Pound of Flesh (2015) Review

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Z Ravas
"Pound of Flesh" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Pound of Flesh” Japanese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Maximum Blood
Director: Ernie Barbarash
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Darren Shahlavi, Aki Aleong, John Ralston, Jason Tobin, Philippe Joly, Brahim Achabbakhe, Andrew Ng, Mike Leeder, Adele Baughan
Running Time: 104 min.

By HKFanatic

About two minutes into Pound of Flesh, Jean-Claude Van Damme wakes up in a bathtub full of ice. His skin pallid, his eyes as sunken as a skull’s, he slowly becomes aware of his surroundings. Crawling from the tub, he is trembling, naked, and afraid. He tentatively inspects the massive scar across his side and soon comes to the realization that he has had his kidney removed against his will. The horror of this moment is startling portrayed by Van Damme, who appears in this instance less an action hero and more a frightened victim. Quite frankly, we’ve never seen the actor as vulnerable as he is here.

Unfortunately, this is the only dramatically interesting scene in the entirety of Pound of Flesh. Shortly after Van Damme throws some pants on and makes a few phone calls to his old covert agent connections, the movie becomes your typical low-budget action flick as Van Damme storms through the seedy bars and back alleys of China shouting “Where’s my kidney?!” to unintentionally hilarious effect. You see, before Van Damme was drugged and placed under the knife, he had traveled to the country to donate his organ to a terminally ill niece. If he doesn’t get the missing kidney back in time, his niece is sure to die.

The old ‘waking up in a bathtub of ice’ story has been around for years as something of an urban legend, and was even the premise behind the 2004 Hong Kong thriller Koma from The Bullet Vanishes director Chi-Leung Law. No doubt it’s a serviceable set-up for an action movie; the problem emerges as soon as fists start flying the viewer realizes that, while Jean-Claude Van Damme’s name receives the top billing, his stand-in might receive more screentime than he does.

Although there have been no behind-the-scenes stories or rumors of reshoots, it’s difficult to watch Pound of Flesh and not get the impression it must have been something of a troubled production. There are scenes where it’s glaringly obvious that Van Damme was filmed in front of a green screen and inserted into the middle of previously shot sequences. Worse yet, Van Damme’s stunt double is visible in nearly every action shot in which the camera isn’t facing Van Damme head-on. No doubt Van Damme is an international star, and an actor who’s getting up there in years, so insurance purposes or his health may necessitate the use of a stand-in; however, it’s never been this apparent and easy to spot.

The fight choreography in Pound of Flesh arrives from the talented John Salvetti, an action coordinator who needs no introduction once you realize he’s the guy who fought Donnie Yen at the end of Tiger Cage 2. What he brings to Pound of Flesh is a more grounded, realistic style of combat that favors grappling and other moves that will likely be familiar to fans of Mixed Martial Arts. While his choreography is topnotch, its impact is frequently marred by choppy editing; it also has the unfortunate habit of downplaying Jean-Claude Van Damme and his co-star Darren Shahlavi’s flair for the more acrobatic, high-flying, Hong Kong-influenced style of onscreen martial arts.

It’s impossible to discuss Pound of Flesh without addressing the death of Darren Shahlavi, an immensely talented screen performer who died tragically young shortly after filming. Shahlavi had a gift for playing formidable villains, whether as the British boxer in Ip Man 2, Kano in the popular Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series, or the kung fu serial killer in the Gary Daniels cult classic Bloodmoon. His untimely passing has robbed us of a gifted martial artist who no doubt had many, many more promising roles ahead of him. Fortunately, he’s a highlight of Pound of Flesh, as he seems to be the only actor onscreen who realizes he’s in the middle of a direct-to-video action flick and decides to have fun with it. Shahlavi’s clearly relishing the chance to play a baddie opposite Van Damme and he delivers an entertaining, over-the-top performance to match.

While Van Damme himself appears invested in the Pound of Flesh’s dramatic moments, his performance is undone by a script that paints his character as blatantly unlikable. Van Damme is placed at odds against his long-suffering brother (portrayed by John Ralston), a church-going, violence-averse college professor. Once we learn that this character is literally sterile and had his wife stolen by Van Damme, we realize he’s only here so Van Damme’s character Deacon can look cooler in comparison – which doesn’t exactly endear the viewer to the selfish Deacon. Lest we forget that this guy was drinking it up and engaging in a one night stand the night before he was supposed to donate his kidney to his niece. It’s enough to make you wish Van Damme would stick to playing the melancholy assassins he usually portrays in recent films like Six Bullets.

Thanks to the genuine quality of movies like Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and Ninja II, fans are coming to expect more from direct-to-video action movies. The bar has been raised, which is why it’s such a shame that Pound of Flesh feels beamed in from the mid-2000’s, back when Steven Seagal was sleepwalking through movies where he simply overdubbed his voice onto footage of a stand-in actor. It’s anyone’s guess why Pound of Flesh ended up being such a sloppily assembled product – no doubt time and budgetary restraints played a part – but it’s easy to feel let down when our action stars of old appear content to deliver such a substandard film. Simply put, the fans who have supported Van Damme over the years deserve more than this.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 5/10

Posted in Asian Related, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , |

I Am Steve McQueen (2014) Review

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"I Am Steve McQueen" Blu-ray Cover

“I Am Steve McQueen” Blu-ray Cover

Director: Jeff Renfroe
Writer: David Ray
Cast: Robert Downey Jr. (voice), Kristin Kreuk (voice), Chad McQueen, Gary Oldman, Zoe Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Randy Couture, Katherine Haber, Norman Jewison, Pat Johnson, Ali MacGraw
Running Time: 90 min.

