Director: John Little
Writer: John Little
Cast: John Little, Malisa Longo, Jon T. Benn, Anders Nelsson, Riccardo Billi, Chaplin Chang
Running Time: 100 minutes
By Jeff Bona
Back in 2013, I reviewed a documentary titled In Pursuit of the Dragon, by noted Bruce Lee historian, John Little (A Warrior’s Journey). Unlike the most of the endless, oversaturated list of Bruce Lee documentaries – many of which featured the same tired footage, usual interview clips and other useless “talking heads” – I found Little’s In Pursuit of the Dragon to be refreshing because of its one-of-a-kind premise, which focused on the actual filming locations of Bruce Lee’s four completed films. To quote my review: Using footage from the actual movies to coincide with the ‘what the locations look like today’ is simply magical. Basically, I loved every minute of it.
When it was announced that MVD Visual was releasing Tracking the Dragon, another Bruce Lee-related project by John Little, I jumped at the opportunity to obtain an advanced copy. But when I finally got my hands on the DVD, I found its official description curiously familiar:
“Bruce Lee expert John Little tracks down the actual locations of some of Bruce Lee’s most iconic action scenes. Many of these sites remain largely unchanged nearly half a century later. At monasteries, ice factories, and on urban streets, Little explores the real life settings of Lee’s legendary career.”
After reading the above, I thought to myself: “This must be a repacked, retitled, double-dipped version of In Pursuit of the Dragonthat’s being marketed as a “new” film to suck every last drop of profit from a product that’s over 3 years old.” And boy was I right…
Tracking the Dragon IS a repacked, retitled and double-dipped version of In Pursuit of the Dragon. However, I can honestly say that it has been repacked, retitled and double-dipped in the most positive way possible.
Here’s a list of the key differences between In Pursuit of the Dragonand Tracking the Dragon. Keep in mind that I didn’t watch them both simultaneously, but I did skim through In Pursuit of the Dragonmoments after watching Tracking the Dragon, so think of the following as the most noticeable distinctions between the two:
Tracking the Dragon has optimized audio and visual. Video footage has been remastered and now appears to have more of an High Definition look (even for DVD it pops on a 1080p TV). In comparison, In Pursuit of the Dragonlooks fuzzy with lower audio quality.
Tracking the Dragon is 10 minutes longer than In Pursuit of the Dragon. That’s not say it’s only 10 minutes longer. In other words, Tracking the Dragon is edited in a tighter, smarter fashion; with more overlaps and picture-in-picture effects, which essentially means more content per frame.
Post-production work on Tracking the Dragon is a lot more professional-looking. Then and now-location footage gels together more cohesively. If In Pursuit of the Dragon appears to have taken 3 weeks to edit together, Tracking the Dragon most likely took 3 months.
Tracking the Dragon features new/alternative shots, resulting in a different experience. It’s also injected with extra clips and photos, which give it much more depth than In Pursuit of the Dragon.
New segments: Unlike In Pursuit of the Dragon, Tracking the Dragon doesn’t end with Enter the Dragon. Instead, we’re treated with extra footage of Bruce Lee’s Hong Kong house, Betty Ting Pei’s apartment (where Bruce passed away) and locations such as rooftops where a teenage Bruce used to street fight, Bruce’s famous parking lot photo shoot, and much more (won’t spoil it for you).
The bottom line: A better title for Tracking the Dragon would be In Pursuit of the Dragon 2.0. Sure, I can understand if some people will dismiss it as a double-dipper, but it all depends on how much you value newly added footage, as well as upgrades all across the board.
Considering Little and his team traveled all around the world to capture all this footage, a new and improved, longer, remastered version of an already-awesome project is worth $20 bucks to me.
Besides, it’s probably time for you to re-watch In Pursuit of the Dragon anyways – and if you do, you’ll want to watch it in the form of Tracking the Dragon to get the most out of your re-watching pleasure. If you haven’t seen either, then picking up Tracking the Dragon is a no-brainer.
AKA: Jack Reacher 2 Director: Edward Zwick Cast: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Aldis Hodge, Danika Yarosh, Patrick Heusinger, Holt McCallany, Austin Hebert, Robert Catrini, Robert Knepper, Talbott Lin Running Time: 118 min.
By Paul Bramhall
The announcement that Tom Cruise was going to be playing Jack Reacher, the character of author Lee Child’s ongoing series of novels about an ex-military drifter that has an uncanny ability for finding trouble, was greeted (as expected) with almost universal disdain from fan of the books. However the 2012 thriller, simply titled Jack Reacher, helmed by frequent Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, was both a commercial and a critical success. Cruise brought the needed physicality to the role with gusto, portraying Reacher as a more grounded version of his Ethan Hunt character from the Mission: Impossible series – a comparison which was especially apt with the release of the bombastic Ghost Protocol just a year prior.
The success of Jack Reacher inevitably saw a sequel on the cards, and with twenty published novels to choose from, the second instalment of Jack Reacher on the big screen comes in the form of 2016’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, an adaption of the eighteenth book in the series. Much like the original came a year after Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, so Never Go Back comes a year after Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Both the original Jack Reacher and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation were helmed by Christopher McQuarrie, which sees this instalment being handed over to Edward Zwick, the director behind the likes of Blood Diamond and Legends of the Fall. Cruise and Zwick have worked together before, on 2003’s The Last Samurai, so the sequel can be considered as a reunion of sorts for the director and actor.
