the hands of the Three Knights.  Fei-hsia, who is in love with Shan and under his hypnotic spell, makes off with Shui-erh before she can be taken to the palace and delivers her to Shan at the Mysterious Fire Village, where a fierce battle between Shan and the Knights takes place over the fate of the future princess.

Director Chuen-Yee Cha's JOURNEY OF THE DOOMED has few major action setpieces compared to most Shaw Brothers films, and there isn't a lot of effort put into making the characters' fighting skills look all that convincing.  The main emphasis is on the love story, which is less than riveting.  Much of the middle part of the film resembles one of those BLUE LAGOON-type flicks about young lovers cavorting in the wild, with Shui-erh's spoiled brattiness getting a bit trying after awhile.  The lack of chemistry between the two actors is obvious when they kiss--she keeps her lips pressed firmly together as though being forced to eat spinach, while he practically tries to suck her entire face into his mouth.

Still, leather-clad babe Monkey Lin is entertaining whether taking on a bunch of inept guys just for fun or having it out with Spicy Double Wind Eel when she tries to kill her brother.  Most startling is the sequence in which Monkey and Spicy slaughter the prostitutes of Big Sister's brothel, and the final battle at Mysterious Fire Village is impressively staged.  There isn't much wirework here and fantasy elements are kept to such a minimum that when animated light beams eminate from Shan's eyes as he hypnotizes Fei-hsia, it seems almost out of place.

What sets this film apart is the nudity and softcore sex.  An early scene with Big Sister and her brothel partner gettin' it on is totally gratuitous, but the fact that she's so gorgeous makes it my favorite part of the movie.  Mr. Duan's session with the virgin Xio Cai is considerably less romantic, as he whips and even brands her while roughly availing himself of her supple body.  Later, things get sappy during Shui-erh and Knight's idyllic wilderness interlude, which even includes one of those cutesy montages set to the tune of a bad 80s power ballad.  This entire sequence slows the movie down and it doesn't pick up again until we get to the Mysterious Fire Village.

After recently watching several Shaw Brothers films which are loaded with wall-to-wall action and fantasy, JOURNEY OF THE DOOMED comes as a letdown.  It does have its charming moments and a certain amount of excitement, but it isn't a film I'll feel compelled to revisit any time soon.

Probably the most frustrating movie in the collection is Chang Cheh's BRAVE ARCHER AND HIS MATE (1982), because while it features a generous amount of impressive hand-to-hand combat, acrobatics, and swordplay, the story is a cluttered patchwork that makes little sense.

I won't even begin to try and unravel the knotty plot with all of its superflous and dead-end elements except to say that it begins with hero Kuo Tsing (Philip Kwok) and his beloved wife Huang Yung (Gigi Wong) becoming the guardians of an orphaned baby boy named Yang Guo after a deadly encounter with the evil Ouyang Fung (Wong Lik) in Iron Spear Temple.  The baby grows up to become a flakey slacker (Alexander Fu Sheng) who gets picked on by his foster parents' other kung fu pupils until he discovers Ouyang Fung still living in the abandoned temple.  The crazed old man, who has lost his memory, desires a son and offers to teach Yang Guo his invincible Frog Skill kung fu if he'll call him "father." 

Still a goofball but now armed with the power of the Frog technique, Yang Guo is tricked into thinking that his real father, Yang Kang, was a hero who was murdered by Kuo Tsing and Huang Yung.  His ill-fated alliance with Ouyang Fung seems to set up the rest of the plot until the movie takes a sudden left turn and ends up in a monastery where Kuo Tsing takes Yang Guo and fellow pupil Wu Sau Man (Chin Siu-Ho) to be mentored by his former teachers.  There's a whole other subplot about suitors coming to the monastery in order to duel for the hand of a mysterious woman who lives in a tomb (it's a long story).  Between the ardent suitors and the hostile apprentices of the monks, Kuo Tsing and his two charges find themselves in one furious battle after another until the movie simply screeches to a halt as though the DVD had gotten stuck.

