“The Brave has No Fears” Chinese Theatrical Poster
Danny Chan Kwok-kwan (Shaolin Soccer), the actor known for portraying Bruce Lee in Legend of Bruce Lee, Ip Man 3 and the upcoming Ip Man 4, headlines The Brave has No Fears (aka Fighting King Kong).
The Brave has No Fears tells the story of the legendary Guo Zhendong (Chan), who has been determined to save the country since he was a child, but he is dissatisfied with the softness of the martial arts. He sets out to learn the “King Kong Walking Method” style of kung fu and takes on the black hands and evil spirits that are trying to take over Southern martial arts (via v.qq.com).
The Brave has No Fears opens on June 1st domestically. Don’t miss the Trailer below:
AKA: Iceman 2 Director: Raymond Yip Cast: Donnie Yen, Eva Huang, Wang Bao Qiang, Simon Yam, Yu Kang, Yasuaki Kurata, Maggie Jiang, Hans Marrero, Hee Ching Paw, Minowa Yasufumi, Chen Kuan-Tai Running Time: 88 min.
By Paul Bramhall
It’s been a long time since I watched a movie that left me so dumbfounded, I found myself staring at a blank screen for 10 minutes, struggling to figure out how best to begin a review of it. Iceman: The Time Traveler has the honour of being that movie, a sequel to 2014’s Iceman 3D, which is no longer 3D or directed by Law Wing-Cheong, despite being filmed at the same time as the first instalment. Ironically, 10 minutes is also how long the sequel spends giving us a recap of what happened all those years ago, which serves as a kind of Iceman 3D best of, as we get to relive the infamous shield snowboarding scene and bridge battle. Such a recap should be welcomed, except when you realise that the runtime is a measly 87 minutes, which means that what’s left could well be classified as “a little over an hour”.
Allegedly it wasn’t always that way, several sources (including IMDB) list the runtime as 104 minutes, which begs the question of how almost 20 minutes went missing in action? According to a post on the movies official Weibo blog, posted in November last year, it was because Yen “deleted scenes of various actors to highlight his status as the absolute main character, and that the deletions led the film to run only 87 minutes with a scattershot plot.” Not only that, the post also pointed the finger at Yen for interfering with the work of the action director and production crew, changing dialogue, refusing to do re-shoots or wear wigs, had an arrogant attitude, and didn’t help with the promotion. Not exactly glowing praise, but at the same time somewhat familiar, with Yen having similar well documented production strife on the likes of Wing Chun, Iron Monkey 2, and Special ID. How much of it is true? We’ll likely never know.
So as Yen’s legal team went into battle with the producers, the movie itself landed on cinema screens with a resoundingly dull thud. While Iceman 3D was critically mauled, I actually found it to be a charmingly dumb throwback to 80’s HK cinema (lest we forget the whole sorry saga is supposed to be a remake of The Iceman Cometh). Amidst Yen’s flowing locks, rocket powered piss, and exploding feces, its unashamed ridiculousness somehow won me over. For the sequel, gone is director Law Wing-Cheong and his writing team, and in their place is director Raymond Yip (Anna in Kung fu Land) and writer Manfred Wong (who’s no stranger to working with Yip, they co-directed Bruce Lee, My Brother together). The change in creative forces behind the camera have also made Iceman: The Time Traveler a completely different genre, with the zany comedic tone replaced with heavy handed drama and half baked romance.
You may have noticed by now that I’ve been avoiding a plot description, and you’d be right. In the closing of my review for Iceman 3D I’d mentioned how ”there’s a hint that the whole thing could be wrapped up by the arrival of some evil Japanese again. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t go down that path.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, my fingers were crossed in vain. As expected, Simon Yam’s greedy general turns out to be in cahoots with a Japanese warlord played by the legendary Yasuaki Kurata, and together they murdered everyone in Yen’s village (and framed him for it). Yam goes back in time from present day Beijing (yes, not HK anymore, I’ll get to that soon) along with Yu Kang, with Yen and Eva Huang hot in pursuit. Well, in pursuit at least. Frankly, the plot is so obviously incomplete that it feels like a pointless exercise to attempt to make it sound coherent.
In place of a plot, the audience is bombarded with a number of surreal and brow furrowing moments. Yen’s sudden change of hairstyle is conspicuously drawn attention to by Huang announcing when she sees him, ”Hey, you cut your hair!” His modern hair then becomes a sort of running joke when he goes back to the past, except that none of the jokes are funny. At its most strange, when Yen travels to Beijing to track down his old cohorts, on driving through Tianaman Square he notices the large portrait of Chairman Mao, and salutes it! It’s a cringe worthy moment, not just because of its obvious NRTA pandering connotations, but also in the context of the plot, Yen should have no idea who he is. But in the broader scheme of things, these are the least of Iceman: The Time Traveler’s problems.
Not only has the comedy gone, but bizarrely, the sequel is for the most part actionless. There’s a bewildering sequence when Yen and Huang first travel back in time, and instead of landing back in the Ming era, they arrive on a train in 1927 just in time to stop those damn Japanese from interrogtating the passengers. Soon there’s yells of ”Get out of China!”, and Yen manipulates Huang’s body to take out the troublesome Japanese invaders, in a sequnce which is more Jimmy Wang Yu flailing arms than it is the work of this era’s most innovative fight choreographer. Then just like that, they use the device to go back in time to where they’re actually supposed to be going. What was the point of this whole rail themed Republic era detour? None whatsoever, exept that it filled another 5 minutes, and proves that Yen is capable of kicking Japanese posterior regardless of what era it is because, you know, he’s The Time Traveler!
Things go from bad to worse once proceedings locate back to the past, as Yen returns to his village with Huang in tow, and the already short runtime gets bogged down by the fact that he has a girlfriend there from his own time (played by Maggie Jiang, Call of Heroes). Yes, there’s no better way to maintain the pace of this final chapter to the epic Iceman saga, than by introducting a love triangle! Huang and Jang form an amicable friendship, and are soon teaching each other dance moves from their respective times, however as they both only have eyes for Donnie, how long can it last? The answer comes, but not before we’ve had to sit through not 1, but 2 ballad driven musical montages, as we witness such iconic scenes as Yen and Huang taking a selfie in a bubble filled street for the 2nd time in less than an hour.