By Kyle Warner

“You never know with a Hollywood star whether you’re seeing the real person. You know, everyone said that John Wayne was a great hero but the reality is that John Wayne played great heroes. With McQueen, you definitely got the idea that you were seeing an authentic person.” – Film critic Ben Mankiewicz

Produced by Network Entertainment, I Am Steve McQueen is another in the company’s line of documentaries looking back on the life and career of a talent from the past. I’ve not seen their I Am Evel Knievel or their upcoming I Am Chris Farley, but I have seen their 2012 documentary I Am Bruce Lee. The McQueen doc does not differ much from I Am Bruce Lee’s formula. Despite the title that might suggest the documentary is about McQueen’s life in his own words, his life story is primarily told by the family he left behind and the admirers he inspired

The film charts McQueen’s life from his tough childhood to his death at the age of 50 when he was one of the world’s biggest movie stars. As the documentary goes on, it touches on McQueen’s major films like Bullitt, The Great Escape, and Papillon, while also taking time to give his fans a better understanding of his personal life. And of course there’s the racing. Lots and lots of racing. I’d known Steve McQueen had a reputation as a car guy that dabbled in racing now and then, but before watching this documentary I hadn’t known that he was so serious about racing as a sport. There was a time in his career when you could say that he was a racer that also acted and not the other way around.

I think the film’s finest achievement is that does a good job of letting you that McQueen was more than just an actor; he was a highly skilled racer, a military veteran, and a very complicated human being. And I mean complicated. I Am Steve McQueen paints the actor as an incredibly competitive man. Friends from acting school remember him as considering all other blonde, blue-eyed actors as potential enemies. When he went onto bigger films, it seems he did all he could to steal scenes away from his co-stars so that he would leave the biggest impression on the audience (which is especially noticeable in The Magnificent Seven). McQueen wasn’t out to make friends in showbiz, but rather to make a name for himself. And he succeeded, giving us one memorable performance after another while simultaneously building an image for himself as the steely eyed, silent type anti-hero. Often times his competitive nature helped him rise to a level of stardom that other actors could not have reached. However, that same drive also ruined some relationships with artistic colleagues and loved ones. McQueen seemed to understand his competitive nature was leading him to the edge and he thought learning martial arts under the tutelage of Pat Johnson and Bruce Lee would help him to achieve inner balance. It would seem, based on three marriages and a multitude of fractured relationships with directors and co-stars, inner peace remained largely elusive for McQueen through much of his life.

There are many archival clips and images of McQueen throughout the documentary but the man himself grants very little information to the questions posed about his life and career. Instead, others are asked to fill in the gaps. Robert Downey Jr. serves as the film’s narrator, but like McQueen he is given very little to say. McQueen’s family lends information on his personal life and feelings over the years. Director Norman Jewison (The Cincinnati Kid), TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz, and biographer Marshall Terrill give us some history about McQueen’s films. And actors Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman, Zoe Bell, and Randy Couture gush with admiration about how McQueen inspired them and influenced the craft of film acting. It’s a lively group of individuals and the documentary is never boring, but I do think I Am Steve McQueen suffers from not enough of the man’s own words about his life. True, it seems McQueen was a quiet type off-screen as well as on-screen, but it still feels less complete than I would’ve liked. One of the things the documentary makes clear is that once McQueen had control over where he wanted his career to go, many of the characters he played told a little something about him. McQueen’s filmography is somewhat biographical, showing his youth on the mean streets, to his time in the military, to his love for cars and racing. So, while the documentary doesn’t give us too much of McQueen talking about himself, perhaps we can still learn something more about the man just by watching his movies.

The documentary spends too much time trying to explain how or why McQueen was cool. I guess I understand the reasoning behind it since he is known as the ‘King of Cool,’ after all. But I feel they returned to this part of McQueen’s mystique too often, leaving some of the interviewees to ramble on about his clothes, his eyes, and whether or not he would still be considered quite as cool if we just recognized him as some random guy and not the famous actor. It’s like they were attempting to explain the science of ‘cool.’ It’s entertaining at first, but only at first.

I was not a fan of I Am Bruce Lee. I felt it barely scratched the surface of the legend that is Bruce Lee, and instead was more focused on showing how Lee influenced others in their film or martial arts careers. I liked I Am Steve McQueen considerably more. Like the Bruce Lee documentary, I feel the McQueen film could’ve gone deeper. I don’t believe that McQueen’s bigger fans will learn anything new from the film. But it’s an entertaining documentary that covers all the major bases. More casual McQueen fans – like me – are more likely to get something out of the documentary, as it grants an interesting, honest look at the King of Cool. In the end, the documentary made me want to rewatch the McQueen films in my collection and check out some of the others that I missed. I figure that means I Am Steve McQueen accomplished what it set out to do.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 7/10

Posted in Documentary, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , |

Furious | DVD (Leomark Studios)

Posted on April 13, 2015 by JJ Bona
Furious | DVD (Leomark Studios)

Furious | DVD (Leomark Studios)

RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2015

Leomark Studios presents the DVD for 1984’s Furious, featuring Best of the Best stars Simon Rhee and Phillip Rhee, as well as Loren Avedon (Raging Thunder).