I haven't seen any of the other "Brave Archer" films (this is the fourth) but I assume that they must have some archery in them since this one doesn't.  There is, however, a lot of carefully-staged action that is worth wading through the muddled plot for.  The melodramatic early scenes in the Iron Spear Temple are overly laden with exposition but feature some good fights, while the climactic sequence in and around the Quanzhen Sect's monastery is non-stop sword-clanging and kung fu fun.  In between, the business with crazy old Ouyang Fung returning to make trouble leads to some good clashes as well.  What weighs the film down, however, is the fact that all of this action is unsupported by a coherent story.

Philip Kwok is always a welcome presence in these films and Gigi Wong is beautiful and appealing as Huang Yung, while Wen Hsueh-erh is cute as a button as their daughter, Guo Fu.  Unfortunately, her character disappears halfway through the movie.  Wong Lik is a lot of fun as Ouyang Fung but he also drops out long before the extended end sequence. 

Worst of all is Alexander Fu Sheng's supposedly funny Yang Guo, who would be more at home in a "Bill and Ted" movie than in this one.  The relentlessly unamusing Yang Guo gets harder to take as the story progresses, ultimately becoming rather repellent.  The film ends with a freeze-frame closeup of him mugging like an idiot while the story remains frustratingly unresolved.

It would be nice if BRAVE ARCHER AND HIS MATE had been about Brave Archer and his mate, instead of devoting so much of its running time to the painfully uninteresting and pointless Yang Guo character.  As it is, the film fails to weave a compelling story out of its various plot threads and is watchable mainly for its furious action scenes. 

As with the first Shaw Brothers collection, each of the four DVDs in this set from Well Go USA, Inc. and Celestial Pictures is widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.  Soundtrack is in Mandarin with English and Chinese subtitles.  The theatrical trailer for each film is included.  SHAW BROTHERS COLLECTION II is a mixed bag, containing two rousing and highly-entertaining adventures along with a couple of somewhat less successful efforts.  As with most SB films, all are worth watching, but you may not find them all worth re-watching.

SHAW BROTHERS COLLECTION II -- DVD Review by Porfle

SHAW BROTHERS COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

(THE HEROIC ONES/ THE BATTLE WIZARD/ THE DUEL OF THE CENTURY/ TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN)

 

Originally posted 5/6/2010

 

Here's something Hong Kong action fans will want to check out--the four-disc SHAW BROTHERS COLLECTION, which contains four furious fight films from their "Sword Masters" series.

THE HEROIC ONES (1970) is a rousing tale of ancient China that's a feast for fans of sword and spear action done on a grand scale. As the Tang Dynasty wanes, warlords Li Ke Yong and Zhu Wen become allies in the fight against bandit leader Wang Chao, who has taken over the capital city of Changon. Li Ke Yong's thirteen generals, whom he has adopted and regards as sons, are fierce super-warriors who love a good battle as much as they love getting drunk and making whoopee. He chooses nine of them to be led by thirteenth son Chun Xiao in a mission to retake Changon and kill Wang. But fourth son Li Cun Xin is jealous of the young general and wants more glory for himself, which will lead to him and another son joining Zhu Wen in a bloody betrayal of Li Ke Yong and the other generals.

Cheh Chang's direction is old-style with lots of restless hand-held camera and whiplash zooms. But with a big budget to work with, he offers up an opulent display of elaborate sets and costumes with hundreds of extras. His battle scenes are often spectacular, featuring some impressive choreography involving numerous actors performing long, complicated bits of business. Swords and spears clash furiously as the generals take on waves of opponents and rack up body counts well into the hundreds. There's some less than convincing wirework as Chun Xiao and his brothers execute a few super-human moves here and there, but it's all part of the fun.

The battle for Changon is an early highlight which is surpassed later on when Li Ke Yong is kidnapped by Zhu Weng and is rescued by courageous general Ju Li, who must fight his way through dozens of soldiers on a bridge as the enemy stronghold goes up in flames. Throughout the film, the action is eye-filling and intense.

