On October 16, 2018, Well Go USA will be releasing the Blu-ray & DVD for Erik Matti’s BuyBust (read our review). This acclaimed action/martial arts film stars MMA sensation, Brandon Vera (Kamandag), Anne Curtis (Blood Ransom) and Victor Neri (Citizen Jake).
Matti hit the nail right on its head with his 2013 contract killer-themed thriller On the Job. His recent film, Honor Thy Father, has met with similar praise. Now, Matti takes a stab at the martial arts genre with BuyBust, which tells the story of cop who finds herself trapped inside a dangerous slum area in Manila after a poorly planned buy-bust operation goes awry.
Arrow Video presents the Blu-ray for Orgies of Edo. Legendary Toei director Teruo Ishii tells three stories of moral sickness set during Japan’s prosperous Genroku era in this bloody follow-up to his sexploitation classic Shogun’s Joy of Torture, and the fourth entry in Toei’s ‘abnormal love’ film series. Ishii’s politically incorrect moral lessons paint a trio of tales of tragic heroines caught up in violence, sadomasochism, incest and torture.
Told in anthology style by an impassive physician (Teruo Yoshida), the first story follows Oito (Masumi Tachibana), an innocent young girl deceived by a handsome yakuza and sold into prostitution who finds herself in a doomed love affair with the man who brought her to ruin. The tale of Ochise (Mitsuko Aoi) is about the daughter of a rich merchant whose insatiable appetite for filth and perversion draws her deeper into violence, darkness and betrayal. Finally, the story of Omitsu (Miki Obana) follows a sadistic lord (Asao Koike) whose eye is caught one day by a beautiful member of his harem who shares his strange taste for pain and blood, but who holds a secret of her own that will destroy his entire household.
A stylistic about-face from the director’s prior work for Toei on the successful Abashiri Prison action series starring Ken Takakura, Ishii’s erotic films grew increasingly shocking, violent and strange, and Orgies of Edo finds him combining period film detail with carnivalesque grotesquerie to create his own particular vision of love and sex. This landmark ‘ero-guro’ film allowed Ishii to experiment with elements that would later show up in his masterpieces Horrors of Malformed Men and Blind Woman’s Curse, including the participation of sideshow performers and butoh dancer Tatsumi Hijikata.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original uncompressed mono PCM audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
The Orgies of Ishii – an exclusive, newly filmed interview with author Patrick Maccias
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin
First pressing only: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author Tom Mes
My childhood in the leafy suburb of Linlithgow, near the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, could not have been more idyllic and beautiful. On Saturdays the family would head through to Edinburgh, a place I remember as a kid being labyrinthine with great Victorian atmosphere, with winding streets that connect up in weird ways. In the evening we would regularly go to my Grandparents house, just outside of the city. My Grandad loved Westerns, Horror and Schwarzenegger films; my father always turned them off, afraid that my young mind would be disturbed – this must be one of the reasons I love mature violent cinema as an adult. One day, Grandad popped in a VHS of Enter the Dragon, when I was about 11. When it reached that most famous fight scene Bruce vs. the guards, I can still remember it like yesterday. My eyes widened in awe, and a feeling deep within me awoke that still hasn’t left – one I still experience when I see this great fight scene. I describe it as awestruck consciousness… these are the only words that work.
As we all know, Enter the Dragon is an American production; the aforementioned fight scene being perhaps the greatest in all of American cinema. This article is about the film that introduced me to Hong Kong cinema, and it wasn’t long before that life-changing experience occurred. A couple of months after watching Enter the Dragon, my Grandad and I paid a visit to the local video shop. I looked through the titles until one stuck out, a big box VHS with nice artwork with the tagline “a rip roaring adventure on the old China Coast’. The film was Project A. I told my Grandad I wanted it, so he looked at the rating, PG, and consented. We got home and I eagerly stuck the VHS in. Nothing could have prepared me for the wealth of entertainment I was about to experience… my introduction to Hong Kong Cinema, and to the Three Dragons: Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Baio.
“Project A” International Poster
To this day, Project A holds up as one of the greatest action comedies ever produced, and for me the ultimate three Dragons film (although there were not many!). Take a look at the action. From the first barroom brawl to the magnificent three on one ending, it’s up there with the best of all time. And let’s not forget how game changing the action is. Previously most Hong Kong movies were period pieces with shapes or basher action; Project A updated this style to incorporate kickboxing, which was all the rage at the time, and a dynamic editing style that favours clear presentation and seamless flow between shots. Sammo’s classic Wing Chun film Prodigal Son was the first to update the action style of Hong Kong movies, and on in to films such as the all star action comedy Winners and Sinners, but Project A consolidated and made it the trend of the mid-80’s.
The “young me” adored the characters in the film, and the actors who played them, and the older me agrees. In fact, Sammo’s character and performance made the biggest impact; and to this day he remains my ultimate hero. Meeting and interviewing him 2 years ago is sincerely one of the high points of my life. His hilarious demeanour, amusing dialogue and expert martial arts skills blazed image after image in to my mind, most vividly when throwing a slow motion flying kick to villain Dick Wei’s back in that end fight. Wei’s dastardly pirate Sanpao is easily his best role, tattooed up and iconic, throwing those amazing kicks. Jackie really cuts loose with his performance, when his buffoonish but morally upstanding character was in its infancy. The mid film chase and stunt work section is one of the greatest in any film, with moment after moment of jaw dropping ingenuity, the ultimate being the fall from the clocktower, which I rewind every time even though it’s a double take. Yuen Baio plays against type as a cocky officer, but his acrobatics and kicking throughout are extraordinary. The chemistry between the three is electric, in comedic and action terms. I can only imagine what it was like to see this film in 1984, seeing before your eyes the game being changed.