This cult classic has been pirated by fans all over the world since its first release in 1984. Now, Furious arrives digitally remastered in this collector’s edition DVD. Watch the trailer.

Extras include interview with writer/director Tim Everitt, two trailers and director’s commentary.

Pre-order Furious from Amazon.com today!

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles |

Skin Trade (2014) Review

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Z Ravas
"Skin Trade" Theatrical Poster

“Skin Trade” Theatrical Poster

Director: Ekachai Uekrongtham
Producer: Craig Baumgarten, Dolph Lundgren, Mike Selby
Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman, Michael Jai White, Celina Jade, Peter Weller, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Conan Stevens, Mike Dopud, Tasya Teles, Leo Rano
Running Time: 95 min.

By HKFanatic

Like many action stars of the Eighties, Dolph Lundgren has spent the last fifteen years starring in a reliable stream of direct-to-video titles. Except for a welcome appearance in The Expendables films, your best chance at catching Dolph in action as of late has been movies like The Killing Machine and Command Performance. Although Dolph frequently steps behind the camera himself for these projects, for the most part they’ve been rote thrillers with little to distinguish them besides Dolph’s natural charm. Thus, the announcement of Skin Trade made martial arts fans stand up and take notice: here was an opportunity to see Dolph Lundgren team up with international sensation Tony Jaa of Ong Bak fame. Cautious optimism aside, martial arts junkies could be forgiven for thinking this might be the best team-up since peanut butter met chocolate.

And let us not forget, in many ways Tony Jaa needed Skin Trade to be a success as much as Dolph did. It’s difficult to believe that only ten years after he shot to international stardom with Ong-Bak, Tony Jaa’s career was in a state of disrepair. By 2013, he was as well-known for his disappearing from the set of Ong-Bak 2 and contract disputes as he was his flying kicks. The dismal reception of Tom Yum Goong 2 – the movie that had once been positioned as Jaa’s comeback – served as salt on the wound. Thankfully, moving into 2015 Tony Jaa seems to be in a much better place: his physical talents will be seen by a wider audience than ever thanks to his cameo in Hollywood blockbuster Furious Seven, and Skin Trade is preparing for a Video On Demand rollout from Magnet Releasing.

Magnet themselves have been smart in building the hype for Skin Trade through a steady stream of online marketing, highlighting the star power of its cast: joining Jaa and Lundgren is fan favorite bruiser Michael Jai White (Falcon Rising), as well as character actors Paul Weller (Robocop) and Ron Perlman (Hellyboy). Which begs the question: does Skin Trade actually live up to the hype or is it destined to join the rest of Dolph Lundgren’s post-millennial career on the racks of America’s now non-existent video stores?

Perhaps befitting a film that seeks to unite two of the biggest action stars from opposite sides of the globe, Skin Trade itself seems to exhibit something of a split personality. The first half hour of the film plays out like you would expect a by-the-numbers Dolph Lundgren actioner to unfold, with Dolph on the hunt for a vicious Serbian gangster (played by Ron Perlman) who traffics women to be sold as slaves in Asia. It’s unclear just why Dolph has such a vendetta against Perlman, except for the fact that he’s a genuinely nasty piece of work, but when Perlman places a hit on Dolph’s family, it’s safe to say that things have become personal. This is the kind of revenge plot that would be set-up within the first ten minutes of a Steven Seagal flick, but for some reason takes three times as long here.

Fortunately, once Dolph Lundgren wakes up in the hospital seeing red, he hops a plane to Thailand and the real movie begins. In Asia, he crosses paths with Tony Jaa’s Thai detective – but if you were expecting the two of them to put aside their cultural differences and get to stopping Ron Perlman together, then you clearly haven’t read a comic book crossover in which our two heroes must first slug it out with each other before they can team-up. And once it does arrive, the Dolph Lundgren vs. Tony Jaa title match is well worth the wait. These two radically different combatants go at each other in a knock-down, drag-out brawl that thankfully doesn’t suffer from too much of the choppy editing that has ruined many a highly-anticipated bout (anyone remember Jet Li vs. Mark Dacascos in Cradle 2 the Grave?).

If that weren’t enough, their scuffle might just be bested later on when Tony Jaa squares off against Michael Jai White. The fight choreography is frequently captured from a far-off distance, which is a boon in that it allows us to see the athleticism of our combatants; however, it has the adverse side effect of underselling the drama of the fight. Since we never really cut to a close-up, the film fails to sell us on the emotions of the actors. Thus, I often had the impression I was watching two highly trained stunt people hit their marks rather than two characters engaged in a dramatically-charged conflict. It might seem like a small quibble in a direct-to-video flick, but the viewer should have a reason to care about the combat unfolding besides the fact that it features two of their favorite action stars.