Cruise has become one of the few actors in Hollywood who has the ability to make straight faced action pictures, ones that don’t rely on either irony or CGI, nor suffer from a modest budget or straight-to-DVD release. In many ways he’s one of the last legitimate bankable stars, in an era were Hollywood has become almost solely reliant on reboots, remakes, and superhero movies. When people talk about Jason Bourne, they don’t say they want to go and see the latest Matt Damon movie, and similarly for James Bond, no one would say they want to go and see the latest Daniel Craig movie. But Cruise it’s the opposite, people don’t say they want to go and see the latest Ethan Hunt or Jack Reacher flick, they say let’s go and check out the latest Tom Cruise film. He’s a guy who consistently delivers the goods, with Never Go Back being only the second time he’s returned to play a character for a sequel, outside of the Mission: Impossible series.
Never Go Back continues the gritty down to earth feel that the original instalment established, with proceedings opening on a pair of cops arriving on the scene of a diner parking lot, were four men lay sprawled on the floor, each looking considerably battered and bruised. A witness points to a single customer sitting at the bar inside, his back to them calmly drinking a cup of coffee, and goes onto explain that it was the customer who singled handedly put the beat down on all four of them. The customer is of course Cruise, establishing himself as a man not to be messed with within the first 60 seconds, and he hasn’t even lifted a finger. The scene sets the tone both for the character and the rest of the run time, portraying Reacher as someone who treads just the right side of the line between confidence and arrogance, and isn’t afraid of getting his knuckles dirty.
Fans of the book may not have been happy with the casting of Cruise, but there’s no doubt that he owns the role, and looks to be using both his Mission: Impossible productions and the Jack Reacher series as vehicles to show off his action chops. At 54, he appears more determined than ever to throw as much physical action onscreen as possible, with people getting punched in the face through windscreens, arms (and various other limbs) being broken, and bodies being thrown into a variety of breakable surroundings. While Never Go Back, much like Jack Reacher, doesn’t rely on huge set pieces or death defying stunts, instead it succeeds by having its altercations take place in more real world trappings. Fights take place in dark abandoned warehouses, and in one particular scene, which shows a clear nod to the showdown between Iko Uwais and Cecep Arif Rahman in The Raid 2, in a restaurant kitchen (which includes a hammer wielding Cobie Smulders!).
For Never Go Back the inclusion of actresses Cobie Smulders and Danika Yarosh provide Cruise with a sort of adopted nuclear family. Smulders plays a former military colleague of Cruise, who’s been falsely imprisoned for espionage, while Yarosh finds herself in the cross hairs of those looking to take out both Cruise and Smulders, thanks to the possibility of her being his daughter. Cruise of course takes it on himself to break Smulders out of prison, convinced of her innocence, and the three end up on the run from a group of shadowy military contractors, who may be behind the murders of two soldiers in Afghanistan who were under Smulders command. It’s a straightforward plot, which doesn’t spend any time getting bogged down in sub-plots or romance, instead choosing to have one, two, or all three of them have to run as if their life depended on it at regular intervals.
In many ways it’s the simplicity of Never Go Back which makes it so appealing. It’s a trio of good guys (well, one guy and two women) trying to uncover the truth behind an injustice, while being relentlessly pursued by those who want to kill them. In an era which has Hollywood defining its action by how many CGI buildings it can destroy, it’s refreshing to watch a movie that gets the adrenaline pumping through intense foot chases, fist fights, explosions (real ones!), and painful looking falls. I’d take the action in Never Go Back any day of the week over watching a bunch of pixels be decimated onscreen. Of course, no hero is worth their salt without a worthy villain to go up against, and the villain here comes in the form of Patrick Heusinger, playing an ex-military man who’s now become an assassin for hire, and comes with a skillset that matches those of Cruise.
Heusinger is almost Terminator-like in his pursuit of Cruise, spurred on by being determined to prove that he’s the better of the two at combat. The pair get into two suitably violent confrontations during the runtime, the first being the previously mentioned kitchen brawl, and the last belonging to the finale. While it’s only speculation, I’m sure stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo, who was also the fight coordinator for the original Jack Reacher and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, must be a fan of Asian action cinema. I say this not only based on the kitchen fight which has echoes of The Raid 2, but in the finale there’s a part in which both Cruise and Heusinger throw each other off the top of a building while grappling, before dusting themselves off and continuing to fight on the ground. It’s a scene that’s reminiscent of a similar fall that happens between Donnie Yen and Colin Chou in the finale of Flash Point, and delivers just as much impact.
While it can easily be argued that Never Go Back would be a pretty run-of-the-mill thriller without the presence of Cruise, and many critics have, the same comparison could be made by saying Police Story would be a pretty average cops and robbers movie without Jackie Chan. The fact is that it’s Cruise that makes the movie what is it, and that is a lean, mean, action thriller. There’s little doubt that based on the success of the sequel, we can probably expect to see more of Jack Reacher over the coming years, and as long as Cruise is still up to delivering the type of physical performance that he’s clocked in here, then that’s definitely a good thing. My only wish would be that before everyone gets too old, we get a movie that gives us Jack Reacher, John Wick, and Arthur Bishop, all sharing the screen together. We can dream right?