At some point around the half way mark, Wang Bao Qiang shows up, presumably because the producers realised he had a significant role in Iceman 3D, so should probably appear somewhere in the sequel. Bao Qiang’s appearance heralds the action highlight of Iceman: The Time Traveler, in a sequence that has him realise he’s been betrayed by his buddy Yu Kang, and the pair face off in the only grounded fight during the whole movie. Their showdown provides a brief moment of hope that things are going to pick up, before proceedings slip back into montony, with the irony not being lost on me that the best action scene doesn’t even have Yen in it. Bao Qiang looked like he was going to form a potential Yuen Biao/Yuen Wah style pairing with Yen back in 2013/14, with them facing off both in the original instalment, and Teddy Chen’s Kung Fu Jungle, however in recent years he’s tended to stick with comedic roles rather than action.
For no logical reason, the finale springs up out of nowhere, with Yen employing a baffling costume change which is never explained, and Huang tagging along (as she’s done for pretty much the entirety of both movies) to face off against Kurata, Yam, and Kang. After an entertaining sword battle (disclaimer: it may only have been entertaining due to everything being so dull previously), the sequence quickly begins to go off the rails, as Kurata and Yen battle it out in space and time on a train. Is it the same train from the random scene earlier on? I have no idea, but for whatever reason, they end up on a train hurtling through the space time continum. It’s right up there with The Myth for finales that completely lose the plot, but I have a feeling they were trying to go for some kung-fu meets Interstellar style vibe. They failed.
All of this nonsense turns out to be a preface for Yen to explain, in voiceover, that he’s basically become the Neo of timetravel. It’s poorly conveyed and makes almost no sense whatsoever, but somehow Yen has become someone who now controls the ability to influence time, hence, he’s ’The Time Traveler’. In all truthfulness, many viewers that embark on watching this trainwreck of a sequel (pun intended), will likely turn it off well before the end, and nobody can blame them. Featuring a plot with more holes than a golf course, action that feels both uninspired and lazy, and characters that feel like they were written on the back of a coaster, Iceman: The Time Traveler is a curious exercise in how wrong a film can go when the vision isn’t clear from the start. If you’re a diehard fan of Donnie Yen, check it out, if anything, it’ll most likely make you feel more forgiving towards Iron Monkey 2. For everyone else, approach with caution.
“John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” Korean Theatrical Poster
Director: Chad Stahelski Cast: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane, Saïd Taghmaoui, Jerome Flynn, Jason Mantzoukas, Robin Lord Taylor, Yayan Ruhian, Cecep Arif Rahman, Tiger Hu Chen, Jerome Flynn, Tobias Segal Running Time: 131 min.
By Kelly Warner
The John Wick films are popular with audiences and critics but seem to split some action movie aficionados with one side claiming they’re overhyped and the other saying the movies are modern Hollywood’s best answer to what R-rated Asian action cinema is doing overseas.
Before we go any further, I’ll just let you know that I love these films and absolutely believe they live up to the hype that surrounds them. I went into the original curious and, honestly, with some dread because oh no that poor puppy. I went into Chapter 2 with more excitement because John Wick needed to get some MORE revenge for that puppy. By the time Chapter 3 came around, I went into it as a fan just seeking to be entertained once again. And I was.
Chapter 3: Parabellum picks up on the same night as Chapter 2’s crazy Invasion of the Body Snatchers-like finale, with Wick facing a ticking clock until he is ‘excommunicado’ for violating the rules of NY’s Continental hitman hotel. He’s on foot, trying to find a way out of the city by frantically looking up old contacts, while racing a clock that will unleash a city full of assassins on him, all seeking the $14 million bounty on his head. After seeing that his pitbull pup (d’aww) is taken care of, Wick watches the clock expire and is instantly set upon by assassins. He kills them in fun, creative ways that has me thinking of Wick as the cross between an action movie hero and a slasher movie villain. Bloody and bruised, Wick then makes his way to his old teacher, The Director, played by series newcomer Anjelica Huston. The film continues like this for a while, with bloody (and often funny) action interrupted only briefly by Wick begging old allies to assist him as the walls continue to close in around him. But the allies who want to help can’t, and those who can don’t want to unless they’re forced by some sort of code by which they’ve reluctantly chosen to follow. After the Director gets Wick out of NY, he travels to Casablanca where he meets Sophie, played by a super cool Halle Berry in a role that reminds me why I used to love her years ago. Sophie is indebted to Wick, and though she’d rather kill him herself, duty demands that she assist him when he asks.
Wick, who kills nearly 300 people across these three movies, knows he can’t keep this up forever (I don’t know that I agree, but okay). His goal is to make an appeal to the High Table that oversees the assassin network in hopes that they can work out a deal where he is allowed to live at their mercy. But their offer for his survival presents Wick with new conflicts that he must wrestle with.
There are moments when Chapter 3: Parabellum slows down to do further worldbuilding, such as when Asia Kate Dillon’s Adjudicator enters the film to assess and punish all those who aided John Wick in previous films. The series has a lot going on in terms of worldbuilding and sometimes feels like the most based-on-a-comic-book movie ever not actually based on a comic book. These scenes may test the patience of those who simply want to watch Wick kill people in entertaining ways, but I appreciate that by film 3 they’re still expanding the world and adding new layers.
Director Chad Stahelski, star Keanu Reeves, and the stunt team seem to have gotten comfortable with what they know they do well and are trying new things in Chapter 3. This film has the best action in the series, with the usual precision-based shootouts now joined by crazy horse/motorcycle chases, knife fights, armored attack dogs, and martial arts (the film owes a nod to The Villainess and The Raid movies for some inspiration on these sequences but I do not view this as disqualifying). Wick kills people with books, horses, and basically anything else he can get his hands on. Sometimes it’s cringe-inducing, sometimes it’s cool, sometimes it’s laugh out loud funny. There is an early knife fight in an antique store (which includes Tiger Chen, whom Reeves directed in Man of Tai Chi) that had my audience laughing so much you wouldn’t know we were watching men get stabbed to death for 5 minutes straight.