Fans of actor Dolph Lundgren may be disappointed to hear he’s frequently outshined by his co-stars. While he is very much the main character, the filmmakers don’t afford him the same kind of jaw-dropping moments that Jaa and White receive. And despite his massive size and legitimate martial arts skills, Dolph has never moved as a graceful performer onscreen. There’s an awkward, lumbering quality to his movements that continues here, and he spends most of the climax of the film mowing down people with an AK-47 rather than employing fisticuffs. Peter Weller chews up the scenery every moment he’s onscreen (wait till you hear the way he pronounces “Asia”) but he unfortunately disappears from Skin Trade after the first act. Meanwhile, Ron Perlman seems to be doing a variation on his character from Drive, only this time with an Eastern European accent.

Skin Trade is not a great film by any stretch of the imagination – for one thing, it seeks to shed a spotlight on the real world horrors of sex trafficking, while at the same time shamelessly exploiting the few female characters in the cast. Regardless, Skin Trade certainly continues the trend of direct-to-video action movies stepping up their game: the movie harkens back to the kind of old-school, minimal-CG stunts and fight scenes that mainstream Hollywood seems to have turned their back on. There was a time when skipping a theatrical release and arriving via VOD was something of a kiss of death, but movies like Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Ninja II have proved that’s quickly changing. With its fast pace and copious amounts of bloody violence, this is clearly a film that knows its audience. As such, it’s hard to imagine that fans of the central performers won’t come away from Skin Trade thoroughly entertained.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 6/10

Posted in Asian Related, News, Reviews, Thai | Tagged , , , , , , |

Darth Vader joins Rob Cohen’s fantasy-action flick ‘Marco Polo’

Posted on April 11, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Marco Polo" Chinese Theatrical Poster

"Marco Polo" Chinese Theatrical Poster

Rob Cohen (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) will be directing a 3D fantasy/action film titled Marco Polo (no relation to the current Netflix series), a co-production between Paramount and China Film Group. The film is scheduled to hit theaters in 2016.

There have also been additional reports that Cohen is considering his Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor leading man Jet Li (Flying Swords of the Dragon Gate) for a role.

Countless projects about the Venetian adventurer have been made in the past, but the obvious one that comes to our mind is 1975’s Marco Polo (aka Four Assassins), a Chang Cheh-directed Shaw Brothers film starring Richard Harrison, Alexander Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan Chun, Gordon Liu, Leung Kar Yan and Shih Szu.

Updates: THR reports that Hayden Christensen (Star Wars Episode I-III) will be starring in Marco Polo.

Posted in News |

Robot Jox | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

Posted on April 11, 2015 by JJ Bona
Robot Jox | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

Robot Jox | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2015

Before Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim… Before Michael Bay’s Transformers…

Shout! Factory presents the Blu-ray for Robot Jox. Directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), Robot Jox reveals a world where nations settle their territorial disputes by a single combat between two giant machines. Piloted by national heroes Achilles (Gary Graham) and Alexander (Paul Koslo), the robots meet in Death Valley to fight for the greatest prize of all: Alaska. Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Robot Jox from Amazon.com today!

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Other Notable Titles |

Typhoon (2005) Review

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Z Ravas
"Typhoon" Korean Theatrical Poster

“Typhoon” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Gwak Gyeong-Taek
Writer: Gwak Gyeong-Taek
Cast: Jang Dong-Gun, Lee Jeong-Jae, Lee Mi-Yeon, David McInnis, Chatthapong Pantanaunkul
Running Time: 124 min.

By HKFanatic

From the opening of Typhoon, it’s clear that Korea is screwed. A rogue pirate named Sin (Dong-gun Jang) with a grudge against both the North and the South has amassed some weapons-grade plutonium. His big plan is to release it during a typhoon, when the high velocity winds will spread it across the entire island. Fortunately, some stern-looking military generals in the South declare, “I know just the man for the job.” Smash cut to: our South Korean alpha-male Navy officer hero playing shirtless football on the beach with a bunch of his military buds.

Yup, it’s that kind of movie. South Korea attempts to mimic Hollywood with this slick, expensive blockbuster whose protagonist, played by Jung-Jae Lee, seems like the country’s answer to Keanu Reeves. But Typhoon is not as empty-headed as your typical Michael Bay flick.

That is, there’s some genuine drama to be found. The villain’s only living relative is his long-lost sister, who also happens to be a drug addict. Our hero locates her and tries to use her to bargain with Sin. In the process he develops something like affection for her and respect for Sin. He slowly realizes that the only thing separating him from the pirate is chance or fate; the Navy officer feels just as strongly about protecting his country as Sin does destroying it.

At 124 minutes, Typhoon takes plenty of time to develop its story and lay out some action sequences. There’s nothing mind-blowing but a car chase about halfway through the movie is a sure highlight, with Jung-Jae Lee running out of a hotel lobby and firing his gun at the fleeing bad guys in slow-motion like a bad-ass. Later there’s a tense shoot-out in a tiny cottage, with the good guys in the sights of a crackpot sniper. The climax of the film sees the Korean Navy undergo a daring operation in the heart of the typhoon. The hand-to-hand combat is your standard Hollywood fare, nothing to write home about, but this finale has enough of that ‘explosions on a rain-swept barge that could capsize at any moment’ feel to it to keep your adrenaline going.