On January 3, 2017, Lionsgate is releasing the DVD for Song Xi-Yin’s Amnesia (its full marketing title is Jackie Chan Presents Amnesia, since Chan serves as producer). It’s also known as Who Am I: 2015, which is a more fitting title, considering it’s a loose remake of Chan’s 1998 classic, Who Am I?
Finding himself at a murder scene, bike courier Li Ziwei tries to escape, but the culprits force him off a bridge. The amnesia from his head injuries means he can’t recognize the faces of his enemies, who have framed him for the crime. Now, carrying the parcel that’s his only clue, and with the help of sassy hitchhiker Tong Xin, Li Ziwei must outrun killers and cops while racing to clear his name of the mysterious murder.
The original Who Am I?, which was directed by Benny Chan (Shaolin), had Chan playing a secret agent who loses his memory after falling from a crashing helicopter. He is then chased by a number of other agency operatives, but he has no idea why.
Jang Jae-hyeon’s “Korean version of The Exorcist,” The Priests(read our review), will be arriving to DVD on January 10, 2017, courtesy of CJ Entertainment. If you can’t wait to face the evil spirits on DVD – or just need something to watch in the days leading up to Halloween – The Priests is currently available through Amazon’s streaming service.
The film, which has been retitled for its U.S. release as The Priests: Exorcism, stars Kim Yoon-seok (The Thieves) and Kang Dong-won (Kundo). The two play a pair of priests who hope to exorcise what they believe to be an evil spirit possessing the body of a young girl in a coma. Also in the cast are Park So-Dam (Veteran) and Lee Hyo-Je (Hidden Time).
COF’s Paul Bramhall calls The Priests“a refreshingly straight forward horror movie, which is successful in being both suspenseful and delivering a few jump in your seat moments.”
AKA: Camp 731 Director: T. F. Mou Producer: Fu Chi, Hung Chu Cast: Gang Wang, Hsu Gou, Tie Long Jin, Zhao Hua Mei, Zhe Quan, Run Sheng Wang Running Time: 105 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Men Behind the Sun comes with the reputation of being one of the most controversial movies ever made, often mentioned in the same sentence as the likes of Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust, and Japan’s Guinea Pig series. The facts certainly indicate the same – it holds the distinction of being the first movie to be rated Category III in Hong Kong, has been released in very few territories uncut, was originally banned in Australia, and caused such an outcry in Japan that the director received death threats.
The man in the director’s chair is T.F. Mou, and while Men Behind the Sun is the title he’s most well-known for, prior to making it he directed such Shaw Brothers productions as the gritty crime thriller Lost Souls, and the dark kung fu flick A Deadly Secret. It was while directing the 1983 Mainland kung fu movie Young Heroes, that he learnt about the horrors of Japan’s wartime experimentation on Chinese and Russian human subjects, and became determined to make a movie to document the atrocities. It wasn’t an easy task though, at the time China wanted Japan as an economic ally, so the idea of such a production wasn’t met with much enthusiasm. On top of that, almost all research and evidence of the experiments had either been destroyed, or handed over to the Americans prior to the beginning of the Korean War.
As Mou’s wife was an American citizen, she helped to negotiate for Mou to have access to the rarely seen documentation, kept to this day under lock and key. U.S. Forces had come into possession of the data because General Ishii, the man behind Unit 731 where the experiments took place, was offered immunity from being trialled for war crimes if he did so. Agreeing to work with General McArthur (most recently played by Liam Neeson in the Korean movie Operation Chromite) and the American government, Ishii escaped trial up to the time of his death. Perhaps knowing that justice was never done, the Chinese government eventually gave Mou permission to make the movie, and production went ahead with a small budget of $200,000. Based on his struggles to convince the Chinese government to let him make Men Behind the Sun, the movie opens with the ironic onscreen text – ‘Friendship is friendship, history is history’.
One of Mou’s main goals was to achieve historical accuracy with his production, going to the extent of casting Chinese locals in many of the roles (a view of the cast list will reveal that for many, Men Behind the Sun is the only credit to their name), chosen based on Mou’s belief that they resembled Japanese people during the war. Most of the kids in the movie (the plot is framed from the viewpoint of newly recruited Youth Corp members) are actually Koreans that were living in China, again chosen as Mou felt that they looked more Japanese than the local Chinese kids did. Perhaps most interesting of all though is that the location used for the headquarters of Unit 731, was actually the real site, located in Harbin, Manchuria. At the time of filming it was being used as a school, and in an interview Mou remembered that the erecting of a Japanese flag outside the building didn’t sit well with many of the elderly locals, who were alive during the war.
The real controversy around Men Behind the Sun comes from Mou wanting to show the various horrific experiments, conducted on both humans and animals, which make up the bulk of the movies mid-section. I’ll cover these in more detail later, but I think it’s important to point out that, unlike so many other reviews on the internet, Men Behind the Sun is much more than just exploitation, an accusation frequently levelled at it. It’s not difficult to see why the exploitation label gets thrown at Men Behind the Sun, however it’s more a bi-product of Mou’s ambition to document everything he’d read in his research, rather than an intentional exercise in disgust.
