It’s the age of the comic book movie in Hollywood. And though you can argue that there is an oversaturation of such films at the theatres, I don’t really think there’s much debate that the filmmakers have gotten better at making these movies. Likewise, Japan is going through a bit of a manga adaptation period. The cause for both film trends is partly that special effects have caught up with comic book storytelling, but perhaps mostly because a comic/manga adaptation is a reliably easy sell for a shrinking theatre audience. If I am allowed to follow this line of thought further and make another comparison, then I would say that Gintama may be the Japanese equivalent of Deadpool, not because of any similar themes or visuals, but for its shared interest in genre self-deprecation, meta humor, and fourth wall-shattering antics.
I’m not oblivious to anime and have enjoyed a handful of good shows and movies over the years. But Gintama, which was a manga before becoming a long-running anime series in 2005, completely slipped past my radar. When I sat down to watch and review the live-action adaptation, I did so with only the most basic understanding of what I was getting myself into (honestly, I just read that it had samurai in it and said, Sure, I’ll watch that). Um, it quickly became apparent that Gintama is… kind of weird. And though it tries to make itself relatable to new audiences (there’s even a moment where the characters note that longtime fans will undoubtedly have complaints so appealing to general audiences is a must), it’s not the easiest nut to crack.
We get a rundown of the Gintama universe’s history before jumping into the plot. Aliens came to Japan during the samurai period when Tokyo was still known as Edo, forever changing the country and making it a bizarre mix of tradition and modern tech at a rapid pace. There was a resistance to the alien invaders (known as Sky People), but the aliens proved victorious and formed an allegiance with the Edo government, forcing freedom fighters to work in the shadows. Now aliens walk the streets amongst us. Jaguar people. Fish people. Weirdo horned people. The aliens are treated as an elevated social class. And it’s here that I thought maybe Gintama was a sci-fi take on the post-war American occupation, with the huge leaps in tech and culture a thinly veiled look at the nation’s westernization. But that thought quickly vanished when the heroes go on a beetle hunt, encounter the 90% naked police chief covered in honey, an expressionless alien bird thing named Elizabeth who talks by holding up signs, and a cigarette smoking guy slathering mayonnaise onto trees. Uh, okay. You have my attention, Gintama.
The movie begins by throwing everything at the viewer that they can handle and then some. Then it restarts itself. There’s a moment when irritating little cartoon representations of the stars stop the movie, give us a brief rundown of ‘it’s a long story,’ and then joke about Warner Bros. lawyers before the WB logo shows up for the second time and the movie begins anew. It’s… something else. It’s also the moment when I think some viewers may decide they’ve seen enough and check out. This would be a shame, as the movie does settle down (just a bit) after the scattershot opening and a crowded first act.
It’s not all fun and games in Gintama. There’s a serial killer stalking the streets with a robotic sword that’s like something out of Soul Calibur. After the killer, who is known as Nizo the Butcher (Hirofumi Arai, Blood & Bones), strikes down a hero resistance fighter on the streets, it’s up to a group of friends who specialize in heroic odd jobs to track down the killer and bring him to justice. Among them is the white-haired rogue Gintoki (Shun Oguri, Lupin the 3rd), the blue-eyed alien girl with an addiction to ramen, Kagura (Kanna Hashimoto, I Wish), and the shy wannabe tough guy Shimura (Masaki Suda, Assassination Classroom). Their investigation leads them to a ship in the harbor and a group of extremists who plot to attack the city and overthrow the government.
The plot, once it gets going, is actually fairly well constructed. There’s a good deal of drama and action to accompany all the very Japanese comedy. A final showdown between Nizo, who becomes more and more like a Testsuo: The Iron Man monster as the film goes along, and the wounded Gintoki is over the top but not totally unfamiliar to fans of samurai action cinema. And the ensemble cast, which includes that alien bird thing named Elizabeth (played by Takayuki Yamada, of all people), give the audience some memorable scenes as conflicts come to a head.
It’s the comedy that won me over, however. There are many in-jokes for fans of the series and fans of popular anime that went right over my head (one gag with a Miyazaki character gave me a laugh, though), but it’s done with such madcap energy that you just gotta hold on and go with it. There’s physical comedy, sight gags, and no shortage of good lines. The actors are so into it. In addition to the main cast, supporting actors like Kankuro Nakamura, Ken Yasuda, and Masami Nagasawa all put in great work. But it’s Kanna Hashimoto and Jiro Sato who are the MVPs of the cast, each putting on comedic master classes that delighted me to no end.
Some of the comedy doesn’t work quite as well. In anime, there are a few frequent sight gags that you’ll see in almost every mainstream show; the bloody nose in a moment of embarrassment or in the company of hotness, the shock falls where one or many people hit the floor in an instant, and the slow-mo punch in the face for comedic effect. When these appear in animation, I accept them, because I feel the medium supports them. But they’re beginning to appear in live-action with groan-inducing results. Gintama uses the slow-mo punch gag a lot. Too much. And I tired of it long before the end.
Gintama is something like the halfway point in Japanese cinema where mainstream comic book entertainment meets WTF comedy. Writer/director Yuichi Fukuda made his name by crafting some of the weirdest comedies of the past decade or more, most notably the Hentai Kamen: Forbidden Super Hero films which feature a chiseled young man wearing fishnet stockings, a string bikini, and a pair of panties for a mask. Gintama is more mainstream and less pervy than those films, but still perhaps too strange an introduction for Japan’s peculiar brand of comedy.
I find Gintama a difficult film to rate as well as a difficult film to offer a general recommendation for. I liked it. But I also didn’t totally get it. Bigger fans of anime than myself will get a whole lot more out of it, as the film was clearly made with them in mind. (Fans of Gintama, I have no idea how you’ll feel. Maybe it’s a masterful adaptation, maybe it’s a bastardization. You be the judge.) All I know is that I had fun. It’s big, dumb, and strange. I just read that Gintama Part 2 is supposed to be on its way later this year and I am excited about the prospect of revisiting this anything-goes world of samurai, idiots, and aliens.
Ninja III: The Domination: Collecrtor’s Edition | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)
RELEASE DATE: June 12, 2018
On June 12th, Shout! Factory is re-releasing Ninja III: The Domination on Blu-ray – but this time around – they’re adding deadlier upgrades (see their previous edition here).
This 3rd sequel (by title and star, otherwise unrelated) to Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja teams Lucinda Dickey (Breakin’) with the legendary Sho Kosugi (9 Deaths of the Ninja). The film also stars David Chung (Missing in Action 2: The Beginning) and James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China).
Check out Shout’s comments below:
1984’s Ninja III: The Domination from Cannon Pictures is one of the most bonkers and WTF films we’ve ever put on Blu-ray. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a wild concoction of police shootouts, martial arts, golfing, The Exorcist, sex, hot tubs, Flashdance and video games (even V-8 makes a memorable appearance). Although we knew the film had a vocal following when we released it in 2014, we didn’t quite know what to expect or how big it would be. The sales numbers surprised us and it over-performed.
What’s always bugged us though was that our release was a little on the “barebones” side, save for a commentary. Today, we correct that. We are re-releasing Ninja III again on June 12th as a “Collector’s Edition” Blu-ray with a serious upgrade in picture and extras.
Some confirmed details as follows:
The newly-commissioned artwork pictured comes to us from artist Joel Robinson (Silent Night Deadly Night, Misery, Tales from the Hood). This art will be front-facing and the reverse side of the wrap will be the original theatrical poster art.
Release will come with a slipcover (guaranteed for three months after its original release date).
We are doing a new 4K scan of the film from original film elements.
Red Shirt Pictures is handling the bonus features on this and have come up with some kick-ass new stuff:
NEW 4K Scan From The Original Film Elements
NEW interview with Actress Lucinda Dickey
NEW interview with Actor Jordan Bennett
NEW interview with Producer and Stuntman Alan Amiel
NEW audio Interviews with Production Designer Elliot Ellentuck and Co-Composer Misha Segal featuring isolated tracks from the Original Score
Theatrical Trailer (in HD) with optional Trailers From Hell commentary with Screenwriter Josh Olson
Audio Commentary by Director Sam Firstenberg and Stunt Coordinator Steve Lambert (ported over from the prior DVD & Blu-ray release)
A group of people realize they’ve been robbed of functioning cell phones, radio and electricity – they soon discover that their problem is from outer space!