The signature 80’s action comedy style for all three Dragons was bourne in by the film, and set the precedent for what was to come. The success of Project A across the board in Asia and international markets such as the UK paved the way for a new type of kung fu movie, one which embraced new settings and styles.
“Project A” Japanese Theatrical Poster
For me this opened up a treasure trove of wonders; next I rented the action masterpiece Above the Law (aka Righting Wrongs) with Yuen Baio, and it became the first VHS I ever bought, when I was 13. It still holds pride of place in my collection as the only VHS, surrounded by DVDs and Blu-rays, and is one of my prized possessions. From then, it was classic Jackie such as the Police Story trilogy, of which the first is in my top 5 favourite Hong Kong movies.
Despite watching these movies in the mid-90’s and most of them being made in the 80’s, the atmosphere crawled under my skin and affected me like nothing had before. They became my private obsession, as I watched more and more, on in to the time of the video labels Made In Hong Kong and Eastern Heroes. I savoured such delights as the prime of classic kung fu like Invincible Armour and Drunken Master, and on into Heroic Bloodshed masterpieces by my favourite director John Woo, such as A Better Tomorrow and Hard Boiled… I could keep going. Now in my mid-thirties, I look back on that time with immense nostalgia and child-like wonder, but realise I must pay attention to the present. It chills my bones to think of the terrible state of HK cinema at the moment, apart from a few gems, so I now look to Korea for class A Asian cinema.
I could watch Project A another 50 times, as it is a timeless action masterpiece, a cinematic ride so potent it would blow me away every time. I envy the kid who comes across the film, his eyes widening and world changing as mine did, ready for for a lifetimes worth of Hong Kong cinema.
Windtalkers: Ultimate Edition | Blu-ray (MVD Marquee)
RELEASE DATE: October 9, 2018
On October 9, 2018, MVD Marquee Collection will be releasing a 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Blu-ray for the World War II actioner, Windtalkers, from acclaimed Hong Kong director, John Woo (Manhunt, The Killer).
In the brutal World War II Battle of Saipan, Sergeant Joe Enders (Academy Award® Winner* Nicolas Cage, Face/Off, Leaving Las Vegas) guards – and ultimately befriends – Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach, Suicide Squad), a young Navajo trained in the one wartime code never broken by the enemy, the Navajo Code. But if Yahzee should fall into Japanese hands, how far will Enders go to save the military’s most powerful secret?
John Woo directs this ”exciting” (Premiere) ”against-all-odds battle adventure” (The Toronto Star) co-starring Peter Stormare (Fargo), Noah Emmerich (The Americans), Mark Ruffalo (Avengers: Infinity War) and Christian Slater (Broken Arrow) and written by John Rice and Joe Batteer (Blown Away) and inspired by the true story of the Navajo soldiers whose courage and sacrifices helped win the war in the Pacific.
Here’s a list of the set’s Special Features:
Includes both the 134 minute Theatrical Version and the 153 minute Director s Cut
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p, 2.40:1) presentations of both versions of the film
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French 5.1 Surround, Spanish 5.1 Surround
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Audio Commentary with Director John Woo and Producer Terence Chang
Audio Commentary with Christian Slater and Nicolas Cage
Audio Commentary with actor Roger Willie and real-life Navajo code talker consultant Albert Smith
”The Code Talkers — A Secret Code of Honor” (23:12)
WWII Tribute Piece ”American Heroes: A Tribute to Navajo Code Talkers” (9:00)
”The Music of Windtalkers” (4:30)
Four Fly-on-the-Set Scene Diaries (23:37)
”Actors Boot Camp” Featurette (15:05)
Behind The Scenes Photo Gallery
Windtalkers Theatrical Teaser and Original Theatrical Trailer
Ha Chae-Yoon (Son) is a crisis negotiator for the Seoul Police Agency. She carries herself with a calm and cool-headed attitude. Min Tae-Koo (Hyun) is a weapons smuggler for a crime organization. He stages a terrifying hostage situation and Ha Chae-Yoon only has 12 hours to save the hostages (via AW).
While the original Predator may have its share of cheesy one-liners, it’s regarded by most as a modern action classic. It’s a movie that many consider Arnold Schwarzenneger’s strongest effort, a movie that would most likely be called John McTiernan’s finest hour if it wasn’t for a little film called Die Hard.
Still, even more surprising than the fact that Hollywood would touch the sacred cow of Predator is the news that none other than Shane Black will be directing the film. Before he made headlines for writing and directing Iron Man 3, Black was a talented writer who rose to fame on the strength of scripts like Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout.
Alongside his meteoric rise as a screenwriter in the late Eighties, Black actually had a small supporting role in the original Predator as the character Hawkins; this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it part was apparently a way for the producers to try and coax Black into polishing the script for Predator, a task which he repeatedly refused. All these years later, the Predator story appears to be coming full circle, as Black has co-written – along with Fred Dekker (Iron Man 3) – the treatment for the new Predator, which he has also directed.
Black has confirmed that the new Predator film, titled The Predator, is actually an “inventive sequel” and not a reboot. Here’s the official plot: From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home in Shane Black’s explosive reinvention of the Predator series. Now, the universe’s most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before, having genetically upgraded themselves with DNA from other species. When a young boy accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.
