Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Jackie Chan’s Skiptrace, an action comedy directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2).
For years, by-the-book Hong Kong detective Benny Chan (Chan) has tried to avenge his partner’s murder at the hands of a drug lord. When Benny learns that freewheeling American gambler Connor Watts (Johnny Knoxville) has the evidence he needs, he teams with Connor to get justice. Now all Benny and Connor have to do is survive the fight of their lives—and each other!
Director: Fletcher Poon Co-director: Alan Mak Cast: Huang Xuan, Duan Yi-Hong, Zu Feng, Lang Yue-Ting, David Wang Yao-Qing, Xing Jia-Dong, Wang Yan-Hui, Ding Yongdai, Xiao Cong, Li Xiaochuan Running Time: 122 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Extraordinary Mission suffered extraordinarily bad timing in terms of when it was released. Hitting screens within months of popular director Dante Lam’s big budget spectacular Operation Mekong, many (including myself) glanced over the awkwardly titled production, in part due to its marketing making it look like a poor man’s version of Lam’s latest. Both movies involve undercover agents working to take down a drug ring in the Golden Triangle, and for those that did check out the bombastic Operation Mekong, it left little appetite to return to the land of opium poppies quite so soon after the last visit.
It’s unfortunate, as the reality is that Extraordinary Mission delivers one of the most entertaining movies to come out of both China and Hong Kong in the last 10 years. Part thriller, part action movie, it becomes apparent when you take a look at the names behind the production as to where the quality comes from. Written by the Infernal Affairs trilogy scribes Felix Chong and Alan Mak, the latter of which also directs along with regular Benny Chan cinematographer Fletcher Poon, here making his directorial debut, the combination of the trio’s talents proves to be a winning one.
Huang Xuan, last seen in The Great Wall, plays a cop deep undercover as a drug trafficker in China. When a deal goes wrong, he ends up rescuing a member of the rival gang his crew were making a deal with, played by David Wang. Far from being grateful though, instead he’s thanked with a gun to the head, and taken to the gang’s headquarters deep in the jungles of Thailand. It’s there that he meets the facially scarred leader, played by Duan Yi-Hong (who’s character Eagle, ironically has more than a passing resemblance to Korean star Eagle Han Ying), and realizing it’s an opportunity to take down an even bigger fish, takes the risk of proposing a business partnership with Yi-Hong.
While the undercover plot has been done plenty of times before, and shades of Infernal Affairs sometimes resonate in the script, thanks to the gritty locales and solid performances here it still succeeds at feeling fresh. Xuan makes for an engaging lead, and has the same ability as Tony Leung Chiu-Wai to express a lot of emotion with just a facial expression. As he treads the fine line between bluffing his way into Yi-Hong’s trusted circle, and relaying the intel he’s gathering back to his superior (played by Zu Feng, last seen in League of the Gods), there’s hardly a scene that goes by in which the sense of danger from being exposed is absent. As a result there’s a constant feel of being on a knife edge throughout Extraordinary Mission, as it’s never made clear if Xuan’s identity is still safe, or if his cover has been blown and he’s simply being played with.
Despite the abundance of similar Chinese genre movies using Thailand as a setting in recent years, including SPL II: A Time for Consequences and The White Storm, the locales used in Extraordinary Mission set it apart in terms of the look and feel. This is most likely due to having an established cinematographer like Fletcher Poon in the director’s chair, as the lensing is top quality throughout. Whether it be capturing the grimy streets of the Chinese towns were the traffickers operate, the claustrophobic nature of the container yards the deals take place in, or the vastness of the drug den in Thailand, the camerawork does a fantastic job at conveying a sense of scale and depth.
At 2 hours, Extraordinary Mission covers a lot of ground, however it succeeds were Operation Mekong fails by making it about the characters rather than the circumstances. The trio of Xuang, Zu Feng, and Yi-Hong are all fleshed out with backstories, and the fact that the villain is given as much attention as the good guy provides a welcome depth, one which recent movies like Wolf Warrior 2 arguably missed the mark on. Yi-Hong, despite his status as the leader of a drug cartel, is given a relatable reason for having the motives that he does, while Xuang’s haunted by the memory of a mother that overdosed when he was a child.
For 90 minutes the plot keeps things sizzling along at a steady pace, and maintains a constant undercurrent of tension. The regular beatings, brief bursts of gunplay, and sudden outbreaks of violence ensure proceedings never get dull, with the style and tone at times almost feeling more like a Korean production than a Chinese one (I say that in the most complimentary was possible.) However Mak and Poon know when to turn up the heat, and events eventually culminate in an all-out finale that’s sustained for a lengthy 25 minutes.
While some may possibly find fault with the movies switch from a brooding undercover thriller to a Heat influenced urban warfare shoot ‘em up, the transition is handled well, and it feels like a natural payoff to what’s been building up. Just like in SPL II: A Time for Consequences, the way the lives of the main characters interconnect to each other is slightly contrived, however by the time such revelations are revealed, as a viewer you’re already too invested in them to dwell on it too much. When the execution is this good, such details are largely extraneous.
The action is handled by another regular Benny Chan collaborator in the form of Nicky Li. However unlike Chan, who tends to do little to reign in Li’s wire-work heavy action tendencies (or any other aspects of his movies), here Mak and Poon have kept the action directors wild side firmly in check. The finale sees a whole town under siege, and the principle behind the action seems to be one of minimum CGI and maximum realism. With CGI becoming so dominant in action movies of late, I’d almost convinced myself I can no longer tell the difference, that was until I saw the bombardment of practical effect muzzle flashes and vehicular destruction on display here.
If Wolf Warrior 2 was all about how bombastic the action scenes could be, then Extraordinary Mission is all about the realism. There’s plenty of neat little touches on display, such as when Xuang shoots the tyres of a stationery car, so that it becomes safer to take cover behind by being lower to the ground. Admittedly Li allows himself some extravagances once Xuang mounts a motorcycle, like jumping it from one building to another, and even dodging an RPG, but these elements entertain rather than detract. Poon’s cinematography compliments Li’s action well, here working in Thailand together for a 2nd time after The White Storm, with the camera capturing falls, head shots, and bullet trajectories in a way that perfectly understands the relationship between space and distance. In short, the finale is a joy to watch.
If any gripes could be picked with Extraordinary Mission, it’s that some of the relationships outside of the main characters could have been given a little more attention. The flashbacks to Xuang’s childhood with his mother are there in purely a perfunctory role, and a relationship is sometimes hinted at between Xuang and Yi-Hong’s daughter, played with a mostly silent intensity by Lang Yue-Ting, however ultimately amounts to nothing. These are minor gripes though in a movie that consistently entertains from start to finish. In an era when reviewing mainstream Chinese movies can often be a chore, Extraordinary Mission is the first time since Johnnie To’s Drug War when I’ve felt a sense of hope regarding things to come. The closing scene hints at a sequel, which I personally hope will be called Phenomenal Mission, but whatever title it ends up with, I’ll be first in line to check it out.