In addition to the business-like High Table emissary played by non-binary actor Asia Kate Dillon, Chapter 3 presents Wick with his most physical opponents in the form of sushi chef/ninja assassin Zero and his students. Originally set to be played by Hiroyuki Sanada (who dropped out of the film in favor of a much smaller, though more widely seen part in Avengers: Endgame), the underrated Mark Dacascos seems to recognize the opportunity presented to him in playing Wick’s latest big bad and makes the absolute most of it. Dacascos very nearly steals the show out from under the series regulars Reeves, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, and Laurence Fishburne. He’s an ace assassin, but he’s also in love with his work. Dacascos plays Zero as one of the only people in the film universe that not only respects John Wick for his abilities, he idolizes him. Zero comes across as a superfan, though one that unfortunately has been tasked with killing the man he admires. It’s difficult to imagine that the role would’ve been quite the same had Sanada remained in the part. One imagines that Zero would’ve been a quieter, more sinister killer than the livewire that Dacascos created.
The film ends with some insane gunplay that is then capped off with the best martial arts fights in the series. Not only does Wick face off against Zero in a sword fight, but he must also fight Zero’s students, who are no slumps themselves.
The Raid series stars Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahma play Zero’s top students, and face off against Wick in an ultramodern glass studio that should appeal to action fans who found the point-and-shoot mechanics of earlier John Wick movies a tad repetitive.
One of the things I admire about the John Wick films is that not only are they shot beautifully, but they do all that they can with editing, choreography, and blocking techniques to show Keanu Reeves in action as much as possible. It makes you believe Keanu Reeves could be the most dangerous man on the planet. The action doesn’t try to hide him with actor-friendly editing like so many other Hollywood actioners do. It helps the movie in ways most viewers won’t even notice. (I’m sure stunt performers were involved and I do not wish to diminish their contribution. Just that Reeves pulling off a few insane moves without a cut goes a long way to creating a believable character.)
In the years since its release in 2015, there has yet to be an English-language action movie that’s topped Mad Max: Fury Road, but credit must be given to Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski for giving it their best try every couple years. Whether or not Chapter 3 will win over any converts who were left disappointed by earlier entries I do not know, but I tend to think that the superior and more varied action scenes make that a possibility. For me, a fan from the beginning, as soon as the credits played in Chapter 3 I was already wanting Chapter 4.
Before we can even think about Xu Haofeng’s Moonlight Blade (his soon-to-be-shot remake of Chor Yuen’s Shaw Brothers classic, The Magic Blade), our attention should be focused on The Hidden Sword, his fourthcoming period actioner that hits screens later this year.
Very little is known about The Hidden Sword (aka The Hidden Blade), other than it’s a martial arts epic that revolves around a very special sword that apparently pretty badass. The film stars Xu Qing (Flash Point), Jessie Li (Port of Call) and Shaw Brothers legend, Chen Kuan Tai (Shanghai 13, Executioners from Shaolin).
Xu Haofeng (The Final Master) made a name for himself by penning the screenplay for Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster. But it was 2011’s The Sword Identity, his directorial debut, which showed Xu’s true talent. Xu is known for presenting martial arts in a less stylized and more realistic manner.
Updates: Watch the New Trailer for The Hidden Sword below:
Director: Lee Byeong-Hun Cast: Ryoo Seung-Ryong, Lee Ha-Nee, Jin Seon-Kyu, Lee Dong-Hwi, Gong Myung, Shin Ha-Kyun, Oh Jung-Se, Kim Eui-Sung, Yang Hyun-Min Running Time: 111 min.
By Martin Sandison
In the last few years Korean action comedies have really come into there own, with films such as Confidential Assignment and Unstoppable proving the well-established tropes in the genre can be given a fresh and innovative twist.While more comedic and thrill-a-minute than action, Asian smash hit Extreme Job is the icing on the cake, a movie so relentlessly entertaining it threatens to gobsmack even the most jaded of viewers. It’s also guaranteed to make every viewer with a fried chicken prediliction salivate constantly and immediately seek out a Korean chicken joint.
A bunch of detectives are trying to bust a big gang, and find a Korean chicken joint across the road from where the gang operate: it’s the perfect place to observe them. Unfortunately, they soon realise they will have to keep the restaurant in business to maintain their cover. Lo and behold the place becomes a phenomenon due to an accidental glaze they use on the chicken. The question remains, should they quit the force and become millionares, or solve the case?
A set up that is primed for constant jokery, and the film delivers on this. The bunch, led by Ryoo Seung-Ryoung (Seven Years of Night) are on constant fire with their delivery of the laughs and physical comedy. Ryoo strikes just the right balance of world-weariness, deadpan demanour and conflict between with his cohorts. A superb love story subplotthat plays out between Jang (Lee Ha-Nee, Fabricated City) and Ma (Jin Seon-Kyu, The Outlaws) encapsulates whats great about the film: humour, but with just the right dose of pathos and brilliantly drawn characters. The will-they-wont-they narrative device is served with just the right amount of knowing winks, with scriptwriter and director Lee Byeong-Hun playing all the right angles to engage the brain and heart of the viewer. This is the kind of film the end of this decade needs: one that is playful yet deep, humorous and referential yet intelligent. This balance of the form is what informs the best films of this decade, be it a low budget hybrid blowout like Nightshooters or a higher budget superhero movie (that went against the grain) like Deadpool.
Director Lee Byeong-Hun previously directed mostly comedy dramas such as last years What a Man Wants, and has been growing in stature. His ability to wring laughs out of every situation in Extreme Job speaks of a filmmaker coming in to his own, and that’s not mentioning his direction of actors, all of whom grow in to and inhabit their characters superbly. The addition of action into his repertoire may have been a risk, and it’s one he pulls off. Lead villain Lee Moo-Bae (Shin Ha-Kyun, The Villainess), who does a wonderful job chewing scenery and being a bad ass, gets his right hand woman Sun-Hee (Jang Jin-Hee, The Dude In Me) to do his fighting, and her form, execution and deadliness as she kicks all sorts of ass leaps of the screen. Unforunately there’s not a huge amount of action until the end, but boy does that ending deliver.
In an inspired comedic touch, as our heroes face off against the baddies, two characters discuss the relative fighting skills of each, and the film intercuts between the conversation and the action. My favourite is Ma’s judo abilities, as he keeps singling out one baddie until he stretches out his arm to be thrown again. The actors action chops, while not in the league of someone like Lee Byung-Hun, are given a good showcase, props to the choreographer. A little gripe I have is Jang looks the least convincing, with her conviction not selling the moves. Clever editing and angles can only disguise so much. She faces off with Sun-Hee, and it’s not really convincing after Sun-Hees martial arts prowess that she would be taken down so easily. While slightly disappointing, this doesn’t detract from how entertaining the film is.