The plot itself concerns a group of newly recruited Youth Corp members, who are assigned to the secretive Unit 731, and their gradual dehumanisation to everything they witness. Set during the final years of World War II, General Ishii, a formerly discharged military surgeon with a keen interest in bio-warfare, is assigned to run the Unit. Ishii, again the actual General who run the Unit in reality, is insistent that bio-chemicals are the way to win the war, and believes that the only way to achieve success is through using live subjects, in order to speed up the process. The newly recruited Youth Corp members are initially disgusted at what they witness, and in one particularly powerful scene, they are presented with a naked male subject dragged up in front of them. When the General asks what they’re looking at, one says “a man”, and is badly beaten, two more boys proceed to answer with “a Chinese man”, and “a bad Chinese man”, and receive the same treatment. Finally, the General explains that they’re looking at “a log for a fire, material for experiments.”
What stands Men Behind the Sun apart from many Chinese and Hong Kong productions, is that through the members of the Youth Corp, and also a disillusioned soldier, the Japanese are never stereotyped to all be completely evil. At the heart of the experiments is Ishii and his scientists, whose only desire is to figure out a way to effectively use bio-warfare for mass killings. How they do that really makes up the movies most shocking scenes. Mou was a resourceful director if nothing else, and with China having no special effects industry as such, there are several instances were real corpses or body parts are used, acquired by Mou through various means.
In one scene a woman is tied outside with her arms outstretched in the sub-zero temperatures, to test the effects of frostbite on the body. With her arms outstretched, a soldier douses them with water at regular intervals, causing more and more ice to form over the flesh. It’s a disturbing scene, made more disturbing by the fact that the actress playing the part, who was in fact Mou’s niece, is holding out a pair of real severed arms. In a case of art reflecting life, it was revealed that she almost contracted frostbite for real, due to the amount of time spent filming outside. In another scene, a child is chloroformed and then given an autopsy while unconscious. Mou had made an agreement with the local police to use a real body for the autopsy scene, and when a child was killed in an accident, with the parents agreement the autopsy was conducted with the coroners dressed in Japanese army clothing, the procedure filmed for the movie.
The two scenes that caused the most outrage though ironically don’t involve any corpses at all. One see’s a cat being thrown into a room infested with hundreds of frenzied rats, which proceed to eat it alive. There are varying stories of what actually took place during this scene, in a 2010 interview with Mou, he explained that the cat was soaked with water then covered with red dyed honey, and it’s this that the rats are eating, explaining that the cat was rewarded with a couple of fish once it wrapped. However in a 2008 blog post written by a behind the scenes crew member, it’s explained that the cat was killed in order to get the final shot of the unmoving body being swarmed by rats. The truth will likely never be known. In a latter scene, the same rats are burnt alive, and filmed running throughout the building while on fire. Equally cruel, however it was said that Mou found favour with many of the local farmers for performing such an act.
It would be a spoiler to detail the rest of the experiments, however despite the episodic nature in which they’re presented, the scenes in-between never feel as if they’re filler, which is what stops me from calling Men Behind the Sun a piece of pure exploitation. A group of the Youth Corp members relationship with a mute Chinese boy, who watches them from behind the barbed wire fences, is particularly well handled, reflecting their humanity when not forced to view all Chinese as nothing but material for experiments. Likewise, the solid acting performances from the cast, despite their lack of experience, adds an authentic feel to proceedings, making it a harrowing experience to watch even today almost 30 years later.
The reputation of Men Behind the Sun would further find it vilified by its cheap cash-in sequels, the Godfrey Ho directed Laboratory of the Devil in 1992, and Narrow Escape in 1994, although notably Mou would return to the same subject matter for 1995’s Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre. While other productions such as Russia’s 4-hour epic Philosophy of a Knife, from 2008, have looked to also tackle the atrocities of Unit 731, none have been able to match Men Behind the Sun in terms of pure visceral impact and shock factor. While today the term ‘torture porn’ is used to describe movies which present gruesome scenes of people being tortured, for little else than viewing pleasure, Mou has, as was his intention, made a movie that stands as a powerful document of what happened in Unit 731. While some of his filmmaking methods are arguably disagreeable, they shouldn’t take away from a movie which is, at its heart, a look at man’s cruelty against man.
With their ornate costumes, eclectic masks and sinister weaponry – not to mention some of the most blood-drenching flicks ever put on celluloid – we consider The Venoms (aka Philip Kwok, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, Lo Meng, Sun Chien and Wei Pai) to be the ultimate link between kung fu and Halloween. For this reason, City on Fire proudly presents the Top 5 Bloodiest Venoms Films:
If you’ve ever watched a Shaw Brothers kung fu film and found yourself thinking: “This flick is good and all, but what it REALLY needs is a bunch of blood-drinking, Satan-worshiping, mask-wearing villains and a whole lot more violence,” then Masked Avengers is the movie for you.
This is a dark, dark flick, and those who require comedic antics with their kung fu need not apply. It has hardcore violence equal to Five Element Ninja. Some disturbing imagery, from masked cultists drinking human blood to intestines dangling from tridents. Then there are the traps in the cultists’ lair, which gouge, crush, and eviscerate. It’s almost as if this flick was made for Halloween.