On December 26, 2017, Image Entertainment will be releasing the Blu-ray & DVD for Mayhem, a thriller that may serve as the perfect companion piece to the recent The Belko Experiment, a Battle Royale-esque tale where blood-soaked survival makes its way into an office environment.
Joe Lynch, the director of the underrated action flick, Everly, returns with the story of a virus that infects a corporate law office on the day attorney Derek Cho (The Walking Dead’s and Okja’sSteven Yeun) is fired after being framed by a co-worker. The infection is capable of making people act out their wildest impulses. Trapped in the quarantined office building, Derek is forced to savagely fight for not only his job, but also his life.
Mayhem also stars Samara Weaving, Dallas Roberts, Claire Dellamar, Kerry Fox, Caroline Chikezie and Steven Brand.
Last year, Amazon’s original pilot for Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Jean Claude Van Johnson, an action/comedy that’s along the lines of Van Damme’s semi-reality themed JCVD(2008), was picked up as a full season by Amazon. Now, a newly released Full Trailer for its continuation has made its way online.
JCVD (Kill ’em All) is a global martial arts and film sensation…and, operating under the simple alias of ‘Johnson,” the most dangerous undercover operative in the world. Unhappily retired, he’s now whiling away his days in superficial Hollywood… until a chance encounter with a lost love lures him back into the game, eventually forcing him to confront the greatest enemy he’s ever faced: a Bulgarian drug cartel. Just kidding it’s himself.
Jean-Claude Van Johnson also stars Kat Foster (Your Family or Mine), Moises Arias (The Middle), and Phylicia Rashad (Creed).
This isn’t the first time Van Damme is visiting television and comedy. In 2011 came Jean-Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors, a 2011 fly on the wall-style reality show that aired on United Kingdom’s ITV4. In 2013, the martial arts star successfully showcased his comedy chops in Welcome to the Jungle.
Don’t miss the Trailer for Jean Claude Van Johnson below. The series premieres December 15th on Amazon Prime.
Updates: Unfortunately, Jean-Claude Van Johnson has been cancelled only a month after the satire was released (via Deadline).
The Wailing (read our review) involves a local cop investigating a series of violent unexplained murders. When his own daughter falls ill and shows signs of possession, a shaman is called in to assist with the investigation.
Director: Gregory Hatanaka Cast: Mathew Karedas, Mark Frazer, Bai Ling, Kayden Kross, Tommy Wiseau, Janis Farley, Cranston Komuro, Laurene Landon, Mel Novak, Gerald Okamura, Kristine DeBell, Melissa Moore, Joe Estevez, Lexi Belle, Melissa Moore, Nicole Bailey, Mindy Robinson, Thomas J. Churchill Running Time: 93 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The expression “so bad it’s good” gets thrown around a lot more than it deserves when it comes to cinema. In truth, many of the productions I’ve seen it applied to were just a whole lot of bad, regardless of how outlandish their premise or awful the acting. The reality is, there are very few movies able to reach that elevated level of being so impossibly bad, they become a work of accidental comedic genius. It takes a certain type of alchemy that can never be intentionally manufactured, and hence the true examples of “so bad it’s good” movies are few and far between. Iranian director Amir Shervan’s 1991 production Samurai Cop is one such example, an almost unfathomable mix of spiteful acting, bad wigs, one take only action scenes, and dialogue that has to be heard to be believed. In short, it’s so bad it’s good.
Its status as a revered work of cult cinema was further cemented by the fact many considered the productions star, Matt Hannon, to be dead. So it was a surprise to everyone (well, at least fans of the movie) when, in 2013, Hannon appeared on YouTube (going by the name Mathew Karedas) in a video explaining that he was very much alive and well. For fans of cult cinema, it was the equivalent of the second coming. A year later distributor Cinema Epoch had given Samurai Cop the treatment it arguably didn’t deserve (but we were nonetheless thankful for), releasing it on Blu-ray, and bringing the movie to the attention of a whole new audience – myself included. What wasn’t expected though, was for Cinema Epoch founder, Gregory Hatanaka, to announce plans to make a sequel to Samurai Cop, almost 25 years after the originals release.
Hatanaka is a director himself, with a handful of movies with titles like Mad Cowgirl and Violent Blue to his name, and he’d be stepping into Shervan’s shoes for the sequel. Not only did he secure a whole host of Samurai Cop’s original cast to return for the sequel, but he also roped in a cast of B-movie names that would make even Lloyd Kaufman jealous. Cue two successful crowdfunding campaigns later, and Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance was born. The question is of course, how do you intentionally make a bad movie? It’s not an easy one to answer, and the very point of a sequel existing to such a unique piece of celluloid obscurity is one that doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny.
The cast list of Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance reads like an attempt to provide an answer. Hatanaka went intentionally out of his way to fill it with a who’s who of bad cinema – we get Tommy Wiseau from The Room as a screaming man-child, Bai Ling being, well, Bai Ling, Mel Novak who looks like he’s already half embalmed, and Joe Estevez as the constantly infuriated police captain. Throw in porn stars Lexi Belle, Kayden Kross, and Zoey Monroe (here credited as Nicole Bailey – not fooling anyone), and the approach seems to be one of throw everyone onscreen together, and wait for the magic to happen.
As expected, that magic fails to show itself. Instead, we get a sequel which involves a bunch of bad actors frequently yelling over each other, and hamming up their already bad acting credentials (something that’s clear from the BTS clips was encouraged by Hatanaka) like there’s no tomorrow. Everyone is aware of what they’re doing, seemingly of the belief that the more OTT they go, the more cult status is a given. However it’s that exact level of self-awareness that makes Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance such a chore, and often embarrassing, spectacle to watch. The amateur moments from the original, which saw Mark Frazer delivering reaction shots directly to camera, are now done intentionally, and more than once. Unless you’re George Lazenby (who was originally part of the cast, but had to drop out due to illness – a blessing in disguise), don’t try that stuff.
Even more ridiculous is the fact that the sequel delivers an inexplicably confusing plot, one which even now I’m not entirely sure what was going on (and I have no intention of re-watching it to clarify). From what I could make out, it amounts to two rival yakuza gangs battling for territory, but regardless of the intricacies, so much time is spent on it that, aside from a brief pre-credits sequence, Karedas himself doesn’t even show up until the 20 minute mark. Considering his constantly befuddled and (in his own words) disgusted performance is what makes Samurai Cop such a joy to watch, that’s a long time to make the audience wait. Someone needs to remind Hatanaka that he’s not making a Superman or Batman movie here.