Alien Uprising also stars Sean Brosnan (My Father Die) and Simon Phillips (The Rise & Fall of a White Collar Hooligan).
7 Guardians of the Tomb | Blu-ray & DVD (Gravitas Ventures)
RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2018
On April 24, 2018, Gravitas Ventures wants you to prepare yourself for the Blu-ray & DVD for 7 Guardians of the Tomb, a Chinese-Australian co-production directed by Stef Dawson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay).
In 7 Guardians of the Tomb, an innocent discovery of a well-preserved mummified Emperor from 200 BC China unearths a 2000 year old nightmare – a secret that should have remained buried.
7 Guardians of the Tomb stars Li Bingbing (Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal), Kellan Lutz (The Legend of Hercules), Kelsey Grammer (The Expendables 3), Wu Zhun (14 Blades) and Shane Jacobson (The Bourne Legacy).
Director: Dante Lam Cast: Zhang Yi, Huang Jingyu, Hai Qing, Du Jiang, Zhang Hanyu, Henry Prince Mak, Michelle Bai, Wang Qiang, Simon Yam Tat-wah, Wang Ian, Guo Jiahao Running Time: 138 min.
By Paul Bramhall
A couple of years after the successful Operation Mekong, in 2018 Operation Red Sea finds Dante Lam, one of Hong Kong’s brightest directors, sticking to his action guns. He may be sticking with the Mainland heroic military genre to do so, but with a waning appetite for Hong Kong action, it’s understandable that Lam has decided to follow the money. Thanks to a certain Wu Jing’s Wolf Warrior franchise, Mainland China has found itself more than happy to throw buckets of money at anyone willing to replicate Jing’s love letters to Chinese military muscle. Unlike many Mainland blockbusters though, Lam is a director who knows what he’s doing, having debuted as a director with 1997’s Option Zero (which became a similar franchise).
So while Operation Mekong focused on the army, Operation Red Sea is all about the navy, essentially giving us a 2018 version of Chang Cheh’s 1977 opus The Naval Commandos. Unlike the Shaw Brothers productions of yesteryear though (and indeed, even Operation Mekong), Operation Red Sea doesn’t really have established names to anchor it, instead opting to focus on a group of rather bland and one dimensional stereotypes. The cocky sniper, the simple guy with a heart of gold, the guy who has the skills but hesitates in real combat… they’re all here, and to a large degree feel interchangeable.
Much like Operation Mekong, Lam’s latest initially appears to be aiming to break the record for how much text you can have pop up onscreen. In the first half hour it literally feels like text appears every few seconds. A barrage of characters are introduced showing their name and job title (sometimes even pointing out their gender – Jiang Luxia is a ‘Female Gunner’, in case you didn’t notice the first part), timeframes are constantly thrown at us stating how many days or hours have passed since the last scene, and we’re frequently told where we are despite it having little or no bearing. Frankly it’s tiresome, and feels like Lam is treading water as quickly as possible to start having things get blown up and shot at.
Also much like Operation Mekong, the events here are based on a recent real life incident, this time the rescue of a group of Chinese citizens from war-torn Yemen (here doubled by Morocco) in 2015. However the foundations in real life are all but superfluous, as it quickly becomes clear that Lam’s real mission here is to create as much onscreen mayhem as possible. Admittedly, some of it feels derivative of Wolf Warrior 2, especially with an opening sequence that features Somalian pirates attacking a container ship, just like Wu Jing’s sequel, and the extended finale containing a tank versus tank battle. However, by force of the sheer volume of action that Lam throws at the audience, these similarities gradually become forgivable.
For the first time since 2012’s Viral Factor Lam also takes on action director duties, this time going solo, and the guy is clearly having a ball. It almost feels like he resigned himself to the fact that, making a movie which is partly produced by the Chinese Navy, a certain level of blatant China flag waving has to be included by default. So, since there’s nothing he could do about it, why not just put those necessary scenes in the beginning and end, and treat the 2 hours in-between as an extended exercise in how much ridiculous action can be created on such a handsome budget? It’s a theory, and regardless of if it’s true or not, it hardly makes for respectable filmmaking. But damn, it makes for some rollickingly loud entertainment.
So yes, while most of the characters do little to register, when you have this many explosions, vehicular chaos, bullets flying through the air, and military hardware on display, at some point you simply get on and enjoy the ride. Lam’s action sequences aren’t as stylized as what’s found in Wolf Warrior 2, nor as gritty as in the likes of Extraordinary Mission, however if a comparison had to be made, I would likely go with Black Hawk Down on steroids. Once our heroes start their extraction mission (which we’re told even comes with a mission message – “Terrorists will never harm a Chinese citizen.” Yeah!), which naturally starts with some slow motion running towards the camera, the action rarely lets up. It’s fair to say that the final third of Operation Red Sea is basically one long set piece, as 8 soldiers face off against 150 rebels while trapped in a village.
What makes the action in Operation Red Sea particularly stand out is its decision to not shy away from the gore. Recalling a similar style used in Fire of Conscience, when explosions go off we also get to witness the aftermath, as charred bodied with various limbs strewn around them twitch on the ground. It’s a harrowing sight, and somehow doesn’t come across as exploitative, despite the macho hyper-reality the action scenes take place in. One particular scene would make Chang Cheh proud, as a soldier literally has a bullet shoot half his face off and his arm blown to bits, only for him to carry on pumping rounds into the bad guys. The frantic nature of the sustained finale is no doubt Operation Red Sea’s biggest strength, somewhat making it the 2018 equivalent of those old-school kung-fu movies, were you forgive everything that’s come before, because the final fight is so good.
Thankfully the lulls in the action are few and far between, however when they do come, they’re usually painful to watch. From cheesy speeches about what it means to be a soldier, to the bizarre decision to have all the evacuees carry mini Chinese flags while being rescued (where did they come from!?). The biggest weakness though is the inclusion of actress Christina Hai Qing as a ‘Chinese-French Journalist’. Ladened with some horrendous English dialogue about yellowcake (which I had to Google, shame on me, but even then it didn’t make the scene any less funny), and generally overacting in every scene she’s in, I was genuinely hoping at some point she’d become collateral damage. Alas it wasn’t to be. Her character also shares a scene with Simon Yam, in a strange 1 minute cameo as a scarf wearing, pipe smoking editor of a newspaper.
Amongst the interchangeable soldiers, there are thankfully some solid performances. Zhang Han-Yu, the lead from Operation Mekong, here returns in a supporting role as a ship based captain helping the crew on the ground complete their mission. He may not have much to work with, but as always having an actor of his calibre on-board always elevates a production. Perhaps the biggest surprise though is Jiang Luxia, once touted as the next Yukari Oshima with her 2009 debut Coweb, here she comes across more like a 2018 version of Vasquez from Aliens. With a close cropped haircut and a furious temper, seeing her running out from a cargo plane wielding an oversized missile launcher was one of the highlights, and I hope we’ll see her in more roles like this.
For all the good will that Operation Red Sea builds with its non-stop barrage of bullet riddled mayhem, ultimately it leaves a bad taste in the mouth, thanks to a completely left of field tagged on scene at the end. Having nothing to do with anything else in the movie, the final scene switches to the South China Sea, a source of much contention due to the various territorial disputes China is engaged in with the Philippines. Showing a fleet of Chinese Navy vessels, we hear a speaker announce and repeat, “You are about to enter Chinese waters, please turn around immediately!” Then the credits roll. Talk about politicizing a slice of cinematic entertainment in a matter of just a few seconds. Clearly the price of Lam’s latest being funded the way it was, if you can swallow the thinly veiled threat at those it’s targeted at, Operation Red Sea still delivers where it counts.
Listen kids, I know that your teenage years can be rough. Your body is um, changing. You have, uh, urges. And sometimes your emotions are out of control. But you’re a good kid. You know the difference between right and wrong. So when you see some punk in a fake mustache skip out on his restaurant check because the town knows he’s connected to the yakuza, it makes you mad. I won’t stand in your way if you want to teach the mustache man and his cowboy friend a lesson or two – it seems to be the town’s only form of entertainment – but you gotta understand that should you prove victorious, you cannot then go on and fill the punk’s shoes yourself. What I’m trying to say, kids, is this: don’t start an extortion racket in your free time. That was Jiro’s mistake.