A lighthearted mood fills the early part of the story as we get to know the comically self-confident and cocky Heroic Ones, who revel in the fact that they can defeat just about anyone and have fun celebrating their invincibility with plenty of wine and women. As thirteenth son Chun Xiao, David Chiang does a good job taking his character from brash insouciance to wounded disillusionment as the story takes on tragic proportions. What happens in the latter half of the film is pretty heavy stuff, with the final confrontation between brothers carrying quite a lot of emotional weight along with the action.


I wasn't expecting an epic when I started watching THE HEROIC ONES, but it certainly does its best to resemble one. In addition to being an opulent historical piece, it also has elements of the Italian western and war films such as THE DIRTY DOZEN. And there's a gripping story to go along with all of that beautifully-staged carnage.


If you ever wondered what Hong Kong action flicks look like to crazy people, THE BATTLE WIZARD (1977) should give you a good idea. This is one seriously nutty flick that left me doubting my own sanity even more than usual.

As the film opens, the Emperor's brother Tuan Zhengchun is caught messing around with Hongmian, the wife of Yellow Robe Man, and when her husband attacks, Zhengchun defends himself by using "Yi Yang Finger", which he performs by making pretend shooting motions with his index fingers and firing destructor beams that sever Yellow Robe Man's legs. Yellow Robe Man swears revenge, and twenty years later we see him in his chintzy-looking cave lair with a new pair of telescoping robot bird legs, ordering his cackling monster henchman Canglong to kidnap Zhengchun's son, prince Tuan Yu.

This is just the set up. We then find that Tuan Yu has left the palace because he's a pacifist scholar who doesn't want to learn martial arts ("One could get hurt, and very sweaty," he fears) and wants to see if he can survive in the outside world without them. Needless to say, everyone within fifty miles starts attacking him and he is aided by an enchanted snake-handling girl named Ling-erh, who throws glowing green snakes at the leader of the Poisonous Moths Clan which burrow under his skin. Tuan Yu escapes and seeks help from the dreaded witch-woman Xiang Yaocha, who has sworn that if any man sees her veiled face she will either marry him or kill him. Tuan Yu sees her face, of course, and after they're betrothed he discovers that she is his half-sister, Wanqing, by his father and Hongmian.

All of this brings us to the film's free-for-all finale in which Yellow Robe Man conspires with another warlord to capture Tuan Yu and Wanqing so that Tuan Zhengchun and his wife will be lured to their doom. The young protagonists are hurled into a pit where they are attacked by a "giant gorilla", which is a man hopping around in one of the worst gorilla suits in film history. Tuan Yu, who now has super powers after drinking the blood of the Red Python and eating a glowing green frog (don't ask), takes on the various bad guys and their minions amidst a flurry of hyperkinetic editing, colorful animated special effects, and visuals that seem to have been conceived by a committee of schizophrenics. My favorite part of the whole thing is the sight of a wildly-emoting Yellow Robe Man stalking around on his metallic bird-leg stilts.


Hsueh Li Pao's direction and editing are all over the place in some scenes but that only contributes to the disorienting strangeness of this wacky cartoonish adventure. There are several fun setpieces including the fight with the Poisonous Moths Clan, Wanquing's frenetic battle with a group of bandits (in which she displays her great skill with the "bone-cutting sword" technique), and Tuan Yu and Wanquing's flight from a Tasmanian Devil-like Canglong. I don't know if John Carpenter ever saw this, but it's certainly the kind of movie that served as the inspiration for his BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA.

With its comically exaggerated acting and characters, hilariously melodramatic action, and "anything goes" special effects, THE BATTLE WIZARD is pure Shaw Brothers fun. It isn't often you'll see a movie that is this deliriously bizarre. I just had to sit there for a few minutes wondering what the heck I'd just watched.


Director Chu Yuan's THE DUEL OF THE CENTURY (1981) is much less fanciful than a cartoony romp like THE BATTLE WIZARD--no sorcery, no animated death rays shooting out of anybody's fingers, no diabolical creatures. While the impossible feats of skill performed by the characters still place it well into the fantasy realm, this is basically a mystery story with elements of "The Three Musketeers" and those old Westerns in which evenly-matched gunfighters faced each other in a final showdown.

