Director: Lee So-Youn Producer: Choi Jae-Won Cast: Cho Jin-Woong, Shin Goo Kim, Dae-Myung, Lee Chung-Ah, Song Young-Chang, Yoon Se-Ah Running Time: 117 min.
By Kyle Warner
In recent years, serial killer thrillers have fallen out of favor in Hollywood. The reason, I think, is that movies like The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en gave filmmakers a solid blueprint to follow, and many screenwriters followed it too closely. There’s a reason why fictionalized wannabe screenwriters in the movies are often writing a serial killer script — it’s like an inside joke that the audience only kinda gets. There is one place that’s still putting out serial killer thrillers with the regularity we used to see in Hollywood; South Korea. Why they’re still finding success with the sub-genre is that their killer films are bolder, more willing to buck the blueprint and do their own thing. The Chaser, I Saw the Devil, Memories of Murder, these are brilliant, masterful films, but even lesser-known films like Tell Me Something, Confession of Murder, and Blood Rain are productions worth talking about. Now, we come to Bluebeard, director Lee So-youn’s first feature since her popular debut, The Uninvited.
Colonoscopy specialist Dr. Seung-hoon (Jo Jin-woong) has fallen on hard times. A nasty divorce and a failing private practice have forced him to move from Gangnam to a small town along the Han River. He’s renting an apartment above a family run butcher shop and doing his best not to get spooked by the town’s history of unsolved crimes. One day, when the rest of the doctor’s office is out to lunch, Dr. Seung-hoon pushes his landlord (Goo Shin) to the front of the line for an appointment. Now, Seung-hoon is used to hearing all sorts of strange mumblings from his patients while they’re under anesthetic. But his landlord starts whispering about body parts… human body parts… hidden across the city and dumped into the lake. “Fingerprints? If you’re worried, cut off the fingers…” Deeply disturbed, Dr. Seung-hoon just stares at his sedated landlord. Then the landlord wakes up from his stupor and wonders why the doc has that funny look on his face.
When a headless, limbless torso washes up in the thawing Han River, Dr. Seung-hoon starts to really worry about the family that lives below him. He starts snooping. The landlord’s son, the butcher Sung-geun (Kim Dae-myung), is an approachable guy, so the doctor starts there. He drinks with the butcher until they’re both good and drunk. When the butcher steps away for a moment, Seung-hoon slips into the butcher shop’s freezer… and discovers what appears to be a head in a black, plastic bag.
Mysteries abound in Bluebeard. Seung-hoon’s paranoia becomes our own. Is the family that lives below him a pack of killers? What’s in the black bag? Whose body washed up on the shore? And what’s up with the old man in the bucket hat hanging around the doctor’s waiting room without an appointment day after day? Seung-hoon is a big fan of mystery novels because, as a doctor, he says he likes that the books always present an answer at the end. As the audience, we become desperate for an answer to this mystery, and it quickly becomes apparent that perhaps Seung-hoon is the last man we want as our detective. Seung-hoon begins imagining things. He wakes up screaming night after night. Imagination and reality begin to blur. He is the very definition of the unreliable narrator.
Bluebeard is full of twists. It’s a clever film. However, for my part, I need to be invested in the movie for a twist to wow me.Bluebeard teases and cheats its audience too often. Many of the best scenes are revealed to be nightmares as Seung-hoon wakes up screaming just when things are getting good. It’s interesting, because we’re watching a man whose fear is making him fall apart. But I never shared that fear. One or two ‘it was all a dream’ reveals are acceptable. But when that’s the film’s go-to trick, I start to tune out.
Jo Jin-woong is excellent as the rattled and paranoid Dr. Seung-hoon. He’s in total command of the screen, starting as a totally sympathetic character before gradually evolving into an enigma of a man. He may not be the most recognizable name to film fans in the West, but after Bluebeard and a fantastic sleazy performance in The Handmaiden, expect to see more of him in the coming years. Kim Dae-myung (Pandora) is great as the butcher who keeps us wondering ‘is he a monster or isn’t he?’ And Song Young-chang (Thirst) is good as the mystery man in the waiting room who has a story to tell.
Director Lee So-Youn’s film is good looking and well-paced. A thick layer of sweat seems to cover everything. The gradual uncovering of secrets only serves to create new mysteries. At the end, when all is revealed, we’re told, ‘Wait, there’s more,’ and even more bombshells are dropped on us.
It’s a twisty film. One wishes it was a little more twisted, though, I suppose. The ‘just a dream’ fake-outs get a little old and grant the viewer a feeling of safety that such a film probably shouldn’t have. I did like the unreliable narrator expertly played by Jo Jin-woong but the way the mystery unfolded kept me at arm’s length.
Director Issac Florentine (Close Range, The Shepherd: Border Patrol) will soon unleash Acts of Vengeance (aka Stoic), an action thriller starring starring Antonio Banderas (Expendables 3, Desperado), Paz Vega (Cat Run, Sex and Lucia) and Karl Urban (Dredd, Star Trek Beyond).
In Acts of Vengeance(read our review), a fast-talking lawyer (Banderas) transforms his body and takes a vow of silence, not to be broken until he finds out who killed his wife and daughter and has his revenge. The film will feature fight choreography from Tim Man (Eliminators).
Judging from the Trailer below, looks like Acts of Vengeance will give Eli Roth’s upcoming Death Wish remake a run for its money. The film hits Blu-ray & DVD on November 28, 2017.
Director: Martin Christopher Bode Cast: Mark Dacascos, Brandon Rhea, Matthias Hues, Mike Möller, Mike Leeder, Wolfgang Riehm, Martin Baden, Henry Muller, Verena Konietschke, Bartholomäus Kowalski Running Time: 93 min.
By Paul Bramhall
After a tumultuous couple of years of post-production, in 2017 the sophomore feature from production company Silent Partners (made up of Hong Kong film industry veteran Mike Leeder, and German producer Ruediger Kuemmerle) finally hit DVD in the US in the form of Ultimate Justice. Unlike their first feature, the German language One Million K(l)icks, which was primarily an action vehicle for Mike Möller, Ultimate Justice is an ensemble piece, and contains a cast which speaks a mix of both English and German. It’s worth noting that Ultimate Justice has suffered the same fate as One Million K(l)icks for its release from Sony Pictures, meaning that all of the German speakers have been dubbed into English. If future releases in other territories will feature the original language track is still a question that’s unable to be answered, but for now, the dubbed version is the one being referred to in this review.
As mentioned Ultimate Justice is an ensemble piece, but thankfully the previously mentioned martial arts wunderkind Mike Möller is still a part of it, here playing a member of an A-team like group of soldiers for hire. The group is led by Mark Dacascos, who appears to be making a habit of appearing in ensemble productions in recent years, just check out the cast lists for Beyond the Game and Showdown in Manila. The majority of the rest of the team have worked together previously as well. Producer Mike Leeder plays a shot gun totting Brit, Brandon Rhea plays a torture specialist, who featured in both One Million K(l)icks alongside Möller, and has worked with Leeder before as the Belgian fighter in Fearless. Martin Baden, who plays the computer expert, is another returning cast member from One Million K(l)icks, and then you have the hulking German Matthias Hues, who worked alongside Dacascos on both of the movies mentioned.
Everything is going well with the team, until during a mission one of their own is killed, which leads Dacascos to disband the group and sell off the agency they work under. Everyone seems happy to go their separate ways except their commander, played by Wolfgang Riehm, who reluctantly agrees it’s the best thing to do. While having parting drinks, Dacascos and Riehm playfully compete for the attention of a lady, who ultimately finds Riehm to be the smoother operator. Skip forward 8 years, and everyone has gone their separate ways – Riehm is happily married to the same girl with a young daughter, Leeder is running a pub, Rhea has become a monk, Hues is running a burger truck (!?), and Möller has become a petrol station attendant (!!??). However when Riehm’s property is invaded my masked assailants, who murder his wife and kidnap his daughter, leaving him for dead, Dacascos makes the decision to bring the team back together and seek (you guessed it) Ultimate Justice!
All the ingredients are there for a fun filled slice of B-movie action, and to a certain extent, Ultimate Justice delivers. Just like in One Million K(l)icks, whenever Mike Möller is onscreen, he lights it up. Möller is also the fight choreographer, and his scenes are electrifying to watch. Not even 5 minutes have passed and he’s already jumped into action, throwing in both a shoryuken dragon punch and a Won Jin double footed flying kick. His style of choreography also lends itself well to his fellow German co-star Matthias Hues, with his 6’ 5” stature being taken full advantage of. The man mountain is given frequent opportunities to kick and throw around various assailants with a satisfying amount of impact, and together they deliver a healthy dose of physical mayhem to proceedings. What is disappointing is to see Dacascos himself largely restricted to firearms, with only the odd kick thrown here and there, especially considering what he’s capable of.
Outside of the action though Ultimate Justice suffers from various instances of illogical editing, and several gaping plot holes, which give the impression some key scenes have been inexplicably left on the cutting room floor. In one scene a key member of the team gets killed in action during a group melee, and in the next scene the death is ignored all together, leaving proceedings to carry on as if the character never existed! My favorite example of bizarre editing though happens when Möller is asked to check on a prisoner. He does so, however refuses to let the prisoner free despite their pleas to visit the bathroom. In the next scene, suddenly the prisoner is free, has knocked unconscious a member of the team, and then Möller appears looking completely confused as to what’s gone down. Trust me, he isn’t the only one.
While I hesitate to include the dubbing as another issue, as it was likely not a part of the original production, it’s an inescapable fact that the American accents attributed to the likes of Möller and Baden are an unwelcome distraction. The person who dubbed Riehm at least attempts to carry off the tone of a strict sounding military man, and despite the fact that it ultimately results in him sounding like a character from an old-school kung fu movie, I confess it kind of adds to the charm. This is none more so apparent than in a scene which takes place outdoors, and his voice sounds like he’s standing in the middle of an empty room, completely removing any semblance of reality. Of course the likes of Dacascos are spared the dub treatment, as is Rhea, who also speaks English.