The Predator stars Boyd Holbrook (Gone Girl), Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), Jacob Tremblay (Room), Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), Olivia Munn (X-Men: Apocalypse), Sterling K. Brown (The People vs. O.J. Simpson), Alfie Allen (John Wick), Thomas Jane (The Punisher), Jake Busey (Starship Troopers), and Yvonne Strahovski (Killer Elite).
The Predator hits theaters on September 14th, 2018.
Updates: Check out the film’s Final Trailer below:
This gritty cop flick is highly regarded as one of Norris’ best. The film’s climax is noted for its menacing crime-fighting robot, “Prowler” (hey, it was the 80’s).
Eddie Cusack (Norris) is a Chicago detective who plays by his own rules – a dangerous habit, especially when he breaks the “code of silence” to blow the lid off a deadly police cover-up. Now an outcast, he receives little help from his embittered fellow officers when he’s hurled into a blistering battle against rival drug kingpins.
Code of Silencealso stars Henry Silva (Ocean’s 11), Dennis Farina (Midnight Run), Ron Dean (The Fugitive) and Molly Hagen (Navy Seals vs. Zombies).
Corpse Prison Part 2 | Blu-ray (Switchblade Pictures)
RELEASE DATE: December 4, 2018
On December 4, 2018, Switchblade Pictures will be releasing the Blu-ray for 2017’s Corpse Prison: Part 2, the second of a two part movie series directed by Hideo Jojo (Siren X).
They thought they were coming to study a mysterious town hidden in the mountains of Japan. Instead, they’ve discovered that their Professor brought them to Yasaka for a much darker purpose. Now Mikoto and the other girls are trapped in a monstrous nightmare. As the villagers become increasingly more insane, the college students find themselves at the center of arcane rituals focused on blood and rotting flesh. Their only chance is to escape, but their captors are far too numerous and know the lay of the local land far too well.
Corpse Prison: Part 2 stars Moemi Katayamax (Gun), Anna Tachibana (Skirt Gang), Shin’ichi Wago (Lady Ninja: A Blue Shadow), Nagomi, Reimi Fujishiro and Ren Fukusaki. Part 1 is also available for pre-order.
Director: Kam Ka-Wai Cast: Donnie Yen, Joe Chen, Yu Kang, Brahim Achabbakhe, Tom Caserto, Alfred Cheung, Ye Fan, Semiquaver Iafeta, Tin-Lung Koo, Gladys Li, Ka Wah Lam, Mike Leeder, Jess Liaudin, Billy Lau Nam-Kwong, Fung Lee, Brahim Chab Running Time: 101 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In the last 3 years alone Donnie Yen has played a kung fu master, a wandering swordsman, a sci-fi version of Zatoichi, a kick ass secret agent, and a legendary crippled gangster. So hey, being the most inspirational high school teacher that’s ever graced the screen seems like a natural progression, and that’s exactly what we get with Big Brother. While Yen has spent virtually the whole of the 2010’s with his name attached to what feels like 10 or more productions at any one time, part of the fun is seeing exactly how many of them come to fruition. Big Rescue, which had Yen teamed up with a group of lovable dogs, didn’t happen. Sigh of relief. Noodle Man, which would have cast Yen alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, didn’t happen either. Cue a bigger sigh of relief. Yen cast as a kind of kung fu version of Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds? I was sure that wasn’t going to happen either, but in this case, I was dead wrong.
Thankfully Big Brother doesn’t come with either Michelle Pfeiffer or a soundtrack by Coolio (or a starring role either, China Strike Force was quite enough of that), however it does come with a huge lump of cheese that’s difficult to shake off. But let’s face it, if anyone’s capable of smashing a lump of cheese into pleasantly digestible bites, it’s Yen and his fists of fury, and luckily he doesn’t forget to bring them along with him. For anyone that’s wondering exactly what kind of movie Big Brother is, from the moment the upbeat opening song plays over the opening credits, declaring “When you believe, you can be whoever you want to be” over and over again, trust me when I say you’ll know pretty fast.
Yen plays a former US marine, who after realising the futility of war and questioning how humans can be so cruel to each other, returns to Hong Kong to teach in a public school ear marked for closure due to its poor performance. Why would a US marine choose to become a teacher in such a school? That’s one of Big Brother’s few cards that it plays close to its chest, and it’s a move that works well when compared to how it wears its heart, which is unabashedly on its sleeve. At the end of Special ID Yen jumps for joy on top of a building, fist punching the air and declaring how beautiful life is in a voiceover. It was a horrible moment that I’ve tried to forget many times. However maybe Big Brother is the reason why I haven’t, because to a large degree, it really feels like the character Yen plays in Special ID went on to become the school teacher that he’s playing here.
Constantly switching between Cantonese and English (usually consisting of “You can do it!”, “Remember, you can do it!”, & “I told you, you can do it!”), Yen dishes out an almost immeasurable amount of fist pumps, high fives, and yes, even a few joy filled jumps as well. However unlike Special ID, here the saccharine nature of it all somehow works. Truthfully, I thought there was going to be a twist at the end in which we find out he’s actually an angel, but it wasn’t to be. Instead, we spend 100 minutes witnessing Yen’s incredible talents, as he takes a group of troublesome students under his wing (and their extended families), and single handedly gets their lives back on the track. Alcoholism, sexism, class discrimination, gang violence, poverty – don’t you worry, have a sit down with Yen and he’ll put you right, usually with a beaming smile and one of those inspirational quotes you see on cards or stuck to fridges.