The mystery begins when the two greatest martial arts champions in all of ancient China, Ye Gucheng and Shimen Chueishiue, challenge each other to a duel on the rooftops of the Forbidden City. Since the two fighters aren't enemies, a puzzled Lu Xiaofeng (Tony Liu) turns detective and tries to get to the bottom of things. Drawn into an ever-widening web of deception and intrigue which includes ninjas, monks, lamas, and flamboyantly gay eunuchs, Lu finally uncovers a dastardly plot that leads all the way to the throne. (This, along with the swashbuckling swordplay, is what reminded me of Dumas.)

The story is so dense and talky that I eventually gave up trying to follow it after awhile and just enjoyed the fight scenes which crop up every five minutes or so. Lu is one of those warriors who is so infallible that he can afford to be relaxed and funny (some find him extremely annoying but I like him) while fighting off hordes of foes. One running gag I enjoyed is the way everyone recognizes him when he uses his famous finger technique, which consists of grabbing whatever blade is jabbed at him in a vise grip between his thumb and forefinger. "You're Lu Xiaofeng!" they shout as he feigns modesty.

Lu encounters a variety of hostile opponents with different techniques during several lively but somewhat repetitive sequences, cracking jokes like Spiderman while defeating them all. There are a few bursts of hand-to-hand combat here and there but mostly the fighting is done with clanging swords and various other blades. The fight in an elegant three-level restaurant is an early highlight, which begins with an army of geishas filling the air with rose petals and ends with Ye Gucheng applying his deadly "flying goddess" move to an unlucky opponent. Great sets and lots of atmosphere augment the action, along with an effective score composed of some recognizable library tracks.

Lu uncovers the real reason behind the duel but, lucky for us, is unable to keep it from taking place. While it would be hard for any fight to live up to all the build-up this one gets, it still delivers a fair amount of action and unbelievable displays of superhuman skill (although I didn't quite get why they were leaping through big circles of paper). Again, this is just the kind of stuff that inspired both BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and "The Powerpuff Girls", with warriors soaring through the air at each other as though flying or jumping straight up and fighting in midair for several seconds before coming back down. After watching all the tedious plot threads entwine around each other for an hour and a half, it's fun when these guys finally cut loose and get down to business.


Cheh Chang returns with his familiar directorial style in TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN (1978), moving the camera in a dizzying series of lightning-fast zooms and pans that give his action scenes their own unique vitality. And finally--some good old-fashioned fists 'n' feet kung fu!

You may want to take notes, because the first scene is loaded with exposition as "courageous but reckless" young Tong Qianjin (Lo Mang) graduates from training in the Shaolin temple (I guess he snatched the pebble) and is told by Master Zhishan that he must locate fellow student and master boxer Hu Huigan (Chiang Sheng) and wait until the time is right for them to move against the rival Wudang Clan. (The Wudangs are loyal to the Qing Court, which the Shaolins wish to overthrow in order to restore the Ming Dynasty.) All of this is just to get us to the point where the fighting between the Shaolins and the Wudangs begins, which is when the movie takes off.

Tong hasn't been in town for long before Wudang brother Dezong shows up and starts flinging boomerang knives at him, which are pretty cool. The wounded Tong seeks refuge with a sympathetic brother and sister, Jin Tailai and Jin Bier, who teach him how to fend off the dreaded Bloody Knife. The next time Tong and Dezong meet it's a quick and dirty hand-to-hand clash that breathes some life into the movie.

The Wudangs then challenge Tong and Hu to a public one-on-one fight that becomes the most sustained and exciting action setpiece yet, with excellent choreography and lots of quick and skillful moves. Hu fails to endear himself to the Wudangs when he rips the junk right off one of their best guys during a slow-motion leap. Not surprisingly, this ticks off the Wudangs to the point where they invade the wedding banquet of Tong and Bier and turn it into a massacre in another lively fight sequence.

