Traffickers (2012) Review

"Traffickers" Korean Theatrical Poster

“Traffickers” Korean Theatrical Poster

AKA: Traffikers
Director: Kim Hong-Sun
Producer: Won Hyun-Jae
Cast: Im Chang-Jung, Daniel Choi, Jo Yoon-Hee, Oh Dal-Su, Jo Dal-Hwan, Jung Ji-Yoon
Running Time: 111 min.

By Kelly Warner

They say that truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense. What they left out is that films based on a true story also have to make sense, regardless of whether that ruins the truthiness of the tale (my spellcheck didn’t even blink at the word ‘truthiness’ – a sign of the coming Apocalypse, I’m sure). To make a true story more understandable or presentable, it’s not uncommon to add a bit of dramatization. I’m not going to pretend to be familiar with the true story that inspired the film Traffickers, however I feel it’s pretty safe to assume that writer/director Hong-seon Kim and co. added their fair share of fictional drama to the story. What’s interesting is that they managed to put much of this theatrical drama in all the wrong places. I’d bet the headlines that detailed the true account were already difficult to believe, but all the filmmakers did was make the pill even harder to swallow.

The film is about organ traffickers. A young woman named Yoo-ri (played by Yun-hie Jo) is trying to save her father but the hospitals aren’t helping, so she turns to the black market. She’s told to take a boat to China where her father’s new organs will be waiting for him and doctors will be prepped for surgery. Meanwhile, on the same boat ride, the organ traffickers abduct a woman in a wheelchair and bring her to a vacant sauna to remove her organs.

There are so many twists along the way, most of which seemed rather absurd, so describing anymore of the plot would be a wasted effort. In many ways, that’s what the whole film feels like: a wasted effort. There are good performances here, there’s a nasty backbone for a story, and a few interesting new ideas, but it all amounts to so very little.

This is the sort of the film that says, Here, this is our plot, but don’t get too attached because it’s gonna change in a couple minutes anyway. A new, improbable twist is added every five or ten minutes. Instead of making the film complex it only manages to make things confusing and/or silly. Some twists just do not work and one wishes director Kim had played it straight and made a gritty thriller instead of… whatever this is.

It would help if there was a single character that I felt something for. Yoo-ri, the woman who’s trying to save her father, knows she’s doing something wrong but she only cares about her father’s life and not the victim. I can’t exactly root for her. I expect the film wants us to get behind the leader of the organ traffickers Young-gyu (played by Chang Jung Lim, who gives a strong performance). Before the end of the film Young-gyu does his best to do the right things, but his chosen profession still makes him a horrible human being. Even if we can get beyond the fact that Young-gyu regularly smuggles organs and other contraband, his personal life is also bothersome. In one of the film’s more puzzling sub-plots, Young-gyu is in love with Yoo-ri. But it’s not a casual attraction – he’s basically her stalker. Because she smiled at him, he assumes she’s leading him on. What’s more, when she repeatedly tells him to buzz off, he gets angry and demands an apology, one she repeatedly feels she has to give. Ugly, stupid people.

Dal-su Oh plays one of the film’s most despicable characters, the doctor whose job it is to extract the organs from the team’s victims. Despite how repulsive the surgeon is, I found he was the closest thing to a complete character in the movie. He’s a monster, but he knows he’s a monster, and the film doesn’t expect you to think he’s anything more. It’s the only true character in the whole film and another good performance from a talented actor.

There is a sequence in the film where Yoo-ri is on the boat and finds herself unknowingly helping the husband of the woman who’s been abducted search for his lost wife. However contrived that sounds, it’s actually the closest the movie comes to having some real tension. Yoo-ri wants to save her father and she also wants to save this woman and she doesn’t know that one could cancel out the other. Instead of mining the sequence for all it’s worth the filmmakers allow it to fizzle out before the suspense ever really kicks in.

This is a movie that repeatedly fails to recognize the potential in its own ideas and jumps onto the next one before finishing with the last one. Wasted potential… and a waste of time.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 3/10

Posted in Korean, News, Reviews | Tagged |

Lionsgate gives Stallone, Van Damme, Schwarzenegger and Lundgren a Blu-ray cover makeover!

Stallone, Van Damme, Schwarzenegger and Lundgren get a makeover.

Stallone, Van Damme, Schwarzenegger and Lundgren get a makeover.

On February 24th, Lionsgate Home Entertainment is re-releasing the Blu-rays for 1982’s First Blood, 1990’s Total Recall, and 1992’s Universal Solider. All three titles will also come equipped with Digital HD versions for your portable devices.

Pop art enthusiasts will notice the new packaging, which feature semi-original artwork from their iconic theatrical posters. We’re assuming that it’s only the covers that have changed, so expect the same AV quality if you already own these titles.

Are more makeovers like these going to happen? Stay tuned to find out. Until then, these titles are currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

Posted in News |

Deal on Fire! Gamera: Ultimate Collections | Blu-ray | Only $8.99 – Expires soon!