It’s ironic then, that it’s the performance of Karedas that seems most out of place in Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance. Think about it, the guy hasn’t acted since the original, he innocently posts a YouTube clip to clarify he’s still alive, and next thing you know he’s roped into making a sequel to a movie he’s embarrassed of starring in from almost 25 years ago. Suddenly finding yourself in the starring role of a production such as this one must have been a bewildering experience, and there are various moments when it visibly shows on his expression (a sign that his acting obviously hasn’t improved in the time passed). Whether it be getting it on with an adult movie star, partaking in a fight in front of the worse green screen ever witnessed, or riffing on certain lines from the original, he frequently feels like a lost tourist in his own movie.
Instead it’s Mark Frazer, as the Samurai Cop’s faithful partner, that seems to be having the best time out of everyone. He clocks a significant amount of screen-time, and can’t quite seem to believe he’s managed to appear in a movie again after nearly a quarter of a century off the radar. If only the good time he’s having could be transferred to the audience. Likewise for Lexi Belle, who happily rampages around with a machine gun, and even indulges in a naked katana duel, which invokes the spirit of Reiko Ike for all the right reasons. I’d make a joke about her handling a different type of sword than she’s used to, but that would be in bad taste. As for Tommy Wiseau though, the less said about the self-styled actor/writer/director the better. Despite only appearing in a handful of scenes, his completely over the top performance as an incomprehensible screaming man child is painful to watch, even more so to listen to.
The smattering of action throughout is also guilty of utilizing some of the most low budget CGI blood in recent memory. It’s the type of CGI blood that makes the Z-grade Japanese splatter flicks from recent years look like they’ve been created by Industrial Light & Magic. This is supposed to be low budget fun, and I’d rather have seen someone squeezing a bottle of ketchup than the lame effects that have ended up onscreen. It’s decisions like this that really highlight the fact that nobody involved truly understands the charm of Samurai Cop, at least not those who are directly responsible for this sequels creation. Nobody is watching Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance to see a midriff baring Japanese assassin stand in front of the camera while CGI blood spurts from a slash in her chest.
Considering how much of an ill-advised idea making a sequel to a movie like Samurai Cop was from the very beginning, it was the fact it still got made that saw me drawn to checking it out, in part due to sheer morbid curiosity. Surely if it managed to get green lit, then the filmmakers must have had something up their sleeve that none of us could have expected. This sadly isn’t the case, and Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance is just as bad and misguided as you expect it to be, maybe even a little more.
Director: Wong Jing Co-director: Jason Kwan Cast: Donnie Yen Ji-Dan, Andy Lau Tak-Wah, Kent Cheng, Phillip Keung, Wilfred Lau, Yu Kang, Kent Tong, Michelle Hu, Xu Dong-Dong, Felix Wong, Bryan Larkin, Philip Ng, Jonathan Lee, Lawrence Chou, Wang Qian-Yu, Kenneth Tsang, Chan Wai-Man, Terence Yin Chi Wai, Chun Wong Running Time: 112 min.
By Martin Sandison
By the age of 14 my appetite for martial arts movies was voracious, so every visit to the local video shop resulted in a new find. One day I came across the movie In the Line of Duty (aka In the Line of Duty 4: Key Witness). This was my first exposure to the legend that is Donnie Yen. From this point on, I was hooked.
Yen’s raw physical ability in many different styles of martial arts, coupled with his head for choreography, resulted in some of the all time classics. Some of my favourites are the Ip Man Trilogy, Once Upon a Time in China 2, Iron Monkey, Tiger Cage 2, SPL and Flashpoint. Now with the success of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the man can do as he pleases, and many fans were pleased to see his return to Hong Kong cinema with a new interpretation of the legendary Hong Kong gangster Crippled Ho in Chasing the Dragon. So, does the movie live up to its first class billing? The answer is a mixed bag.
The movie begins with the struggling Crippled Ho and his friends arriving in Hong Kong in the early 60’s from Mainland China. When a mass brawl breaks out between gangs, Ho proves his fighting skills and is taken under the wing of Lee Rock (Andy Lau, The Great Wall), a corrupt policeman. Soon, Ho rises through the ranks to become a powerful drug overlord, making many enemies, not least a British policeman called Hunter (Bryan Larkin, Outpost 3). This sets in motion a plot full of twists, turns, action and melodrama.
I’ve followed director Wong Jing’s career for a long time, and obviously he is known for low brow cinema. However, despite absolute misfires like From Vegas to Macau 3, recently he has proved his worth as a director with The Last Tycoon – to my mind this is the best-directed film from Wong I have ever seen. In that vein, the first half of Chasing the Dragon is superbly immersive, with a grimy, but stylish aesthetic. One long take shot in a reconstruction of the Kowloon Walled City – set to the classic funk song The Ghetto, as Ho walks around – is the highlight of the movie. Ho’s rise is depicted with a lot of narrative and visual panache, and Yen brings a swaggering bravado, yet humanistic, quality to the role.
Andy Lau reprises his role as Lee Rock (he starred in a pair of movies as the character in the early 90’s) and reinvents him as a suave, sophisticated, multi-layered cop. It’s a typical Lau performance that brings pathos and charisma to the role, and the scenes between him and Yen are electrifying. Kent Cheng has a cameo part as a go-between cop, looking no different from his heyday in films such as Jackie Chan’s Crime Story. Unfortunately, Bryan Larkin (despite coming from East Kilbride in Scotland, just around the corner from where I type) as Hunter, the antagonist, is only decent at best, and suffers from an underwritten character, but he succeeds in conveying the nasty side of his character well. A highlight for me was seeing the legendary Chan Wai Man (The Club) in a cameo role – I wish he was in the movie more.
A problem, come the second half of the movie, is that peripheral characters who have been given no screen time or dialogue to speak of, are killed off. These scenes are typically melodramatic and sentimental, which in the golden age was part of the charm, but now they fail to convince. A lot has changed in Hong Kong cinema since then, and the time when hundreds of movies were released per year with low budgets now translate to bigger budgets and less films being made. These aspects, now smack of bad writing, hint that there may be a lot of stuff cut out. I would hope there is a director’s or extended cut, and I could reappraise the film.
Those seeking to see Yen in martial arts action mode will be disappointed, with only a few fights taking place, which are choreographed as brawls. Of course this fits in with the subject matter and style of the film, so there should be no complaining. However, it is disappointing to see Yen take on Phillip Ng (Birth of the Dragon) in a fight that lasts less than a minute and features no martial arts. A mid-film chase/gunplay scene is the action highlight, with Lau negotiating the Kowloon Walled City with gangsters on his tail and Yen coming to his rescue. The tension, release and seamless editing proves Wong still has what it takes when it comes to fashioning a good action scene. Gunplay on the whole is handled well, despite some dodgy CGI – I just wish there was more of it. Some of the violence on display is pretty extreme, with a highlight being Yen cutting off the ear of a rival gansgter and nonchalantly chucking it away.