Oddly enough, Dong-gun Jang seems like the bigger star of this production, seeing as how he gets top billing in the credits and is featured most prominently on the movie posters. The screenplay goes to great lengths to establish his character as a wounded and sympathetic villain, despite the fact that he plans to murder millions of people. While Dong-gun Jang gives a solid performance and I appreciate the film’s attempts to give us a more three-dimensional antagonist, when I watch an action movie I really just want to see the hero kick the bad guy’s ass without remorse.

There’s not quite enough of that vibe in Typhoon, but it’s a solidly entertaining flick. It tries to imitate your typical Hollywood blockbuster with some degree of success. Still, I think if there’s anything South Korean films have taught us lately, it’s that they’re at their best when they’re making the movies that Hollywood won’t.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 6/10

Posted in Korean, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , |

Tiger Over Wall (1980) Review

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"Tiger Over Wall" Theatrical Poster

“Tiger Over Wall” Theatrical Poster

Director: Tony Liu Jun Guk
Producer: Alex Gouw
Cast: Philip Ko Fei, Kong Do, Chu Tiet Wo, Hwang Jang Lee, Cheung Lik, Candy Wen, Chan Lau
Running Time: 91 min.

By Paul Bramhall

There’s a certain familiarity to watching an old school kung fu movie, in that you tend to know exactly what you’re going to get. A villain has killed a teacher, and the student vows to get revenge. A villain has killed a family member, and the surviving relative vows to get revenge. A villain has killed someone who has a loose connection to someone else, and that someone else vows to get revenge. It’s a tried and tested formula, and the rule of thumb seems to be that as long as we get a healthy dose of exciting fight action, the sub-standard plots can be forgiven.

So with Tiger Over Wall, apart from having a title which resembles a grammatical car crash, it’s refreshing to get a plot which takes a different approach from the norm. As the bombastic music plays over the opening credits, you can’t help but also notice the sound of a dog barking in what sounds like an empty room, which has been mixed over the music at equal volume. It’s quite jarring. This however is the closest we get to a dog for the rest of the movie, as proceedings open on a middle aged British diplomat and his Chinese mistress realizing that their treasured boxer dog, Rover, has gone missing.

Soon enough they’re questioning the nearest passerby to see if they’ve seen the precious Rover, and when the poor sap reveals he hasn’t, he ends up getting beaten by the diplomat, while the mistress cheerfully yells in the background, “That’s right! Beat him! Kick the bastard harder! Kick him ‘till he’s dead! Kick him! Go on!” Things escalate, and within the first 15 minutes, the chief of police – played by Korean kicking legend Hwang Jang Lee – has been called in to try and find the dog, threatening to arrest anyone who doesn’t help with the investigation.

There we have the plot of Tiger Over Wall – the police try to find a white guy’s missing dog. As ridiculous as this may sound, the events are actually based on a true story that took place in Shanghai during 1919. The fact that the dog belonged to a foreign diplomat resulted in the police getting involved, however I’m sure that’s as far as the similarities go.

The movie is directed by Tony Liu Jun Guk, and while his name may not be as familiar as other directors working around the same period, he’s arguably been behind several classic slices of kung fu. Jun Guk hit his stride a few years after making Tiger Over Wall, when while working for the Shaw Brothers studio he made several high energy, slightly off the wall, kung fu movies such as Holy Flame of the Martial World, Bastard Swordsman, and Secret Service of the Imperial Court. As the 90’s beckoned he moved into the Girls with Guns genre, directing a number of Moon Lee starring action fests like Devil Hunters, Dreaming the Reality, and Angel Terminators 2.

Jun Guk enlisted fight choreographer Dang Tak Cheung to stage the action for Tiger Over Wall, and Tak Cheung’s resume makes for just as impressive reading as the director himself. Like Jun Guk, Tak Cheung also liked to work on the slightly more off the wall side of the kung-fu movie world, choreographing the likes of Kung Fu Zombie, and the insane Shaw Brothers production Buddha’s Palm. While working at Shaw Brothers Dak Cheung got the opportunity to have full control on a couple of productions, which led to him directing, writing, and choreographing the late-Shaw era movies Demon of the Lute and Long Road to Gallantry, both of which are personal favorites.

With such talent behind the camera, to really make a great old-school kung-fu movie, you need to have an equal amount of talent in front of it. Thankfully Tiger Over Wall does, who come in the form of Philip Ko, and the previously mentioned Hwang Jang Lee. Both are ably backed up by such familiar old school faces as Kong Do, Chu Tiet Wo, Cheung Lik, and even the director himself shows up as an assassin for hire. Both Philip Ko and Hwang Jang Lee have so many classics between them that it would be impossible to do them justice in just a few lines. Ko, arguably the master of the ‘shapes’ style of choreography, was on fire in 1980, also starring in The Loot and Snake Deadly Act to name but a couple, while Hwang, often referred to as the king of leg fighters, also cranked out classics like The Buddha Assassinator and Challenge of the Tiger in the same year.

In an era where we’re happy just to have one good kung fu movie a year, it’s easy to forget that in the golden era we had several stars making several movies every year, year in year out. It’s a time that will likely never be rivaled in terms of productivity and output, but at least it leaves us with plenty to choose from. In Tiger Over Wall Ko plays the guy who has to see not only his girlfriend’s poor family, but also his teacher, end up getting roped into taking the fall for the missing dog, under false promises of money or business permits. As he’s forced to watch his nearest and dearest be lied to, beaten up, and tortured, things begin to boil over until he can’t take anymore, and he begins to bust out the moves that we’ve all been waiting for.