Teenage Yakuza is the story of Jiro (Tamio Kawaji, Tokyo Drifter), a tough young man with his heart in the right place. He’s got a lot of friends and the town loves him because he’s the teenage vigilante hero that they need to keep the punks in line (the cops in this town suck). When Jiro and his best friend Yoshio take on the hoods, a girl admirer shouts, “fight!” and draws a crowd of onlookers to the spectacle. Kids cheer and laugh, adults watch with only the slightest hint of disapproval, and the boys vent their frustrations by beating each other to a pulp (for COF readers, I feel it must be said that the fights are pretty lame).
It’s all fun and games until Yoshio gets stabbed in the leg and his dad gets run over by a dump truck (complete with a freeze frame photo of the father with on-screen text about his death). Now Yoshio’s a cripple, his family is in a financial crisis, and it’s up to Jiro to make life easier for his friend. Jiro begins hitting up the folks who owed Yoshio’s family money while at the same time sorting out vengeance on the punks who crippled his friend. In doing so, the townsfolk begin to take notice. When Jiro kicks yakuza-linked hoodlums out of a business, that business owner then approaches Jiro for a job as a bodyguard. You want this stereo you had your eyes on? It’s yours. Oh, you want some groceries? I got fresh produce in today, they’re yours. Here. Take this. Payment for your services. And Jiro takes everything offered, naively accepting their smiles for their approval.
The most interesting moment in the film comes when Jiro (unknowingly) becomes the thing which he had fought against. He has forced the punks out of these businesses and personally filled the void they left behind. And it’s not long before those businesses stop smiling, begin seeing him as the same sort of man as the hoodlums, and now the whole town’s against him. Actually, I say it’s not long because… it’s an almost instant change. This town goes through some mood swings, man. First they love him, then they pay him, then they rat him out to the cops, then they act like he’s dead to them.
To be fair, the film is very short. A running time a little shy of 72 minutes doesn’t give you much time for subtlety. After Jiro realizes what he was doing was wrong, he attempts to make amends but his admirers have turned against him (the “fight!” girl now remarks that he is so “uncool!”), the businesses don’t trust him, and even his friend Yoshio has turned his back on him for reasons of his own. It’s rushed, not terribly interesting, and only occasionally feels sincere.
This is among my least favorite Seijun Suzuki films, not because it’s bad but because it’s so bland and inconsequential. It is the very definition of a minor film in the director’s filmography of badass action movies and weirdo art pictures. There is nary a hint of the same Suzuki we know from Branded to Kill or even the more straightforward Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards. One assumes this was a quick, cheap studio B-movie for the youth crowd and Suzuki was working on autopilot to see it to its completion.
Teenage Yakuza is the third film in the new Arrow Video set exploring some of Suzuki’s Youth Movies. Whereas I think The Boy Who Came Back may appeal to a wide audience of Japanese film fans and that The Wind-of-Youth Group Crosses the Mountain Pass has enough color and charm to be worth a recommendation, I don’t think Teenage Yakuza will appeal to many beyond the Suzuki completists. Teenage Yakuza is competently made but lacking in anything special, insightful, or memorable.
As fans of kung fu cinema, we can certainly never be accused of having it easy when it comes to the movies we love. Deleted scenes that may or may not exist, alternate endings that are considered lost, and copious amounts of additional footage known to be destroyed are just some of the lamentable realities the genre comes with.
However at least with the scenarios described above, we can say they apply to movies that saw the light of day in some form of another. For this feature, we’ll be looking at 25 martial arts movies that remain incomplete. Ranging from Bruceploitation mysteries, through to proposed sequels to Van Damme classics, the series of unfortunate events that lead to a production grinding to a halt usually boil down to a handful of factors, but the variety of movies impacted is considerably broader.
As usual, we applied some simple criteria. Firstly, the movie in question needs to have not been completed. So for example, Charlie Nguyen’s Chinatown from 2013, doesn’t count. Sure it got banned by the Vietnamese government, so the original cut seems increasingly unlikely of surfacing anywhere, however it was completed. Likewise for Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, no doubt Robert Clouse’s version is about as far away from Lee’s original vision as one can get, however, it was technically completed. Secondly, for those movies that never even had a chance to start filming, it needs to be a title which was at least officially announced. This one is mainly so the list doesn’t become dedicated to the 100 titles Donnie Yen’s name has been attached to in the last decade, of which about 5% actually got made.
So, without further ado, listed by year the production was announced, starting from most recent, check out the list below –
“Kickboxer: City of Blood” Fan Poster
Kickboxer: City of Blood (2014) – There was a time when it looked like we’d be getting 2 new Kickboxer movies, but eventually only one emerged in the form of Kickboxer: Vengeance. The other, titled City of Blood, was due to star Sasha Mitchell reprising his role as David Sloan, and would reunite him with Kickboxer 2 and 4 director Albert Pyun. Originally planned to be a webseries, it was eventually announced that it would be a feature length movie, and would have Sloan fighting Al-Qaeda terrorists in Somalia (!?)
As pre-production progressed it was revealed that both Dennis Chan and Michel Qissi (Tong Po!) would be returning from the original series, and Hammer Girl herself, Julie Estelle (The Raid 2), was on-board as a secret agent. Unfortunately in mid-2015, Pyun announced that the production was on hold due to his ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis, which he was diagnosed with in 2012, and it seems to have disappeared from the radar since then.
“Garuda 7” Teaser Poster
Garuda 7 (2014) – When is a movie not a movie? Well, apparently when it’s only a trailer, but one created with the intent of making audiences believe it was a full feature.
Billed as an Indonesian Expendables, and starring such talents from yesteryear as Willy Dozan (aka Billy Chong), John Ladalski, and Barry Prima, it was eventually revealed that the production crew only had enough funding to film a trailer, so that’s what they did.
Ladalski was in the producer’s chair and also set to choreograph the action, however in 2015 he confirmed in an interview that they were still looking for an investor. Sadly in July 2016 he passed away, and with his passing so also disappeared any chance of Garuda 7 ever being completed.
“A Man will Rise” Promotional Poster
A Man will Rise (2013) – A 1950’s set Thai western that was due to be Tony Jaa’s first foray into the action comedy genre, A Man will Rise got plenty of attention thanks to Jaa approaching Dolph Lundgren to co-star as a villainous cowboy hitman. Lundgren agreed, on the basis that Jaa also co-star in one of his American movies, which became Skin Trade.
Filming had started, a press conference was held, and publicity shots were released featuring Jaa and Lundgren in costume, along with fellow co-stars Conan Stevens and David Ismalone. Unfortunately, Jaa’s long gestating feud with Sahamongkol Film came to a head during production, which resulted in whatever was filmed being shelved. With Sahamongkol maintaining ownership of the footage, and Jaa walking away from them, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see A Man will Rise in any form.
“Dragon City” Fan Poster
Donnie Yen’s Super Hero Films production company:The Master and Dragon City (2013) – A failed business venture by Donnie Yen and Media Asia, initially announced at 2013’s Hong Kong Filmmart, by 2015 Super Hero Films had closed shop with nothing to show. Things weren’t always that way though, with Yen kicking off his new venture in style by announcing a pair of movies to be made under the banner.
The first was The Master, the tale of a HK immigrant who becomes a target for revenge after opening a kung fu school in 1970s America, and had Soi Cheang in the director’s chair. The second was Dragon City, to be helmed by Derek Kwok, which would focus on a group of gangsters operating in the infamous Kowloon Walled City in 1970s Hong Kong. Both projects would star Yen.
While Dragon City died a quiet death, The Master found itself inadvertently at the centre of an epic scam based out of Indonesia in 2016. A woman calling herself Li Duan Zhao had started contacting up and coming makeup artists in Europe, from an @huxia e-mail address, with job offers to work on the ‘upcoming Donnie Yen production, The Master’. Huxia is a state-owned distributor in China, so many believed the e-mail to be the real deal, including when they were told to buy their own ticket to Jakarta, and pay $1200 to the driver that would pick them up from the airport as a standard ‘ground tax’.