The geek in me was delighted come the end of the movie to see a reference to my favourite film of all time, John Woo’s masterpiece A Better Tomorrow, the deepest action film ever made, with Leslie Cheung’s theme song playing, and a shot reference to A Better Tomorrow 2. Korean filmmakers love for classic Hong Kong movies gladdens my heart, and as Ryoo Seung-Wan (Veteran) said when I asked him if he was influenced by Hong Kong movies a long time ago, “When I was growing up I thought there was only Hong Kong movies”.
As we all have noted, Korean cinema has faded a little in the last years, with Asian countries like Taiwan and Indonesia on the rise, the latter, especially when it comes to the action genre. However, a movie like Extreme Job reminds us of the vitality of Korean output, and their willingness to bend genre and come out with something fresh and exciting. The film is constantly engaging and hilarious, with humour that transcends national boundaries and elicits howls of laughter, alongside awe-inspiring visuals and action. There are still a lot of these movies I need to see, and like classic Hong Kong cinema it’s a treasure trove of delights that allows me to smile inside, safe in the knowledge my days and nights in the years to come will be full of cinematic trascendence.
Director: Jesse V. Johnson Cast: Scott Adkins, Craig Fairbrass, Nick Moran, Thomas Turgoose, Kierston Wareing, Louis Mandylor, Leo Gregory, Beau Fowler, Terence Maynard, Lee Charles Running Time: 90 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In the world of DTV action movies, Scott Adkins in prison normally only means one thing – he’s back for another round of playing Boyka in the Undisputed series. That is, until now. Avengement marks the fifth collaboration between Adkins and director Jesse V. Johnson in 2 years, and sees the pair return to their Accident Man stomping ground of London, for what can best be described as some good old fashioned ultra-violence.
Since the release of Savage Dog in 2017, it seems we’ve never had to wait too long until the next Adkins and Johnson collaboration hits the screens, so Avengement is significant in that for the first time in 2 years, there’s no further collaborations on the horizon. While fans of Adkins will only have to wait a couple of months for the Ernie Barbarash directed Abduction (and then later in 2019 Ip Man 4!), Johnson’s next release is Legion Maxx, which sees him cast his lead from 2005’s Pit Fighter, Dominique Vandenberg, as the star.
Comparisons have understandably been made between Johnson and Isaac Florentine, the director that gave Adkins his breakthrough, and was responsible for some of the British stars most popular movies. For me both directors have used Adkins equally effectively, but in different ways. While Florentine’s been content to fall back on his action chops to cover up sometimes painfully flimsy stories (Close Range), Johnson has taken the riskier route of giving Adkins the actor some breathing space, a move which has no doubt alienated some of his large non-English speaking fan-base. That breathing space is particularly apparent in Avengement, in which Adkins plays the naïve brother of a local gangster who finds himself sent to prison, when a burglary he attempts at the request of his brother goes horribly wrong.
After several years in the slammer, on a visit to his ailing mother Adkins seizes the chance to escape, and soon holes himself up in the ‘members only’ pub that his brother and the other local criminals hang out in. The man who’s escaped is very different from the one that went in though – covered in scars, a set of silver dentures that’d make Richard Kiel proud, and a hair trigger temper, the only thing this convict on the run has on his mind is revenge. One aspect I enjoy about the collaborations between Johnson and Adkins, is that Johnson recognizes that Adkins strongest acting comes out when he’s angry. He may not be the guy to anchor a storyline heavy on drama, or be the latest romantic lead (I’m still trying to erase the scenes of him and JuJu Chan together in Savage Dogfrom my memory) , however he’s able to sell a bad temper as well as the best of them.
This is particularly apparent in Avengement, in which the most vital acting requirement from Adkins, is for him to come across as a seething ball of rage for 80 minutes, and he does so admirably. Johnson frames the story from the bar of the pub, which is as good a place to spin a yarn as any, as Adkins gradually reveals the extent of what he went through behind bars to his captive audience. His time in prison is revealed through a series of extended flashbacks, as it soon becomes clear that almost everyone on the inside wants their pound of flesh, and we get to learn how each one of those nasty facial scars was inflicted. It’s in these scenes where we’re reminded of why Adkins is on-board, as he gets to break out his action chops against a steadily escalating stream of opponents, whose only intent is to stop him breathing.
For those hoping to see something that resembles Undisputed 5 transposed to East end London, this is definitely not the right place to visit. In the hands of fight choreographers Dan Styles and Luke LaFontaine, the prison set brawls are ugly and desperate affairs, as every punch thrown could mean the difference between having a blade thrust into your side, or surviving one more day. It’s the first time for Johnson to give principle fight choreography duties to someone outside of his trusted cohorts Tim Man and Luke LaFontaine, however Styles isn’t a complete newcomer to Johnson’s tightly knit crew. He worked as a stunt coordinator on Accident Man, and has also collaborated with Adkins previously, working on the stunt team for Eliminators and Green Street 3: Never Back Down.
Adkins usually finds himself facing off against a barrage of attackers, and the action leans heavily on collateral damage, as bodies are flung through tables and heads smashed through porcelain sinks with glorious abandon. It’s during these scenes where the synergy between director and star finds its rhythm, and the distinctive stamp of a Johnson and Adkins collaboration becomes apparent. This is a story which could just as effectively have been told with a non-action star in the lead, and a non-action orientated director at the helm. However Johnson utilizes the action pedigree of Adkins to tell the story, rather than creating fight scenes for the sake of it, with every bloodied nose and broken arm used to propel the plot forward. Could the scenes have been executed using a means other than people pummelling each other? Sure, and in all likelihood that movie probably already exists, but then it wouldn’t be Avengement.
The action also displays another of Johnson’s distinctive trademarks, which have become apparent through watching the likes of Savage Dog and Triple Threat – this is a guy that likes to include at least one preposterously gory practical special effect to send a character on their way. Avengement may not contain any machetes or a grenade launcher, but it does have Adkins sitting at the bar with a double barrelled shot gun, and both times he decides to use it result in legitimate “Whoa!” moments. There’s an art to using extreme violence as a shock tactic, and as much as I enjoyed the likes of The Night Comes for Us, I did find myself becoming numb to the almost constant onslaught of gore. Here it’s used as an exclamation mark in the narrative, and all the more effective for it. I’d go so far to say that at this point, Johnson’s movie are the perfect antidote for those tired of having to suffer the sight of CGI blood.