Things get more complicated as we go along, with a young Wudang named Wei switching allegiance to the Shaolins just as a fearsome badass named Gao Jinzhong shows up with the Yuan brothers, experts in monkey boxing and monkey rod, to take up the Wudang banner against the Shaolins. Also adding to the unpredictability of the plot is the appearance of Dezong's daughter, Li Erhuna, who's out for revenge. All of this leads to a climax that's a bloody free-for-all in which nobody is safe--you never know who's going to buy the farm next in this movie. Despite its many comedic touches, TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN is filled with somber and downbeat moments that keep the viewer off-guard.


The only downside to this movie is the effort it takes to keep up with all of that exposition, plus a second half that tends to drag until the thrilling finale. At that point, however, the screen is filled with an extended flurry of bloody kung fu action in which you never know who's going to drop dead next. TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN is a rousing example of old-school martial arts mayhem, rounding out the collection in suitable style.

Each of the four DVDs in this set from Well Go USA, Inc. and Celestial Pictures is widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Soundtrack is in Mandarin and dubbed English, with English and Chinese subtitles. The theatrical trailer for each film is included. Whether you're a longtime Shaw Brothers fan or just getting into them, SHAW BROTHERS COLLECTION should provide plenty of fun-filled entertainment.

Read our review of The Shaw Brothers Collection II.

 

SHAW BROTHERS COLLECTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE SWORD OF SWORDS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 1/17/11

 

One of the early Shaw Brothers swordfests, 1968's THE SWORD OF SWORDS helps set the standard for similar films to come with its heroic protagonist facing overwhelming odds to defeat an evil clan amidst a flurry of clashing blades and aerial acrobatics. 

The Sword, which took ten years to forge and, like Excalibur, influences the prosperity of the country whose leader wields it, is in the possession of venerable teacher Master Mui Lingchuen.  On the verge of his death, he announces a competition to decide who is worthy to inherit the invincible blade and deliver it to the prince upon his coronation.  The contest comes down to two men--the kindly young Lin Jenshiau (Jimmy Wang Yu), and treacherous Fang Shishiung, secretly a member of the evil Shang clan. 

Lin emerges the victor, but The Sword proves a terrible curse as the Shangs begin a prolonged assault against both him and his loved ones.  His wife is kidnapped and beaten, his family brutalized, and just about everyone else who helps him along the way meets with violence.  Lin foregoes revenge in order to deliver The Sword to the prince, but is repeatedly drawn into battle as the Shangs' attacks become more brazen and vicious.  Finally he suffers a setback so extreme that it seems nothing can stop Fang from wielding the mighty blade himself.


Director Cheng Kong (THE MAGNIFICENT SWORDSMAN, 14 AMAZONS) does a solid job in this early kung fu effort, although the film retains a rough-hewn quality that adds to its charm.  Camerawork and lighting are very good save for several times in which those trademark whiplash pans get a little out of control.  There are also some pretty jarring transitions between actual locations and studio interiors.

The fight choreography is relatively simple for the most part--you can see how the filmmakers are still developing their staging and editing techniques, and laying the groundwork for the more complicated stuff that will follow in later years.  One showdown between Lin and Fang is wonderfully atmospheric, with a chilly wind giving way to driving snow in the midst of the battle, while another takes place in the pouring rain.  Wirework is sparsely used and varies in quality from crude to fair.  Some of the violence is pretty gory and there are more than a few gushing gouts of crimson. 

The story maintains constant tension throughout, mostly since we're always worrying about what's going to happen next to Lin and his family and friends.  Tragedy upon tragedy is heaped on our beleaguered hero until it becomes rather frustrating to see the bad guys running roughshod over the innocent characters at will. 

It gets to a point where we feel that no amount of vengeance by Lin could be enough.  We even wish he could be a little smarter and more cunning as Fang outwits him at every turn.  How he manages to overcome the grievous injury that eventually befalls him and strike back at the Shangs provides some uplift, but even in the final free-for-all battle for vengeance Lin is in for more soul-crushing heartbreak.


Jimmy Wang Yu (ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE) gives an earnest, sincere performance as Lin, and is much more realistic and vulnerable than the usual kung fu hero.  In one priceless moment, while torn between rescuing his wife and fulfilling his duties regarding The Sword, Lin actually faces us straight on and asks, "What should I do?"  In another, a volatile domestic scene finds the distraught hero hunched over in dismay as his angry father pounds on his back with a wooden stool.