Despite The Master having been dead for a long time at this point, the fact that it still had an IMDB page gave the scammers the leverage they needed, and were able to convince a surprising amount of unsuspecting victims to travel to Indonesia and part with their cash.
“Chocolate 2” Promotional Ad
Thai Double Bill: Chocolate 2 and Formless (2011) – Tom Yum Goong 2 took over 3 years to eventually reach screens since it began development in 2010, surely some kind of record for a martial arts movie. Its constant hold-ups, due to the decision to film in 3D, Jija Yanin becoming pregnant mid-production, and late in the game cast additions like RZA, didn’t just damage the production’s own integrity, but resulted in 2 other planned titles being completely derailed.
The first was a sequel to Yanin’s 2008 breakout Chocolate, which (like the original and Tom Yum Goong 2) was to be helmed by Prachya Pinkaew. However after becoming a mother Yanin seemed happy to stick with supporting roles, her co-star status that was planned for Tom Yum Goong 2 being reduced to a supporting role, and the talk of Chocolate 2 soon disappeared altogether.
The other production was set to be a collaboration between Tom Yum Goong 2 heavy Marrese Crump, and Thai action legend Panna Rittikrai, titled Formless. Crump became a protégé of Rittikrai much like Jaa and Yanin, and Formless was set to be his Ong Bak. A rain soaked action concept video did the rounds in 2012, however with Crump tied down to Tom Yum Goong 2, production kept on getting pushed further and further out. Sadly with Rittikrai’s death in 2014, Formless was never meant to be. Crump last appeared in the 2016 Bollywood movie Sultan, which also featured Marko Zaror.
“Snowblade” Teaser Poster
Snowblade (2011) – Intended to be a Hong Kong infused remake of Lady Snowblood, what was to be the directorial debut of Bey Logan shut down production less than a year in, after a major financer backed out.
In 2017, the original lead actress Sable Yu came forward to accuse Logan of sexual harassment on the set of Snowblade, alleging that he exposed himself in front of her, and insisting on her performing various scenes nude (Logan defended this point in a later statement, stating that these scenes were always in the script).
What’s more disturbing is that Logan went on to audition various other aspiring actresses in the subsequent years for the lead role, despite having no funding, seemingly with the main motivation of having a legitimate reason to ask them to get naked in front of him.
“Rage of the Tiger”
Scott Adkins Double Bill: Blood Hostage (2010) and Rage of the Tiger (2011) – Back in 2010, hot on the heels of working with director Isaac Florentine on Ninja and Undisputed III: Redemption, it looked like the pair were set to collaborate again on Blood Hostage. Casting Adkins as a former operative who travels from Israel to Lebanon to rescue his ex-wife’s new husband (I guess he didn’t get closure), the hype for this one heavily leaned on the fact it would feature the Israeli martial art Krav Maga. However the fact that it was also an Israeli co-production could be what resulted in it never getting past the initial stages, with the brewing political tension likely not making it the most attractive location to film. While Blood Hostage wasn’t mean to be, both Adkins and Florentine would reunite in 2013 for the sequel Ninja: Shadow of a Tear.
The following year in 2011, it was announced that the highly regarded action cinematographer, Ross Clarkson, would be making his directorial debut with Rage of the Tiger, which was set to shoot in Thailand and star Adkins in the lead. Clarkson was the man behind the lens for the Florentine directed Undisputed sequels and Ninja (he’d also work on the sequel Shadow of a Tear), so the pairing seemed like a perfect fit. Clarkson described the production as coming “With the fights of Bloodsport and the heart of Rocky”, and it would feature Adkins as a father forced into the world of illegal street fighting, to protect his family from a blood thirsty Triad leader. However in 2015 Clarkson was still seeking an executive producer to secure funding, and while on the Rage of the Tiger front everything has gone quiet, he will make his directorial debut in 2018 with the thriller Captured, which stars the Kickboxer reboots Sara Malakul Lane.
“Song of the Knife” Promotional Poster
Mark Dacascos Double Bill:Song of the Knife and Man of Action (2010) – Fans of Mark Dacascos have spent over 20 years hoping he’d make another movie on the same level as 1997’s Drive, and in 2010 it looked like their hopes may be realized. Dacascos revealed that he was reuniting with Drive director Steve Wang, and Alpha Stunts founder Koichi Sakamoto, for a 3D martial arts movie titled Man of Action. The prospect of such a reunion almost seemed too good to be true, and apparently it was, as the project was unfortunately unable to get off the ground.
In the same year it looked like another Dacascos starring production, Song of the Knife, made more substantial progress, in which he was cast as a lonely assassin with a terminal illness, who has to rescue a cab driver that he’s fallen in love with (!?) after she’s kidnapped. Set to heavily feature Silat (no doubt thanks to 2009’s Merantau) and Kali, a promo reel was released and filming had started in February 2010, however (this will be a recurring theme) the financer pulled out not long after, grinding the production to a halt. When I interviewed Dacascos’ close friend Sonny Sison in July 2017, he’d hinted at the possibility of bringing the project back to the table as something which could be shot in the Philippines, but it’s safe to say that for now, Song of the Knife remains silent.
“Defender 3D” Promotional Ad
Defender 3D (2009) – After getting the attention of kung fu cinema enthusiasts with 2006’s Kiltro, Chilean martial artist Marko Zaror really made his mark a year later with Mirageman. A lo-fi tale of a guy who decides to become a superhero vigilante, for a while it looked like it was going to be the first Chilean fight flick to receive a Hollywood remake, when in 2009 it was announced that Defender 3D would be an English language vehicle for Zaror. Not only that, but it would be filmed in 3D.
However after months of silence, it was revealed that due to funding issues, the project was never able to get further than pre-production. While Defender 3D wasn’t meant to be, Zaror did get to star in an episode of the Marvel series The Defenders in 2017, and also scored roles in the Robert Rodriguez flicks Machete Kills and Alita: Battle Angel.
“Hands of the Dragon” Teaser Poster
Hands of the Dragon (2008) – Back in 2008 kung fu fans had already been clamouring for martial artist Philip Ng to land a read role, after supporting turns in the likes of Dragon Squad and Invisible Target, and it seemed that Hands of the Dragon was going to be it. The story centred around a HK cop that’s left for dead, only to return with a new identity and hunt those down that tried to kill him.
Shooting had actually begun in India, and there was even a promotional clip released (which has long since been removed from YouTube), however not long into production a major financer pulled out, leaving the project high and dry. Ng would have to wait another 6 years to land a lead role, which came in the form of Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, and more recently played Bruce Lee in 2016’s Birth of the Dragon. Not a bad comeback all things considered.
“Beat Down Boogie” Promotional
Beat Down Boogie (2008) – After making his first feature length production with Contour in 2006, a couple of years later Eric Jacobus teamed up with filmmaker Micah Moore to make a sequel titled Beat Down Boogie, which would see him return as dodgy San Francisco tour guide Law. Billed as a “hip-hop chase and fight caper”, despite a mouth wateringly good all-action 3-minute preview, sadly the full movie never came to fruition. Jacobus and Moore would eventually work together on Dogs of Chinatown, with Jacobus himself going on to direct and star in another full length feature with 2012’s Death Grip.
As for Beat Down Boogie, Moore started his own production outfit under the banner, which came to an end during a bitter falling out between partners in 2017. While it almost seems criminal for the footage that was shot to never be used, unfortunately it looks like Beat Down Boogie is a tragic case of what could have been.
Lau Kar-Leung
Heroes of Shaolin (2006) – After a long absence from the screen, the legendary Lau Kar-Leung re-appeared in the mid-2000’s, choreographing and featuring in both Drunken Monkey (which he also directed) in 2003, and Seven Swords in 2005.
In 2006, at the age of 69, he announced he was preparing to make “the best martial arts movie ever made”, titled Heroes of Shaolin. Filming was due to take place in Mainland China, and Kar-Leung had already secured the services of his long-time friends Gordon Liu (who would play Pai Mei), Hsiao Hou, and Johnny Wang Lung-Wei.
Heroes of Shaolin was, strangely, being produced out of New York by a production outfit called Burning Shaolin Production, run by partners Michael Parrella and Damien Caldwell. When the pair ran out of money, it effectively derailed any chance of Heroes of Shaolin being made. With Lau Kar-Leung’s passing in 2013, sadly the best martial arts movie ever made can now never be.