Avengement benefits just as much from the rest of the cast, many of whom are familiar faces from Accident Man. Nick Moran plays the businessman that runs the pub, and Ross O’Hennessy (who can forget his turn as Carnage Cliff!?) is back as a corrupt sergeant, who makes life particularly hard for Adkins on the inside. The plot affords him the opportunity to have a one on one against Adkins, only this time he’s bare handed, while Adkins happens to be in reach of a hammer. Korean cinema has a lot to answer for. Louis Mandylor from The Debt Collector also clocks in as a detective investigating the escape. Craig Fairbrass is a real highlight though as the brother Adkins comes seeking answers from, and while his screen time may be limited, when he’s on it he owns it, putting in a performance consisting of pure London grit.
For the Adkins purists who cried foul at the ending of The Debt Collector, and its lack of a climatic fight scene, the finale of Avengement could well be said to have been constructed especially for you. There may only be a handful of patrons in the pub, but if you look closely enough you’ll notice some of them are established stunt performers – Mark Strange (The Twins Effect), Beau Fowler (The Take Down), and Lee Charles (Final Score) are all present and accounted for, and for good reason. Without going into spoiler territory, Adkins is left to single handedly take on everyone in a lengthy brawl that goes on for over 5 minutes, in a scene which I can safely say sets the bar for any future pub brawls committed to film. If you need a visual guide to grievous bodily harm, this is probably as close as you’ll come.
With a group of characters who range from unlikeable to downright despicable, Avengement is not going to be a movie for everyone. The streaks of black humor found in both The Debt Collector and Accident Man are all but completely absent here, so make no mistake that it’s not always a pleasant 80 minutes to sit through. What it undeniably is though, is a lean and gritty UK crime flick, sharing more DNA with the likes of Sexy Beast or Layer Cake than the Undisputed and Ninja franchises. With its synth heavy soundtrack and unflinching commitment to violence, Avengement is a unique entry in the filmographies of both Johnson and Adkins, and is one that deserves to be seen.
“Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” Japanese DVD Poster
Action director Isaac Florentine (Undisputed II, Close Range) is teaming up with Millennium and Empire Films for a small screen reboot of his popular Undisputed film series.
The upcoming Undisputed series will follow the self-discovery voyage of Yuri Boyka (played by Scott Adkins in the films), a Russian prison fighter on parole who seizes the opportunity to participate in the world’s biggest and most prestigious underground fighting tournament (via THR).
Production for the Undisputed series begins in March 2020, so we’re we’re expecting to hear casting details soon.
Here’s an idea: How about Scott Adkins in the lead – if not, why bother?
Director: Le-Van Kiet Writer: Kay Nguyen Cast: Veronica Ngo Thanh Van, Cat Vy, Phan Thanh Nhien, Phạm Anh Khoa, Tran Thanh Hoa Running Time: 98 min.
By Matija Makotoichi Tomic
Veronica Ngo is back, and with her, so is the Vietnamese martial arts action. It’s been a while since we’ve last seen Vietnam delivering an action movie worth praising, but that changes with Furie, and the deadly art of Vovinam is back on screen, big style. Not that it is any proof of quality, but the fact Furie became one of the top three all time box-office successes in Vietnam, as well as the first Vietnamese movie to be released in USA, confirms that the job was done right, leading up to Netflix taking interest in the movie. While I wouldn’t agree that this is the best Vietnamese action movie ever made (that honour despite everything goes to the unfortunate Bui Doi Cho Lon if I’m to be asked), it is safe to say it earned its place up there with the best.
The movie’s director, one Lê Văn Kiệt (House in the Alley), is partly the reason why that it so. While not flawless, his movie delivers on both action and drama, with just a few questionable details, nothing that would take away from the overall impression. Largely copying the plot basis of his previous movie, Kiệt directs a story about a desperate mother faced with the kidnapping of her daughter. Certainly not the kind of plot that will break new ground, but despite lacking originality in this area, Furie manages to be different from the rest. What makes it different, is the human touch.
Hai Phuong, character played by Ngo, is not the typical, invincible action hero fighting her way through a pyramid of baddies. She’s just an ordinary person (though a highly skilled one), not too proud to admit her mistakes, or ask for help when she needs it. Above all, she’s a mother, ready to do anything to protect her cub. If she seems a bit harsh to her daughter in the opening of the movie, it’s only because she knows the importance of discipline, and wants the best for her baby, meaning not making the same mistakes her mother did. Education is here, as usual, the way out and the symbol of hope for a better tomorrow.
After not being able to stop the kidnappers, Phuong follows on a trail of a human trafficking ring that will take her to Saigon, a place where she buried her criminal past behind, in exchange for a quiet life in the country, if earning a living as a debt collector qualifies as such. Being once a part of the same milieu enables Phoung to quickly get a lead, but she’s got to move fast. It’s only a matter of hours before the kidnapped kids are put on the train leaving Saigon, and with that train, all hope that Phoung will ever see her daughter alive is gone as well.
The idea of having the whole story cramped within 24 hours is what gives Furie intensity, even if this is sometimes clumsily executed. Though conceived in a no-nonsense fashion, the movie’s not without its comedic moments, mostly reserved for the character of a nurse that helps Phuong escape from the hospital, and continue pursuing her wrongdoers. It’s decent comedy that delivers a few laughs, just enough to ease the menacing tone that predominates. What Furie does so well is making use of its colours, setting a tone for different scenes varying in emotional charge. It is what makes Kiệt’s movie stylish and visually appealing, but without taking away from the impact. When Phuong goes against the Saigon’s criminal underworld, even with all the help she can get, it is with all the furiosity you’d want and expect.
Though drama luckily does not suffer here, it is the action that’s the real strongpoint of Kiệt’s movie. As fitting for story such as this one, Furie delivers brutal action which is, despite the beauty of it, of kill-or-be-killed kind, with weapons ranging from knives and axes, to bottles and screwdrivers, together with a sprinkle of gunplay thrown in for good measure. With each fight being better then the previous one, it is the clash between Ngo and Trần Thanh Hoa that shakes the ground, easily being one of the best girl-on-girl fights of recent years. Fight choreographer Samuel Kefi Albrikh keeps the fights grounded, and it is a refreshing pleasure watching martial arts action that’s not ruined with lousy CGI, or needle-in-your-eye use of wires.