Most likely Big Brother will be a love it or hate it movie for many people. We’re talking about a production that features songs by James Blunt and Lukas Graham in its soundtrack, and every other line is something along the lines of “Knowledge is power” or “Follow your own beliefs.” If you’re susceptible to vomiting in your mouth, this isn’t the flick for you. However if you’re willing to buy into its good nature, and accept that Donnie Yen can turn your life around with his infinite wisdom and unconditional support, then there’s plenty to enjoy. The kids themselves tick all the stereotypical boxes – the tomboy girl, the quick tempered poor kid supporting his granny, the kid suffering from ADD, twins with an alcoholic father, and a HK born Pakistani kid who longs to be a Canto-pop star (ok, admittedly that last one is kind of unique). However the new faces on the block playing them fit the roles well, and are likable enough.
Helmed by Kam Ka-Wai, after serving as assistant director on the likes of Yen’s Ip Man and its sequel, he finally stepped into the director chair himself for his 2016 debut, the abysmal iGirl. Thankfully Ka-Wai appears to be someone who learns quickly from his mistakes, topping off Wong Jing’s Colour of… trilogy with the solid Colour of the Game a year later, so Big Brother provides him with his hat trick. While his latest solo effort as a director may be undeniably sweet, it’s also undeniably assured, with a pace that moves along at a good clip, and there’s a confidence behind the handling of the material. Despite its sugar coated delivery, Big Brother still delivers a scathing message of the Hong Kong education system, and doesn’t shy away from addressing teen suicides and other issues the authorities would rather turn a blind eye too. It’s a credit to Ka-Wai’s approach, and he’s certainly a director to keep an eye on.
However, this is also a Donnie Yen flick, so people need to be punched in the face. Ka-Wai knows this, and despite being 55, audiences still come with the lofty expectation of seeing Yen kick some butt whenever he appears in a movie, which is as much of a credit to him as it likely is a burden. There are only 2 fight scenes in Big Brother, and although many of his hardcore fans may cry foul at this, it’s worth remembering the action quota wasn’t that much higher in the likes of his classics SPL and Flash Point. Fight choreography duties have gone to Yen’s long-time collaborator Kenji Tanagaki, who most recently worked on God of War, and for many will be most recognizable as the Japanese fighter that Wu Jing faces off against in Fatal Contact. His work on Big Brother could well be considered to be his best yet, particularly in the integration of MMA locks and holds into the brawls.
For a taste of some action audiences will have to wait a whole 50 minutes, but when it comes it hits hard, as Yen is forced to take on a locker room full of gweilo MMA fighters, culminating in him throwing down against human brick wall Jess Liaudin. In true HK movie style, the whole fight is set to gweilo mainstay Mike Leeder yelling “Easy money!” and “First round!” on constant rotation. In what feels like a subtle nod to Sammo Hung’s naked bathhouse fight scene from The Victim, Yen even gets to square off against some bare butted opponents, although thankfully we’re spared any Eastern Promises style exposure. It’s a great fight, and feels very scrappy and desperate, with everyone involved delivering top drawer physical performances. The second fight is saved for the finale, which pits Yen against a group of gangsters one of the students got involved with, before seguing into a one-on-one rematch against Ice Man’s Yu Kang.
It may be a bold statement, but I’d rank Yen’s fight against Kang here above the finales of both Flash Point and Special ID in terms of his MMA themed work. The fact that the fight is prefaced by an unexpected emotional gut punch adds some serious weight to it, however both of them really go at it, throwing each other every which way and clocking up some impressive collateral damage. The amount of damaged property brought to mind when Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren faced off in Universal Soldier: Regeneration, except here we’re not dealing with invincible reanimated soldiers. It may not be intricate or stylish, but as an example of a screen fight which really feels like two people attempting to knock the living daylights out of each other, this is up there. Best of all? It feels evenly matched, which was my biggest gripe in both the finales of Flash Point and Special ID.
It’s strange to talk about Big Brother in the context of the way sometimes average old school kung fu flicks could redeem themselves with a final fight, but somehow the comparison fits with Big Brother. The terminally upbeat nature of it all does begin to show signs of grating in the later parts, however the finale reels everything in as if to say, ok, you’ve got this far – now we’ll give you what you’re waiting for. Until you get to that point though, you’ll have to witness Yen riding his motorbike alongside a field full of running horses, a mini-Yen versus a mini-Yu Kang flashback, and (maybe I mentioned it before), plenty of fist pumps. It’s not every day you come across a movie with the potential to have Dead Poets Society meets Special ID as its tagline, but Big Brother fits that criteria. High five.
Well Go USA will be releasing The Witness at select theaters later this month. This acclaimed thriller, directed by Jo Kyu-Jang (A Camel Doesn’t Leave Desert), is currently making waves at the local box office (and talk about a crazy trailer).
The Witness explores the bystander effect, when individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when others are present: A horrific murder occurs near a large apartment complex, and an average middle-aged man (Lee Sung-min) becomes torn about having done nothing as the young victim had been left to die. Not so long after, the killer returns to eliminate potential witnesses (via THR).
Stay tuned for exact U.S. release dates – as well as a future Blu-ray/DVD announcement. Until then, don’t miss the film’s Trailer below.
Las Vegas, August 27, 2018 – Russian Film Star and Action Legend Alexander Nevsky wins big at Action on Film 2018’s MEGAFest over the weekend. Maximum Impact which Nevsky produced and stars in won “Best Action Film of the Year” along with wins for “Best Action Sequence” and “Best Special Effects.”