A lot has been made of Chasing the Dragon getting passed the Chinese censors by painting the British as the villains of the piece. Personally, being British, I didn’t find this aspect particularly stuck in my craw. My knowledge of the time and subject matter in Hong Kong isn’t great, and it’s to the film’s credit that now I want to find out more about it. Actually. I have still yet to see Poon Man Kit’s To Be Number One, the 90’s movie made about Crippled Ho which won the Hong Kong Film Award for best picture in 1992, so I can’t compare the two.
Chasing the Dragon succeeds for the most part, it’s just a shame the second half does not match up to the first.
Director: Gordon Chan Cast: Vincent Chiu, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Yasuaki Kurata, Regina Wan, Keisuke Koide, Wang Ban, Wu Yue, Jiang Luxia, Liu Junxiao, Micheal Tong Running Time: 90 min.
By Kelly Warner
Ming soldiers advance on a fortified gate. Blood from a previous battle runs like a stream over the mud. Thousands of Japanese pirates wait on the other side of the gate, their latest attempt at a land grab to expand the reach of the Japanese empire. Sammo Hung’s General Yu leads China’s Ming soldiers on the offensive; his attacks are by the book, his timing predictable. General Yu is an old man fighting old-fashioned battles against an enemy that’s ready for the new world. Defeated once again, General Yu retreats back through the mud and the blood to find that his replacement is waiting back at camp.
Enter Vincent Zhao’s General Qi, war tactician and future national hero to China. He’s young, even-tempered, and dangerously smart. Qi takes one look at the pirate’s gate and breaches the Japanese defenses on the first go. Yu soon joins Qi and together they get the pirates on the run. The battle is over but the threat remains, and it’s clear that Qi, not Yu, should be the one chosen to chase the pirates back to Japan.
It’s an exciting first act full of action, war tactics, and some unexpected characters. The film sets a realistic tone with graphic violence and an emphasis on strategy. But then the first act ends, General Qi is tasked with training an army for the express purpose of defeating pirates, and the film gets lost in a sagging middle section with no surprises for almost a hour straight. The all too common appeals to patriotism also repeatedly rear their head during this section. It’s not offensively bad but you do notice it–more on the level of Michael Bay than The Founding of a Republic. The extended moment when family members see their men off to war plays a bit like an ad for joining the military.
General Qi may be a national hero in China, and as such Chinese audiences may not demand much character development. However, as someone unfamiliar with and with no attachment to Qi’s accomplishments, I feel the film never makes him into an interesting character. I don’t know his story well enough to accuse the film of hero worship but all the signs are there. Qi is a brilliant general, Vincent Zhao’s (True Legend) martial arts skills make him a formidable fighter, and he has just enough issues with his wife to establish that he’s married to a woman as tough as he is. The shortcomings in writing Qi might not have been so noticeable if the second act of the film wasn’t such a slog – and if the second act wasn’t carried almost expressly by Qi, making us miss the other, more interesting characters we were introduced to in the first act.
Sammo Hung (The Bodyguard) makes a strong impression in a dramatic role as the unimaginative, but no less dedicated, General Yu. Sadly, he exits the film early. The best performance comes from Yusuaki Kurata (Fist of Legend). The veteran actor plays the leader of the Japanese pirates as a student of war and the perfect nemesis to General Qi. Unlike many Chinese historical dramas, the Japanese are not depicted as outrageously evil men. They’re the bad guys, no doubt, but an attempt to give them an honest portrayal goes a long way to enhancing the dramatic tension.
After a dull middle, things pick up again in the action heavy finale. The fights, both big and small, are well filmed and expertly played. There is a moment—what I would call a medieval jet ski action sequence—where the attention to realism falls away. But the moment passes and we’re treated to a thrilling final act between Qi’s men and the last of the pirates.
God of War is not everything I could’ve hoped for from a Gordon Chan historical epic with this kind of cast. But it’s definitely not bad. A sizeable step above many other similar films to come out of China recently. Zhao is great in the action scenes, Kurata is excellent as the villain, and the attention to strategy in the battles makes for a welcome change. If not for the sagging middle, God of War could’ve been great. As is, there’s still enough recommend it to curious viewers.
Lionsgate presents the DVD for Cops and Robbers, an upcoming actioner directed by Windhauser (Dead Trigger).
Bullets fly and rage-explodes as Michael Jai White (Skin Trade) and UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (The A-Team) go head to head. A hostage negotiator (White) struggles to end a tense standoff with Jesse, a bank robber (Jackson). As the two men learn each other’s identity, they realize they have a shared past… Also starring Tom Berenger (Sniper) and Victoria Pratt (Heartland).
Director: Martin Campbell Cast: Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Michael McElhatton, Charlie Murphy, Liu Tao, Orla Brady, Katie Leung, Manolo Cardona, Simon Kunz, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Roberta Taylor, Dermot Crowley, Niall McNamee Running Time: 113 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The last time we saw Jackie Chan in London was 14 years ago, hanging from the clock face of Big Ben with Owen Wilson in Shanghai Knights. In 2017, he’s back in the British capital, but in a decidedly different kind of movie. While it may be a long time since his last visit to British shores, it certainly hasn’t been a long time since he appeared on the big screen. The Foreigner marks the 3rd time for the 63 year old star to headline a movie in the last 12 months, following on from Railroad Tigers and Kung Fu Yoga, with a 4th in the form of Bleeding Steel just on the horizon. Far from slowing down, if anything the man who’s broke almost every bone in his body seems to be making more movies than ever, with no sign of quality control in sight.
Out of all his recent productions though, it’s The Foreigner that warrants the most anticipation. A co-production between China and the UK, the movie is based on a novel titled The Chinaman by Stephen Leather (which, for full disclosure, I haven’t read) and is directed by Martin Campbell. While in today’s superhero dominated climate, Campbell may be remembered as the guy that helmed the disastrous 2011 version of Green Lantern (and indeed The Foreigner is his first theatrically released movie since then), to view his full filmography is to understand that his venture into the DC universe was just a small blip in an impressive career. Campbell was also the guy that essentially revived the 007 franchise twice – first with Goldeneye in 1995, and then again with Casino Royale in 2006. He’s a director that knows how to deliver if given the right material.