Fang (Tien Feng), one of the most ultra-vile villains ever, will have you wanting to run him through yourself before it's over.  He just couldn't get killed bad enough for me.  Most of the other actors emote in the broadest, most colorful strokes possible, with much tearful melodrama and gnashing of teeth. 

The DVD from Funimation in in 16.9 with Mandarin and English Dolby mono, and English subtitles.  There are no extras besides some trailers for other releases.  The sound seemed to get a bit sputtery at a few points on my copy--hopefully this won't be a problem with all of them.  See if you can pick out the John Barry "James Bond" samples along the way. 

The arduous narrative finally comes to a head with a furious swordfight between Lin and the Shangs that boasts more energy and enthusiasm than finesse, ending THE SWORD OF SWORDS on a lively note.  This is a fun film with lots of action and drama, but the constantly downbeat tone will definitely give your emotions a workout. 

THE SWORD OF SWORDS -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 11/20/11

 

Less a factual film biography than a rousingly ripping yarn, THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN (2010) starts out stately and sober and ends with enough insane fists 'n' feet action to satisfy the most rabid chopsocky addicts.

Steeped in lavish early-1900s atmosphere, the film opens with young Ip Man and his brother Tin Chi, a Japanese street urchin adopted by Ip Man's father, being enrolled in the Wing Chun martial arts school run by master Chan Wah-shun (Sammo Hung) and his assistant Ng Chung-sok (Yuen Biao), who carries on after Chan Wah-shun's death.  The boys form a bond with female student Mei Wai that will later become a tragic love triangle as Tin Chi falls for Mai Wei, who pines desperately for Ip Man.  His heart will be stolen by the deputy mayor's daughter Cheung Wing-shing when they meet during a lantern festival and become an item.

Their meet-cute is followed by the film's first really good fight scene when they both leap to the defense of a girl being attacked by bullies.  Here, Ip Man displays the calm, restrained fighting style that defines his character throughout most of the story.  The first half of the film also features several other interesting clashes, as when Ip Man easily defeats a Westerner making anti-Chinese remarks and then becomes his friend.  Typically, Ip Man (as wonderfully played by Dennis To) manages to be humble and unassuming and yet smugly self-confident at the same time while easily besting his opponent.



His fascination with other styles is stoked when he encounters an old man, Leung Bik (Ip Man's real-life son Ip Chun), who teaches him some unheard-of variations of Wing Chun that infuriate the more traditional Ng Chung-sok.  The film's gentle humor surfaces during Ip Man and Leung Bik's first set-to in a store as they go at it while trying not to break any of the merchandise.  Demonstrating his newfound skills to the violently skeptical Ng Chung-sok upon his return from college leads to another raucous fight which, again, serves the story while adding to its excitement. 

Much of the middle part of the film is devoted to the chaste courtship of Ip Man and Wing-shing as the love triangle heats up, with Mei Wai finally giving in and marrying Tin Chi (a soulful and intense Fan Siu-wong).  Villainy enters the picture in the form of some Japanese gangsters led by Kitano, a smuggler with a mysterious scheme that involves infiltrating a martial arts association whose new chairman is Tin Chi.  Exactly what Kitano's smuggling and how much Tin Chi knows about it leads to high drama and tragedy, including a false murder accusation against Ip Man which lands him in prison. 

The mostly realistic fight scenes in the early part of THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN give way in its final third to the iffy wirework, outlandish action, and superhuman feats common to more traditional martial arts flicks.  When the various plotlines converge at their peak and shocking secrets are finally revealed, the film erupts into searing drama and free-for-all battle action.  No longer simple challenges or exhibitions of skill, these are life-or-death clashes which resolve major plot points, thus conveying considerably more excitement and emotional resonance.



As Ng Chung-sok, Yuen Biao gets his chance to go nuts when he takes on an entire gang of Japanese opponents led by Kitano's daughter Yumi, who is played by the beautiful Bernice Liu in grand "Dragon Lady" style.  Their intensely dramatic encounter is then topped by the last-minute arrival of Ip Man, no longer the humble, unassuming person we've seen up till now but a fierce and breathtakingly skilled warrior bringing all of his abilities to bear.  His thrilling final showdown against a surprise opponent resolves the story in grand operatic fashion. 