For those who are willing to forgive the haphazard editing and the dubbing though, on the action front Ultimate Justice keeps the goods coming at regular enough intervals that fans shouldn’t be left wanting. Even Mike Leeder gets his own fight scene, here playing a much more significant role than his most recent turns in the likes of Helios and Tracer, and his shotgun blasts have the satisfying effect on sending those on the receiving end flying through the air. The highlights, as expected, all belong to Möller, from taking on 4 thugs harassing a woman at the petrol station (apparently in Germany petrol stations are prime spots for picking up), to a fantastic 2-versus-1 that has all involved armed with steel baseball bats. It’s enough to make one wish that Ultimate Justice had been another starring vehicle for Möller, rather than having him as only a supporting player, but for that we’ll have to wait for Two Million K(l)icks.
The finale decides to pull what I like to refer to as ‘China Strike Force Syndrome’, which refers to the practice of removing all the legitimate action talent from the plot before the expected big showdown. Ironically in that movie it was Mark Dacascos that got written out of proceedings far too early, and while that’s not the case here, considering how under-utilised his martial arts background is, I feel confident to say the same applies. What did come as a surprise though, is that this decision doesn’t result in any detriment to the conclusion of Ultimate Justice, mainly due to the inclusion of a twist that actually made me gasp when it came. Considering its status as an action B-movie, the closing revelations almost feel as if they come from a different movie all together, however that’s in no way a criticism. The twist works, and adds a surprising amount of weight to everything that’s come before.
Clocking in at just under 90 minutes, Ultimate Justice marks the full length feature debut from director Martin Christopher Bode, and it’s fair to say he’s crafted a movie that certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome. While the continuity issues, along with the failure to fully utilise the martial arts skills of Mark Dacascos, prevent it from reaching its full potential, there’s still enough bullets, fists, and kicks flying about to make it an easy recommendation. After all, who doesn’t want to live in a world where you can get your car refilled by Mike Möller, buy a burger from Matthias Hues, then grab a pint from Mike Leeder?
According to SD, the film tells the story of a young girl whose only wish is to sell her father’s karate dojo when he dies, but discovers that 51% of the business was left to one of his worst pupils.
The Empty Hands also stars Yasuaki Kurata (Four Riders) and Stephen Au Kam-tong (Z Storm,Trivisa), a black belt in full contact karate, who is also training Tang for her physically demanding role.
Judging from the film’s newly released Trailer (below), The Empty Handsappears to be more of an arthouse drama, which is an unexpected surprise, coming from the mostly-comedic To, who made his directorial debut feature with the light-hearted Let’s Eat!
Director: Gao Xixi Cast: Peter Ho, Huang Zitao, Guli Nazha, Wang Xueqi, Choo Ja-hyun, Jack Kao, Long Meizi Running Time: 133 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The 1980 TVB gangster series The Bund has had a long lasting influence on Hong Kong cinema.As well as giving Chow Yun Fat one of his earliest memorable screen roles, it’s been remade both on TV and for the big screen in the years since, perhaps most notably in the Andy Lau and Leslie Cheung starring Shanghai Grand from 1996.That’s not to mention the countless productions that also decided to make the glitzy streets of 1930’s Shanghai their setting, which is still evident today with the likes of Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, Once Upon a Time in Shanghai, and The Last Tycoon.In 2017 director Gao Xixi decided to throw his hat into the ring with his own retelling of The Bund, in the form of The Game Changer, which casts Peter Ho and Edison Huang as the respective leads.
For Ho it’s his second time headlining a remake in as many years, after playing Swordsman Yen in Sword Master, Derek Yee’s 2016 remake of the Shaw Brothers movie Death Duel.He was the highlight of that movie, and he also remains the highlight here, his muscular presence and steely gaze bringing a welcome level of machismo, that matches the productions testosterone fuelled tone. Alongside him, former K-pop boyband member Huang cuts a slight figure, however still throws himself into the action scenes with aplomb, and has a decent set of acting chops.The Game Changer marks only his fourth time in an acting role, and first as a lead, after supporting turns in the likes of Railroad Tigers alongside Jackie Chan.
However much more than any of the previous incarnations of The Bund, here it quickly becomes apparent that the setting will only be used as a framework to tell the story.The look and feel of The Game Changer resembles something much closer to a 2017 version of the many gangster B-movies that populated HK cinema during the early 90’s.That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and for those (you know who you are) that complain Chinese cinema has become too glossy and lost the rawness of its heyday, the hyper-reality that Xixi decides to utilise makes for some gloriously over the top macho moments.The first half an hour consists almost entirely of a series of action scenes, with little to no explanation of what exactly is going on, or indeed how any of them connect to each other, but they’re entertaining enough for us not to care.
An assassin jumps out of a top floor window of a building, blasting away with a handgun in each hand, before landing safely on top of a car as if gravity doesn’t exist.In another scene a grenade just happens to be randomly discovered under the seat of a car, which is quickly utilised to see off another vehicle hot in pursuit.My favorite scene though involves a horse and cart mount an elevated level of some bamboo scaffolding, while a car drives underneath them, smashing through each of the bamboo poles supporting the whole structure.As if a horse and cart flying through the air wasn’t ludicrous enough, another character chasing on a push bike ends up sliding it sideways across the middle of the road, while he stands on it like a surfboard and blasts away – as expected – with a handgun in each hand.
Such scenes cry out to be ridiculed as a misguided attempt at recreating John Woo’s bullet ballet golden era, and indeed the scenes in question are completely and utterly ridiculous, however to see them being pulled off with such a straight face somehow prevents me from doing so.The very fact that not only did someone come up with these completely improbable and over the top action sequences, but that also a producer then read them and gave them the green light, is nothing short of a miracle.Sure, there is some dodgy green screen work here and there, and the editing is frequently as illogical as the events unfolding onscreen, but somehow it works.Maybe it’s because the CGI is kept to a minimum, maybe it’s the way the performers look so invested in the ridiculousness they’re taking part in, exactly why I can’t put my finger on, but it works.
Eventually proceedings slow down enough to allow a plot to form, which with a 130 minutes runtime, comes as a welcome relief if the audience’s attention is expected to be held.Huang plays the adopted son of a Shanghai crime boss played by Wang Xue-Qi, most recently seen in Helios and Monk Comes Down the Mountain, who’s been helping the Japanese wipe out any revolutionaries.At the beginning of the movie we meet Huang in prison, where during an escape attempt he’s assisted by Ho, ultimately leading to the pair of them escaping together, and Xue-Qi making Ho another of his adopted sons thanks to him helping Huang get out.So far, so The Raid 2.Unbeknownst to both Xue-Qi and Huang though, is that Ho is one such revolutionary, who now inadvertently finds himself in the inner circle of a crime boss his band of revolutionaries wish to assassinate.
For added drama, Ho’s girlfriend who he believed died at the hands of Xue-Qi during a riot, played by Korean actress Choo Ja-hyun, is discovered to still be alive and in a relationship with Xue-Qi.Huang also has a girlfriend in the form of Xue-Qi’s daughter, played by Coulee Nazha (recognizable from Police Story 2013), however when Ho saves her from the crossfire of a rival gangs assassination attempt on Huang, she finds herself falling for the undercover revolutionary.Yes, not only does The Game Changer serve up a healthy dose of over the top action, it also delivers not one but two love triangles.While romance is largely looked at as an unwelcome distraction in the action genre, here it actually helps to reign things in after the action filled opening 30 minutes, which almost feel as if they were designed to cater to someone with attention deficit disorder.
Perhaps the reason why it works so well, is that the melodramatic circumstances surrounding the love triangles are on par with the excessiveness of the action.This is a movie were everything is turned up to 11, and while the execution sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, the sheer bombastic nature of it all, combined with a lack of pretention, result in a pace which rarely dips.Despite this though, there can be no doubt that some minor trimming could have benefitted The Game Changer, as audiences rarely clock into such genre efforts expecting to still be around after 2 hours.Xixi does well to fill the majority of the runtime, with a seemingly endless amount of slow motion rainfall, black leather trench coats with oversized collars, and fedora hats, however a little longer in the editing room could have resulted in a much tighter narrative overall.
Stories like this usually only have one outcome, and sure enough The Game Changer doesn’t stray from the expected conclusion, but it does get there in style.By the time Ho decks himself out in a chest bearing leather vest, armed to the nines with guns and a machete, his final one-man assault on Xue-Qi’s mansion comes across like a combination of the finale’s from A Better Tomorrow 2 and Commando.Bodies and bullets fly in every direction, in a way which recalls the glory days of the HK action B-movie, when enemies would apparently regenerate at will for the sole purpose of running into a stream of gunfire, and cheap and cheerful pyrotechnics were the order of the day.
Let’s be clear, The Game Changer isn’t going to win any awards – not for the acting performances, not for the direction, and most likely not even for the action design.However it’s a movie that carries itself with a sense of self confidence despite its flaws and frequent bursts of ridiculousness, that makes black leather trench coats look effortlessly cool even though they shouldn’t, and makes surviving a hail of bullets seem perfectly feasible.It’s far from high art, but when the credits rolled, I realised I hadn’t had that much fun with a Chinese gangster flick for a long time.
Director: Jeong Byeong-gil Cast: Kim Ok-bin, Shin Ha-kyun, Sung Joon, Kim Seo-hyung, Jo Eun-ji, Lee Seung-joo, Son Min-ji Running Time: 129 min.
By Martin Sandison
Some action movies come along that define a generation, or represent the cream of the crop when it comes to their respective Nation’s output at the time. Titles such as John Woo’s indescribable adrenalin rush of a movie Hard Boiled and Tony Jaa’s era-defining Ong Bak spring to mind. Early word about The Villainess had some critics saying it redefined the genre; I took this with a pinch of salt, and rightly so. While containing some action scenes that push boundaries and should be applauded for there technical mastery, the film falls flat in the middle section. It’s such a shame because the opening and ending are beautifully rendered in their brutal dance.