The Foreigner also provides Campbell a reunion with his Goldeneye leading man, Pierce Brosnan. The former 007 is given a chance to return to his Irish roots in Campbell’s latest, as a former IRA member turned peace keeping politician in Belfast. Brosnan’s character is a man under fire, to put it lightly. After a bombing in London by a rogue IRA cell leaves Chan’s daughter dead (a rather thankless role played by Harry Potter’s Katie Leung), he soon finds himself constantly harassed by the ‘Chinaman’ demanding to know the names of the bombers. But Chan isn’t his only problem – his headstrong wife may be on to the affair he’s having, and indeed may have some secrets of her own, there may also be double crossings afoot in his own close circle of former associates, and all the while he’s being leaned on heavily by the British government to aid their investigation.
As a result of this, Chan’s grieving father sometimes feels sidelined by the story, and indeed there are stretches in which he doesn’t appear at all. But somehow Campbell makes it work, with Chan’s character an intriguing wild card to Brosnan’s political wheeling and dealing. Chan is equally as conflicted as Brosnan, and his pursuit of vengeance at times makes him as much of a terrorist as those who planted the bomb in the first place. When he first confronts Brosnan in person, his stubborn refusal to accept that Brosnan doesn’t know who planted the bomb (he really doesn’t) and is unable to help, leads to a moment in which he calmly states “You’ll soon change your mind.” Not only is it possibly the most non-Jackie Chan moment to ever grace the screen, the fact that he then goes on to plant a homemade bomb in the bathroom of Brosnan’s office is basically a terrorist act in itself. This is a movie where Chan means business, serious business.
The above description amounts to a movie which sees two parallel plot lines on a crash course with each other. One has Chan as a man who has just lost his only surviving family member, having suffered a life of brutal hardships, pushed over the limit to a point where he decides to take the law into his own hands. The second is about Brosnan the ex-IRA man turned politician, who is juggling so many flammable objects at once, that it only feels like a matter of time before one of them sets him on fire. The part that keeps us gripped is sticking around to see which one it’s going to be.
These two parallel storylines are also what provides The Foreigner’s ‘exclamation marks’ if you will. For Bronsan, these manifest in a career best performance. The constant taunts from both former associates, and his own wife, of how he’s lost the edge that he had when he was still part of the IRA, result in some genuinely seething moments of anger that drip off the screen. When these scenes come, Brosnan comes across like a ticking time bomb of violence, and using only dialogue there’s a palpable sense of danger behind the words. For Chan, these moments come in a trio of brief but suitably impact heavy action scenes.
It needs to be said that Chan is a revelation here. We know what to expect from his choreography by now, and in that regard you won’t see anything new in The Foreigner, but under the guidance of a director like Campbell, he’s tweaked his action aesthetic to fit into a setting that’s both gritty and violent. For fans checking in for his physical performance, as mentioned he gets a trio of brief scuffles – two are one-vs-four, and the other is a one-on-one (note it’s not the finale). Don’t expect to see the Chan from 30 years ago, he’s not playing that type of character, nor is he at the age where he should be playing that type of character (Stanley Tong, I hope you’re reading). But the good news is that each one has Chan’s stamp all over them, proving that yes, this is someone that understands how to adapt action choreography to both their age and the genre. Amazingly, the physical dexterity is still there in his 60’s, with no (obvious) wires in sight, so sit back and enjoy.
However this is a movie in which Chan is not just called in to provide comedic kung fu beats or be a wisecracking sidekick. His character is intrinsic to the story, and so needs to be at least on par with Brosnan. Despite having less screen-time, thankfully he delivers in every aspect. For those who have been waiting to see Chan in a serious role since 2009’s Shinjuku Incident (I’m going to be controversial and not count Police Story 2013), then this is the movie that grants your wish. Admittedly it’s possible to nit-pick, as you could easily say the frail figure that he cuts at the beginning of the movie doesn’t match his sudden butt kicking skills when they’re required, but even this is explained in a backstory (if you’ve seen Taken or The Man from Nowhere, you know the deal).
Perhaps the element I most enjoyed in The Foreigner was seeing it turn into a kind of First Blood in British Woodland, as Chan takes to camping out in his foliage covered van, close to Bronsan’s countryside property. It’s safe to say no one ever expected to see a Jackie Chan movie in which he plays a kind of Rambo on the trail of an Irish terrorist, but the fact is that these sequences are exceptionally well done. Broadly speaking this notion applies to the movie as a whole, with the action sequences displaying a refreshing lack of CGI. Both of the significant explosions in the movie (one of which takes places on a London bus, which notably residents of London thought was a genuine terror attack during filming) are done for real, and it shows in the well placed aftermath shots that simply can’t be re-created with CGI.
Combined with the pulsating synthesiser score and perfectly paced direction, The Foreigner is a winning combination for everyone involved – especially Martin Campbell, Pierce Brosnan, and Jackie Chan. Sure, there may be stretches that consist purely of Brosnan drinking whiskey and starting every line with “Jesus Christ!”, but somehow it all moulds together to provide a satisfying whole. I have no doubt there’ll be a demographic out there who will argue Chan’s screen time wasn’t enough, and who knows, they may be right. However as an action thriller, it can’t be denied that The Foreigner delivers. Watching the movie as a Jackie Chan fan myself, I’ll simply say that the reason why it works so well is because it’s not a Jackie Chan movie, but rather, it’s a Martin Campbell movie with Jackie Chan in it. Welcome back.
In The Raid, an elite swat team moves in to take down the notorious drug lord that runs a drug-gang’s safe house, which is the home to some of the most terrifying and ruthless fighters in the city; In The Raid 2, the cop from the first film goes undercover to take down a network of powerful organized crime syndicates.
Director: Sean Ellis
Cast: Jake Macapagal, Althea Vega, John Arcilla, Erin Panlilio, Iasha Aceio, Moises Mag Isa, Angelina Kanapi, JM Rodriguez, Ana Abad Santos, Reuben Uy
Running Time: 114 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The well-worn tale of naïve country folk heading to the big city for brighter prospects is one that’s been used in cinema for almost as long as the medium has been around. It’s particularly prevalent in Asian cinema, from Chen Kuan Tai in Boxer from Shantung, through to Iko Uwais in Merantau, such tropes have provided the perfect framework to craft countless gritty action movies. The Philippines though has taken a more drama-centric approach, dating back to the likes of Lino Brocka’s 1975 masterpiece Manila in the Claws of Light (recently given the 4k treatment thanks to Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project), and now given its most recent update in the form of Metro Manila.
What’s perhaps most interesting about Metro Manila, is that it is in-fact a co-production between the UK and the Philippines. Much like the previously mentioned Indonesian movie Merantau was directed by British filmmaker Gareth Evans, so Metro Manila also has a Brit as the helm in the form of Sean Ellis. The director of such dramas as Cashback and The Broken, Ellis came up with the idea for Metro Manila while he was on a visit to the Philippines, and happened to witness an argument between two guards of an armoured truck. Upon his return to the UK, he put together a 20 page treatment for a story, and shortly after began work on the screenplay itself with U.S. based screenwriter Frank E. Flowers.