It’s worth noting that Tiger Over Wall certainly doesn’t rush its fight scenes. Indeed for the first 50 minutes, with the exception of a few brief scuffles by Ko and the constant threat of violence, there’s actually no substantial fight action. Thankfully the hilarious English dub more than makes up for it, providing plenty of unintentional laughs as Hwang Jang Lee storms into various establishments yelling “WHERE’S THE BOXER DOG!?” The absurdity of it never wears off, and keeps proceedings moving along nicely. However at the 50 minute mark Ko gets to explode, taking on Kong Do in an awesome shapes fest involving fists, feet, and a pair of umbrellas. It’s fast, fluid, and sets off a buildup of action which doesn’t stop until the credits roll.

While you’ll often see discussions which talk about how great it would be if certain stars of the old school era had faced off against each other but never did, movies like Tiger Over Wall make you thankful that a movie exists in which, yes, kung fu legends like Philip Ko and Hwang Jang Lee actually do get to face off against each other. And for those who are worried, don’t be, it doesn’t fail to impress. The finale is lengthy and exhausting, as the pair start off with Ko armed with a staff and Hwang armed with a guandao, before segueing into an empty handed showdown of tiger claw versus mantis fist. There’s a part when the two opponents briefly move their fight indoors, and you’d swear Hwang had never learnt to tame his kicks for screen fighting, as every one of them looks like if it made contact it would take Ko’s head off.

What’s so great about Ko and Hwang is that they not only had the moves, but they also had an intensity behind them. When they fight it doesn’t just look like they’re performing finely tuned choreography to perfection, it looks like they really want to kill each other. These guys could perform intricate displays of choreography, and act at the same time, and that’s talent. By the time they’re through with each other, I can guarantee that you’ll have completely forgotten about wondering what became of Rover the boxer dog, which is just as well, as it appears the director did as well.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10

Full disclosure: I watched Tiger Over Wall as part of the Brooklyn Zu Vol. 1 9-Movie set which was released by US based label Ground Zero in 2004. The movie was released in the UK by the now defunct Vengeance Video label in 2006 in its original Mandarin language with burnt-in English subtitles, and claims to be fully uncut. While there are no obvious cuts in the Brooklyn Zu version, I have seen discussion in which people talk about a character being on the receiving end of a 360 degree neck snap, which I’m sure wasn’t in the version I saw. On a note of personal preference, I would have to say that I wouldn’t have enjoyed the movie half as much had it not had the English dub, which offers many moments of unintentional hilarity that I’m sure wouldn’t be found with the original audio.

Posted in Chinese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , |

Incident at Blood Pass | aka Ambush (1970) Review

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"Incident at Blood Pass" Japanese Theatrical Poster

"Incident at Blood Pass" Japanese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Ambush
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki
Producer: Toshiro Mifune
Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Yujiro Ishihara, Ruriko Asaoka, Shintaro Katsu, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Chusha Ichikawa, Ichiro Arishima, Mika Kitagawa, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Jotaro Togami, Chieko Nakakita, Ryunosuke Yamazaki
Running Time: 117 min.

By Kyle Warner

Toshiro Mifune has played many great characters but perhaps his most popular and influential role was born in the 1961 samurai action comedy Yojimbo. After the success of that film, Toho wanted more of the character, so Mifune and Akira Kurosawa returned to their nameless ronin for Sanjuro the very next year. And though writer/director Kurosawa would never again return to the character, Mifune seemed less willing to let the nameless ronin go. After the studio contract system started to die, Toshiro Mifune and other esteemed talents in Japan were forming their own production companies. In 1970, Mifune would bring back the Yojimbo character for not one but two films, both of which would co-star Shintaro Katsu. The first would be in the crossover film Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, which was produced by Katsu Productions. And the second would be Incident at Blood Pass (aka Ambush), produced by Mifune Productions.

There’s some debate about whether the character that Mifune plays in Incident at Blood Pass is the same man he played in Yojimbo and Sanjuro. My opinion is that yes, he is playing the same guy, but the character has changed from how we remember him. In Incident at Blood Pass Mifune plays a nameless ronin in tattered clothes that hires himself out as a yojimbo (bodyguard) and is more interested in gold than he is in proper samurai etiquette. Sound familiar? The thing is, it’s the same man on the surface, and a different man underneath. Whereas before the Yojimbo was a fiery, amusing rogue that liked to watch people and how they reacted to changing circumstances, here he appears somewhat bored with everybody. Much of this probably stems from Mifune himself, who does not give the same level of performance that once made the character so endearing. What’s puzzling, though, is that he did manage to tap into the character more successfully in Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, but wasn’t up to task on this film despite having more creative control. But that’s not the film’s most puzzling question. The real mystery is this: how did they get so many talented people together and end up making such a bland movie?