“Dead End” Fan Poster
Dead End (2006) – Initially planned to be a launching vehicle for Thai stuntman Mike B, Dead End was intended to bring a new action star to the fore, much like Ong Bak did for Tony Jaa. However shortly after shooting started the production ran into financial troubles, and filming stalled.
In the spirit of the Asso-Asia productions of old, the shot footage was eventually picked up and re-used for another Mike B starring vehicle, which became the 2009 released The Sanctuary. While reported cast members of Dead End, such as Korean actress Na Hyun-hee, were nowhere to be found in the new incarnation, The Sanctuary did bring onboard Romeo Must Die bad guy Russel Wong for some international flavour.
Despite Dead End being somewhat salvaged, neither The Sanctuary nor Brave, another Mike B vehicle, succeeded in creating a new action star, and he’s since faded into obscurity.
Ryoo Seung-wan
Yacha (2006) – After the success of City of Violence, director Ryoo Seung-wan planned another collaboration with Korea’s action director extraordinaire Jung Doo-hong and the Seoul Action School, which would take the form of an epic period battle flick against zombies. The timing would have been perfect, set for release in 2008, the same year that Red Cliff would kick off a trend of battlefield period pieces.
Yacha promised plentiful undead action, and would see Seung-wan directing a story that wasn’t his own for the first time, but with an estimated budget of US$10 million, securing the finances proved to be a tricker task. In 2010 he was still actively searching for an investor, but ultimately he’d still get a movie onscreen in 2008, with his homage to Korean action movies of old Dachimawa Lee.
“Sword” Fan Poster
Sword (2005) – Back when it seemed like Tony Jaa could do no wrong, it was announced that following successful collaborations with director Prachya Pinkaew on Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong, the pair would be reuniting for a third time on the period piece Sword. Much like Ong Bak focused on Muay Thai, and Tom Yum Goong on Muay Boran, so Sword was set to showcase the style of Dab Thai, a form of double-handed sword fighting.
While the promotional material at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival promised a swordplay saga the likes of which had never been seen before (Dab Thai is unique from other Asian sword techniques in that it integrates attacks using fists, feet, and knees), Jaa fell out with Pinkaew, and so began his well-covered dispute with Sahamongkol Film. While Sword never did get off the ground, Jaa did maintain the planned period setting for what would become his own directorial debut, with 2008’s Ong Bak 2.
“Tiger Storm” Fan Poster
Tiger Storm (1996) – Gary Daniels was a busy man in the mid-90’s, and after working in Hong Kong with Jackie Chan on 1993’s City Hunter, a couple of years later he found himself back on the former British colony to film the action flick Tiger Storm. Filming had started, and even featured the debut of Charlene Houghton, legendary gweilo Mark Houghton’s daughter, playing the daughter of Daniels’ character. However the production soon ran into financial troubles, which halted filming.
Thankfully Keystone Pictures came in and purchased the footage with the intention of finishing the movie, however after reviewing what was filmed, they decided to scrap it and start over. With Daniels already on-board, the decision was made to re-locate proceedings Stateside (actually Canada), and re-name it TheWhite Tiger (which ironically, is Mark Houghton’s nickname), that pitted him against Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.
“Winners and Sinners 2” Promotional Poster
Winners and Sinners 2 (1984) – Sammo Hung’s 1983 comedy Winners and Sinners became the prototype for what would become the hugely popular My Lucky Stars series, which often featured Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao in extended cameos or supporting roles. A promotional poster from the Golden Harvest archives revealed that a direct sequel to Winners and Sinners had started shooting, complete with stills from the footage already filmed with Sammo, Sibelle Hu, and the crew.
While it’s difficult to ascertain exactly what happened with the sequel, when Mike Leeder showed Richard Ng the images in 2015, Ng believed that they were from the 1985 released Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars. This would suggest that, while we may never know exactly how much was filmed with the intention of it being Winners and Sinners 2, at some point the project eventually morphed into Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars.
Hwang Jang Lee and Philip Kwok at work.
Hwang Jang Lee Directed Shaw Brothers Movie (1983) – After starring in several independent kung fu flicks and local Korean productions, in 1982 Hwang Jang Lee signed a contract with the already dwindling Shaw Brothers studio, and featured in The Kid from Kwangtung and Ghosts Galore. What’s less well known is that he was also contracted to direct a movie, and that filming had even started, with a cast featuring himself, Philip Kwok, and Wong Yue.
However the production didn’t go smoothly, with Hwang recalling in a 2014 interview that Wong Yue “didn’t focus on making the film, he was out of control. He did whatever he wanted. I was upset and so I wanted to change the actor, but they didn’t let me. And so I didn’t want to carry on and cancelled the project…” This led to a massive argument with Mona Fong, one which led to him breaching his contract and head back to Korea. He eventually returned to Hong Kong in 1985 to feature in Where’s Officer Tuba?
Mark of the Eagle (1980) – After Ti Lung and Alexander Fu Sheng had success together working on productions such as Sun Chung’s The Avenging Eagle and The Deadly Breaking Sword, director Chor Yuen decided to pair them up for 1980’s Mark of the Eagle. Disaster struck though when Fu Sheng broke his right leg, after a harness holding him in the air broke during the shooting of Heroes Shed No Tears, which was in production at the same time. The injury put the star out of work for the best part of 6 months, and stalled production on Mark of the Eagle.
However based on the available stills and plot description, it seems clear that the Shaw Brothers studio decided to push ahead, and Mark of the Eagle appears to have ultimately morphed into the Ti Lung starring vehicle The Convict Killer. In all likelihood, the role that Lau Wing plays was probably the one that Fu Sheng had started filming.
Li Han-Hsiang
Gambling for Heads (1976) – Not to be confused with the 1975 movie Gambling for Head, this particular title was a Shaw Brothers production, with a plot focusing on Chinese drug dealers operating out of Amsterdam. Popular SB sleaze director Li Han-Hsiang was at the helm, and had been filming locations in the UK before travelling to Amsterdam, which was where things went awry. Li was approached in his hotel room by a group of local Chinese residents, led by a man known only as Lee, who had a reputation as one of Amsterdam’s Chinese Godfathers. Lee believed the movie was about him, and proceeded to pull a gun on Li, demanding HK$200,000 if they wished to continue filming.
In typical Chinese style, Li actually bargained the gangster down to half price, however when he contacted Run Run Shaw to let him know of the situation, the SB boss requested he and his crew return to Hong Kong for their own safety, and the production was cancelled.
Bruce Li in “Bruce Lee: Father of Jeet Kune Do”
Bruce Lee: Father of Jeet Kune Do (1976) – Somewhat of a Bruceploitation mystery, the existence of Bruce Lee: Father of Jeet Kune Do came to light in a discussion on the Kung Fu Fandom forums in 2010, when a member posted stills and a lobby card for the movie. Featuring Bruce Li (aka Ho Chung-Tao) the stills showed scenes of which, in part, were included in The Real Bruce Lee and Young Bruce Lee. However it became clear that some of the images in question showed scenes that don’t show up in any known Bruce Li production, which for many pointed to the conclusion that they’re from an incomplete Bruce Li flick.
Considering how common it was for many Hong Kong and Taiwan productions of the time to shut down after a few days, for any number of reasons, it could well have been the fate for Bruce Lee: Father of Jeet Kune Do. Hopefully the truth around this one will be revealed in Michael Worth’s upcoming Bruceploitation book and documentary.
The Killer is one of the most acclaimed and influential Hong Kong action films ever made. Dragon Dynasty’s release may not have the pristine Blu-ray quality you hoped for, but it’s still the best the film has ever looked. For $7.88, it’s a killer deal!
The Trailer for Netflix’ upcoming thriller The Outsider has landed. The film, which is set in post-World War II Japan, stars Jared Leto (Suicide Squad) as a former American G.I. who becomes part of the Japanese yakuza.
Originally, the The Outsider was intended to be Takashi Miike’s (Blade of the Immortal) English-language U.S. debut, but when Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road) backed out of the the project, Miike couldn’t stick around while producers searched for a new lead. The film ultimately ended up in the hands of Martin Zandvliet (Land of Mine), with Leto replacing Hardy.