Sook-Yee (Kim Ok-bin) is an assassin, trained with other females for a secret organisation. She gets the opportunity to leave and starts a new life in Seoul after ten years of service. However her past and present collide due to men she becomes involved with, and the threads of the narrative start to converge with Sook-Yee’s vendetta explained.
The fractured style of the narrative, despite making sense in the end, I found confusing and off-putting. The film constantly shifts time frames to the point where the viewer is left befuddled as to what the present of the story is. The Villainess opens super strongly, with a 10-minute, unbroken (CGI cut) take which, a la Hardcore Henry, is a POV shot. While coming across less video-gamey than the latter, there is still an element of silliness to this sequence that took me out of the film as a viewer. The choreography, however, is top notch; moving from gunplay to knife exchanges – then back to gunplay – the frenetic power and savage ferocity is impossible not to love if you’re a fan of the genre.
The aesthetics of the opening 30 and last 20-minutes of The Villainess create a wonderful atmosphere, one where manga-inspired angles and measured compositions sit beside the action. Shamefully, the middle section abandons these and goes for a washed out, aesthetically bland look that only compliments the cheesy contents of the narrative. The plot here concentrates on Sook-Yee’s romantic entanglements and attempts to lead a normal life. It’s like watching two different films.
Thankfully, the acting across the board is uniformly great, especially Kim; she captures the emotional rollercoaster her character goes on brilliantly, despite a couple too many scenes of her breaking down. A very different role from her previously well known part in Park Chan Wook’s underrated vampire drama Thirst, she dazzles in both.
Kim is reunited with Thirst co-star Ha Kyun Sin, who plays Sook-Yee’s former husband. His character is formidably menacing both physically and psychologically, and provides some superb chops in the final fight scene. Jun Sung appears as another love interest and does a decent job, contributing some welcome slightly comic relief in the middle section, while also appearing in the most over the top scene. Special mention goes to Kim Seo-Hyeong (The Berlin File) as Sook-Yee’s boss, who steals every scene she’s in.
The Villainess – after receiving a 4-minute standing ovation at the Cannes film festival earlier this year, not to mention early press buzz – is a disappointment. However, it is one that features some heart in mouth moments and absolute mastery of action. Director Jung Byung-gil, previously known for the well-regarded action thriller Confessions of Murder, is evidently one to watch in the genre. There are numerous standout moments, not least a katana fight whilst the actors are actually riding on motorcycles, and the previously mentioned opening and ending scenes. Unfortunately, all the wildcard brilliance of these sequences are let down by the approach to narrative and schmaltz of the middle section. See it for the action.
On November 21st, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing the Blu-ray & DVD for Birth of the Dragon, a fable-based movie about the controversial showdown between an up-and-coming Bruce Lee and kung fu master Wong Jack Man – a battle that gave birth to a legend.
At the helm of Birth of the Dragon is George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau) with a screenplay by Christopher Wilkinson (Ali) and Stephen J. Rivele (Nixon). Noted Hong Kong action director, Corey Yuen (Kiss of the Dragon, No Retreat, No Surrender II) has staged the film’s fight choreography.
Rising Hong Kong actor Philip Ng (Wild City, Sifu vs Vampire, Zombie Fight Club) stars as Bruce Lee. Co-stars include Yu Xia (Dragon Squad) as Wong Jack-Man, Billy Magnussen as Steve McKee, and Jinging Qu (Journey Through China), who’ll be playing Steve’s love interest.
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Birth of the Dragon: Behind the Scenes Featurette
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 / English DVS Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: English SDH / French Canadian / Latin Spanish
Now this is more like it. I was a bit disappointed with the first New Battles film, and if writer Koji Takada’s account of things is correct, so was director Kinji Fukasaku. The first film of the trilogy is a kinda-sorta follow-up to the original series that also played like a confusing recycling project. New Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2: The Boss’s Head avoids any of that confusion by telling a standalone story that feels, well, New.
In The Boss’s Head (which might be one of the coolest titles for a gangster movie ever), the series’ regular lead Bunta Sugawara returns as a brand new character named Kuroda. There’s no mistaking Kuroda with Hirono and Miyoshi, the characters Sugawara played in the original 5-film series and the first New Battles, respectively. Kuroda is a drifter, a wannabe gangster without a penny to his name. And something we figure out pretty quick is that he doesn’t take “no” for an answer.
The Boss’s Head is a film about ruthlessly ambitious people making bets on which crime figure will get them the best return on their investment. We see this concept return again and again throughout. The free agent Kuroda selects Kusunoki (Tsutomu Yamazaki, Tampopo), because Kusunoki is engaged to marry the boss’s daughter and as such will likely be chosen to become the new boss in due time. Kuroda and Kusunoki pull off a hit on a rival boss and Kuroda takes the fall, serving seven years in prison with the understanding that Kusunoki will make him rich and give him a position within the crime family upon his release.
Seven years pass and Kuroda gets out of prison to find his investment didn’t pay off in the way he was expecting. Kusunoki is now a drug addict. He’s spent all his money on heroin and his father-in-law has basically kicked him out of the yakuza family. But Kuroda doesn’t care. This isn’t a film of brotherhood and understanding; these people are wolves. Kuroda wants the money he was promised, so he demands a sit-down with Boss Owada (Ko Nishimura, Intentions of Murder). When Boss Owada says that it’s Kusunoki’s problem, the junkie and the parolee flip out and stop asking nicely.
Through physical intimidation and back alley stabbings, Kuroda slowly starts working his way into Boss Owada’s trust, even as Kusunoki gets pushed farther aside. This ambitious young upstart attracts the ire of Owada’s senior lieutenant, Aihara (Mikio Narita, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable). The story progresses from there with more power plays as ambitious people climb over the dead to reach the goal they have in mind for themselves.
Perhaps the most interesting character is Aya (Yuriko Hishimi, Godzilla vs. Gigan). She’s just as ambitious as the men and attaches herself to whatever yakuza she thinks will lead her to a life of luxury and power. Problem is, she often chooses poorly, as her men keep getting killed. Not deterred, she remains a constant in the yakuza underworld, and men begin to believe she’s cursed. It’s a sexy, sad, desperate character and Hishimi finds a way to make it all work. The Battles Without Honor and Humanity movies haven’t exactly had many meaty roles for women. But The Boss’s Head has a pretty strong stable of interesting female characters. In addition to Hishimi’s Aya, Meiko Kaiji (Lady Snowblood) delivers a strong dramatic performance as the wife of the junkie, Kusunoki.
I was beginning to worry after the first New Battles that perhaps this trilogy was going to be about reliving former successes, but The Boss’s Head proves to be one of the most interesting and entertaining films to share the Battles name. It’s odd to think that what is essentially the seventh Battles Without Honor and Humanity film would be one of the most accessible to new fans, but that’s exactly what we have here. It’s a standalone gangster epic with all the madness and swagger that fans have come to expect from Fukasaku and Sugawara and I’d love it just the same with or without the Battles name in the opening credits. The Boss’s Head is really, really good.
Dolph Lundgren (Female Fight Squad) and Scott Adkins (Savage Dog) will be teaming up again for Malevolence, an upcoming thriller to be helmed by Lundgren himself – his first directing gig since 2010’s The Killing Machine.
The two action stars previously appeared together in The Expendables 2 (2012), Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012) and Legendary (2013).
Malevolence revolves around a fighter (Lundgren) who loses his wife and daughter after a deal with the mob goes sour. Now out for revenge, he’s up against cold-blooded fighters, a corrupt police officer (Adkins), and the limitless resources of a crime boss (via VMI).
Warner and India’s Azure Entertainment (Rocky Handsome) are working on a remake of Andrew Lau’s 2002 gangster flick, Infernal Affairs, which itself was remade in 2006 by Martin Scorsese (The Departed).
“We are looking for a director for the Infernal Affairs remake,” Azure CEO Sunir Kheterpal told THR. “We will set the film in contemporary times since the original was set in 2002. And of course, the setting will be in India, compared to the earlier two films which were respectively set in Hong Kong and Boston.”
News of this upcoming remake shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, as noted by our recent article Made & Remade in Asia. Keep it here for updates.
As someone who’s been working in the action movie industry for over 25 years, it’s safe to say that action director Sonny Sison has seen it all. In a career that spans from the Power Rangers to Iron Fist, Sison has gradually developed from his beginnings as a stuntman, to a respected action director, working with the likes of Mark Dacascos, Koichi Sakamoto, Dwayne Johnson, and Johnny Yong Bosch.
Sonny Sison
In 2014 Sison re-located to his motherland of the Philippines. After having seen the likes of its South East Asian neighbors like Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia gain global recognition for their action movies, he decided to make it his mission to put Philippines action cinema on the map. Describing the nation of over 7000 islands as having a massive potential that has yet to be realised, Sison looks to have found a kindred spirit in director Pedring Lopez.
After successfully collaborating together on 2015’s Nilalang, the pair are currently in the pre-production stages of their next feature, an all-out actioner entitled Breach, which plans to cast Mark Dacascos in the lead. Combined with currently being mid-way through shooting Buy Bust, director Erik Matti’s next feature which promises to be equal parts gritty and action packed, Sison could well be very close to realising his goal.
After interviewing Lopez in 2016 (read the interview here) I’d struck up a dialogue with the veteran action director, and we’d agreed to catch up at some point to discuss his latest endeavours. With both Buy Bust and Breach now moving full steam ahead, in early July 2017 it seemed like as good a time as any, so it was we found ourselves sat over a pair of mango shakes in a Manila bar. Discussing everything from his early days in the industry, to his hopes for the future, check out our discussion below –
Anne Curtis in-between takes in Buy Bust.
Paul Bramhall: So currently you’re mid-way through filming Buy Bust with director Erik Matti, which promises to prominently feature Filipino Martial Arts, what else can we expect from the finished product?