With its intricate choreography, colorful villains, fantastic sets, and of course, excessive violence – Flag of Iron is one of the better Venoms movies. It’s similar to Masked Avengers, in that both are heavy on plot, both lack main Venoms Lo Meng and Sun Chien, and both are impressively brutal.
In its uncut state, Flag of Iron is not only more fleshed out, but also more violent. In addition to blood sprays, hackings, and unusual deaths, there’s also a flag thrown all the way through a victim (it flies through the dude and embeds itself in a wooden beam, drenched in blood).
Don’t let the film’s non-threatening title fool you. There’s a reason it’s titled The Spearmen of Death in other territories.
Not much carnage via weaponry. Instead, most of the violence in House of Traps comes from the traps themselves. The bottom level has spikes that come out of the floor, and a steel staircase that will clamp shut (in other words, feet get cut in half and men are impaled and torn asunder). Spear-tipped nets ensnare those who make it high enough, trapping them while guys on the bottom floor come out and shoot up at them with arrows.
The ending of House of Traps is especially bizarre, with one of the heroes hacking open a corpse, to root out the contents of its stomach. PETA beware: A live chicken buys it in a moment of pure exploitation!
“Two Champions of Shaolin” Chinese Theatrical Poster
In Two Champions of Shaolin, Lo Meng llsically vomits blood in the best display of “spitting out blood when injured” since Fu Sheng in Heroes Two. In addition, Chiang Sheng rips some guy’s balls off, and later bashes someone’s brains out. Look close, you’ll see them.
Two Champions of Shaolin is drenched with acrobatic displays of martial fortitude and blood-drenched violence. The best part of the movie arrives with a tournament between the top Wu-Tang fighters and Chiang Sheng and Lo Meng. Squaring off in one-on-one combat, this segment puts Mortal Kombat to shame.
I’ve done the math: Two Champions of Shaolin = total carnage.
“The Kid with the Golden Arm” Chinese Theatrical Poster
The Kid with the Golden Arm opens bloodily with an escort service member crawling into their headquarters, “Chi Sah gang” etched onto his bare back by a sword. There’s a memorable scene in which someone off-screen is stabbed, and his blood literally jets across the set.
The violence level is pleasantly high – we’re talking Lone Wolf and Cub-level bloodshed, with multiple hackings, slicings, and cleavings. Blood erupts from sword gashes, people get hacked apart, and those beaten by fists bleed profusely from the mouth
Despite its comic book-like title, Kid with the Golden Arm is certainly one of the more violent Venoms movies.
Sony Entertainment presents the Blu-ray & DVD for The Perfect Weapon. Despite its title, this upcoming movie has no connection with 1991’s The Perfect Weapon, which starred Jeff Speakman.
The Perfect Weapon hints an influence from both Universal Soldier and Hitman: Agent 47. Even though the words “Steven Seagal” headline the film’s marketing materials, the Above the Law star appears to have more of a co-starring role – as the film’s villain – second to Johnny Messner (Kill ‘Em All).
Perfect Weapon is directed by Titus Paar (The Refugees) and produced by Andre Relis (War Pigs) and Rafael Primorac (Wesley Snipes’ Game of Death). The film also stars Sasha Jackson (Jarhead 3), Richard Tyson (Simon Says), Vernon Wells (Commando), Kimberly Battista (Hot Summer Nights) and Lance E. Nichols (13 Sins).
Official Plot: In a not too distant future, a totalitarian state run by ‘The Director” (Seagal) controls all aspects of life. All enemies of the state are dealt in the harshest way. Most of them are executed by the secret government’s assassins. The best operative is code-named “Condor” (Messner) – an elite agent and hit man for the government. However, in his latest assignment, “Condor” fails to kill an opposition leader, and finds himself on the run from the very same government agency that he works for. This sets in motion a chain of events with unforseen consequences for all involved. But “Condor” just might survive the hunt because he is… The Perfect Weapon.
Director: Dario Argento Cast: Macha Meril, David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Giuliana Calandra, Glauco Mauri, Clara Calamai, Piero Mazzinghi, Glauco Mauri, Aldo Bonamano Running Time: 126 min.
By HKFanatic
I consider myself a massive fan of Italian horror and, specifically, director Dario Argento. That said, I’ve never felt that Deep Red (released as Suspiria 2 in Japan) was the masterpiece that many claim it is. So maybe that makes me less of an Argento fanatic than those folks. On a repeat viewing, Deep Red left me strangely cold. I love Argento’s fluid camera work, David Hemmings (The Heroin Busters) in the lead role, and who doesn’t love the infamous scene with the creepy mechanical doll. But so much of the movie feels like a giallo going through the motions: the protagonist trying to piece together the clues to the mystery, piece by plodding piece, so that the filmmakers can pad out screentime. Or maybe I just prefer my Dario Argento films with a tingle of the supernatural. 1977’s Suspiria is my favorite of his, after all.
Some viewers tend to overlook the fact that Argento made a whole string of giallos before this, mostly with animals in the titles (The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, etc.), but Deep Red has always been considered Argento’s first truly great film. The story follows David Hemmings as a jazz pianist and instructor staying in Italy. Late one night while wandering the streets after a gig, he witnesses the aftermath of a brutal murder. Obsessed with learning the identity of the killer, he joins with an attractive young reporter, played by Argento’s then-wife Daria Nicolodi, as more dead bodies pile up. The two of them begin a stand offish romance since Hemmings’ character is a sexist pit. There’s even a scene devoted to them armwrestling to prove the superiority of their respective genders.