The catch for Ellis of course, was that having gotten the idea for the story while he was in Manila, he also wanted to film it there. It was an ambitious task, considering not only is it all but impossible to get international backing for a Tagalog language production, but also that neither Ellis nor Flowers knew the language. Regardless of such challenges though, they ploughed ahead, ultimately overcoming them by writing the script in English, and asking the Filipino actors to translate their own lines. The decision was also made to film on the streets of Manila guerrilla style, and it’s one which arguably benefits the look and feel of Metro Manila more than if it had a big budget behind it, as the street level filming amongst the crowded Manila alleys lends it an almost documentary like feel.
The story focuses on a struggling married couple and their two children. The father, played by Jake Macapagal (Showdown in Manila), was recently laid off from an out-of-business silk factory, and is trying to make ends meet as a rice farmer. However with a poor harvest, almost no money to their name, and a young daughter with a toothache, they make the decision to move to Manila, where he believes it’ll be possible to find work. Once there, they soon find themselves swindled out of the little money they have by the predatory conmen populating the cities densely packed urban sprawl, and end up living destitute in the largest slum area of Tondo (the area that parts of the Korean movie Master were also set in). Things eventually start to look up when Macapagal secures a job as a guard at an armoured truck company, and is taken under the wing of a more experienced guard played by John Arcilla (The Bourne Legacy). However it’s soon revealed that Arcilla is not all that he seems to be.
While on paper Metro Manila may sell itself as a taut crime thriller, in reality it’s far from it, with the eventual heist element of the plot only being revealed a whole 80 minutes in. Instead, Ellis has crafted a superior piece of human drama that reflects both the harsh realities of life, and more significantly how far someone is willing to go to provide for their family. Macapagal, along with his characters wife and daughter, played by Althea Vega and Erin Panlilio respectively, have fantastic chemistry together, and are almost too believable as a family unit that suffer misfortune after misfortune. There’s a heart wrenching sequence mid-way through, which has a scene of Macapagal obliged to join Arcilla and his colleagues for a night of drinking in a local bar, juxtaposed with a scene of Vega miserably working in a go-go bar and being harassed by the foreign clientele. It represents a pivotal moment of reaching rock bottom, and the decisions taken when you have nothing left to lose.
Arcilla’s performance is a standout, and even though not he’s not a part of the family unit of which the plot keeps its focus on, he’s a pivotal character in the events that shape Metro Manila into the movie that it is. There’s an underlying tension to his loud and almost over-friendly bravado with Macapagal that’s difficult to put your finger on, and the more he begins to show his ambitions, the more he begins to come across as a tightly wound coil that Macapagal is directly in the crossfire of. It’s darkly enthralling to watch, as Ellis keeps his cards close to his chest for the longest time, allowing seemingly random and meaningless events to unfold onscreen in a slice-of-life type manner, until the moment comes when everything falls into place, and true intentions are revealed.
However even then, that’s not to say that Arcilla is the villain of the piece. Ellis may have framed his tale in a way that would have audiences assume there is a bad guy behind everything, but once Metro Manila gets under your skin, you realise that it’s not about good guys or bad guys. Rather, it’s about the harshness of a city where many of its residents have to get by on less than $10 a day, and the inevitable follies of human nature once presented with a way to get out of it. There are no epiphanies to be found here, were a character suddenly realises that they could get rich if they were to go down a certain path, but instead we see the fleeting moments of opportunity seized out of desperation more than anything else, and the consequences that follow.
Perhaps the most significant character in Metro Manila though, is the bustling metropolis that is Manila itself. Ellis captures it with an unflinching eye, from the slums of Tondo, with its barren huts nailed together from whatever sheets of plywood can be found, to the contemporary apartments of uptown, with their modern amenities and 24 hour security. The division between the rich and the poor is observed through the eyes of Macapagal and Arcilla, on the road in their armoured truck, and is never inherently commented upon, Ellis seemingly happy to allow the images to simply speak for themselves. Could the story have been transposed to any other city in the world with a similar economy? Probably, but it definitely wouldn’t be the same movie that we have here.
One notable criticism that has been levelled at Metro Manila by some Filipino viewers, is that there are pieces of dialogue that don’t sound natural being spoken in Tagalog. This is most certainly due to the actors themselves translating the English lines into Tagalog, and was an issue that both Macapagal and Arcilla have openly stated was sometimes a challenge. However much like many Mandarin speakers heavily criticised Daniel Wu’s line delivery in One Night in Mongkok, and many picked on Shu Qi’s Cantonese in her early Hong Kong movies, for a non-native speaking audience, this is largely a non-issue. For Metro Manila in particular, the subtitles simply follow the English script, however it is a relevant criticism for those that can watch it in its native language of Tagalog.
As a social drama that gradually develops into a slow burning thriller, there aren’t many other movies out there, at least in Asia, which can be easily compared to Metro Manila. In the local Philippines film industry itself, there’s sadly nothing that comes close. It’s a unique movie, and even allowed for the UK to provide an entry into the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 86th Academy Awards, probably the first and last time such an entry will be possible. While Ellis wisely chooses to not go the route of providing a blatantly happy ending, there is closure in the finale moments of Metro Manila, that allow for hope to subtly shine through. At one point Vega solemnly states to Macapagal, “It was a big mistake to come to Manila.” It’s a difficult line to disagree with, but for those who have yet to see Metro Manila, I guarantee you certainly won’t consider it a mistake to check it out.
Well, if you are among those cinephiles who possess an intense desire to watch the movies which are full of action instead of the romantic or the dramatic ones then you definitely love the whole concept of ‘adrenaline rush’. Right?
Yes! It might be true that for others ‘action’ means only ‘violence’. But, you know it very well that it is much more than that, turning the fightings and punchings into something which is ‘full of art’ and extremely ‘spectacular’!
Moreover, now you can avail the offers on movie DVDs very frequently which make the whole episode of watching action movies a frugal one. So, what are you waiting for? Grab a lucrative deal, buy your favorite movie DVDs at an affordable rate and start watching those films for how much ever times you want!!
But, wait! Before you sit tight with your popcorn, just make sure which ones to watch for sure? Want to know about the same? Well, here I am with an ultimate rundown of the incredible action movies that you shouldn’t miss watching!!
Have a look!
1. Enter the Dragon
Like martial arts? Then, I hope you have already watched Bruce Lee’s eminent masterpiece ‘Enter the Dragon’. Right? But, if you haven’t done the same till now then go for it soon. This movie just kicked off the jones for Kung-fu from the westernized society.