Gamera: Ultimate Collections | Blu-ray (Mill Creek)

Gamera: Ultimate Collections | Blu-ray (Mill Creek)

RELEASE DATE: April 29, 2014

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray set for the Gamera: Ultimate Collection Vol. 1, which features Gamera: The Giant Monster (1965), Gamera vs. Barugon (1966), Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967) and Gamera vs. Viras (1968).

Also on sale is the Blu-ray set for the Gamera: Ultimate Collection Vol. 2, which includes Gamera vs. Guiron (1969), Gamera vs. Jiger (1970), Gamera vs. Zigra (1971) and Gamera: Super Monster (1980).

Order the Gamera: Ultimate Collections from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

Lupin the Third (2014) Review

"Lupin the Third" International Theatrical Poster

“Lupin the Third” International Theatrical Poster

AKA: Lupin III
Director: Ryuhei Kitamura
Writer: Mataichiro Yamamoto, Monkey Punch
Cast: Shun Oguri, Meisa Kuroki, Gou Ayano, Tadanobu Asano, Tetsuji Tamayama, Vithaya Pansringarm, Rhatha Phongam, Thanayong Wongtrakul, Kim Jun, Jerry Yan, Nirut Sirichanya, Nick Tate, Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, Yuka Nakayama
Running Time: 133 min.

By Paul Bramhall

When director Ryuhei Kitamura hit the scene in 2000 with his low budget zombie kung fu hybrid, Versus, critics were quick to announce the arrival of a new talent on the Japanese movie scene, and it was easy to see why. Versus had a certain energy about it that belied its humble budget, and it was great to see Japan once again returning to the fight movies that guys like Sonny Chiba and Yasuaki Kurata had made famous during the 70’s.

However, given access to bigger budgets and brought into the fold of the Japanese studio system, Kitamura seemed to lose his creative voice in the movies that came out after, whether it be mis-fires like Alive, or trying to put his own spin on one of Japan’s most recognizable icons with Godzilla: Final Wars. In the late 2000’s he decided to leave Japanese shores and head to the US, during which time he made Midnight Meat Train and No One Lives, both serviceable horror thrillers, before finally returning once again to Japan with the 2014 release of Lupin the Third.

Lupin the Third is one of Japan’s most enduring and well known Manga characters, a half French half Japanese thief who robs from the rich, his zany adventures have been entertaining audiences for close to 50 years. Bringing the character to the screen in a live-action movie was no doubt always going to be a challenge, but if anyone would be up to the task, it makes sense that the responsibility was given to Kitamura. It’s a shame then, that instead of plugging into the Manga and trying to bring it to life, the final product comes across as a poorly executed retread of the 2012 Korean blockbuster The Thieves.

It would probably take up the rest of the review to list all of the identical similarities that exist both in the plot and the characters, from the pan-Asian cast to whole plot revelations (most glaringly, a character who we believe to be a bad guy is eventually revealed to be not what he seems, and ends up teaming up with his former cohorts to take on a bigger threat who was responsible for his fathers death many years ago). It’s ironic that a movie about thieves would steal so many ideas from another, but this is the least of Kitamura’s problems.

The plot is ridiculously convoluted, but goes something like this. Lupin, played by Shun Oguri of Crows Zero fame, is part of a group of thieves called The Works. Other members are played by sassy cat burglar Kuroki Meisa, and Shuichi Yamaguchi. For the sake of appealing to Korean and Chinese audiences as well, we also have Kim Joon, most well known for his role in the Boys Over Flowers K-drama, and Jerry Yan from Chinese boyband F4, thrown into the mix. Oh, and a samurai character called Goemon joins them somewhere along the way, played by Go Ayano, for no other reason than he’s obviously also from the Manga.

They decide to steal a priceless piece of jewelry, but Yan betrays the group, killing the father figure of The Works, and reveals his plan to sell it to an evil Thai antique collector played by Nirut Sirichanya. He’s protected by a couple of Asian cinemas recent bad guy recruits – Thanayong Wongtrakul, who is instantly recognizable as the Vietnamese knife fighter from A Man from Nowhere, and Rhatha Phongam, who played the scantily clad fighter No. 20 in Tom Yum Goong 2. On top of all this, you have Tadanobu Asano playing the Japanese inspector on the tail of Lupin the Third, who teams up with a Thai colonel played by Vithaya Pansringarm, fresh from playing roles in both Benny Chan’s The White Storm and Isaac Florentine’s Ninja: Shadow of a Tear.

Nothing really makes any sense, with the nonsensical nature of the plot climaxing when the stolen item is put up for official public auction in front of a large audience (!?). But at 133 minutes, the plodding script certainly tries to make things seem cohesive through several needlessly lengthy scenes of characters explaining what’s going on to each other. It’s almost like Kitamura forgot he’s working in a visual medium, and that he could actually explain events that are going on by showing us them, rather than watching two characters sit across a table talking to each other in scenes which lack any kind of tension or immediacy.