Sonny Sison: Oh man, so first of all you can expect to see Anne Curtis like you’ve never seen her before. She trained for months with Tuhon Mick Alcaraz in the Kali system of Pekiti Tirisa. Then we adjusted those movements for screen fighting. Beyond the movements, Anne is a great actor and supplies the necessary emotional content to bring the choreography to life. Plus a surprise performance from former UFC star Brandon Vera. You know, I never knew an MMA star could be such a germophobe! We’re shooting in this compound right next to the river, and I confess the place is a very challenging place to shoot in. I’m telling him he has to fall down into this pool of water, and he’s like “What, I gotta lay in that water!?” (laughter)
So it’s going to provide a gritty look at Manila, and it’s an action movie that isn’t an action movie. (laughter) There’s quite a bit of gratuitous violence, but it’s there because that’s the way that Matti thinks and how it fits in with the story. There’s a particular arc he wants with the characters so it’s justified. He’s a director who gets bored with just action that doesn’t support the story, so he always asks how can we present this in a way which is atypical.
Now with action, there are some things you can’t get away with, so you have to get that basic coverage, otherwise if you get too creative you can lose the artistry of the movement itself. But one of the reasons why I like Erik is that he allows me the freedom to be creative, and pretty much direct all the action sequences myself, unless he has his own input on something like say a camera change, or a scene that he wants to submit into my shot list. Otherwise he lets me run the show. It’s a necessity when it comes to a movie like this which is going to have a lot of action, and the guys that we’re working with are all capable and experienced. A lot of directors don’t want to give up that control. I’m telling you I should have a co-director credit on this movie. As of now, out of the 25 days we’ve been shooting, I’d say 18 of them have all been action! (laughter)
But you know here in the Philippines, I’m still learning how the system works, and it’s a system which isn’t going to change which can be frustrating. So that’s why I like working with Matti, he’s someone that’s been to the States and studied the studio system there, so he gets it, plus I like his sensibilities. He’s a well studied and educated director. We talk about the full range of movie genres, who’s our favourite actors and movies. It’s a real pleasure to sit and see how his mind works.
On the Job Theatrical Poster
PB: It sounds promising. I loved On the Job, so to see Matti work on an action movie sounds like a good combination. Of course you also have Breach on the cards, that I’d spoken with Pedring about last year. How’s the progress on this one going?
SS: Right, so me and Pedring worked for the first time together as director and action director on Nilalang (aka The Entity), and we took so many learnings away from that experience. What we’re looking forward to is putting those into practice with Breach, which at the moment is still in the pre-production stages. We’re just waiting to tie up the last few necessary details so that we can get going, and I’m excited for it.
PB: Is Mark Dacascos still attached at the lead?
SS: Yes, Dacascos is still attached as the lead, but also he’s e-mailing me regularly to try and lock down the schedule of when we’ll be filming, which at the moment is still up in the air. So while right now we don’t have a full commitment from him on paper, as he also has a lot of other projects on the table, we’re keeping our fingers crossed the schedules will work out. The story is certainly good enough to warrant any leading man to do the part. However with Dacascos we’ve known each other for so long that I know he’s able to do anything I need from him, and I don’t have to question if he has the physical capability or the training to do it, so I hope it works out.
Breach Teaser Poster
There are a bunch of other people who could get the lead role for Breach, some of which I’ve also recommended, but there are certain investors who want the big names. Some of the names these investors have mentioned, I’ve looked at their movies and seen what they can do onscreen, but it’s important for me to see with my own eyes what their capabilities are for an action movie. The core team of characters is a group of 5, so I’d also like to bring in Johnny Yang (assistant stunt/fight coordinator on Iron Fist) and Dan Southworth or Anthony Nanakornpanom, both seasoned action guys and firearms experts.
Lauren Kim, she’ll be our version of Hammer Girl, so man watch out! (Laughter) You can check out her series The Kali Diaries on YouTube to see what I mean. I keep telling Pedz, and he understands too, more than anything I don’t like gratuitous action, and by that I mean action for actions sake. Someone doing a Hong Kong style stunt or fight scene just because it looks cool, unless of course it’s that kind of genre or movie. So with Breach we’re going to be bringing a very real, very intense style of action.
PB: Speaking of Dacascos, you guys got to work on his directorial debut together, Showdown in Manila, where you were the 2nd unit director. It has a dream cast of 90’s American B-movie martial arts stars, can you tell us how such a large number of them came to be involved with Showdown in Manila?
Showdown in Manila Theatrical Poster
SS: You know I had the same question, so I asked Mark how involved he was in the casting, and he said the only people he brought on board were Casper (Van Dien), Tia (Carrera), and Cary (-Hiroyuki Tagawa). Everyone else was brought in by Alex Nevsky, he’s a really big fan of 80’s Hollywood action movies, the likes of Schwarzenegger, Rothrock, all of those guys, however as to how he got them all involved, that I don’t know. From what I understand though, it had its theatrical release in Russia, made its money back there, and they’re now looking for an international distribution deal.
PB: I understand its Alex Nevsky’s story and he’s also in the producers chair, so was it him that brought in Dacascos to direct? And how did you come to be involved?
SS: From what Mark told me it was Alex who offered him the opportunity. Mark and I had been chatting online and he told me that he was coming to Manila to film, as he’d shot quite a few films in the Philippines prior and really liked the work ethic of crews here. He wanted to showcase the locations and culture the country has to offer. At the time, James Lew was attached to stunt coordinate, but he ended up getting the Luke Cage series for Netflix. Mark told me the position was open, though 3 of us were being considered – Danny Kim, a fellow stunt brother and great friend based in Hawaii, who was the stunt double for Daniel Dae Kim on Hawaii Five-0, and the legendary Richard Norton.
It pretty much came down to crunch time, because Mark had already come to Manila for pre-production, and for whatever reason he was unable to get in touch with Alex around that time. So Mark told me he’d bring me on, because obviously with me living here, my work experience, and our long standing friendship, it made sense, although to what capacity he didn’t know yet. But I could at least assist his father, Al Dacascos, who was the fight choreographer. So Sifu Al would create the moves, and then I’d interpret them for the actors and stunt crew in a way that was more adaptable for camera. By the time Alex got to Manila, Mark told him the capacity I was working in, and I officially got the job to stunt coordinate and fight assist. Then later, when filming on location in Batlag Falls, I became the 2nd Unit Director to pick up all the footage that Mark couldn’t due to his prioritizing shots with Alex.
PB: When you were working as the 2nd unit director, did you have an opportunity to action direct the likes of Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson and Cynthia Rothrock?
Showdown in Manila Theatrical Poster
SS: Yes, I action directed all of Cynthia’s action, and some of Don’s. The cool thing is that Cynthia and I have been friends for a while now, and she even came out to support the premiere screening of my Filipino Martial Arts documentary. We had talked about her wanting to do FMA on film, so lo and behold, she got to do some for Showdown in Manila.
PB: For those who’ve already seen it there’s certainly been some mixed reactions. Would you say the finished product has more influence of Nevsky the producer and star, or Dacascos the director?
SS: A film is a total collaboration from each production department, talent, etc. Things can often come out differently than the way you’d want or expect. At the end of the day, it’s the producer who has final say. I’ll leave it at that.
PB: Now you and Mark also share the honor of having both worked with Koichi Sakamoto and his Alpha Stunts team, Mark with Drive and yourself on Broken Path (aka Broken Fist). Both of these movies had distribution issues in the U.S., with Broken Path still only having a DVD release in South Africa and the U.K. What went wrong with that one?
SS: Horrible distribution problems. I don’t know why, but it shows me that the producers just didn’t have the necessary contacts or experience, and the way they treated the movie was shocking. Because when I look at Broken Path even now, it holds itself up to other ultra-violent movies. If you talk about the visual action in and of itself, and the hard-core stunts that were involved, the working conditions that we were in made it a lot harder than it could have been. We were working in 100 plus degrees Fahrenheit with 100% humidity, man it was tough. But of all the movies I’ve done to this day, it’s still my favourite to have worked on. To me it’s a real shame that it didn’t get the exposure it deserved.
So, it’s interesting, because when distributors talk about action movies, there’s always 1 or 2 movies which will be the ones that are setting the pace. As of now it’s The Raid when it comes to martial arts, and John Wick when it comes to gun fights. So everyone is asking what’s going to be the next The Raid and what’s going to be the next John Wick? It’s a cycle. So when I watched The Raid I was like, ok this is Hong Kong action, but its Hong Kong action with some elements of silat, and that was my disappointment in The Raid, as I didn’t see too much silat, at least not the type that I’ve been exposed to. The exception was in The Raid 2 when they did the ground fighting in the kitchen fight, but everything else in that movie felt totally like Hong Kong action to me. Now in comparison, when you look at Broken Path, we had a lot of martial arts elements in there, from muay thai, knife fighting, JKD, grappling, the works. But let’s keep in mind of context, these are all movies. Moves have to be adjusted for cinematic purposes.
PB: What’s Koichi Sakamoto like to work with as an action director?
Drive UK DVD Cover
SS: Koichi is a very under exposed guy, I mean just take a look at Drive, c’mon. As a movie, it delivers. I don’t know if you’ve seen the making of, but there’s a part were Kadeem Hardison is talking with Brett Ratner, and Brett tells Kadeem he saw him in this action flick on HBO that has him starring alongside some Asian guy, and wanted to know what it was. So Kadeem tells him “That was Drive man!” Then Brett starts ribbing him about how, at the time, it must have never gotten picked up for U.S. distribution, as when he saw it on HBO that was the first time he’d seen it. He ends up telling Kadeem that he’s thankful it never got picked up, because if it did, there’s no way he’d have ever been able to make Rush Hour. (laughter)
You know Mark told me that Drive was the only movie that he ever got to let loose on, so he was waiting for the next one, and he sometimes said to me about the productions that he worked on after that, “Sonny, I’m starring in this movie, and they’re not using me for everything that I can do.” But of course, Mark is such a gentleman that he’ll never complain, and he respects the director, he knows that he’s the actor and he’s there to follow what the director wants, so he’d never make it about him. But he often says to me that he’s never been able to let loose like he was able to in Drive, and he’s still looking for that movie in which he’ll be able to do so. I think Breach will be it.