Even the fights in Furie aren’t without the human depth present throughout the movie. Phoung taking on her first lead Truc, trying to beat some information out of him, sees his ageing mother trying to stop the fight, knowing that without her son around she’d be helpless. While the two engaged in a fight, it is her who pleads Phuong for mercy, and her son to give in to reason. Same can’t be said for Ngo’s clash with the lady villain, the two go at each other like there’s no tomorrow in a fight that will leave fans asking for more. Both Phan Thanh Nhiên in the role of detective Luong and Trần Thanh Hoa as the vicious lady boss Thanh Soi seem to be newcomers, but can handle their action well, and the future should hold a place for these two. As for Ngo, she proved once again she’s got what it takes. Furie sees her working with a new team to a great result and it would be nice if we wouldn’t have to wait for years to see her in another delicious slice of Vietnamese action.
Director: Yang Woo-Seok Cast: Jung Woo-Sung, Kwak Do-Won, Kim Kap-Soo, im Eui-Sung, Lee Kyoung-Young, Jo Woo-Jin, Park Eun-Hye, Ahn Mi-Na, Won Jin-A, Park Sun-Young Running Time: 139 min.
By Paul Bramhall
With improving relations between South and North Korea, the theme of mutual understanding between the divided nation has also begun to be reflected in the South’s cinematic output in recent years. Movies like Confidential Assignment and The Spy Gone North, as different as they may be, both place friendship between characters from the South and North as their central themes. We’re certainly living in different times from the days of Shiri, and that’s not a bad thing by any means. The latest production to throw a pair of characters from the opposing sides together comes in the form of Steel Rain which, apart from having the coolest title of 2017 (yes, cooler than Bleeding Steel), is also the latest from director Yang Woo-seok.
Woo-seok experienced resounding success with his 2013 debut, the Song Kang-ho starring political thriller The Attorney, and Steel Rain marks his sophomore feature. Like many Korean movies of recent years, it’s adapted from a webtoon (Korean online comics), however what makes this particular entry unique, is that Woo-seok is adapting from his own 2011 webtoon, which he created before channelling his creative energies into the film industry. The question of why, out of the hundreds of webtoons out there, one from 2011 would be chosen to adapt 6 years later, is an understandable one, but one that has a good answer.
Using a the plot device of a coup d’état in the North, a former North Korean agent, played by Jung Woo-sung (The Divine Move) is recruited to go under the radar by the regime to assassinate the rogue general responsible. However it turns out the general is one step ahead, and soon Woo-sung finds himself in the middle of an attempt on the North Korean leader’s life, taking place at the Kaseong Industrial Complex close to the border. As chaos descends amongst the bombing and gunfire, Woo-sung manages to cross into South Korea with both the injured ‘Number 1’ (clearly Kim Jong-un, but he’s never mentioned by name, and you never see his face), and two girls that were in attendance to greet the Dear Leader. By chance, he runs into the South’s Foreign Affairs Chief, played by Kwak Do-won (The Wailing), and together they reluctantly team up to prevent the breakout of a nuclear war between the opposing sides.
While the story may seem straightforward, Woo-seok uses the setup to tap into the very real tensions that a certain U.S. president has been causing on the Korean peninsula in recent times. With threats of hitting the nuclear button (regardless of how big it is), insults being freely exchanged, and summit walk-outs, the conversation of what a conflict with the North may look like has become an increasingly real one on the streets of South Korea. With this context in mind, Steel Rain may sell itself as a bombastic action thriller, however the reality is it’s a production very much geared towards a local audience, in much the same way movies like Ode to My Father and Northern Line Limit also aimed for a distinctly local flavor.
That doesn’t mean for a non-Korean audience Steel Rain should be considered a write off. It’s a pleasure to see Jung Woo-sung and Kwak Do-won reunited a year after Asura: City of Madness, even if their chance meeting involves some major suspension of disbelief. However compared to the previously mentioned movies that pair characters from the South and North, Woo-sung and Do-won actually don’t spend that much time together. This is partly due to the extended opening of Steel Rain being centred on Woo-sung and his mission in the North, which manifests itself as a joyously action heavy first 45 mins.
The assassination attempt involves the titular Steel Rain of the title – a cluster bomb that rains shrapnel down on the hapless victims – and it’s a visually arresting scene that has swathes of high school girls massacred by the deadly projectiles, while the officials and rogue agents battle it out in a hail of gunfire against each other. The sequence eventually segues into the action highlight, when Woo-sung has to deal with a trio of assassins that have been sent to the small hospital in the South, where he’s hiding out with a local gynaecologist and the other escapees. It’s a ferocious fight scene that matches his performance in the finale of The Divine Move, and contains one of the most unique methods I’ve seen to recover from a forcibly collapsed windpipe. Korean cinema is rarely only about the fight scenes, but I’ll be damned if they don’t often contain some of the best fight work on film today, and this particular scene is a standout.
Expectations are suitably set for a rollicking thrill ride, as Woo-sung battles to protect the Number 1 and return to North Korea against a relentless barrage of enemies, however the narrative has other things in mind. Genre blending has long been one of Korean cinemas strengths, however here it proves to be detrimental. Steel Rain soon eases into thriller mode with sprinklings of action, however it never matches the intensity of those first 45 mins, making it feel like it came out of the baking tray upside down. While in a webtoon there may not be that much difference between the action and scenes of intrigue, onscreen it makes all the difference, and the shift is a jarring one which serves to make the remaining 90+ mins (a standard movie runtime in any other country!) feel considerably longer than they actually are.
Part of the reason is that events escalate to such epic proportions, Woo-sung and Do-won begin to feel lost in the mix, as the stakes become too high for the audience to believe the pair could realistically influence them. There’s a decidedly cynical tone towards the U.S. that runs throughout, one that’s well deserved, but for a non-Korean audience the scenes lack the resonance they aim for. Game of Thrones alumni Ron Donachie plays the US Secretary of State, who urges the South Korean president to order a pre-emptive nuclear strike, with the main reason being the cost-saving it would bring compared to both sides nuking the other. The financially motivated war games the U.S. attempts to dictate feel cynical, while at the same time most likely a depressing reflection of reality. There’s also a completely unnecessary scene with Do-won giving a lecture on the history of Korea, which may be enjoyed locally, but otherwise feels like padding.