In addition, Nevsky received the festival’s “Breakout Action Star of the Year” Award and co-star Matthias Hues received the festival’s Icon Award.
“Maximum Impact is the biggest film in my career and I’m so glad it was recognized in such a great way! I’m also happy to receive the “Breakout Action Star Award” and would like to thank “Action on Film International Film Festival” and Mr. Del Weston for this honor. But I couldn’t be here without my idols Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ralf Moeller and Matthias Hues so I would like to thank them too for all the inspiration and support over the years!” said Nevsky.
Nevsky received his Awards from Dr. Robert Goldman and Michael DePasquale Jr at the star studded MEGAFest Award Shows which were held at the RIO Hotel Las Vegas and other area venues.
Maximum Impact will be released in theaters September 28, 2018, and On Demand and Digital Video on October 2, 2018.
Director: Julien Leclercq Writer: Jérémie Guez Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sveva Alviti, Sami Bouajila, Sam Louwyck, Kaaris, Kevin Janssens, Alice Verset, Dimitri Thivaios, Laurent D’Elia Running Time: 82 min.
By LP Hugo
While many film critics and casual filmgoers seem to date Jean-Claude Van Damme’s first true flexing of his acting muscles back to Mabrouk El Mechri’s JCVD in 2008, the Belgian action star has actually always been a bonafide actor, with a wide range of performances that have taken him across many shades of good and evil, of comedy and drama, of intensity and playfulness. Of course, arriving to such a conclusion necessitates piercing through a sometimes thick cloud of overblown 80s and 90s heroics, a haze of coke-induced antics in the early 00s, a whole lot of direct-to-video mediocrity since then, and a handful of hilarious commercials. Yet to dismiss Van Damme as an actor is often to prove unable to dissociate a performance from the film in which it is found (simply put: fine acting can happen even with poor scripts), and to deride him is entirely redundant: he’s already deriding himself on a regular basis.
Still, 2008’s JCVD at least made his acting chops and aching vulnerability evident by being mostly devoid of actions scenes – the arthouse veneer that seems to coat French or Belgian films whenever they travel internationally (even when the film has no arthouse pretentions in its home country) helped, of course. Since then, Van Damme has kept doing some of his best work as an actor (the weary and then demented return of Luc Devereaux in John Hyams’ excellent Universal Soldier sequels, the self-deprecating and heartfelt meta version of himself in the Amazon series Jean-Claude Van Johnson…) while strengthening his pop culture good-will (voice work in the Kung-Fu Panda films, a villain named Vilain in The Expendables 2…) and starring in a string of mediocre-to-solid but cripplingly cash-strapped direct-to-video thrillers (Pound of Flesh, Kill ‘em All…). Now, he goes back to French-speaking cinema with Julien Leclercq’s The Bouncer (aka Lukas), whose muted reception in France doesn’t mean it won’t resonate internationally: after all, JCVD similarly made few waves on its home turf, before acquiring a strong reputation abroad.
Van Damme plays Lukas, a former bodyguard who for initially mysterious reasons fled South Africa alone with his 8 year-old daughter (Alice Verset), to start a new life under fake names in Belgium, where he works as a bouncer, trying to make ends meet and give his daughter a brighter future. One day, he nearly kills a troublesome clubber by accident: he’s fired but finds a new bouncer position in a strip club whose shady owner Dekkers (Sam Louwyck) is intrigued by his stoic resilience: the job interview consisted of beating up a room-full of men half his age. But soon, Lukas is approached by police detective Zeroual (Sami Bouajila), who’s aware of his recent misstep, is trying to nail Dekkers for money counterfeiting, and needs an informant. The bouncer must get his hands dirty to earn his new boss’ trust and graduate to henchman, a position from which he can tip-off the police, and avoid prison. But inevitably, his daughter gets caught in the crossfire, and things get ugly.
This is a gritty film. In fact, it is so gritty that it sometimes borders on parody: the low thumps and deep industrial growls of the soundtrack, the endless pregnant silences, the dour Belgian suburban landscapes, the absolute absence of humour… The film almost crumbles under the weight of its atmosphere, especially as it doesn’t have much a script to support it. It’s a perfunctory story, a repetitive succession of simple family moments and scenes where Lukas goes on quick missions for his new boss, while feeding information to Zeroual. Lukas’ mysterious past, when revealed, proves too mundane to warrant how long it took to unravel it, and a twist in the final reel lands with a thud, as it involves a character that has had no room for development until then. And there is a frankly stupid plot turn where Lukas actually takes his daughter along on one of the dangerous, illegal jobs he has to do for his crime-lord boss… Sure, Dekkers summoned him while he was having some quality time with his daughter, but why didn’t he drop her off at home? Because then she couldn’t have been kidnapped easily enough, that’s why.
Nevertheless, this is one of Van Damme’s best performances. He’s of course never more comfortable acting than in his native French, but the dialogue is sparse here. It’s his grizzled face, his deeply melancholy eyes that tell the story, and the subtleties of warmth, anger or despair they convey are the main reasons to watch The Bouncer. He’s well-matched by Sam Louwyck, imposingly dangerous and yet at times oddly sympathetic as the crime boss Lukas must help take down. And Alice Verset has a touching chemistry with Van Damme as his daughter, though the film confines said chemistry to a few small vignettes. The Bouncer is more film noir than action film, but it does offer a handful of very grounded, sometimes impressively brutal hand-to-hand fights, as well as an interesting tracking shot stealthily entering and noisily escaping a drug den; a quick parking lot chase is much less memorable. The Bouncer doesn’t hinder Van Damme’s slow, diluted comeback, but it doesn’t advance it much either.