PB: You obviously share a long history with Dacascos, you must be looking forward to working with him once Breach is confirmed.
SS: Well you know Mark, in his life experience, he’s reached a point now where it needs to be story driven, and if it’s an action movie that he thinks his wife is going to find boring, then he won’t do it. So for him it’s become story story story, and I get that, as I said I don’t like doing action just for actions sake. He’s asked me before if I’d be interested in getting into directing, but for me, it’s not on the cards just yet. Directing requires a ridiculously high level of motivation and passion, so you have to be completely into what you’re directing if you want to make a good movie. Right now, action directing is enough stress for me. (laughter)
Actually Dacascos was supposed to have done another movie with Koichi called Man of Action, which was going to be directed by Steve Wang, who did Drive together with them. But that fell through for a number of reasons, and then there was another one called Song of the Knife. Now I’ve spoken to Phil (Cruz), who was originally going to write and direct that one, and it’s possible that we’ll bring it back to the table. Song of the Knife can potentially be good, and it had even started filming in Florida back in 2010, but then it lost its investors in the very early stages. They did a promo reel with Willie (Laureano), who I think is excellent and makes a great villain, he has the look and he moves really well. So I think it could be done here in the Philippines, and there have been several people out there who really want to make the definitive FMA (Filipino Martial Arts) movie. Even Gary (Daniels) told me he has a script with a story that heavily incorporates FMA.
Broken Path Promotional Poster
But I don’t know if it will be something I’m interested in purely as an FMA martial arts movie, as right now I tend to go for a more realistic story. I’d want it to be something like a Man from Nowhere or a Bourne Identity, but it’s been a long time since there’s been an action movie were the focus is purely on FMA. You see it a lot in the behind the scenes stuff, but too often it never makes it onscreen, or you get smatterings of it in Hollywood movies, like a kali fight or the use of a stick that makes people say “That’s Filipino Martial Arts!” But it’s not a Filipino Martial Arts movie per se, so we’ll see. I definitely think Song of the Knife has the potential to be revived.
PB: Staying with the Koichi connection, what are some of your fondest memories from your stint working on the Power Rangers?
SS: Man, so you know the whole of the Broken Path crew did Power Rangers together – Johnny (Yong Bosch), (Dan) Southworth, Anthony (Nanakornpanom), Motoko (Nagino), who’s Koichi’s wife, and (Tadahiro) Nakamura-san. Out of everyone, Koichi was there from day one, but length wise I was there the longest. I actually got Dan his audition for when he became the Quantum Ranger on the Time Force series. We did a travelling Power Rangers show, and it was supposed to go for 2 years, so we’d been on the road already for 4 months when I got a call from my agent who said the production company were auditioning for the TV show.
Of course I was already busy, but I said hey Dan, you’re going to audition for Rangers, and I called Koichi and said you have to look at this Dan Southworth, this guy is really good. Dan didn’t get it that particular year, it went to Mike Chaturantabut, who got the role of Blue Ranger for Lightspeed Rescue. It was the following year when Dan got the role of Quantum Ranger for Time Force. Dan and I had been friends prior to that, since around ’95 or ’96, and we’d been doing a lot of appearances together. I brought in Anthony as well for Ranger appearances around the globe. Nakamura-san came in the 2nd or 3rd season of Mighty Morphin’, then Motoko came in probably in the 5th or 6th season, something like that.
So when it came to Broken Path, because we’d all worked together we know what we can do, and with us having so little time for rehearsals, it was often just make it up on the spot. But the brilliance of it was, with everyone having worked with Koichi, and Koichi being very collaborative, he would say “Sonny can we do some kind of kali thing here”, or “Anthony can we do some kind of JKD or krav maga here”, and we just blended well and didn’t need to do a lot of takes.
PB: Wow, I didn’t realise it was so unrehearsed. Were there any injuries?
SS: You know when Nakamura fell from the 1st floor balcony in the house, that was a mistake, because he was supposed to land on the couch to soften the fall, but he missed it. We rehearsed it, but then on the actual take he said “Move it closer!”, and of course he completely missed it and ended up bam on the floor. Thankfully 5 minutes later he was able to get up, and I was like damn these guys are tough! The only other injury which was fairly serious was by Johnny himself, when he’s fighting with Anthony and gets thrown into the bookshelf, the back of his head hit a corner of the shelf full force, and he had to go to hospital and get stitches. But he came straight back, and we carried on shooting. Johnny is a real trooper.
I remember when Johnny came as a replacement for Walter (Emanuel Jones) in Mighty Morphin’, he was a kid fresh from Texas, no acting experience and very green when he was working on the series. Then, by the time the movie came out, I said wow look at this guy. I mean he’d really been training with Alpha Stunts regularly, and you could see that. That’s the kind of commitment you need to see from an actor that’s going to be doing their own stunts as much as possible. Because when you’re doing B movies or C movies sometimes you can’t afford to get a double, so you need that experience.
PB: I’ve noticed you’re a big advocate of stunt performers and martial artists taking acting lessons, and vice versa. How important do you think this is?
SS: It’s critical. I’m already trying to put it out there in my discussions within the industry, you know if you want this role, then you need to be the one person that steps into the room and has undergone that training and experience. Go for it, and don’t just wait to be hired for a role and the studio to pick up the tab for the training, if you’re going to be that one person, then you better at least have the basics to perform an action role. I offered that same training to one of the actresses I worked with, so I told her she has a lot of potential to do action, but you should be training in order to hone the craft. So she said to me “Ok, are you going to teach me for free?” C’mon! Why would I teach someone for free?! So much for investing in your own career.
PB: A good point. Do you have any favorite roles of your own?
SS: Well, a couple of roles come to mind that I missed out on which make for a good story. A lot of people don’t know but Mark brought me in to meet the director of Only the Strong, to possibly double him. But it was shot in Florida, which at the time was a right-to-work state, meaning they could hire non-union people, and that led to me not getting the gig. But then the role opened up for the young cousin, because the original actor wanted to re-negotiate his contract and the producer declined, and instead decided to re-audition the role. So I went in to read, and the director told me “Man, that was such a good performance, but the problem is you and Mark look too much alike, so it’s going to downplay his character.” So that was an “Aaaargh” moment. But that’s ok, because the friendship we’ve had over so many years makes up for it, and now I get to pay it back in a certain way by hopefully bringing him in for Breach. I owe him that, as he’s done a lot for me.
Brother International Theatrical Poster
Another one was for Takeshi Kitano’s Brother. Man I was so pissed about this one. So it happened to me when I went on the road with the 2ndPower Rangers tour, and during a short break I went back to auditioning, and my agent says to me “Go audition for this Takeshi Kitano movie.” So I told the Alpha Stunt guys “I’m going to meet Takeshi!” and they were all like “Oh my God!” So I went and did my thing, got a call from my agent that yeah, they wanted to use me, then about 5 days later my agent calls me again and says don’t take this, they’re downgrading your role to a glorified extra, you’ll be seen, but you know it’s not a good supporting role. So the movie comes out, and the character that I was supposed to be playing is throughout the whole fricking movie, has lines all over the place, and I’m sure got upgraded again at some point back to a supporting role. So that was another “Aaaagh!” moment.
I take it as one of those lessons were I learnt to be more involved in the decision making of what jobs I get. Agents are trying to negotiate the best rate so they can get their percentage, but if it’s a job that I want to do and the money’s not so good, I’ll still do it, I don’t care. I want to do it, and I’ve lost quite a few jobs to agents that did that to me. They’ll say no it’s not as good a money as this one, but forget it, I want that one. So now I haven’t used an agent since the early 2000’s, I negotiate my own pay.
PB: How’s that working out here in the Philippines?
Part of the challenge is to get the executives and directors to respect the position that the stunt department does for these movies, because right now it isn’t a position which is appreciated or respected much, and that reflects in the pay that they get, along with how they’re spoken to. A lot of the stunt crews are talked down to as if they’re extras. The executives will say a stunt was easy, therefore they don’t need any additional pay, so in those cases I’m thinking in my head “Then you do it.”
I’ve reached a point now where, if a local production wants me to work with them, I’m not going to drop my price anymore. You know it’s not really about the money, but it’s about the stress that I have to deal with on set with these people. You know, it’s not that they’re wrong, it’s just that that’s the way they know how to do it, and it affects my purpose for being hired in the first place. You hired me to bring something to the table that this country hasn’t seen before, to push the action to the next level, but if I’m not able to shoot it the way I think it needs to be shot, then now I’ll say they need to find somebody else, who will cater to what they need and what they’re willing to pay them.
Because of this I’ve developed a sort of reputation for being a stuck up guy, and I ask myself why am I being looked at as stuck up, is it because I’m being asked to be paid for 27 years of experience in the business? I’m like, you executives are making bank, are you going to say you’ll take a smaller cut on this movie? Of course they won’t! So I’m like, you don’t go into a Mercedes dealer and say you like one of their cars but only have jeepney (a local form of transport in the Philippines) money, if you go to a doctor and they say you need surgery, do you say give me the cheapest type possible? If you want quality, you need to pay for quality.
Nilalang Theatrical Poster
I’m not saying I’m the man when it comes to fight choreography, I still have a lot to learn myself, and these kids coming up in the States are brilliant. I admit I don’t think too much of some of these Hong Kong fight style groups, because to me they’re just emulating what we’ve all seen before. I’m not downplaying HK action, the entire genre wouldn’t have evolved where it not for it. They’re fans of it, so I get it, but some of these other amateur groups out there, they’re continually shooting and experimenting, so I find myself motivated by their enthusiasm to do something different. That’s the whole thing at this point, the question is what hasn’t been done? It’s not necessarily fight choreography and the moves themselves that are going to make a difference, for me it’s the camerawork. Not the editing, not the special effects, it’s the camerawork.