The tonal shifts extend to the occasional misplaced attempt at comedy. In a lighter story the moments may have worked, but considering the bombastic seriousness of everything, most of them fall flat. Moments like when Woo-sung arrives in the darkened hospital with the North Korean leader, and the gynaecologist mentions she’s not qualified to deal with pregnancies, come across as misplaced. Do-won himself, as great as he is in dramatic roles, doesn’t really cut it as a comedic actor. His and Woo-sung’s interactions frequently fall back on the usual North and South shtick we’ve become accustomed to, but fail to deliver the intended laughs – the North Korean going to a restaurant and scoffing down several meals, confusion over what a hamburger is, and a particularly embarrassing scene involving a G-Dragon K-pop song.
Where the comedy does hit though, and it’s a shame as it’s completely unintended, is Do-won’s attempts at English line delivery. I have complete respect for anyone that can speak a 2nd language, but here, his English intonation is all but incomprehensible. Suddenly Han Suk-kyu’s infamous exchanges in The Berlin File seem tolerable. Exchanging heavy handed musings with an American journalist, played by Kristen Dalton (Jack Reacher), you can almost see her struggle to figure out if he’s finished saying his lines or not. He also speaks Mandarin, and while I’m no expert, I’ve no doubt his delivery of these lines is infinitely better than those in English.
It may sound like I’ve been harsh on Steel Rain, but it’s by no means a bad movie. If anything, it just feels a little confused. Woo-sung and Do-won are the main characters, but for large swathes of time events unfold which they have little impact on, and as an audience both our investment and interest in them begin to wane during these stints. It’s kind of like Woo-seok wanted to make a more serious and epic version of Confidential Assignment, and to a large degree he’s been successful, just at the cost of sacrificing the very formula that make this type of buddy movie so enjoyable.
An upcoming documentary about martial arts star Bolo Yeung (aka Yang Sze), titled Chinese Hercules: The Bolo Yeung Story, is set for release later this year.
Known mostly for his iconic roles as “Bolo” in Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, and Chong Li in Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport, Chinese Hercules: The Bolo Yeung Story is the story of the bodybuilder, martial artist and actor who wrote his own destiny and walked his own path. A legendary tale that’s never been told on-screen before…
Chinese Hercules: The Bolo Yeung Story is written and directed by actor/stuntman Azim Cem, with Pavel Nyziak (producer of Diamond Cartel), and Luke Brown (aka DragonClaws), serving as co-writer.
Later this year, Liu Ye (Police Story: 2013) will direct and star in Career as a Mercenary, an upcoming action-drama produced by Jackie Chan (Bleeding Steel) and Lu Jianmin (Wolf Warrior II).
Career as a Mercenary tells the story of a soldier who wants to protect his country’s interests abroad. Filming locations include Kazakhstan, France and Israel (via JCF).
Those who were hoping to see Chan in the film may be left disappointed, but they can still look forward to the handful of projects the action superstar is headlining, including Project X-Traction, Climbersand Vanguard, which is currently in production.
We’ll keep you updated on Career as a Mercenary as we learn more. For now, enjoy the Japanese Trailer for 1985’s Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (aka Seven Lucky Stars):
The Bodyguard(read our review) follows a retired bodyguard (Hung) who has settled in the dark and unknown corner of the world where China, Russia and North Korea meet. Suffering from the beginnings of dementia, the bodyguard is befriended by a young girl whose life is threatened when her father (Andy Lau, Chasing the Dragon, Mission Milano) falls in with the local crime world.
Martial arts star Scott Adkins (Triple Threat, Eliminators) will be re-teaming with action director Isaac Florentine (Close Range, Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing) for a ninth time in an MMA-themed thriller titled Strapped, which begins production later this year.
In Strapped, Adkins plays a former MMA fighter forced to confront the heart of his dark past following a brutal robbery and the theft of his championship belt (via FCS).
Adkins and Florentine recently completed Seized, (with Solo star Mario Van Peebles) which releases later this year. Until then, here’s the classic Trailer for Florentine’s Jean-Claude Van Damme actioner The Shepherdthat featured Adkins in a co-starring role.
Director: Tony Liu Chun-ku Cast: Moon Lee, Gordon Liu, Lau Siu Kwan, Leung Kar Yan, Fujimi Nadeki, Kingdom Yuen King Tan, Shing Fui On, Ng Man Tat, Tony Liu Jun Guk, Mark Houghton Running Time: 91 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Like most fans of Hong Kong action, I have a soft spot for the Girls with Guns genre. Sure it was short lived (almost every entry that falls under the category was made between 1987 – 1993), and the sheer volume in which they were cranked out meant that there quickly became more bad than good, but there’s something about even the worst ones which means they’re never entirely unforgivable. There were essentially two Girls with Guns series, of which all of the other knock-offs and copy-cats looked to replicate. First was the Yes, Madam!/In the Line of Duty flicks, which were kicked off by Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock in the 1985 original, however would subsequently be carried by Cynthia Khan in the following 5 entries (some of which are considered unofficial). Then there was 1987’s Iron Angels, which introduced us to the talents of Moon Lee, spawned 2 official sequels, and a plethora of other loose Angel tie-ins.
Killer Angels was one such production, made during the same year as Angel III, and gives us Moon Lee as one of the Blue Angels trio, a kind of mercenaries for hire service that the police sometimes enlist the services of. When a member of a mysterious triad group called the Shadow Gangsters returns from America, claiming to have a list of all of the HK members of the group, the angels are called in to provide him with protection in return for exchanging the list. Said protection takes the form of fending off the HK based sect of the Shadow Gangsters, led by the legendary Leung Kar Yan and his faithful subordinate, the equally legendary Gordon Liu. Cue the tropes we all come to these flicks for – gratuitous machine gun fire, explosions, hard hitting fights, and a general level of energy that belies the obviously low budget.
Helmed by Tony Liu Chun-ku, much of the reason why Killer Angels proves to be a superlative slice of Girls with Guns entertainment, is likely thanks to his involvement. A director who’d been active since the mid-70’s, after helming Hwang Jang Lee classics like Hell’s Windstaff and Tiger Over Wall, he moved onto directing some of the most well regarded 80’s era Shaw Brothers productions, such as Bastard Swordsman and Secret Service of the Imperial Court. By the end of the decade he’d become somewhat of a Girls with Guns aficionado, usually with Moon Lee as his leading lady, with the pair also working on Devil Hunters the same year as Killer Angels (in which he turns up in a minor role).