LP Hugo’s Rating: 5.5/10
If you enjoyed this review, you’ll want to visit Asian Film Strike, which is owned and operated by LP Hugo.
By 2002, I’d seen a handful of Hong Kong action movies – mostly John Woo staples like A Better Tomorrow and Miramax’s dubbed Jackie Chan pictures– but it wasn’t until my hand reached for a lonely copy of Tsui Hark’s 2000 gonzo action masterpiece Time & Tide at Blockbuster Video that I truly became a devotee of the genre. To my teenage self, Hark’s surreal blend of audacious camerawork, Matrix-esque bullet time, and bravado setpieces registered as a revelation. Time & Tide is a film that rarely pauses to catch its breath, one that’s infused with kind of formal inventiveness you’d expect to find in an arthouse picture, not a big-budget action movie. The heady rush of Hark’s visual storytelling isn’t without a price: despite repeated viewings over the years, I’d be hard-pressed to give you a succinct description of the plot; but at this point, that’s almost part of Time & Tide’s charm. Sometimes you have to leap before you look.
“Time and Tide” Japanese Theatrical Poster
Nicholas Tse, then just an up-and-coming heartthrob with appearances in Gen-X Cops and A Man Called Hero, plays an all-around screw-up trying to hold down a job as an amateur bodyguard. Before long, his new gig finds him crossing paths with stoic Taiwanese actor (and massively successful rock star) Wu Bai, appearing here as a former mercenary “with a very particular set of skills,” now looking to start a new life with his pregnant bride. Time & Tide’s rather misleading American tagline was “Trust is fatal,” but Nicholas Tse and Wu Bai will have to team up if they have any hope of surviving a villainous band of South American assassins known as the Angels. Or something.
With hindsight, it’s easy to view Time & Tide as Tsui Hark’s gleeful return to his Hong Kong stomping grounds, bringing with him everything he learned while crafting his Hollywood collaborations with Jean-Claude Van Damme. The same freewheeling, anarchic visual stylings on display in 1998’s Knock Off are present here, but truly flourish thanks to a setting that has more to do with classic heroic bloodshed tropes than JCVD selling jeans with nanobombs in their buttons. Back then, I’d never seen an action movie quite as kinetic as Time & Tide, and by the time Tsui Hark’s constantly roving camera followed Wu Bai out a window as he repeled down the side of a Hong Kong tenement building, I knew I was hooked.
(I’m clearly not the only fan: Time & Tide continues to be an influence on the current generation of Asian action directors, as over a decade later that tenement building sequence I mentioned was more or less lifted for both Choi Dong-hoon’s 2012 smash hit The Thieves, and 2014’s No Tears for the Dead from The Man From Nowhere director Lee Jung-beom.)
Trust is fatal.
Time & Tide proves that, at its core, action cinema is about one thing: motion. The film serves as a tribute to the human form in flight, whether Hark’s actors are scaling the side of a building, leaping over a catwalk, or kicking a live grenade before it explodes. Although these days Tsui Hark has grown more enamored of computer effects, Time & Tide is host to a plethora of practical stunts. The director’s restless visual ingenuity still impresses, and guarantees you’ll be saying “how the hell did they do that?” at least once every five minutes.
You could make the argument that Tsui Hark had already produced better films around this time – whether the nihilistic wuxia of 1995’s The Blade or the lush fantasy of 1993’s Green Snake; and certainly those movies are a little easier to follow, due to Time & Tide’s almost free-association script. But for me, Time & Tide will always loom the largest. It’s the rare action film that reinvigorates the form. During one scene, everything pauses so Tsui Hark can zoom in on Nicholas Tse locked inside a refrigerator as he attempts to survive an explosion; it’s appropriate, as that’s kind of what watching this movie feels like at times. No one else has made a film quite like this –– and I’m not sure anyone but Tsui Hark would be bold enough to try.
For me, Time & Tide represented a turning point. No longer would I be content to wait for the next Jackie Chan movie to be released in American cinemas. No longer would I merely keep an eye out for the occasional Hong Kong film that my local video store decided to procure. Now I was on the hunt; I had to actively track down and get my hands on any movie that featured a Chinese actor throwing a punch or brandishing a pistol. The transformation was complete: Time & Tide had turned me from a fan into a fanatic.
Director: Jon Turteltaub Cast: Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Cliff Curtis, Shuya Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Robert Taylor, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson Running Time: 113 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Let’s just get it out of the way upfront. Yes, The Meg is the movie which puts Jason Statham on equal footing with Jackie Chan. Is there another star out there who’s had the pleasure of starring alongside the likes of Shu Qi, Michelle Yeoh, and Li Bingbing? I think not, and it’s an accolade that’s as good a way to start a review off as any (plus, I have a feeling most other reviews may have skipped mentioning this landmark moment). With that fact laid out on the table, we can focus on the movie itself.
Based on the book of the same name by Steve Alten (which, for full disclosure, I haven’t read), The Meg has been over 20 years in the making, having originally been picked up by Disney in 1997 to be adapted for the big screen. At the time Disney ended up backing down, due to not wanting to compete with rival Warner Brothers Deep Blue Sea (which came out in 1999), and from there the property has been passed from pillar to post. At one point it was going to be directed by Jan De Bont (Speed), and in more recent year’s horror maestro Eli Roth looked like the firm favorite. A director known for his love of gore combined with a story about a giant shark seemed like a match made in heaven, but it was this match which eventually saw Roth jump ship, as he wanted to make it an R-rated bloodbath (literally) while maintaining the original $150 million budget. The studio was going to let him have both.