The film also stars Tadanobu Asano (Zatoichi), Rory Cochrane (Black Mass), Shiori Kutsuna (The Life of Guskou Budori), Emile Hirsch (Speed Racer) and Kippei Shiina (Assassination Classroom).
The Outsider is based on an original idea by John Linson (Sons of Anarchy), who will also serve as producer, along with Joel Silver (Dragon Eyes), Andrew Rona (The Commuter) and Steve Richards (Ninja Assassin).
Catch The Outsider on Netflix on March 9th. Trailer below:
On May 8th, 2018, Funimation will be releasing the Blu-ray & DVD combo for Parasyte Parts 1 & 2. The movies are a live-action adaptation of the science fiction horror manga series written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki.
When a parasitic species suddenly invades, one of the creatures missed its mark. And in that moment, Shinichi Izumi’s life changed forever. While his brain was spared, his right arm was taken over by the parasite, Migi. Now, the two must learn to coexist while the rest of Migi’s kind attempt to take over the human race. Can Shinichi fight the invading species while maintaining his own humanity?
Director: Kim Sung-Soo Cast: Jung Woo-Sung, Hwang Jung-Min, Ju Ji-Hoon, Kwak Do-Won, Jeong Man-Sik, Yoon Ji-Hye, Kim Hae-Gon, Kim Won-Hae, Oh Yeon-A, Kim Jong-Soo Running Time: 132 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The gangster genre has long been a much beloved staple of the Korean film industry, and if ever a movie knew it was a gangster flick, then it’s Asura: City of Madness. Going down like a cocktail made with half testosterone and half gratuitous violence, director Kim Seong-su’s latest feels like a punch to the face, the kind that leaves you picking your teeth up off the floor. Reuniting with his muse Jung Woo-sung, Asura: City of Madness marks their fourth collaboration together, with Joo-sung having previously been directed by Seong-su on Beat, City of the Rising Sun, and Musa: The Warrior. The pair clearly work well together, with Beat widely considered to be the movie that put Woo-sung on the map, a whole 20 years prior to their latest, and Musa: The Warrior easily qualifying as one of the greatest Korean movies ever made.
Seong-su took a decade long break from the film industry after the 2003 comedy Please Teach Me English, returning in 2013 with the epidemic flick The Flu, and so Asura (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) can be considered his sophomore effort since his return from the wilderness. What quickly becomes apparent is that his latest is also his most angry, with the 130 minute runtime seething with violence and sweat from start to finish. During its opening scenes we’re introduced to characters who are already backed into a corner and desperate, in a mental state which most other movies would gradually build up to, but here we’re on edge from the word go.
Woo-sung playa a corrupt detective, one that’s started taking regular pay cheques from an equally corrupt mayor, who’s intent on redeveloping the rundown fictional town he presides over. While Woo-sung’s motives may be pure – he has a terminally sick wife in hospital – his quick temper and arrogance ensure he’s always on a knife edge, acting like the human equivalent of a kettle which is about to boil. In the initial setup we learn he’s a week away from quitting the force, with intentions of going on to the mayor’s payroll officially. A spanner is thrown in the works though when he accidentally kills a fellow cop (Yoon Je-moon, in an intense cameo), which gives a highly strung prosecutor the leverage he needs to pit Woo-sung against the mayor.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he essentially spends the entire movie attempting to ensure the mayor doesn’t get suspicious, while looking for a way out of the stranglehold the prosecutor has on him. The roles of mayor and prosecutor provide a reunion for The Wailing leads Hwang Jung-min and Kwak Do-won. While Jung-min has been one of the busiest leading actors in Korea in recent years, headlining the likes of A Violent Prosecutor and Veteran, his role here is most reminiscent of his turn as the eclectic gangster in The New World. All pursed lips and clenched teeth, he is one dimensionally evil, and prone to conducting discussions with no pants on, but his onscreen charisma works for the character. Do-won on the other hand is back to playing the role of a suited lawman that he does so well, as seen in the likes of The Berlin File and The Attorney.
The term Asura refers to a form of God which varies depending on the religion. As its Korea, it’s a safe assumption that it’s most likely referring to the partly demonic Gods that populate Buddhist texts. Associated with negative feelings like anger or pride, the Asuras in Buddhism are constantly fighting, and are one of the lowest forms of supernatural beings. This descriptions fits in well with the three central characters, and in some ways the setup is reflective of the same concept that was explored in Hong Kong’s Sha Po Lang franchise. However there is no elegant choreography on display here, with the frequent violence being of the down and dirty variety, as faces are repeatedly punched into a bloody pulp, and bodies are ran over until they’re a lifeless mess.
Asura contains nasty people doing nasty things to each other, however Seong-su manages to balance on that same knife edge, just stopping short of making it such a punishing experience it’s no longer enjoyable. Considering how unlikable everyone is, Woo-sung does a worthy job of bringing the audience on-board to his plight. His character is a bastard, there’s no doubt about that, but by being placed in a predicament you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, you begin to hope he makes a clean break. Woo-sung has developed into a fine thespian in recent years, turning in impressive performances with the likes of Scarlet Innocence and The King. While Asura doesn’t give him much room for nuance, firmly placing him in the type of physical role found in Cold Eyes and The Divine Move, he still makes a connection amidst the barrage of cursing and yelling.
The look of Asura is suitably grimy, with many of the wheeling’s and dealings that take place happening in the narrow corridors of dilapidated buildings and on the rooftops, which makes for a welcome change from the overly used glossy Seoul skyline. The cinematography also adds to the claustrophobic feel, through its constant close-ups of whoever’s engaged in a more than likely unpleasant conversation, capturing every intense glare with an unwavering lens. The trauma of the events is literally there for all to see on Woo-sung’s face by the end of the movie, as it gets cut, bloodied, and bruised in a variety of confrontations, including a scene with a blanket which rivals a similar one with Bae Doo-na in Sympathy for Mr Vengeance.
Credit should also be given to a car chase that takes place mid-way through, which has Woo-sung pursuing a group of thugs. Not so much for the chase itself, but for the fact that he acts as possibly the angriest driver that has ever been put on film, yelling at the top of his lungs for the whole duration. The sequence contains a fantastic one-take shot, which has been created digitally (similar to Wu Jing’s underwater sequence that kicks off Wolf Warrior 2), but still makes for a visually striking moment. The whole runtime is interspersed with these neat little visual flourishes, often framed in such a way that provide extra emphasis to some sort of impact, with Yoon Je-moon’s demise being the perfect example.
As you’ll have likely surmised by this point, Asura is not a subtle movie. Everything feels like it’s cranked up to eleven, somewhat feeling like a 130 minute finale of a grander tale. However Seong-su makes this work to its strength. There’s not much characterisation beyond Woo-sung being screwed, Jung-min being evil, and Do-won wanting to catch his man, but the predicaments that the trio are placed in are too darkly entertaining for it to matter much. The fact that they’re backed up by a solid supporting cast only elevates proceedings. Joo Ji-hoon is a particular standout, as Woo-sung’s partner that finds himself under the mayors wing, playing a role as far from his turn in Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds as one can imagine. The ever reliable Jung Man-sik, from the likes of Inside Men, also clocks in a memorable role as one of Do-won’s colleagues.
By the time all the key players appropriately descend on a wake for a dead associate, the scene is set for everything to go straight to hell, and go to hell it does. Throwing in a finale that rivals Soo in the sheer volume of blood that gets spilled, Seong-su delivers a protracted sequence that would no doubt receive the Chang Cheh stamp of approval. The antithesis of those movies that resort to CGI blood, here so much of the fake stuff is used that people start slipping over in it. While nobody will be expecting Asura to have a happy ending, the ruthless death count that take up its final minutes takes on a remarkably, if not entirely unexpected, nilhistic approach. In a tale which goes out of its way to show that nobody is innocent, Asura finds Seong-su guilty of crafting a darkly cynical slice of macho noir. As for if everyone will be able to enjoy it, well, on that one the jury is still out.
Director: Liam O’Donnell Producer: Brothers Strause Cast: Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Callan Mulvey, Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Lindsey Morgan, Betty Gabriel, Antonio Fargas, Samantha Jean Running Time: 105 min.