Almost as if Chun-ku’s mission statement was to create the archetypal template for any Girls with Guns flick (or late 80’s/early 90’s Hong Kong action movie for that matter), the opening of Killer Angels acts like a check list of required scenarios – assassination in a basement car park. Check. Businessman kidnapped by assailants wearing sunglasses, even though it’s at night. Check. Action scene in a container yard. Check. It may feel overly familiar, but there’s a welcome energy to the briskness of the pacing, and the action on display is crisp. Moon Lee is joined by fellow angel Kingdom Yuen (a name more epic than anything in the movie itself), who plays a geeky but equally capable member of the trio, and eventually a lawyer, played by Yuen Hung, who’s proves to be more lethal with her fists than her legal skills.
Much like the Iron Angels series which it riffs on, while the title indicates the plural, the real star of the show here is Moon Lee. Where Killer Angels sets itself apart from the series that inspired it though, is that Lee’s co-stars are just as proficient in screen fighting as she is. No offence to Elaine Lui of course, however she could never have been argued to been cast expecting to deliver top drawer fights (and notably she was missing in action from Angel III all together). Both Kingdom Yuen and Yuen Hung have the moves, and thankfully get a handful of opportunities to show them off. Both ladies get their licks in against Lau Siu Kwan, who plays the triad they’re protecting, and whose unwanted advances lead to him being kicked and thrown around like a ragdoll.
Such scenes are a reminder of just how much talent the Hong Kong stunt community had in the industries prime. Whereas today, being attached to a wire for the purpose of being launched across a room and thrown face first into a wall would (and rightly so) be considered a high impact money shot, back then it was filmed as if it was no more important that the dialogue scene that just preceded it. Killer Angels is one of those movies were people get punched and kicked around on a regular basis, absorbing some painful looking falls and impacts, the type which as fans we perhaps once took for granted. As the expression goes, you don’t know what you got ’till it’s gone, but thankfully there’s an almost never ending catalogue of HK action flicks that’ll always be there to enjoy.
The other standout of Killer Angels is Moon Lee’s performance itself. She gets a little bit more to do here than just look cute and kick ass, as she finds herself going undercover in a triad run hostess bar. Hired as a singer, this results in her being given a full length musical number, in which she belts out a surprisingly catchy slice of Canto-pop complete with choreographed dance moves and backup dancers. Ridiculously, this scene was completely cut from Tai Seng’s US VHS release, which should be considered a crime considering it’s such a highlight. She also finds herself involved in a rather bizarre love triangle with Gordon Liu, who plays a triad enforcer armed with an enormous revolver, and an affinity for wearing black leather (even his cap is leather!).
Much like the audience, Liu finds himself falling for the charms of Lee’s understated sexiness, and even when he finds out she’s undercover, can’t quite bring himself to pull the trigger. This doesn’t go down well with Liu’s floozy, played by Japanese femme fatale Takajo Fujimi, which leads to a nicely choreographed fight between her and Lee. Killer Angels was Fujimi’s debut, and her career never really took off the same way it did for her fellow countryman Yukari Oshima, possibly because she always seemed to be cast in roles similar to those that Oshima was known for. Despite having screen presence and the moves to back it up, she’d only clock up 13 credits in the 10 years she was active in the industry, with her final appearance in 1999’s forgettable The Kingdom of Mob. As a debut though, in Killer Angels she leaves an impression.
Be warned, if you’re a fan of the Master Killer, this is not the movie for you. Much like many of the movies Liu was making at the time (see also A Bloody Fight and My Heart is That Eternal Rose), he doesn’t throw a single punch or kick, although he does get to shoot a lot. Liu was an actor who always seemed a little lost without his mentor Lau Kar Leung, and he never was able to catch the same magic of his work at Shaw Brothers once the studio moved away from film production. Liu isn’t the only student of Kar Leung in Killer Angels, with Mark Houghton also making an appearance as a Middle Eastern(!?) human trafficker. Houghton had started training under Kar Leung the year prior, and made his debut in film the same year as Killer Angels with the Kar Leung directed Aces Go Places V: The Terracotta Hit.
The blonde gweilo does get his licks in against Moon Lee (in a room graffitied with ‘Jesus ♡ You’ of all places), with fellow Brit Wayne Archer facing off against Kingdom Yuen. The action, which strikes a nice balance between gun play and fist fights, is choreographed by Chui Fat (who also worked with Chun-ku and Moon Lee on Devil Hunters the same year). It marked the first time for the Shaw Brothers stalwart to go solo (unless you count Fearless Hyena 2, which I’m not sure he’d want), and he does an amicable job of putting together a number of brief but high impact exchanges. The final fight between Lee and Leung Kar Yan, who appears to be channelling the Yuen Wah look from Dragons Forever, crams in some painful falls and intense exchanges. It would have been nice if it’d lasted a little longer, but it’s still great a great match-up of two talented screen fighters.
Despite the genre being a minefield to navigate, Killer Angels is one Girls with Guns flick that’s definitely worth your time. The glorious illogic of it – I personally loved the fact that the ladies always seemed to have a grenade somewhere on their person to throw at people, regardless of the scenario – only adds to the charm, and it ticks all of the required boxes. Even the obscure ones that you didn’t realise you needed, like an action scene taking place in an abandoned old building full of breakable wooden furniture and tyres. For a throwback to when even the lesser budgeted Hong Kong movies delivered the goods, Killer Angels fits the bill perfectly. Did I mention Moon Lee sings?
Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth, which has already earned over $610 million at the Chinese box office, has now made a landing on Netflix.
The Wandering Earth stars Li Guangjie (Drug War), Qu Chuxiao (Bloody Romance), Ng Man-tat (Shaolin Soccer), Zhao Jinmai (A Love For Separation) and martial arts star Wu Jing (Wolf Warrior II, SPL II).
Here’s a snippet of the film’s plot, which is based off a short story by Liu Cixin: In the near future, the Sun ages and is about to turn into a red giant, pushing the nations of the world to initiate a project to move Earth out of the Solar System to the Alpha Centauri system, in order to preserve human civilization.
ShaOW!linDudeonVirtual Recall (2010) ReviewOkay, this movie sounds abysmal, but makes for a witty review. Thanks, Paul.…
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