Lee played the role of Shaolin martial artist who works undercover for British intelligence with the task of bringing down the villainous Shih Kien. This movie is a great example of Lee’s exceptional acting ability and charisma!!
2. Inception
Haven’t you watched Inception yet? Then, do the same without any ado!! Moreover, don’t forget to grab an exciting coupon from a website like CouponsMonk to buy the DVDs while saving your pocket hugely. It is one of the finest movies of Christopher Nolan. The notable role of Tom Hardy in this film, exhilarating set-pieces like the snow-sequences, shifting cityscapes etc. altogether make this film just out of the world.
3. Mad Max 2
Mad Max is a yet another superb film that showcased a thrilling chapter of action and energy!! The plot of the film is quite simple but it is one of the most fabulous action films ever. In this film, you can see Mel Gibson avenging the death of his wife and young son in the hands of a gang leader. And, thereafter, driving the post-apocalyptic highways of the Australian outback while fending off the attacks from nomadic tribes.
4. Safety Last
Of course, during that silent era, almost all the stars starting from Mack Sennet to Charlie Chaplin performed their stunts in an outstanding way. But, no doubt, Harold Lloyd snatched the crown with his marvelous scene where he hangs off a clock face at the climax to the Safety Last movie. Moreover, other scenes of the film which are massively vigorous and action-packed in nature made this movie absolutely one of its kind.
Lastly, the one last suggestion from my end is that watch these movies as soon as possible and I am sure you will end up having some of the most memorable and mind-blowing experiences of your lifetime.
AKA: Fists, Kicks and the Evils Director: To Lo Po Cast: Bruce Leung Siu Lung, Philip Ko Fei, Bolo Yeung Tze, Chiang Cheng, Ku Feng, Lau Hok Nin, Ma Chao, Chan Lau, Lin Ke Ming, Kei Ho Chiu, Ricky Wong Running Time: 84 min.
By Matthew Le-feuvre
In that rare and exclusive echelon of celebrated kicking tacticians, Leung Siu Liang – otherwise known in international circles as Bruce Leung – seemed to be throughout his career designated at the lower end of the martial arts acting fraternity, despite (or in spite of) spearheading or supporting a myriad of fight legends, notably: Jackie Chan (Magnificent Bodyguards); Angela Mao Ying (Broken Oath); Ho Tung Tao (Bruce vs. Iron Finger) to the more recent Stephen Chow film (Kung Fu Hustle). Observedly, his only problem – per se in securing instant recognition – was a diminutive stature.
Moreover Leung was neither physically blessed with a standard “action man” persona, nor was he photogenic in a way many of his contemporaries were, at least from a matinee idol perspective. What Leung had to offer was an affable disposition bordering on the goofy; an everyman in equal semblance of an outsider caught between political subversion and paternal revolt until conditions intercede the presence of a wise and patient master. These were commonplace building blocks to the majority of Hong Kong/Taiwanese screenplays: ergo the maturity of the underdog who breaks the shackles of oppression by (A): resisting exoteric influences to (B): learning an arcane combative doctrine.
Leung’s adequate career more or less treaded a conventional path. Born in 1948 and raised in Hong Kong, he learned the rudiments of kung fu from his father, a well respected Canton Opera Sifu, prior to augmenting his physical perspicuity in both the Wing Chun and Goju Rye systems. As a veteran of 75 films (to his credit), Leung originally acquiesced to a typical contract with the Shaw Brothers scraping a meagre, often toilsome living as an expendable extra/stuntman: look carefully, and he can be glimpsed assailing the now-long forgotten Shi Szu in The Lady Hermit (1971).
With timed regularity, Leung eventually graduated to larger or more meaty support roles before landing critical lead vechicles, for example Kidnap in Rome (1976), opposite the generally overlooked Mang Hoi; My Kung Fu 12 Kicks (1979) and the rather distasteful Bruceploitation romp, The Dragon Lives Again (1976). Surprisingly the latter did less damage to Leung’s profession than one would gather. Yet the very concept of promoting a metaphysical dimension in which Lee’s spirit combats a hierarchy of nefarious archetypes from ‘Dracula’ to a ‘Clint Eastwood’ imitator was indeed an exercise in derision, at best, skirting on levity. However, regardless of a variably indistinct filmography, perceptively, the equivalent could not be affirmed of The Fists, the Kicks and the Evil.
Set against the backdrop of those ordinarily haughty ‘Manchu’ (Qing) subjugators, Leung reunites with (the frequently referred) Schlockmeister, To Lo Po (Fist of Fury 3) for a physically eruptive, superbly choreographed tale of loss and retribution. Nevertheless these script ingredients are requisite despite an almost pedestrian feel as the story arc, in part, is loosely based upon the formative years of Wong Yan Lam – apparently one of the founding members of the legendary ‘Ten Tigers of Kwantung’. Although Lam’s latter real-life exploits were objectively as well as collectively motivated on restoring the ‘Han’ administration, here, the premise is undividedly focused on Lam’s schooling in the graceful art of (Lama) White Crane Kung Fu, an extremely complex, yet pliant style where the rigorous demands of honing wrist/finger strength whilst the hands are emulous of a crane’s beak is equally important as balance and co-ordination.
The beauty of this picture, which for some maybe contentiously unoriginal or repetitive even, is Lam’s metamorphosis from a rambunctious neophyte filled with misdirected anger towards, intrinsically, a political ideology based on class discrimination into that of a disciplined, confident fighting tactician. Naturally there is always in place ‘a catalyst’ for Lam’s external transformation. In this case (a familiar theme not always saluted by critics), it is the unprovoked, as well as blatant, patricide of his father played, nonchalantly, by the (consistently) great Ku Feng, an actor who by general occupation was under a very strict contract with the Shaw Brothers. Here, Feng was allocated creative manoeuvrability to engage outside the machination providing it was conducted in a minor capacity.
Refreshing, though obligatory, as principle Manchu nasties – support from the otherwise ice-cold Ko Fei (Techno Warriors) and his sadistic subordinate, the ever voluminous Bolo Yeung, each chew up recognizable Taiwanese sceneries, and/or extant locales with gleeful abandon. Negligible… perhaps?! But all essential paradigms, right down to the basics of staid dialogue and formulaic typecasting. Of course, neither would amicably work without the other – a sort of symbolic scaffold for an obviously innovative conclusion whereby Lam deftly manages too ‘showcase’ as well as ‘negotiate’ his manifold techniques within a bamboo forest. Dazzling!