The mystery is slow to unravel as Hemmings keeps risking his neck and supporting characters keep getting bumped off in increasingly violent ways. Expect more than a few red herrings in the cast. Towards the climax of the film, Hemmings has to investigate a spooky old house. This whole sequence is frequently lit by flashlight and goes by without a single word of dialogue, all set to Goblin’s Italo-disco rock soundtrack; it almost feels like something out of a horror-based video game.
Speaking of the music, Goblin’s score is excellent. It’s got a aggressive rock feel with loud drums but it’s also suitably creepy and menacing for the action that unfolds on screen. It’s the kind of soundtrack that can easily stand apart from its source material and be enjoyable to listen to on its own. Put the soundtrack on during a party and you’re guaranteed to turn a few heads too.
I watched Deep Red streaming in HD on Netflix. I believe its arrival on Netflix is timed to coincide with Blue Underground’s Blu-ray release. To my eyes, the print almost looked too bright and lacked fine detail except on the frequent close-ups of objects, like children’s toys and piano keys, that Argento favors. This might be the result of the way the movie was lit – Argento was going for “deep reds,” after all. In addition, the streaming version’s audio levels were completely uneven, with Goblin’s score overpowering the dialogue at every turn.
To add insult to injury, Netflix’s cut is only 104 minutes long, with several crucial scenes missing. The romantic subplot in particular just falls apart in the 104 cut since Daria Nicolodi’s character disappears for lengthy periods of time. If you want the full 126 minute cut, you’ve got to get this movie on disc. Considering that Blue Underground never fails to put out a quality release, this is one film that I would recommend horror fans shell out the bucks for the blu-ray in order to truly enjoy it.
In the 90’s, the Japanese Godzilla was killed off by his own nuclear heart going into meltdown, and the American Godzilla was killed off by the world’s general disinterest in ever seeing Roland Emmerich’s monster iguana on screen again. Toho’s ‘Millennium’ era of the Godzilla series (5499-2004) attempted to revive the monster in a series of movies that had little-to-no continuity between pictures. Things got off to a good start with Godzilla 2000, but after that the studio never found a way to secure reliable audience numbers with each sequel. 2001’s GMK was a solid entry, but Megaguirus, Against Mechagodzilla, and Tokyo SOS were major disappointments for the studio. Though there was initially plans to do a direct sequel to Tokyo SOS (see the end credits scene for a hint at what might’ve been), those plans were scrapped in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Godzilla in 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars with a big, star studded sendoff, and a budget that made it the most expensive Godzilla film that Toho had ever produced to that point… But Final Wars was a huge flop, resulting in a loss for the studio. Toho promised to return the monster to screens one day, however after a string of letdowns the fans got the feeling that they were in no real hurry to do so. When Legendary and Warner Bros. came calling to acquire the rights to Godzilla for a new American film, Toho made sure that part of the deal allowed the Japanese studio to make their own Godzilla films at the same time. And when 2014’s Godzilla became a worldwide hit, Toho jumped at the chance to act on the monster’s surge in popularity. And so, after Godzilla was put to rest following failures in both America and Japan, the kaiju was brought back to life resulting in the two biggest Godzilla movies ever. 2014’s Godzilla is the highest grossing film of the series worldwide, while 2016’s Shin Godzilla is the biggest release of the Toho Godzilla movies, breaking a record of attendance previously held by 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla.
One criticism I have for the Toho Godzilla movies made between 1990 and 2004 is their reluctance to try new things (GMK is the exception). You look at what they were doing in the Millennium series and it’s clear that these were studio processed films aiming at the largest audience possible. I hoped that when Toho revived Godzilla, they would consider going to one of Japan’s finer directors instead of just a studio loyalist or a special effects guru. And to my surprise, they did just that, selecting Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno to write and co-direct the film with special effects master Shinji Higuchi, who’d previously handled the effects of the Heisei Gamera trilogy and recently directed the Attack on Titan live-action films. Then, the first images of this new Godzilla started appearing online – scarred, ugly, horrific – and it was clear that Anno and Higuchi were crafting a very different Godzilla movie. And indeed, this will likely be the most divisive Godzilla movie for fans since GMK or even Emmerich’s 1998 screwup. Shin Godzilla is the boldest, strangest vision of Godzilla since 1971’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah. And, just so you know what I’m talking about, Godzilla could fly in that movie…
Completely ignoring all other Godzilla movies that came before it, Shin Godzilla is a realistic depiction of what modern Japan would do if faced with a giant, biological entity appearing offshore. If the original 1954 Godzilla was meant as a living embodiment of the atomic bomb, then I think Shin Godzilla represents the indifferent, unstoppable force of nature. It’s also a film very much aware of modern terrors. Images of Godzilla crawling on shore through narrow rivers and streets are reminiscent of the 2011 tsunami that struck Japan. And later, when Godzilla’s radioactive properties are made known, a superior must warn his men that doing their job puts them at risk but their efforts will be worthwhile, which naturally draws comparisons to the workers who had to report back to the Fukushima nuclear power plant after the catastrophic earthquakes.