PB: What would you say your own learning experience was from Nilalang?
SS: So Nilalang was Pedz first attempt at a full length action movie. From a technical standpoint, because of his background directing commercials, Nilalang looks great, and I mean it cleaned up at MMFF (Metro Manila Film Festival). He has some fantastic ideas, and kind of comes with an M. Night Shamalan type of mindset, he storyboards everything right down to the detail and then applies them to the actual filming itself. He’s also a fantastic pitchman, and his whole family is in the U.S., so he’s able to go back and forth and see those methods that are used in the States. When he attended the AFM (American Film Market) it was a huge eye opener, and Nilalang was successfully picked up for U.S. distribution.
While at the end of the day, it really wasn’t made for the local market here in the Philippines, it takes people within the local industry and the insiders who are keen to make these genre movies to understand the potential that it had. Of course as the action director, I see parts of it that could have been better, and me and Pedz both agreed that we needed more days than we had to shoot the action. With what’s shown in the finished product, I admit I wasn’t satisfied. But at the end of the day you get to a point where you have to decide, are we going to spend a lot more money than we have and finish the scene the way we want, or do we say that this is good enough, and ultimately we went with the latter. I never want to do that again. I’m very against a “that’s good enough” mentality.
PB: Right, and Pedring had mentioned how, because of the heat, you ended up filming most of the fight scene in the samurai armour yourself. How was that from an action director perspective?
Maria Ozawa and Sonny getting down ‘n dirty on the set of Nilalang.
SS: Yes. (laughter) So we had a guy called Tony who was referred because of his look, he had really defined Japanese features that we wanted to show when the mask is ripped off. However the production guys had ordered an authentic samurai costume, and that helmet was super heavy, let alone wearing it in the Manila heat. So this guy had never done stuff like kendo or traditional style sword fighting, and suddenly wearing this full samurai armour, it was difficult for him to get through even the first few moves. As a result it ended up eating up so much time, that in the end I just said “Pedz, I gotta get in that suit if we’re going to finish this scene.”
Now I look back on the scene in the movie and realise it was so short, we should have had at least another minute of fighting, as we could have done a lot more once I was in the suit. But then after having rehearsed with Maria’s stunt double prior, even though I’m sure she would have been good to improvise more moves on the spot, we decided not to sacrifice the hard work that had already been put into the rehearsals for the scene.
PB: And you also didn’t have as much time to train Maria Ozawa as you would have liked if I remember correctly?
SS: Yeah that’s right, so when our original star Robin Padilla left the project, Maria also began to look around for other projects as well. Then when Nilalang came back to the table thanks to a new investor, her management said it’s going to cost you the same amount of money, but you won’t get her for the same amount of time. But at the end of the day, having Maria’s name attached, it helped it to sell, especially to the Japanese market. It goes back to the whole mindset that I have, which is for actors who are going to be performing action, they really need that preparation time in order to be able to execute it convincingly.
Maria was game for the short time that we were able to do training with her, but for me I have to support and praise the stunt performers, and what they did to make the other actors look so good. So when people claim that they did all of their own action, that really upsets me, it really does. I won’t name any names, but man it really upsets me.
PB: You also worked on the Iron Fist series. What are your reactions to the massive amount of negative press the series got?
SS: Well, so while something may sound good on paper and when it’s being pitched, what counts at the end of the day is the execution. It’s your crew, it’s your team, it’s the communication between departments, and everybody being on the same page about what you want the visuals to be. A lot of the time that can get lost in translation, and that’s what I think happened on Iron Fist.
On the set of Showndown in Manila.
When you have a great stunt coordinator in Brett Chan, who’s the same stunt coordinator for Marco Polo, and you’re getting the A list martial artists involved from the stunt community, and then you see the finished product you’re like, wow, how did that happen? Again it’s miscommunication between the directing department and the stunt department. From what I understand, the stunt crew was required to present pre-visualisation rehearsals. Whether or not the director for that particular episode actually used them or not, that was their choice. So I’d asked at that point when I was working on episodes 9 & 10, “So who followed the pre-viz’s?” Now the answer that I got was that only 2 of the directors on the whole series had taken the time to check them out or follow some semblance of them.
What I felt they wanted to do based on the details I was given, in the one scene which has a lot of people fighting, is to get the feel of a one-track Oldboy style hallway fight. So they dollyed it, but then they stopped it after a few moves. Then they dollyed it again, and then they stopped it after a few more moves. Then they started doing inserts. I asked them, what was the use of making that whole camera track if you’re just going to stop and start it? So I interpreted it wrong, and the scene was used as a master shot, but this is an example of what I’m saying in regards to aspects such as this needing to be more clearly communicated.
Broken Path is also known as Broken Fist and Attack of the Yakuza.
PB: Do you think that the lack of communication is a specific problem with the tighter schedule that a TV series comes with?
SS: You have a much shorter amount of time compared to working on a movie to come up with something good. So it depends on who the coordinator hires to be able to pull of what’s being asked in that moment, the performer has to be able to do it. You know, the best scenario is working with a bunch of people that are your friends, people who you’ve worked with together for a while and you know you can trust. That’s what happened on Broken Path, we knew each other’s timing, we knew each other’s moves. A lot of times you may get projects were you’re cast by another stunt coordinator who’s recommended you as a friend. But the catch is the person you need to work with has been cast because of their look, they have the look whatever show it is needs, and you’ve never worked with that person before. So you find out what their skillset is, and see if you have that rapport, and then you learn if they can pull off what you want.
That’s why with TV you get away with doing a lot of camera tricks, the editing often has to hide the lack of skills. This is no more evident than when you see current Filipino action TV. It’s all “Whip that camera real fast!” or “That guy who’s about to fall, when he drops down, shoot his feet!” (laughter) As a producer I get it, they want to spend as little as they can, and make as much as they can. But, as a producer you should also understand that you can’t skimp on certain things, certain things need to be paid for. Action is one of those, if you want it pay for it. But too much here they say “Pwede na”, which means “That’s good enough”, or “That’ll do.” As I mentioned before, for me I don’t like “That’s good enough.” I’ll do 7 – 10 takes if that’s what it needs, let’s get it right, or let’s think about how we can adjust it. But at the end of the day, to work with people in the industry that have a similar mentality, I find myself wanting to stick with international productions.
PB: What would you say are the biggest differences between working in the States and working here in the Philippines?
SS: Stunts are an integral part to almost any action project that’s being developed in the States, and for the most part directors really do their research in finding the right stunt coordinator or 2nd unit director to be able to pull off what they want to do, and if given enough time and budget they’ll also allow for rehearsals. Because we’re a guild (SAG-AFTRA), there’s a standard pay that needs to be adhered to, but over here I have to negotiate literally everything.
I’m trying to arrange a meeting between the main stunt directors here so that we can sit down and come to an agreement were we stand by each other and look out for each other. That way, then the rest of the networks and production companies, even if they say they’re not going to pay the rate that’s being asked for and want to find cheaper talent, it’ll soon make them realise that they get what they pay for. I think it’s a necessity here, and it’ll relieve a lot of stress like the stunt guys undercutting each other, and instead it’ll create a unity and brotherhood. Let’s say I have a job and I get called for another one at the same time, I can then ask one of the other guys to go fill in for me.
So part of the perception is that I’m the newbie on the block here, and I’m taking work away from these guys. But it’s not like that, I’m creating more work for these people, whether I hire a stunt director myself, or people within a particular stunt group, it provides the work. The other side of the equation is that the more action I do, the more action others will want to do. I can’t work on everything, so I’m establishing a standard of demanding rehearsals and pre-vizing. I think I’m the only one who does pre-viz here, because the stunt directors here don’t know how to shoot it, much less edit it. If you were to talk to a stunt director here and ask him what lens should he use for a certain type of action shot, they wouldn’t know. They wouldn’t know the difference between an 18 and a 75, because they’ve never been given that consideration that they should know. But the fact is that they should, and they can do that by, you know, having those conversations with the DP’s (director of photography).
Pedring Lopez talking to the press about Nilalang (Photo credit: Alexa Villano)
That’s how I spend my time. Don’t just wait in your trailer and only appear when the action starts, go hang around on the set and ask the questions, why this, why that, why are you lighting this scene that way? That’s the way you learn. That’s why I say it’s my mission here to raise the standards of the industry in my mother country, and the other side of it is to test the waters, and see who shares that mind frame, in terms of thinking that the Philippines can be a great place for shooting movies. So for me Pedring is the guy with that mindset.
PB: How did you meet Pedring?
SS: I was recommended by a mutual friend, so I went in to meet him, showed him my (stunt) reel, and Pedring said to me “You know, I’m supposed to see two other guys, but I’m just going to call them and say no, we got our guy.” So that’s how it began, and he’s very easy to work with, I like the guy a lot, and I like his whole crew. Everybody is in their 40’s or younger, so they’re not jaded, they’re very open minded, aggressive, and creative, so they’re great people to work with.
PB: Some people have said there’s no market for action movies in the Philippines, but personally I don’t believe this to be true. It seems to be more of an excuse to not to take the time to make action movies. What are your own thoughts on this?
SS: I don’t think the market is a problem in terms of Filipino audiences not being interested in action movies anymore, I think it’s more a case of the action movie industry here got so bad, that people stopped watching them because of the lack of quality. I mean c’mon, you go and watch when the new Spider-Man movie comes out, they’ll be lining up to see it. So for me, I think Buy Bust is going to change that and people are going to say “We need to go see this movie!” At least for the local industry, I hope it makes them say “Ok, we need a female action star.”
The lack of action movies have left them in a time warp that makes most of Filipino action look like it was made in the 80’s and 90’s. So again, it’s not their own fault, but it is their responsibility of not keeping up when it’s so readily available on YouTube. I mean if you have a country like Cambodia doing an action movie like Jailbreak, or others like Vietnam, Thailand, there’s no excuse. The Philippines, as far as being a media entertainment powerhouse, was well ahead of the curve 40 years ago, in fact the only country in front of us was Japan. So what happened? I don’t know as I haven’t delved into the history of it, but I hear bits and pieces from people who give various different reasons.