Skip forward to 2018, and The Meg is finally unleashed in the form of a co-production between the U.S. and China, with 3 Ninjas director Jon Turteltaub at the helm. Go figure. Stepping into the lead role of expert diver Jonas Taylor is British tough guy Jason Statham, a fitting choice considering he represented England in the diving category during the 1990 Commonwealth Games. The gruff Brit makes for a welcome sight as the lead, in what’s essentially a summer blockbuster movie for (almost) the whole family. For those wondering, the final rating it was slapped with was PG-13, so that should answer the question of if they went for blood or budget.
The plot, for what it’s worth, kicks off with Statham rescuing a submarine in an unexplored part of the Mariana Trench, one that’s under attack from a large unidentified force (hint: it’s a megalodon). Forced to leave half of his crew behind, 5 years later and he’s become an alcoholic recluse in Thailand, having failed to convince those he was accountable to that a prehistoric shark was responsible for the attack. However when a state-of-the-art underwater research facility loses contact with a sub exploring a similar area, containing a team which includes Statham’s ex-wife, he’s identified as the one person who has the skills to save them. Despite his promise to never dive again, knowing his ex-wife is in danger gets the better of him, and soon he’s enroute to the facility in a race against time to save the crew.
Had the whole movie revolved around Jason Statham versus a giant prehistoric shark, The Meg could have been a fun (big budget) B-movie. As it is, The Meg still feels more like a B-movie than anything else, and it’s one that comes lumbered with a revolving cast of interchangeable characters. Rainn Wilson plays the ruthless millionaire who only cares about the bottom line, Cliff Curtis is the guy who keeps cool under pressure, Page Kennedy is the loud black guy, and Ruby Rose plays the smart female who’s also kind of edgy, like she always does. Of course being a Chinese co-production, we also have Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystalco-stars Winston Chao and Li Bingbing, as a father and daughter duo that run the facility.
In fairness, Li Bingbing is the closest thing to a co-lead The Meg has, and becomes the love interest that begins to soften Statham’s world weary heart. Yes, you may be thinking that the reason he accepted this mission was because of his ex-wife, but don’t worry about that. At one point, his ex-wife even encourages him to start a relationship with Bingbing, it’s a win-win! Bingbing herself has been doing the rounds lately in a number of co-productions, with roles in the likes of The Forbidden Kingdom, Resident Evil: Retribution and Transformers: Age of Extinction. I’m not sure if The Meg can top her career highlight of fighting against an ancient Chinese mummy alongside Kelsey Grammer in Guardians of the Tomb, but it comes pretty close.
But what about the megalodon itself? In fairness, the beast of the deep makes for a surprisingly tensionless threat. Even when it’s initially identified, we simply get a scene in which Statham announces “It’s a megalodon”, and nobody acts particularly shocked or terrified. It’s almost as if the cast knew they’re in a movie called The Meg, so the scene didn’t call for any surprise reactions or, dare I say it, acting. This kind of non-reaction essentially summarises the first hour. It all feels rather flat and lifeless, as the crew explore the dark recesses of the ocean, and we get to watch what looks like an early 2000’s IMAX Under The Sea short film. It’s only when the megalodon escapes the deepest depths of the ocean and into more familiar waters that proceedings (literally) brighten up, and we’re treated to what feels like a series of shark genre vignettes.
As much fun as it is to watch Jason Statham being pulled through the water on a rope while being pursued by the hungry shark, or Li Bingbing trapped in a shark cage stuck inside its jaws, there’s also the unmistakable fact that the megalodon is nothing more than CGI. With the huge budget The Meg has behind it, you’d think at least a few million of it could have been spent on some practical shark effects. You only need to type “megalodon” in IMDB to see there’s been a heap of similar movies in the last 15 years (of which my favorite title has to be 2015’s Mega Shark vs. Kolossus), all of which rely on sub-standard CGI. You can’t replace in-shot practical effects, and I can’t help but think The Meg squandered an opportunity by opting to just make a better CGI version of all those shark flicks clogging up the DTV shelves.
For those looking for some blood soaked mayhem, you’ll also have to stick with those DTV shark movies, as you won’t find it here. Outside of some whale blubber (ok, and one briefly sighted severed arm), The Meg is a toothless affair when it comes to the business of kills, which let’s face it, is half the reason for making a shark movie in the first place. Director Turteltaub and star Statham have been surprisingly vocal about their dissatisfaction at the lack of gore on display, as apparently more was shot, but most of it has been cut for the theatrical release. Here’s hoping we’ll get an unrated home video release, but taken in its current form, the megalodon may have an impressive mouthful of teeth, but we don’t get to see them do a whole lot.
More than any of the above though, what threw me off the most with The Meg was how quaint the script is. There are clunky lines throughout, and some of the exchanges are bizarrely polite. One character is pulled out of the water just seconds away from being eaten alive, and their exact exchange consists of the rescued character saying “Thank you”, and the rescuer replying “You’re welcome.” Then they both go on to continue with whatever it was they were doing before. It’s weird. It gets weirder though. In one scene the crew come across the wreckage of a boat, and the water is scattered with small sharks that have their fins missing. A whole scene is then dedicated to Bingbing and Chao explaining that the sharks have had their fins cut off to make shark fin soup, and what a terrible waste of life it is. I get it, if Li Bingbing doesn’t want to eat shark fin soup, then maybe her fans won’t either. But really, in the middle of The Meg!?