The cast and crew of Incident at Blood Pass can read like a who’s who of classic Japanese samurai cinema from the 60s and 70s. You’ve got Toshiro Mifune maybe-probably-kinda giving a final performance as his most popular character. You have Shintaro Katsu (the Zatoichi series) getting into villain mode to play a sleazy, discredited doctor that’s making illegal medicine in the woods. There’s the stunning Ruriko Asaoka (Goyokin) playing a woman that’s had enough of her abusive husband and leaves him in the dust. Plus there’s Kinnosuke Nakamura (The Shogun’s Samurai) as a half-crazed lawman and 60s superstar Yujiro Ishihara (Crazed Fruit) as a homeless gangster. The film is directed by genre-favorite Hiroshi Inagaki (The Samurai Trilogy) and co-written by Hideo Oguni, who had been one of Akira Kurosawa’s favorite collaborators. There’s so much talent and star power involved in this movie. How did it go wrong? Short answer: bad script.

Mifune’s ronin is hired by a mysterious old samurai to go to a mountain pass and “wait until something happens.”

That’s the plot. ‘Wait until something happens.’

Because he can’t just stand around waiting forever, Mifune checks into an inn where all the other colorful characters are also staying. The film’s not bad when it tries to be an ensemble character piece, because it does a good job of letting every actor shine in their role at one point or another. But mostly we’re just waiting at the inn for something to happen. There’s even a few times when Mifune goes into voice-over and wonders, “Is this it? Is this what I was supposed to wait for?” It’s a film that’s wasting time as it tries to arrive at a plot. Mifune’s hero (and soon the audience) just wants the wait to be over and the mission to end.

Now, I believe that a film can be without plot and still make for a watchable movie. But those successful films are about characters or themes and that’s what makes them work. Incident at Blood Pass is a film that teases you that it’s about something by constantly reminding you, ‘wait for it… wait for it!’ There’s a part where Mifune leaves the inn for a time only to return to find villainous characters are staying there. Mifune says, “I see… so I guess something did happen, after all.” That’s the payoff we’ve been waiting for all this time. I believe the movie thinks it’s being cute and clever but really it just feels like unengaging storytelling.

When you ignore the movie fumbling around for a story to tell it’s possible for you to enjoy the individual scenes. I like the characters and I appreciate how much the actors put into their performances. While he could be accused of overacting, Kinnosuke Nakamura gives an enjoyably nutso performance as the stammering self-righteous officer of the law. And I do believe that any film which pits two titans of cinema against each other is something that fans of those actors are likely to enjoy, so I had fun watching Mifune and Katsu try to figure each other out. But even so, they’d done pretty much the same thing more successfully earlier that same year with Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo.

The film’s final scene is an interesting one. I’m not going to spoil who dies, but I do want to explain the imagery. Mifune cuts down a group of samurai and then walks off into the distance as a harsh wind blows, kicking up dust that flies past the camera in a flurry of movement. Every Yojimbo film ends in a similar fashion: climactic swordplay, Yojimbo gives a somewhat sad farewell, and he walks off as the wind really starts blowing. I think that this final scene of Incident at Blood Pass is deliberately meant to remind the viewer of the imagery from the original Yojimbo and Sanjuro (Kurosawa sure did love his wind), but what’s strange is that this sort of imagery is almost completely absent from the rest of the film. It’s like it took director Inagaki the entire film to figure out the sort of movie that he should’ve been making.

Incident at Blood Pass is not a good movie, but I’ll admit it took me two viewings to figure that out. I liked it more the first time I watched it a few years back. I knew it was flawed then, but I enjoyed it. And you know what, I still enjoy it today, at least on some level. The screenplay really could’ve used a couple more revisions before the cameras started rolling, but there is some good stuff here. Incident at Blood Pass is one of those cases where you can admire multiple scenes but you can’t exactly praise the film on the whole. It’s just unfortunate that the great character of Yojimbo went out on such a dull note.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 5.5/10

Posted in Japanese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , |

Deal on Fire! Wu Dang | Blu-ray | Only $9.99 – Expires soon!

Posted on April 7, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Wu Dang" Blu-ray Cover

"Wu Dang" Blu-ray Cover

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for 2012’s Wu Dang (aka Great Wu Dang), a fantasy-based Chinese martial arts film from director Patrick Leung Pak Kin (Twins Effect II) and action choreography by the legendary Corey Yuen (No Retreat, No Surrender II: Raging Thunder).

Wu Dang (read our review) stars Vincent Zhao (The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom), Siu-Wong Fan (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky), Dennis To (Zombie 108) and Yang Mi (Painted Skin 2).

Order Wu Dang from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

New Expendables-style poster for ‘Hitman: Agent 47’

Posted on April 7, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Hitman: Agent 47" Theatrical Poster

"Hitman: Agent 47" Theatrical Poster

Hitting theaters on August 28th is the reboot of 2007’s Hitman, a live action film adaptation of the hit video game, which will be titled Hitman: Agent 47.

The late Paul Walker was previously set to star as Agent 47, but due to his untimely passing, Rupert Friend (Homeland) took over as the film’s lead. Agent 47 also stars Zachary Quinto (Star Trek), Hannah Ware and Thomas Kretschmann.

Making his big screen directing debut will be Aleksander Bach, who was hired based on his commercials (see his work here). Skip Woods (A Good Day to Die Hard) and Michael Finch (Predators) are writing the screenplay.

Updates: Check out the newest poster, complete with Expendables-style design. If you haven’t already, watch the film’s first trailer.