PB: You’re definitely on a worthwhile mission, and hopefully your efforts will be reflected in the industry soon. In terms of yourself though, who were some of your inspirations that led you into the action movie industry?
SS: Jackie of course. Bruce of course. You know Hong Kong action movies were stale for quite a while, and the only guy who was doing anything innovative was Donnie Yen, so his work was inspiring to watch. But again I go back to Mark (Dacascos). I think he’s the epitome of a gentleman, and so pleasant to work with. He gives you his all, and he’s a serious actor, it’s not just about the action for him, he wants to act. I remember when he told me in the early 90’s, “Sonny if I never have to throw a punch or kick again, I’ll be so happy.” (laughter) But then, you know, he realises that that’s his money maker and he has a family to feed. What I really respect with Mark is his professionalism and how he conducts himself on and off set. He works hard and is a genuinely nice guy. He’s taken acting classes, and continues to do so, in L.A. with Howard Fine, who’s one of the top guys out there, as well as other coaches. Then he further spread his wings by going to improvisation school, but you know, he said there was so much that he couldn’t tap into for many years until he became a Dad. It makes sense.
So the reason why I speak so highly of Mark is that he’s undyingly faithful, loyal, and dedicated. Not just in his career as actor, but also as a family man. He’s probably the most disciplined person I know.
Mark Dacascos, Al Dacascos and Sonny on the set of Showdown in Manila.
PB: How many times have you and Mark worked together?
SS:(laughter) So it’s interesting that, after being friends for over 30 years, we didn’t work with each other on a movie until 2015 with Showdown in Manila. We went our separate ways a long time ago, and I don’t know if I could say I regret it, because you know when you look back at what you’ve done in your life, you are where you are because of the decisions you made. So when I look at the total sum of years that I’ve been in the business, and I look at some of my peers who started after me and where they are in the stunt world, I mean some of these guys are huge, I had to reflect and ask myself why I’m not at that level. And of course it’s easy – all they thought about was stunts, and that’s it, whereas I was like I want to try that and I want to try that. But, realizing that, I now look at it like I know a lot about this area, and I know a lot about this area, because that’s what a producer has to know, about who to get in for a certain position, and what I’m doing now, that experience really helps.
PB: We’ve spoken so much about the past, but what are your thoughts on the current action scene, are there any movies or actors you’re particularly looking forward to check out?
SS: So there’s Operation Mekong, I haven’t seen it, but I want to check it out for the military action. When it comes to stand alone scenes, I enjoyed the fight that takes place in the car during the chase scene in The Raid 2. As short as it was, that part was my favorite scene, even more so than anything in the original Raid movie, it really stood out for me. Of course again, being action centric, they didn’t look at the other details, so at the end when the car drove off, the streets were empty. No cars and no people because of course they had to block it off, but as a filmmaker, those small details bother me.
I’m curious about how Triple Threat will turn out with Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa, but I wish producers and directors would consider other actors besides Scott Adkins. Undoubtedly he’s made a name for himself and is highly skilled, but for me, too much of the tricking stuff is going to get old the same way all the muay thai stuff got old for Tony. You keep flipping around in every movie, it gets repetitive, and after doing Doctor Strange I’d like to see Scott focusing on that level.
Triple Threat Teaser Poster
But he’s probably being offered decent money to headline the kind of B movies he’s doing right now. You have the Undisputed movies, but the problem for me goes back to the fact that they’ve become gratuitous. That wasn’t the case with the second one, with Michael Jai White, you know it had a good story to it, and Boyka wasn’t the focus. That’s not to take way from the choreography that Larnell (Stovall) did for the sequel, or the action directing that Isaac (Florentine) did, but again for me, there has to be more than just visuals.
PB: Adkins also has a rematch with his adversary from Undisputed III: Redemption, Marko Zaror, in the recently released Savage Dog, which I confess I’m looking forward to.
SS: Marko was a good kid man, you know we used to hang out together in L.A. Valley College way back. Being 6 foot 3 and being able to move the way he does, that takes talent, and he’s a super nice guy. It was Andy Cheng that brought him in as a double for The Rock on The Rundown (aka Welcome to the Jungle), so we were filming in Hawaii, and it was the day were all the doubles were doing the hill fall. We turned one corner and I saw Paul (Eliopoulos) and J.J. Perry, who were both doubling for (Seann William) Scott and taking turns falling, and I mean falling hard! I see Marko on the top of the hill waiting for his turn, and he looks scared stiff and pale, because of course he’s a martial artist more than a stuntman, but his time on the movie succeeded at getting him into the industry. (laughter)
Most recently Andy was on the 2nd season of Into the Badlands, which filmed in Ireland of all places, so I called him up and said “Hey, bring me on, I’d like to check out Ireland as well!” (laughter) But right now the goal for me is to bring some of my friends over for these World War 2 movies that are coming up and I’ll be working on. It’s a good opportunity, because there’s a lack of local guys who fit the bill to look Japanese here, so I can bring the likes of Simon Rhee and James Lew over.
PB: You mention you’ll be working on a couple of World War 2 movies, is there anything else coming up that you have plans to work on?
SS: So at the moment I’m stacked until July next year. After Buy Bust and Breach I have a couple of international war movies that I’m going to be working on as I mentioned, and then two movies based on Filipino comic-book characters. I’m also in talks with Pedring to work on another action horror movie. Plus there’s also a possible TV series in the mix as well.
In terms of right now, Buy Bust is half way though filming, so we’ll be wrapped in September, and I’m simultaneously pre-vizing Breach. So at the moment my life consists of rehearsing and filming for Buy Bust, and attending meetings with Pedring and the crew for Breach. The mentality of the people working in the industry at my level, is that you don’t necessarily know where your next job is going to come from, so it’s always best to take as much as you can. But I’d never want to short change something else just to bring in the money, plus I have to think about my health, so I increasingly find myself factoring in the latter recently. I’ll be 50 next month, so the mind is willing, but the body is saying “What are you doing!?” (laughter)
PB: Going back to an earlier question, I wanted to ask if there’s any one particular fight scene for you that stands out, or that you class as a personal favorite?
SS: It’s not an action movie, it’s actually a drama, and it’s so simple. In Once Were Warriors, it’s the bar fight scene. Why is it my favorite? It’s short, to the point, and brilliantly acted. It’s raw – bam bam bam. Also, when it comes to the action I have to say The Man from Nowhere, and I love the story, love Won Bin’s performance. You know the Koreans are just killing it right now, the production quality of their movies is incredible, the action is creative, and ultra-violent in a way that isn’t gratuitous.
The Raid, for me, had a lot repetitive moves that I think could have been replaced with something else in the choreography. There’s 3 shock value moments in The Raid, one were the guy gets his back snapped on the wall in the stairwell, one when the guy lands on the jagged door frame, and the other is when the guy gets shot point blank through the head. Those were the “Oh wow!” moments, but everything after that I’d felt like I’d seen it before. Now in The Raid 2, it has a higher budget, but aside from the car chase a lot of it was poorly executed with ideas that didn’t play well. I mean casting the guy who played Mad Dog again, are we not supposed to recognize that it’s the same guy? Then at the end of his big fight scene they go outside and it’s snowing, I mean snowing in Indonesia, c’mon! Artistic licence doesn’t work for that. (laughter)
PB: Looking at IMDB, which I know isn’t always the most reliable source out there, it has your next movie as Ron Yuan’s Unspoken: Diary of an Assassin, with Zoe Bell. What can we look forward to with this movie?
SS: You’re right about IMDB, we actually did that, gosh it was back in 2011 or 2012, and it’s been ongoing since then. We shot our stuff a long time ago. I’ll tell you a story, we did this scene were Ron took a camera into an L.A. Kings hockey game, and you’re not supposed to bring that kind of stuff. But talk about production value, so we had these great seats and it was perfect for the scene that we had in mind. So the game finishes, and Ron says ok let’s go and shoot this scene real quick in the bathroom. Ian Thomas Dale from Hawaii 5-0, he’s in the scene, along with Brian Tee, and Ian is going to be stabbing me in one of the stalls. But then as he’s holding the knife, the security guard walks in, and immediately asks us what’s going on. So Ron tells him we’re shooting a prank video for a bachelor party, and the guard tells us we have 5 minutes, and walks out. (laughter)
So we set the scene again, and Ian comes at me with the collapsible knife yelling at the top of his lungs, and this time a different security guard comes in, only now Ian is on top of me with the knife, and the guard really panics. (laughter) He gets on the radio, and as soon as we walk out of the bathroom we find ourselves surrounded by about 20 other guards. So they ask us what exactly we were doing in there, and Ron sticks to the same story about filming a prank for our friend’s bachelor party, but they ask us to show them what we have. So Ron is scrambling to hide his professional camera in case they take it, and instead shows them the collapsible knife and says “I just have this.” Of course the guards say that it’s not allowed and confiscated it, but say they’ll let us go, so thankfully we got the shot. Ron was panicking so much about his camera, but you know he’s a great guy, and he takes the opportunities to wherever the work is being shot, whether that be in Japan, Hawaii, L.A., New York, and I learnt a lot from him.
PB: So you guys have worked together before?
SS: Oh yeah, it was really Ron that brought me back in the game. From 2004 to 2007 I stepped away as a performer, because I’d partnered up with this associate who wanted to produce movies. So that period was kind of like my producing school. That’s why I mentioned earlier how I know about producing, and it was were, you know, I learnt the lawyer talk and what specific areas of producing people are hired for, so some people deal with the set issues, others deal with the financing and so on. So I stepped away, and the only thing that was sustaining me at that point was the regular work I had from the Power Rangers appearances, and working as a choreographer on the shows around the States.