The Chinese investment fully shows itself during the finale, set on a crowded beach in China, the shallow water makes for a fun ending as the shark causes havoc amongst the various water sports and swimmers, sometimes feeling like we’ve stepped into another movie altogether. To its credit, it’s also one of the few scenes in which the comedy actually works. Indeed, The Meg is far from perfect, but any shark flick that throws in a finale that includes exploding helicopters, a wedding, a Yorkshire Terrier, a guy in a zorb, and Jason Statham spouting lines like “I’m gonna make it bleed”, at least deserves some good will. In Jaws they may have needed a bigger boat, and if Turteltaub doesn’t want his movie to sink without a trace, The Meg might need one too.
Today I couldn’t tell you whose idea it was to go to Blockbuster and rent a Jackie Chan VHS but I can clearly remember more than one family movie night spent laughing and gasping in shock while watching Operation Condor. Of course, even this innocent memory of a Hong Kong superstar’s attempt at an Indiana Jones movie is somehow wrapped up in Weinstein controversy. For the longest time, pre-internet Kyle did not know that Operation Condor was actually Armour of God 2: Operation Condor and that Operation Condor 2: Armor of God was actually just Armour of God. Just another reason to hate Harvey Weinstein, I suppose. Anyway.
“His Newest Adventure”?
I think I was addicted to Operation Condor for a while because I remember renting it many times on VHS and DVD. I didn’t think of Jackie as a martial artist so much as an uncompromising action movie star that was willing to risk life and limb for a crazy stunt sequence. The notion of a movie star doing his own stunts and showing off the injuries in the credits as proof of his successes and missteps meant something to me, for whatever reason. I thought of him as a living, breathing special effect. In a way, I still do.
I soon branched out beyond Operation Condor but rarely went beyond Jackie Chan in terms of Hong Kong or Chinese film. I didn’t see my first Bruce Lee film until many, many years later, because again, kung fu wasn’t the main draw at the time. Thinking on it now, I miss the happy discoveries browsing the aisles of the video stores looking for a Jackie Chan movie I had never seen before. You don’t get quite the same feeling when such a film appears available for streaming on Netflix or Amazon, you know? After the Operation Condor/Armor of God movies, I have early memories of Jackie Chan’s First Strike, Who Am I?, Mr. Nice Guy, and Rumble in the Bronx.
It probably wasn’t until I first saw Legend of Drunken Master (the Jackie film that I revisit most often) in the early 2000s that I began to appreciate martial arts on film. The fight choreography in that film was so fast and strange, violent yet hilarious. It remains my favorite martial arts movie today. That movie sparked interest in seeking out similar martial arts movies, introducing me to Bruce, Jet, Michelle, and Sammo, among others.
“Armour of God II: Operation Condor” Chinese Theatrical Poster
But the thing about Hong Kong cinema that remains the main point of interest to me is the unbelievable stunt work. I recall hearing how the rival stunt teams got competitive trying to show who was more daring and more willing to take the bruises and broken bones for their art. And that really upped the quality of what you saw in the movies, I think. Hollywood produces plenty of good movies but you don’t see that same competition to outdo each other in action set pieces and stunts that inspire a sense of awe. Hollywood wants to outdo each other at the box office, which I get, but it’s not the same (Tom Cruise is the closest modern American cinema has to a Jackie Chan but beyond Cruise you’ll rarely see an A-lister risking their life for an action movie in Hollywood). I mean, Jackie Chan’s Police Story had the lead actor/director drive a car through a shanty town. It’s insane. And then, later on in the same movie, he rides a pole down multiple floors in a mall, with glass and sparks flying all around him. How can you not be impressed by that dedication and daring?
“New Police Story” International Theatrical Poster
Today’s Jackie Chan movies aren’t the same, understandably. The star has slowed down with age and requires more assistance of special effects like wire work; I do not begrudge him this for a second. His films have also taken on a noticeably more downbeat tone. New Police Story took the crazy action series to dark new lows, with Jackie trading in comedy for a sad, self-pitying dramatic performance—but at least it still had the crazy action and stunts. And then Police Story: Lockdown kept with the dramatic performance but excised most of the stunt work in favor of a gritty thriller atmosphere. I think the change in tone may be most related to Jackie’s return from Hollywood, where he had success but rarely seemed very pleased with the work he was doing. It’s like he took a bad mood into his movies – that, or, he enjoyed the good reviews for 2009’s Shinjuku Incident and has been trying to get back to that sort of dramatic character work ever since.
2017’s The Foreigner, more than any Jackie Chan movie of the past decade, suggests that maybe Jackie (who wants to be a respected dramatic actor) and the fans (who want to see him kick people and cling to the wall like Spider-Man), and the international producers (who want him to speak English) can all be happy. Because though his movies have changed from what I first fell in love with, at least you can say that he still tries to provide variety and will do almost anything to entertain an audience. And wherever Jackie Chan’s career goes from here, the old movies will always be there, awesome and badass and full of life. Hmm, I think I’m gonna go watch Operation Condor now. Later.
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Today I couldn’t tell you whose idea it was to go to Blockbuster and rent a Jackie Chan VHS but I can clearly remember more than one family movie night spent laughing and gasping in shock while watching 
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