By Z Ravas
The idea of producing a sequel to Skyline was initially met with a healthy amount of skepticism, and perhaps for good reason. Despite a drubbing from the critics, the original film proved a financial success way back in 2010 – but that box office profit had more to do with its modest budget of $10 million rather than any goodwill it generated among science-fiction fans. The Los Angeles-set alien invasion thriller was primarily designed as a way for directors the Brothers Strause to display their uncanny knack for stretching a dollar to deliver digital spectacle on the cheap; an ability they’d honed over the years working in the FX business and helming movies like (the universally panned) Alien vs. Predator: Requiem. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the siblings were almost solely concerned with Skyline‘s visuals, as screenwriter Liam O’Donnell has candidly stated in more recent interviews – claiming the duo were unconcerned with tossing out crucial pages of the script if it meant they could save some cash or get to the next plot point a little faster, much to Liam’s chagrin.
Now, almost a decade later, Beyond Skyline represents Liam O’Donnell’s chance to slide into the director’s chair (the Strause Brothers remain onboard as producers) and prove he can deliver a coherent and entertaining science-fiction film when allowed creative control, potentially remedying the inconsistencies of the original Skyline in the process. Granted, on its own a sequel to Skyline wouldn’t typically be the cause for much internet buzz – the movie maintains a 4.4 average user rating on IMDB – but martial arts buffs sure paid attention after the surprise announcement in November 2014 that Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian had been cast in one of their first English-language productions since achieving international stardom with 2012’s The Raidand 2014’s The Raid 2. Sure, some of that initial excitement may have diminished slightly considering that in the two years we’ve been waiting for Beyond Skyline see a release (filming was completed in May of 2015), the Indonesian martial arts duo made a cameo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Uwais himself headlined the Mo Brothers’ Headshot. But there’s no denying that, even in 2018, Beyond Skyline still represents the action icons’ biggest starring roles in an English-language movie.
Before anyone gets the idea that Beyond Skyline is Iko Uwais’ debut Hollywood vehicle a la Jackie Chan in The Protector, it must be said that the lead of the film is definitively Frank Grillo. Grillo is an actor who has spent the last several years building his genre movie cred, appearing as the villainous Crossbones in Marvel Studios’ Captain America movies, serving as the face of Blumhouse’s surprisingly popular Purge flicks, and more recently headlining the excellent Netflix crime thriller The Wheelman. You might think that an alien invasion film would be outside of the tough guy actor’s usual repertoire, but the opening of Beyond Skyline finds Grillo in a comfortable mode: playing a gruff, no nonsense L.A. cop saddled with a rebellious teenage son (who looks way too old to portray a teenager). Before you’re worried that this sequel is about to turn into a rehash of the dysfunctional father/son dynamic at the heart of A Good Day to Die Hard, an eerie blue light signals the arrival of the very same spaceships we saw in the original Skyline. Yes, this is one of those sequels that takes place contemporaneously with its prequel, sort of like Bourne Legacy and Bourne Ultimatum.
As hundreds of Los Angeles citizens are vacuumed off the street and into the hovering alien mothership above, Beyond Skyline quickly shifts into disaster movie mode – and rarely takes its foot off the gas. At 105 minutes, Beyond Skyline could have likely shaved off fifteen of those and been one of the most fleet-footed and fast-paced Direct to Video movies of all time, but as it stands the film is still entirely about one thing: action. Whether it’s Frank Grillo’s detective partner striding toward a giant, Cthulhu-like alien warrior and calling it a “puta” while cocking his shotgun, or Grillo swinging on cables through the massive interior of a spaceship in a desperate attempt to save his son from being lobotomized by alien forces, Beyond Skyline rarely pauses for the viewer to collect their breath before hurtling them towards the next setpiece. Beyond Skyline reportedly cost an extra $5 million compared to the original, and writer/director Liam O’Donnell has certainly inherited the Strause Brothers’ knack for visual bombast on a dime store budget. Two decades ago, this is the type of movie that would have cost $100 million and been backed by one of the major studios. It’s remarkable – and kind of charming – that in 2018 a movie featuring this level of planetary destruction and this many special FX shots can feel almost…indie.
If you’re wondering just how in the world the script plans to introduce Iko Uwais into this whole mess, fear not: those alien spaceships can travel great distances in a short amount of time, and one of them quite handily crash-lands in Laos, where Iko Uwais and company are fighting a war on two fronts: one against the alien invaders, and another against the local militia, who are taking advantage of the chaos to loot and plunder civilians. Grillo and his own ragtag group of Los Angeles transplants eventually join forces with Uwais, realizing that if they want to survive they’ll have to make a final stand against the interplanetary menace. This is where the movie’s pace temporarily starts to drag, as Iko Uwais offers a guided tour of the underground bunker his tiny army has been utilizing in their fight; and it must be said that, up to this point in its runtime, the movie has not featured much in the way of the high-contact Silat you’d expecting from two fierce onscreen fighters like Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian. You might be starting to wonder if the the film has cast these two gentlemen not to take advantage of their talents but merely as a way to attract a built-in audience of martial arts fans.
Well, banish the thought: the final act of Beyond Skyline delivers the action in a big, bad way. I never knew I wanted to see Indonesian martial arts used on 8 foot-tall alien supersoldiers, but this film has shown me I was living in ignorance. It’s a pleasure to watch Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian backed into a corner by the ugly creatures and respond in the way they know best – by punching, kicking, and absolutely-fileting-with-knives. Be advised, this movie does not shy from taking advantage of its “R” rating! I could talk about the almost kaiju-like battles that take place during the climax, and a major plot twist that arrives just before the credits roll, but the less you know about all that, the better. Half the fun of Beyond Skyline is being continually surprised by the next outrageous, face-melting visual or action beat that director Liam O’Donnell throws your way.
At times, Beyond Skyline feels like the mad fever dream of a teenage boy who’s just watched Alien, read the collected works of H.P. Lovecraft, and binged a martial arts-influenced anime like Guyver, all while riding the sugar high of a 7-11 slurpee. I’ve never seen a movie quite like it, and something tells me I never will again – unless the producers greenlight a sequel. I’ve got my fingers crossed that happens. Fortunately, the film’s post-credits gag reel (yeah, it’s even got one of those!) displays a blooming friendship between Frank Grillo and Iko Uwais, as Grillo makes the promise that the two of them will work together again soon. My response? Take my money, guys!
Lionheart: Special Edition | Blu-ray & DVD (MVD Rewind)
RELEASE DATE: June 12, 2018
On June 12th, the MVD Rewind label will release a 2-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Collector’s Edition of Lionheart, a 1990 martial arts actioner starring Jean-Claude Van Damme (Kill ’em All, Until Death).
The film – also known as Wrong Bet as A.W.O.L. – is directed by Sheldon Lettich (Double Impact) and stars Harrison Page (Bad Ass), Deborah Rennard (Gang Related), Lisa Pelikan (Circle), Ashley Johnson (Last of Us video game), Brian Thompson (Cobra), Michel Qissi (Kickboxer) and Jeff Speakman (The Perfect Weapon).
Lionheart (which also may have a sequel, as well as a remake, in-the-works) is just one of the many films in The MVD Rewind Collection lineup that also includes Black Eagle (also starring Van Damme with 9 Death of the Ninja’s Sho Kosugi). Of course, we can only hope for more titles in the martial arts genre!
Special features for the Lionheart Collector’s Edition:
NEW –The Story of Lionheart (appx 60:00, HD) (Featuring Director Sheldon Lettich, Producer Eric Karson and stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard and Brian Thompson)
NEW – Inside Lionheart with the Filmmakers and Cast” (appx 25:00, HD) (Featuring Director Sheldon Lettich, Producer Eric Karson and stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard and Brian Thompson)
NEW –Lionheart: Behind the Fights (appx 15:00, HD) (Featuring Director Sheldon Lettich, Producer Eric Karson and stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page and Brian Thompson)
Audio commentary by Sheldon Lettich & Harrison Page
Making of featurette (8:53) (SD)
Interview with Sheldon Lettich (25:52) (SD)
Interview with Harrison Page (13:05) (SD)
Behind the Scenes of the Audio Commentary featurette (5:40) (SD)
Original Theatrical Trailer
Collectible poster
Audio: Original 2.0 Stereo Audio (Uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray) and Dolby Digital 5.1.