But it wasn’t enough, and my partner at the end of the day had a lack of, I’d call it attention, as she was spending half of her time in Hong Kong and half of her time in L.A., and as a result we never got anything done. So I bumped into Ron in the gym one day, and we hadn’t seen each other in forever, and we asked each other what we were doing. Ron told me he had some stuff coming up, so if I wanted to come play, I could join him. That was back in 2007, and that was a good day. It’s one of those scenarios that show you that, despite what you think you want to do, sometimes you’re meant to do something else, and you always find yourself being brought back to that path.
PB: Thanks for the great discussion, you have some fantastic stories, it was a pleasure.
SS: No, thank you, and look out for Buy Bust and Breach!
Ernie Reyes Jr. and Sison.
Thanks again to Sonny Sison and Paul Bramhall for getting this interview together.
There’s something about gambling that makes it irresistible to film makers. It might be the tension it generates or it could be the way that it tells us something about the characters and the way that they play. Plus, while there are plenty of Hollywood movies that feature gambling prominently it’s also a favourite plot device in Asian cinema – as this list of the best gambling movies demonstrates.
From Vegas to Macau (2014)
Also known as The Man from Macau, this 2014 film was a big hit at the box office earning nearly $96 million worldwide and spawning no less than two sequels. It stars Chow Yun Fat and Nicholas Tse in a battle to bring down a gambling mastermind Mr Ko. It’s a film full of thrilling gambling and martial arts action and in one of the most memorable scenes the character played by Chow Yun Fat, Ken, flicks cards with deadly accuracy like ninja stars eventually overcoming the evil enemy.
Skyfall (2012)
Though more Hollywood than Asian, the highest ever grossing James Bond movie, and Daniel Craig’s third outing in the role, sees a lot of the action taking place in Macau. Bond has travelled to Shanghai on the trail of a killer called Patrice. When he corners him at the top of one of city’s skyscrapers they fight, Patrice dies and Bond finds a chip that leads him to a Macau casino. When he travels there, however, he finds there’s little time for gambling as he is attacked by bodyguards. A fight ensues which Bond, naturally, wins and the bodyguards left at the mercy of the casino’s komodo dragons . . .
The Conman (1998)
The 1998 action comedy from director Wong Jing and starring Andy Lau, Athena Chu and Nick Cheung may well have taken its inspiration from the 1973 film The Sting starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Where The Sting involved a horse racing scam, in The Conman it’s football and, more specifically the World Cup final between Brazil and France. In the complex plot they film false footage of Brazil winning the game by 3 goals to 2 when, in fact, France have won 3-0. When this deception’s revealed it’s so shocking that the film’s villain, Macau Mon, has a heart attack and dies.
No Risk, No Gain (1990)
The second instalment of the Casino Raiders story sees characters played by Andy Lau and Alan Tam and directed by Jimmy Heung take part in a complex tale of double crossing and stolen identities. At the heart of the film is a tense tournament in a plush Macau casino in which Andy Lau’s character, Big Dee, defies all the odds to come out on top again, beating both the casino and his sworn enemies in the process.
Of course there are hundreds more films from Asian cinema that contain the heady combination of martial arts and gambling which offer all action, breathless fun. And the fact that so many of them go on to have three or more sequels surely proves just how popular they are.
So next time you want some no-holds barred fun that’s packed with thrills you’ll know just where to find it!
Along with Unleashed, Kiss of the Dragon is one of the most hardest-hitting of Jet’s English-language films. Gotta love that Fist of Fury-esque dojo fight, courtesy of Hong Kong’s legendary action choreographers, Corey Yuen (Raging Thunder).
Kiss of the Dragon also stars Tchéky Karyo (La Femme Nikita) and Cyril Raffaelli (District 13: Ultimatum).
When Toei’s Battles Without Honor and Humanity came to a close in 1974 with Final Episode, audiences still in love with the series demanded more, and the studio was more than happy to oblige. Over the next three years, Toei and Battles director Kinji Fukasaku gave fans the New Battles Without Honor and Humanity trilogy. I hadn’t realized this before, but the ‘New’ trilogy began the very same year that the original series ended – Final Episode hit theatres in June 1974, New Battles 1 released in the final week of December that same year. To be honest, despite being a big fan of the original series, I knew very little about the New Battles films beyond the fact that director Kinji Fukasaku returned with a cast of familiar actors. For a long time, the New Battles trilogy has been out of reach for those in need of an English-friendly release. But that’s now changed with the new release of the New Battles Without Honor and Humanity trilogy on DVD and Blu-ray in the US and UK. So, over the next couple weeks, I’m going to be making my way through the trilogy and giving opinions on the films as I go.
Unlike the intricately plotted original series, as I understand it, New Battles is a trilogy of standalone films. It seems only the first film in the trilogy, simply titled New Battles Without Honor and Humanity, is connected to the original series (more on that in a sec). The second film takes place in the 60s and the third film takes place in the 70s, each of them decades removed from the post-war chaos that made up the original series.
In New Battles Without Honor and Humanity, our Battles lead Bunta Sugawara is back, but he’s not playing the Hirono character. Here, Sugawara plays Miyoshi, an all-new character that’s stepping into the gangland warfare between yakuza in post-war Japan. Miyoshi is very similar to Hirono, except for the fact that he seems less cool under pressure. While Hirono goes unseen and unmentioned in New Battles, the film does nonetheless fit into the story sometime post-Final Episode… I think. Or it could be that this film exists in a weird sequel alternate universe of the original series, a place where Fukasaku remixes the greatest hits of his five film series. The film’s status as a sequel, a reboot, or a spin-off is difficult to pin down.
You’re going to see some familiar Battles characters in this film. Nobuo Kaneko is back as the red-nosed, cheapskate yakuza boss Yamamori. But things get a little hazy after that. Kunie Tanaka is back as Yamamori’s gutless right-hand-man, but he’s no longer called Makihara, this time he’s Gen. Aoki, the yakuza in colored sunglasses and highest ranking subordinate in Yamamori’s crime family is back, this time played by series newcomer Tomisaburo Wakayama (Lone Wolf & Cub). Thing is, Aoki was originally known as Sakai in Battles, and was played by Hiroki Matsukata (13 Assassins). In this film, Matsukata plays the enemy of Aoki, a new character named Seki, which despite sounding a bit like Sakai is nonetheless definitely not Sakai because now Sakai is Aoki. Got it? It’s… kind of odd.
New Battles Without Honor and Humanity takes ideas from the original five films, scrambles ‘em up, and pastes them together into a new story. Screenwriter Fumio Konami (Female Prisoner Scorpion #701) is a capable fill-in for writer Kazuo Kasahara, who left the series after Police Tactics, when he felt the series story was done (studio and director apparently disagreed with him). Though much of the content feels very familiar (I’ve grown so tired of Yamamori’s whimpering), for the most part it moves with enough energy and anger that I wasn’t too bothered by repeating some of the notes of earlier, better Battles films.
In the movie, Bunta Sugawara’s Miyoshi is fresh out of jail at a time when Yamamori’s crime family is beginning to split apart. Aoki is ambitious and looking to supplant his boss and he doesn’t even try to make his plans a secret. Upon release, Miyoshi is approached by both Aoki and Yamamori, each asking him to join their side and help eliminate the other. Miyoshi takes his time deciding. At some points, I thought he might be planning a Yojimbo maneuver of having the two sides operate against one another to his benefit. But Miyoshi, unlike Yojimbo or even Bunta Sugawara’s Hirono, isn’t a decisive man of action. He’d much rather sit back and watch both sides crumble instead of getting his hands bloody.
The supporting cast makes the movie. Though I question why they cast Wakayama in a part that was already filled by a capable actor, I don’t deny that Wakayama brings some nice intensity to the film. Kunie Tanaka has some good comedic moments as his cowardly gangster tries to act beyond his abilities. Jo Shishido (Branded to Kill) has a minor, frankly strange part as a yakuza dying of syphilis in the brain, whom Aoki unleashes on his enemies like a rabid dog. And Reiko Ike (Cops vs. Thugs) has a role as a Korean woman who falls in love with Miyoshi but then begins to think she’s just there to be an attractive human shield. The scenes between Bunta Sugawara and Reiko Ike are very good and one wishes that there had been more of them.
In the original series, director Kinji Fukasaku sought to remove the chivalrous armor the yakuza wore in cinema and reveal them as the greedy, backstabbing thugs the real-world knew them to be. In New Battles, Fukasaku is still pursuing that aim, but I feel he goes even further here by making the yakuza look like fools and then laughing at them. At one point, a gangster reaches into his pocket for a harmless item of importance, and every character within sight freaks out, screams, and falls over themselves thinking that he’s going for a gun. And in moments of action, the yakuza who pride themselves in being ultimate badasses instead look like frightened children playing war. That there’s still a good deal of bloodshed might cancel out some of the laughs in the audience, but I think the message is clear that Fukasaku views these guys as idiots who act tough but don’t know how to back it up.
The movie may underwhelm with a been there, done that sort of plot, but Fukasaku and his cast are pros at this sort of film by now, and even the more pedestrian moments of New Battles stick in the viewer’s head long after the film is over. New Battles Without Honor and Humanity is at its best when the shit hits the fan and the characters take to the streets in panic-stricken terror. As a yakuza film, I liked it. As a follow-up to the masterful Battles Without Honor and Humanity, I find it more difficult to figure out. Maybe I’m trying too hard, though. As suggested by Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane on the disc’s special features, it’s probably best not to view New Battles shortly after the original series, because then you get too hung up on trying to connect the dots (and, for my part, you get frustrated when the dots refuse to connect). The first New Battles is not everything I was hoping for after years of anticipation, but there are still two films left in the trilogy and I can’t wait to give them a look.
Based on a real warrior from Thailand’s Ayutthaya period, Broken Sword Hero (read our review) follows the heroics of legendary military general Thongdee (World-renowned Muay Thai kickboxer, Buakaw Banchamek). From the disparity as a young runaway to the toughest warrior among his people, a legendary fighter with unparalleled skills in Muay Thai and swordplay, fights for the freedom of his people.
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