Blood and boiling waters in the sea suggest the coming of this monstrosity. Humanity is slow to act, first thinking it could possibly be the beginning of a new undersea volcano. When Godzilla comes to shore, the creature is unlike we’ve ever seen him. I shall try to avoid spoilers, but it is similar to the stories of evolution, about prehistoric creatures crawling out of the sea and creating new life. The monster disappears not long after, and the country must make plans for its return. And when Godzilla appears once more, he’s even bigger than before. The military fights but ultimately they’re outmatched and the monster brings the country to a crippling standstill.
Most unexpectedly, Shin Godzilla is a dialogue driven monster movie. The majority of the film takes place in government boardroom meetings as cabinet members must decide the best course of action. In the 1954 original, there’s a section of the film where members of the community shout at their government leaders and demand answers. One thinks that Anno must’ve really liked that part of the film. “It’s tough to protect a country,” one character remarks at some point, and that seems to be the driving statement of the movie; that bureaucracy is essential at times but it also slows us down. There is so much red tape the characters must cut through – What will the press say? What about the Americans? Is the SDF allowed to act against the monster? Some of it is electrifying, some of it is boring, and all of it plays at a rapid whirlwind for a viewer who doesn’t understand the language. (There is text at the bottom and the top of the screen. I’m no rookie at watching subtitled films and even I had a hard time keeping up. It’s possible that I will follow some of the film better at home when I can watch the film at my own leisure.)
The Godzilla action is solid throughout. The monster is brought to life via old-school man-in-suit action and a mix of CGI. There are a couple moments at the start where things appear a bit wonky, but for the most part this film will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of America’s best summer movies. From a special effects standpoint, it’s easily the best looking Toho Godzilla film.
I think that the film peaks a little early. There is an amazing military vs. monster action sequence that leaves many characters dead and Tokyo deeply scarred. Using real tanks, miniatures, and CGI, it’s the best sequence of its kind in the six decade old franchise. When that sequence ends, things slow down way too much as America suggests that they should nuke Godzilla and Japan tries to think up a reasonable alternative. The film speeds up again towards the finale, but there is a section there in the middle where things bog down quite a bit.
Shin Godzilla is likely to split viewers in the West. Non-Godzilla fans may love the more realistic, more grounded approach, while diehard fans will have a few issues. For one thing, if you thought there wasn’t enough Godzilla in the 2014 Gareth Edwards film, you’d best prepare yourself. And the strangeness of the new Godzilla may upset purists. The film also has a love/hate relationship with America, where the Japanese characters respect the USA’s might but fear the country’s willingness to show it off. There is also a major American character in the cast, Kayoko Ann Patterson (Attack on Titan’s Satomi Ishihara), an American-born government agent who has come to assist/deflect the Japanese in their investigation into Godzilla. Patterson is a bit of a joke, mostly because of how woefully miscast Ishihara is in the role. Patterson hopes to be the US President, but Ishihara can barely speak a word of English. Indeed, when the American-born Patterson converses with a Japanese official, it’s the Japanese guy who has a better command over the English language than she does. I guess it’s not that big of a deal – if you watch enough Japanese sci-fi movies, you’re going to find some tone-deaf and awkward English dialogue from time to time – but considering the film’s intention at being political and realistic, the Patterson character simply does not work.
In classic Godzilla films, it was the individual (often the underdog) who must save the nation. In Shin Godzilla, it is the government (often elitists) who must save the nation. Most the characters operate on the same, tense, emotionally cold wavelength. Realistic though it may be, it doesn’t make for the most relatable ensemble cast. There is a cast of recognizable faces doing solid work (Hiroki Hasegawa, Jun Kunimura, Akira Emoto, Ren Osugi, Shinya Tsukamoto, Kimiko Yo), but most don’t get fleshed out beyond their character’s job duties.
If, as I understand it, Anno directed the drama scenes and Higuchi handled the monster and special effects segments, then I feel it’s Higuchi who deserves most of the praise. Shin Godzilla’s monster moments are fairly incredible. The movie’s human elements, though complex, sometimes fail to excite.
For those wondering what the heck the “Shin” of the title means, you should know that it’s purposefully vague. It’s my understanding that in Japanese “Shin” means “New” as well as “True” as well as apparently something along the lines of “God Incarnate.” Originally titled Godzilla Resurgence for various worldwide markets, US distributor Funimation has opted to go with Shin Godzilla for its theatrical release in the States. But if you prefer Godzilla Resurgence, then hey, be my guest.
At this point, it remains unclear as to whether Shin Godzilla is the start of a new continuity for Toho’s Godzilla films or a standalone, ‘one and done’ feature. Either way, with the box office success and positive critical reception of Shin Godzilla, you know that the studio’s not putting the monster back into storage anytime soon. Toho is already planning a Godzilla anime feature for next year, while Legendary is in pre-production on Godzilla sequels, including an upcoming battle with King Kong. Today’s Godzilla may look a bit different – sometimes CGI, sometimes animated, and sometimes looking like a burn victim – but however the big guy chooses to appear, something tells me that this time he’s here to stay.