South Korea’s Jung Byung-gil – the director behind Confession of Murder and The Villainess – will be the latest Korean filmmaker to be imported to Hollywood, thus, following the footsteps of Kim Jee-woon (The Last Stand), Park Chan-wook (Stoker) and Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer, Okja).
According to Deadline: Original Film, G-BASE and Endurance Media are setting action director Jung to helm the Gerard Butler-starrer Afterburn, which will be scripted by Matt Johnson (Into the Blue). The film has long been a passion for Butler, and the hope is to launch a new franchise. Based on the Red 5 comic, Afterburn is a futuristic action adventure.
The comic book follows a group of treasure-hunters for hire who “recover” exotic valuables from an Earth half-destroyed by a devastating solar flare, which has left a wily world roamed by mutants, rival pirates and assorted derelicts. Described as “Indiana Jones meets Mad Max, but instead of ancient artifacts in cob-webbed temples in traditional pulp adventure” the characters raid more contemporary treasures from felled museums (via SF).
Production for Afterburn will be begin late summer 2018.
“Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” Japanese DVD Poster
Director: Isaac Florentine Cast: Michael Jai White, Scott Adkins, Ben Cross, Eli Danker, Mark Ivanir, Ken Lerner, Daisy Lang, Silvio Simac, Ivaylo Geraskov, Valentin Ganev, Atanas Srebrev Running Time: 98 min.
By Paul Bramhall
I confess I’m late to the party with Undisputed 2: Last Man Standing, 12 years late to be precise. But in my defence, I have my reasons, the biggest one being I’m simply not a fan of the whole underground tournament genre. However back in 2010, even I found myself caught up in the hype for Undisputed 3: Redemption, and dutifully found myself checking it out as soon as it was released. Let’s be clear, the fight action was amazing, but (and it’s a big but), the plot felt very perfunctory – it was moving us from one fight in the ring to the next. It seemed the only prior knowledge needed to enjoy Undisputed 3 was that Boyka, the iconic character played by Scott Adkins, gets his knee broken by Michael Jai White in the finale of the sequel. So it was, I never felt the urge to hunt down Undisputed 2, after all, why would I when I already knew the ending!?
It wasn’t until the release of Accident Man, which features a stellar throwdown between Adkins and Jai White, that my curiosity was finally piqued. In many ways Undisputed 2 is one of those movies thats reputation precedes it. Made at a time when the American martial arts B-movie was all but dead (Seagal and Van Damme released trash like Attack Force and The Hard Corps the same year), there’s no argument it was the production responsible for putting its stars and director firmly on the map for action fans. Isaac Florentine’s 8th movie, up until this point he’d largely been considered an unremarkable director of DTV action flicks, however in the movie he made prior, Special Forces, he discovered the talents of British martial artist Scott Adkins. While Adkins was used sparingly in their previous collaboration, here he was thrust into co-star status.
Until Undisputed 2 Adkins had been honing his action talents with the best Hong Kong had to offer, taking minor but high impact roles in the likes of The Accidental Spy, Extreme Challenge, Black Mask 2: City of Masks, The Medallion, and Unleashed. However he was still paying the bills by featuring in local British TV drama series, such as Holly Oaks and Holby City. Undisputed 2 put an end to his British TV career, and started his rise to be the king of DTV action. He’s never looked back since. Likewise for Michael Jai White, while his post-2000 filmography had seen him facing off against the likes of Steven Seagal in Exit Wounds, and Michelle Yeoh in Silver Hawk (don’t mention Kill Bill), it was Undisputed 2 that really let him loose. I would daresay that without Undisputed 2, there would be no Black Dynamite. A shudder worthy thought if ever there was one.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Undisputed 2 though, is that it’s surely the first time in history that a DTV sequel has surpassed in popularity its A-list original, a 2002 boxing movie directed by none other than Walter Hill, which starred Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames. While many point out that the sequel can be enjoyed as a standalone story, it’s also worth pointing out that it is a continuation of Hill’s production. Much like Undisputed 3 would make the sequels antagonist the protagonist, so Undisputed 2 pulled the same trick first, by having Jai White play the role that Rhames played 4 years earlier.
This time around Jai White takes the character of George ‘The Iceman’ Chambers, and plays him as a disgraced former heavyweight champion who we meet in Russia, reduced to appearing in local TV commercials for a brand of vodka (if only he could pronounce his Russian correctly). When the local mob boss learns Jai White is in town, he decides to have him framed for drug possession, so that he can force him to partake in an illegal fighting tournament run out of a mob owned prison. The champion of the prison, which sees Adkins in the role of Boyka, has been itching for a worthy opponent to prove his belief that he’s “the most complete fighter in the world”, and so the pair are set on a collision course with each other.
While it seems almost a cliché to say that Adkins nails the role of Boyka, as someone that skipped straight to Undisputed 3 in which his confidence is in tatters, seeing his performance in Undisputed 2 was something of a revelation. Adkins plays Boyka as a palpable ball of rage, where the threat of violence seems only one wrong stare away, and he cuts a physically imposing figure. Intentionally bulking up for the role once he heard he’d be squaring off against Jai White, at one point a character describes him as “an upside down pyramid”, which I don’t think I could improve upon as a visual of his physical stature. Smashing through wooden benches, killing hapless lackeys with a punch to the throat, and armed with a vocabulary as violent as his fists, he’s as much of a presence outside of the ring as he is in it.
Florentine seems to know he has something special on his hands in the casting of Adkins as Boyka, with the opening scenes focusing more on his preparation and execution of a fight, than on our protagonist. Jai White puts in an equally intense performance, and while his boxer may have fallen from grace, he’s still quick to anger and has a tendency to act like a diva. With a pig headed attitude and refusal to show respect towards Boyka or the prison authorities, the combination of having 2 tightly coiled leads in such a confined setting serves to ramp up the tension levels admirably. As such Undisputed 2 feels like much more of a rounded movie than its sequel, with the story coming first, and events between the action not just feeling like filler between fights.
Of course when the action does come, it delivers. Choreographed by J.J. Perry, the lion’s share of the ring fights go to Adkins, who even makes his first entrance into the square circle a memorable one. While Jai White remains resistant to fight for a large portion of the runtime, he does get some chances to show off his stuff in a couple of scuffles outside of the ring. These occurrences are distinctly different from the action in the ring, reminding us of Florentines history of working on the Power Rangers franchise, with Jai White’s blows sending their recipients flying through the air. I liked the contrast, allowing for a strong sense of impact to be conveyed with his fists as a boxer, in comparison to Adkins airborne decimations. Speaking of contrast, slow motion is used far less gratuitously here than it would be in future sequels, so when it is applied the moves really stand out.
After confronting each other in the prison dinner hall and yard, the spite that develops between Adkins and Jai White eventually boils over into not one but two in the ring fights, which don’t disappoint. One of the factors I really appreciated is that neither of them is portrayed as the underdog, which is unusual in this scenario, but works perfectly, making the question of who’ll win seem anything like a foregone conclusion. Both Adkins and Jai White are impressively bulked up, and look like they could punch through a wall, which allow for their confrontations to be suitably hard hitting. After Undisputed 3 and Boyka: Undisputed IV some may feel that the length of the finale is a tad short, but its 3 round structure crams a lot in, with an intense level of choreography that sees not a single movement wasted (or wire in sight for that matter).
Overall I feel confident in saying that Undisputed 2 represents Florentine’s best work as a director. His love of both westerns and kung fu movies are given subtle nods throughout (my favorite of which has Jai White learning MMA moves from an old crippled master in a wheelchair), and the strong supporting cast featuring the likes of Ben Cross and Eli Danker add an unexpectedly welcome layer of drama to proceedings. While some of my pet hates are still present, the main culprit being the rap metal played over fight scenes, here it’s used more sparingly than in future instalments, to the point of being forgivable. In the Behind the Scenes featurette for Undisputed 2, when Adkins is asked about working with Florentine he responds “I’m really happy to be doing my 2nd film with him, and I hope it won’t be the last.” It wouldn’t be, and for that, we’re all really happy.
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As fans of kung fu cinema, we can certainly never be accused of having it easy when it comes to the movies we love. Deleted scenes that may or may not exist, alternate endings that are considered lost, and copious amounts of additional footage known to be destroyed are just some of the lamentable realities the genre comes with.
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