Director Herman Yau seems to have seen a few Michael Bay movies in his time, although his more restrained style is neither as flamboyant nor as shameless in trying to yank our emotional strings.  I'd like to have seen more long takes and less rapid edits and flashy camerawork in the earlier scenes, which lessen the effectiveness of the fight choreography.  Later, though, as the fantasy level rises, his style becomes more suitable to the increasingly furious and over-the-top action. 

The DVD from Funimation (also available as a Blu-Ray/DVD combo) is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Cantonese and English 5.1 surround sound, and English subtitles.  Extras consist of a making-of featurette, the original trailer, and other Funimation trailers.

I doubt if very much of THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN happened to the real Ip Man (who went on to train Bruce Lee, but that's a story for the inevitable sequel), but this is rousing, true-blue folk hero stuff.  Flawed but ambitious, it's definitely one of the better martial arts flicks I've seen in a long time.

THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN -- DVD review by porfle

KAMIKAZE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

 Originally posted on 2/22/17

 

If there's one thing I admire it's when a low-budget genre film is done well enough to compete with the big money boys for my valuable attention.  And even more so if this is pulled off by people who have never even written, directed, or starred in a feature film before.

That's why I was so impressed with the furious action thriller KAMIKAZE (2016, Indican Pictures), in which all three of these hats are worn by its director, star, and co-writer (with Catherine Maher), Marcus Shakesheff. 

Up till now, Shakesheff's had only a few very minor acting credits but over 40 credits as a stunt man, a talent which proves an invaluable resource during this almost non-stop chopsocky fest.

The plot is simple--Evan Reed (Shakesheff) is a military-trained mercenary who, during a corporate espionage assignment, discovers some vital information so damning to certain members of the UK government that he can't just hand over to his employers. 

Thus, seemingly every deadly merc hitman in the UK is suddenly after him and the hard drive in his possession, also kidnapping his pregnant wife Jess (Claire Carreno) in order to lure him into their clutches.

With this no-frills premise as a springboard, Shakesheff stages a succession of action sequences and bone-crushing hand-to-hand combat encounters that are populated by some of the best fellow stuntmen he can gather together, and the result is a movie that never slows down or loses its ability to impress.

 

Naturally, the endless string of amazing stunts are all clearly done by the main actors (a major selling point of Tarantino's DEATH PROOF when he cast stuntwoman Zoe Bell in a lead role), with Shakesheff himself performing the lion's share of jaw-dropping feats.

Some of the fights feature aerial moves that would usually be done with wirework and are all the more stunning without it.  Evan's solo siege against an office building where his wife's being held also involves some parkour, and a scene with him engaged in battle against multiple foes in and around a speeding car is endlessly inventive (although it goes on too long).

Best of all, Shakesheff puts Evan into some really impossible situations which he must fight his way out of in believable fashion, such as facing two highly-skilled opponents with his hands tied behind his back right after he's been shot and stabbed. 

All of this is pretty consistently thrilling despite the movie obviously having been done on the cheap, and it's fun watching this budding filmmaker work so well within his limited budget.

Performances range from fair to good, and the fact that Shakesheff looks like a regular guy instead of a Jason Statham/Jean-Claude Van Damme type is actually kind of interesting.  The script contains a nice amount of wry humor.  The original score is well-done. 

Technically, of course, not every aspect of KAMIKAZE is first-rate.  The fight choreography itself is far superior to the photography and editing, which are adequate but could've been tighter.  Still, first-timer Marcus Shakesheff has done an outstanding job putting an action movie of this caliber together, and I found it engaging from start to finish. 



Runtime: 95 minutes
Format: 1:78 Flat (HD)
Sound: Dolby SR
Subtitles: English
Rating: Probable R for violence
Country: USA
Language: English
Website: https:
Genre: Thriller

KAMIKAZE -- DVD Review by Porfle