Bodyguards and Assassins | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Donnie Yen’s Bodyguards and Assassins, a 2009 martial arts film directed by Teddy Chen (Kung Fu Jungle).
Yen stars in this gripping martial arts blockbuster set in the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong in 1905. Winner of eight Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film, and featuring an hour-long battle sequence unlike anything attempted before.
Universal Home Entertainment is bringing the action-thriller Eliminators to Blu-ray & DVD (read our review) on December 6, 2016. The film stars Scott Adkins (Close Range,Hard Target 2) and former WWE champ Wade Barrett. The film is directed by James Nunn, who previously worked with Adkins in Green Street 3: Never Back Down.
When his home in London is attacked, a former federal agent (Adkins) must come out of hiding of the witness protection program to protect his daughter. With his true identity exposed to the criminal underworld, he goes on the run with Europe’s most dangerous assassin (Barrett) on his trail and must use every trick he knows to keep his family alive.
Adkins fans should consider themselves spoiled for the next several months, as the action icon has an array of films in the works, including Boyka: Undisputed IV, Savage Dogs, Altar Rock, The Returner, a possible Ninja 3, and an appearance in Marvel’s upcoming Doctor Strange.
Updates: Watch the trailer for Eliminators down below:
The director of Dragon Chen’s Ultimate Hero is back with a vengeance. This time around, he’s subtracting the Bruceploitation flavor, but adding a some Raid-type influence to the mix. The result: Mission 911.
According to FCS, Lei Cui’s Mission 911 follows characters played by Richard Liu, Jess Hsu and Tiger Yang, who are an elite tactical unit on a mission to stop a terrorist from acquiring a time travel device to undo the fall of the Third Reich.
On a funny note: The film’s main villain, played by Alexandre Bailly, looks like he’s related to Darren Shahlavi’s character from Pound of Flesh).
Mission 911 hits Chinese theaters on December 2017. Don’t miss the film’s trailer below:
The man, the myth, the mystique that is Steven Seagal began in 1988′s Above the Law and peaked with 1992’s Under Siege. Now, nearly 20 years after 1995’s Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, the actor wants to reprise his role as Casey Ryback, the former Navy SEAL operator turned chef who became famous for the line “I’m just a cook.”
During a 2014 interview with TBI, here’s what Seagal had to say about his plans for wanting to set Under Siege 3 in Russia:
“It seems like Russia has been Hollywood’s default bad guy forever. I sorta think the opposite. I think that America and Russia should be great allies and great friends. And can be. What I want to do is write a movie, which I’ve sorta already done, where Russian special forces and American special forces work together to combat terrorism.” Seagal continues, “I’m trying to do Under Siege 3, which is the plot that I told you. I’m trying to do some martial arts films in China. I have a lot of different scripts and ideas.”
In another interview with JoBlo, Seagal once again mentioned Under Siege 3: “I’d like to do [another] sequel to Under Siege. I’d like to do Under Siege 3 and everyone wants to see that. We’d love to do that. The reason why we didn’t do it for so many years was because there was a [feud] going on between Warner Bros and – there was a rights dispute I should say. But that’s been cleared up now so we could, in theory, make that.”
I admit, the possibility of an Under Siege 3 is intriguing, but I’m not sure how I feel about Under Siege 3 being a straight-to-video title (even seeing it as a limited release would be sad), which is inevitable, considering Seagal’s track record. Regardless, I’m definitely rooting for it. In the meantime, Seagal has a handful of films that he’s working on (more or less) that include Attrition, China Salesman, Contract to Kill, Cypher, Gunfighterand Four Towers.
Seagal’s latest released film, End of Gun, was recently reviewed by COF’s Zach Nix. His next film, Perfect Weapon, will be hitting Blu-ray on December 6th, 2016.
Updates: On October 5th, 2016 Seagal tweeted: “It’s time. Woodie Mister is starting the script for Under Siege 3.” If you’re unfamiliar with Mister, you’re not alone. Other than two acting credits on imdb.com, the only other project he’s attached to is producer for Above the Law 2, which is another sequel Seagal has been throwing in the air. For now, the best bet is to take any “in development” news with a grain of salt until production crews start packing their bags.
On November 1st, Reign of Assassins, an epic action film starring Michelle Yeoh (Wing Chun, Police Story 3), is finally heading to DVD, Digital HD and On Demand, courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment.
The film stars Yeoh as an assassin who is on a mission to return the remains of a mystical monk to their resting place. The remains are believed to hold a powerful secret. Along the way, she falls in love with a man named Jiang, whose father was killed by her gang. Unaware that he also is a trained martial artist, their love blossoms but tensions arise as the truth of her past unravels. Soon, a lethal triangle surfaces between her, Jiang and the team of assassins that are after the monk’s remains.
In 2010, Reign of Assassins took home two Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, including Best Director and Film of Merit. It also received 11 Hong Kong Film Award nominations, including a Best Picture nomination.
Watch an exclusive new clip below, courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment:
This is the third time City Hunter is being adapted as a live-action presentation. The first was 1992’s City Hunter, which was helmed by Wong Jing and starred Jackie Chan; then in 2011, a South Korean television drama series was produced, starring Lee Min-ho (Gangnam Blues).
Stay tuned for the latest updates regarding this project!
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