1976 just happened to be a leap year. And on February 29th, a woman with a drug problem is murdered. The first suspect is the yakuza Imamura, her known supplier. But then Imamura turns up dead a couple days later. The cops round up the usual suspects and demand answers. The criminal underworld was tense already but now the murder investigation is making business difficult. The yakuza take it upon themselves to solve the murder – with bullets! Tensions boil over and all-out war breaks out between rival clans. Bombings and shootings occur in broad daylight. Bosses and underlings alike are getting murdered. The war rages on until the thing that sparked it, the mysterious murders of Imamura and the woman, is but a distant memory.
Unlike other Battles Without Honor and Humanityfilms (old or New), Kinji Fukasaku makes no effort to set up the board or name the alliances before dumping us into the action. The final New Battles film, Last Days of the Boss, is a frenetic, noisy action movie that rarely ever slows down. It’s lewd, mean, sometimes shockingly funny, and just full to the brim with the angry violence that the director is known for.
We’ve already sat through a good portion of the film before our hero, Bunta Sugawara, finally swaggers up wearing a yellow hardhat and looking nothing like the yakuza he played in the original series. Here Sugawara plays Nozaki, an orphan who was raised by a decent, honorable yakuza but is working as a blue-collar dockworker. Nozaki is not unfamiliar with the yakuza world, though. While he’s on good terms with his adoptive father and his father’s gang, Nozaki was dead set against his little sister Asami (Chieko Matsubara) marrying a yakuza from a rival gang, which created a schism between brother and sister.
When Nozaki’s adoptive father is assassinated, the mantle of boss for his small Kyushu gang falls to Nozaki. The outsider Nozaki reluctantly takes the position and swears to get revenge for his father’s death. However, his blood feud – which must be satisfied if he is to be considered a respectable yakuza – comes at a bad time, as those above him are beginning to discuss a peace accord with the competition in Osaka.
Nozaki is told to wait on vengeance, see how negotiations progress. But something goes wrong. An assassin jumps the gun, resulting in more senseless bloodshed, canceling out any idea of peace. It’s all the encouragement that Nozaki needs to commit his gang to war in a desperate struggle to kill off the bosses that lead the Osaka crime families.
The Battlesseries was among the first Japanese crime sagas to directly criticize the yakuza and strip them of their ‘Honor and Humanity.’ Until then, yakuza movies told tales of chivalrous anti-heroes with codes to uphold. Last Days of the Boss plays like a strong criticism of the classic, chivalry yakuza films, but it also shares more of their DNA than the other Battles films. This is a much pulpier, melodramatic, and stylized crime movie than the Battles movies that came before it. What saves it from becoming another chivalry picture, I think, are two important things. One: it’s super violent and that violence often appears to solve nothing (the film’s final frame hammers this home and might be the best moment in the movie). And two: the characters, acting on a personal code of honor, come across like crazy people. Nozaki wants vengeance, and I get that, but the lengths which he’s willing to go to achieve it are nuts. He’s the closest thing to a hero in Last Days of the Boss but he’s hardly a relatable figure.
Other bits of un-Battles-like melodrama include the brother/sister relationship between Nozaki and Asami. Rumors say they were *ahem* very close once. And as the gang war rages on, those rumors eat away at Asami’s husband, Nakamichi (Koji Wada). Soon, not only is Nozaki fighting the Osaka bosses, but now he has to worry about his brother-in-law, too.
Perhaps it’s a sign of the changing times – Last Days of the Boss is the only Battles film to take place in modern day (1976 at the time) – but the yakuza repeatedly reach out to contract killers in this film. The hitmen featured are a little larger than life, like the transvestite with a knife and the Korean soldier with a machine gun. The characters might’ve felt out of place in an earlier Battles film, but they fit the pulpy tone that Last Days of the Boss went with.
Kinji Fukasaku’s influence on cinema — and on the yakuza genre specifically — would continue for years to come. Hell, this isn’t even the lastBattles film. The Battles series would continue without Fukasaku with Aftermath of Battles Without Honor or Humanity in 1979 from director Eiichi Kudo (11 Samurai). The series was then revived again in 2000 with Another Battle from director Junji Sakamoto (Face). Another Battle was actually written by Last Days of the Boss screenwriter Koji Takada, but that appears to be one of the only links to the original films. I know very little about those films and don’t expect to see them available on DVD anytime soon. Then again, I once thought the same thing about the New Battles trilogy, and here we are.
Last Days of the Boss is a perfectly enjoyable final entry to the New Battles trilogy. I can’t say I liked the New Battles films as much as the original series – being standalone films, they cannot hope to achieve the epic scale of the original Battles films – but I do quite like these films just the same. If the originalBattles Without Honor and Humanityseries had a ‘ripped from the headlines’ feeling to it, then I’d say that New Battles feels ripped from the tabloids. They’re generally nastier, weirder, and less grounded in reality. The Boss’s Head is the finest chapter of the New Battles trilogy but Last Days of the Boss isn’t far behind. Fast-paced and in-your-face, it’s remarkably fresh for what is the eighth film of the Battles brand.
One marvels at how Fukasaku’s eight Battles movies were all made between 1973 and 1976. Not only am I in awe of what had to be an insane production schedule, but also that the quality of the films ranged from the good to the brilliant. And those weren’t the only movies Fukasaku directed during that time — great films like Cops vs. Thugs and Graveyard of Honor were also made during that same time period (not to mention the other, less well-known films). Now, at the end of the New Battles trilogy, I find myself wishing Fukasaku had made more of these films. But then I consider all of this and I think, you know, maybe that makes me sound just a little bit greedy.
About this release: New Battles Without Honor and Humanityis now available in a box set with three Blu-rays and three DVDs. It’s a very handsome looking set. Yes, I care about packaging, I’m one of those people. Picture quality is middle of the road, likely the result of source materials. And the special features are a little bit light, unfortunately. On the first film’s disc, Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane stammers his way through trying to describe what he thinks of the trilogy. New interviews with Koji Takada appear on the other discs. Takada talks about how he was brought in to fix the script for The Boss’s Head versus how he was the lead writer from day one for Last Days of the Boss. We also get trailers. I would’ve liked more, frankly.
The best extra is the 58-page booklet. Stephen Sarrazin focuses on New Battles Without Honor and Humanity. Tom Mes talks about The Boss’s Head and Hayley Scanlon talks about Last Days of the Boss, and they both talk about the growing importance of women in the series. Chris D. shares some info on Fukasaku’s contemporaries, Junya Sato (Bullet Train) and Sadao Nakajima (Memoir of Japanese Assassins), who helped create the new wave of darker, more reality-based crime dramas. I enjoyed every piece in the booklet, but might’ve liked Chris D.’s the most because it named about 20 films I gotta track down now. Marc Walkow talks about Kinji Fukasaku’s career, who became something of a chameleon after the 70’s, where you could never predict just what a Fukasaku film was anymore. And finally interpreter Toshiko Adilman remembers working with Fukasaku on the set of his film Virus.
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