Posted in News |

Cityonfire.com’s ‘Vengeance of an Assassin’ Blu-ray Giveaway! – WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Posted on April 6, 2015 by JJ Bona
Vengeance of an Assassin | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Vengeance of an Assassin | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Cityonfire.com and Well Go USA are giving away 3 Blu-ray copies of Vengeance of an Assassin to three lucky Cityonfire visitors. To enter, simply add a comment to this post and describe, in your own words, this video.

We will be selecting a winner at random. Be sure to include your email address in the appropriate field so we can contact you for your home address. Additionally, you must ‘Like Us‘ on cityonfire.com’s Facebook by clicking here.

The Blu-ray & DVD for Vengeance of an Assassin will be officially released on April 14, 2015. We will announce the 3 winners on April 15, 2015 and ship out the prizes immediately.

CONTEST DISCLAIMER: You must enter by April 14, 2015 to qualify. U.S. residents only please. We sincerely apologize to our non-U.S. visitors. Winners must respond with their mailing address within 48 hours, otherwise you will automatically be disqualified. No exceptions. Contest is subject to change without notice.

WINNNERS: Congratulations to Ben, Ritchie and Travis. You have all been notified via email!

Posted in News | Tagged |

The Taking of Tiger Mountain | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

Posted on April 6, 2015 by JJ Bona
The Taking of Tiger Mountain | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

The Taking of Tiger Mountain | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA)

RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2015

Well Go USA presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Tsui Hark’s The Taking of Tiger Mountain, an action epic based on the real life story of an incident in 1946 during the Chinese Civil War, involving a communist reconnaissance team soldier Yang Zirong who disguised himself as a bandit to infiltrate a local gang of bandits.

The film stars Zhang Hanyu (Bodyguards and Assassins), Zhou Dongyu, Gao Hu (The Man From Macau), Tong Liya (Journey to the West), Kenny Lin (Young Detective Dee) and newcomer Han Geng. Watch the trailer.

Pre-order The Taking of Tiger Mountain from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases |

Newest trailer for Jean-Claude Van Damme’s ‘Pound of Flesh’

Posted on April 6, 2015 by JJ Bona
Pound of Flesh | Blu-ray & DVD (Entertainment One)

Pound of Flesh | Blu-ray & DVD (Entertainment One)

Get your organs ready for Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Pound of Flesh! This upcoming action-thriller re-teams the martial arts star with Ernie Barbarash (Favela), the director behind 2011’s Assassination Games and 2012’s 6 Bullets. Van Damme’s son, Kristopher Van Varenberg (Enemies Closer), Darren Shahlavi (Ip Man 2), John Ralston (Degrassi The Next Generation), William B Davis (The X-Files) and Charlotte Peters are co-starring.

The plot line of Pound of Flesh is reminiscent of Park Chan-wook’s 2002 thriller, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance:

In China to donate his kidney to his dying niece, Deacon (Van Damme), an former black-ops agent, awakes the day before the operation to find he is the latest victim of organ theft. Stitched up and pissed-off, Deacon descends from his opulent hotel in search of his stolen kidney and carves a blood-soaked path through the darkest corners of the city – brothels, fight clubs, back-alley black markets, and elite billionaire estates. The clock is ticking for his niece and with each step he loses blood.

Pound of Flesh will be getting a North American theatrical/VOD release date on May 15, 2015, followed by its Blu-ray & DVD release on June 23, 2015.

Updates: Via the Hollywood Reporter, Pound of Flesh will feature fight scenes coordinated by veteran choreographer and stuntman John Salvetti (Donnie Yen’s Flash Point, Special Identity). | Ernie Barbarash, the director of Pound of Flesh, spills some details about his upcoming film in this video. He mentions that it is an “action movie that’s very character driven.” | Bruceploitation actor Huang Kin Long (aka Bruce Le) recently visited the set. So what does Le look like today? Well, here’s a photo (courtesy of Impact) of him with Mike Leeder, Darren Shahlavi and Mike Moller on the set of Pound of Flesh. Simply amazing!

First “real” trailer re-edited with some extra footage not seen in the first “leaked” teaser. | 2nd trailer. | After a series of trailers consisting of broken links, unofficial leaks (and other unexplained uploads), here’s the film’s first official full trailer. | 10-minute featurette.

Watch the newest trailer (via FCS) – and, don’t forget… Pound of Flesh is hitting VOD on May 15, then  Blu-ray & DVD on June 23, 2015. Pre-order it today!

BREAKING NEWS: Read our our review for Pound of Flesh!

Posted in News |

Cross | DVD (Well Go USA)

Posted on April 6, 2015 by JJ Bona
Cross | DVD (Well Go USA)

Cross | DVD (Well Go USA)

RELEASE DATE: June 23, 2015

Well Go USA presents the DVD for 2012’s Cross, a crime-thriller written and directed by Daniel Chan, Steve Woo, Lau Kin Ping, Hui Shu Ning (yes, four filmmakers).

Cross revolves around a Catholic serial killer (played by Simon Yam) who, after witnesses his wife’s death, believes he is given to duty to kill suicidal people to bring them peace and allowing them to enter heaven. The film also stars Kenny Wong (Firestorm), Liu Kai-chi (Viral Factor) and Nick Cheung (That Demon Within). Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Cross from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases |
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