Another big issue with having characters constantly explaining the plot to each other is that, for reasons unknown, over 90% of the movies dialogue is spoken in English. While I have nothing but admiration for non-native English speakers completing a whole movie in a language not their own, unfortunately there are too many times when it just doesn’t work. The intonation of words is off on more than one occasion, sometimes the punctuation of sentences is missing all together, and most of all, too often the actors look like they’re concentrating on getting their lines correct, rather than delivering the emotion that’s behind them. Of everyone, it’s Jerry Yan who comes off the worse, at one point delivering a particularly important line by splitting it up into three disastrous stop – start sentences, which makes the whole scene laughably bad.

Lupin the Third crams in a lot of action into its bloated runtime, as it should, but again it’s all poorly recycled from other sources. The need for many of Japan’s mainstream movies to be TV friendly, so that they can be shown as holiday specials for all the family on the studio owned TV channels, further proving to be a detriment to a once great movie industry. The result here is that we’re essentially left with the Hallmark Channel versions of the back seat car fight from The Raid 2, the Donnie Yen vs. Wu Jing fight from Sha Po Lang, and the car chase from The Matrix Reloaded. There’s barely a drop of blood, or indeed a single ounce of anger, on display anywhere. It’s a shame that Japan’s mainstream output has become so diluted that it’s now just a limp wristed reflection of what it once was.

Still, even without the need to remain as safe as possible, Kitamura make some mistakes of his own. At one point he takes separate fight scenes involving two characters taking on multiple attackers, and plays them out split-screen. Which one are you supposed to look at!? Thankfully you wouldn’t be missing much if you decided not to look at either, but it’s this kind of bad film making which proves that Kitamura seems to have lost touch with what makes a good movie. Top all this off with a completely mis-placed mellow jazz soundtrack, that even plays over some of the action scenes, and ultimately what’s supposed to be an exciting live action version of a fast paced and eclectic Manga, is yet another watered down, overly drawn out, damp squib of wasted time and talent from Japan.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 3/10

Posted in Japanese, News, Reviews | Tagged , |

Steven Seagal’s ‘Cypher’ to get a theatrical release?

"A Good Man" Japanese Theatrical Poster

"A Good Man" Japanese Theatrical Poster

Looks like Steven Seagal’s days of snapping necks, breaking bones and busting caps are far from over. It was recently announced at the American Film Market that the Aikido master has a $25 million dollar action thriller in the works titled Cypher.

According to Variety, Seagal will portray a special forces operative who – frustrated with the bureaucracy of war – goes rogue and tries to exterminate terrorists being protected by the government.

Cypher is based on an original script written by Seagal himself. There are currently no other stars or directors attached, but we’ll be sure to keep you informed.

Other Seagal film in the works include Code of Honor, Under Siege 3, Perfect Weapon, The Asian ConnectionEnd of a Gun, Killing Salazar and Four Towers.

BREAKING NEWS: According to Dark Horizons (via EP.com), producers are planning a theatrical release for Cypher, which will mark the first time a Steven Seagal movie won’t be straight-to-video since 2002’s Half Past Dead. Of course, 2012’s Machete doesn’t count, considering Seagal only had a limited starring role.

Posted in News |

Green Street Hooligans: Underground | DVD (Lionsgate)

Green Street Hooligans: Underground | DVD (Lionsgate)

Green Street Hooligans: Underground | DVD (Lionsgate)

RELEASE DATE: February 24, 2015

Lionsgate presents the DVD for Green Street Hooligans: Underground (aka Green Street 3: Never Back Down), starring Scott Adkins (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) and directed by James Nunn, the filmmaker behind Fantastic Fest ’12’s breakout hit Tower Block.

In Green Street Hooligans: Underground, an old firm leader returns to Green Street for revenge after receiving a call that his little brother was killed. Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Green Street Hooligans: Underground from Amazon.com today!

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

No Tears for the Dead (2014) Review

"No Tears for the Dead" Korean Theatrical Poster

“No Tears for the Dead” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Lee Jeong-beom
Cast: Jang Dong-Gun, Kim Min-Hee, Kim Hee-Won, Kim Jun-Sung, Go Woo-Lim, Ju Young-Ho, Jang In-Seop, Lee Seung-Chan, Park Sang-Hun, Brian Tee
Running Time: 116 min.

By Paul Bramhaull

Director and writer Lee Jeong-beom quickly came to the attention of action movie aficionado’s in 2010 with the release of The Man from Nowhere. A Korean movie starring Won Bin as a mopish pawn shop attendant with a tragic and violent past, brought back to life by the kidnapping of a child, it delivered some surprisingly well put together action sequences, which included a particularly well staged knife fight. Although it wasn’t a movie without its flaws, particularly in the bad guys being very one dimensional, it was enough for many people to start asking what was next for Jeong-beom.

Three years later, and that question is answered by No Tears for the Dead. Replacing Won Bin as the lead is veteran actor Jang Dong-gun. Dong-gun is arguably one of the most recognizable faces in Korean cinema, having starred in various movies that have gained popularity on an international level – from Nowhere to Hide to Friend to Taegukgi, a movie in which he and Won Bin play brothers. Here he plays an assassin who’s been raised in the U.S., however on his most recent hit he accidentally kills a little girl, which throws him into a state of alcohol fuelled depression.

It turns out that’s only the beginning of his problems though. His hit was actually the girl’s father, who was believed to have a USB containing a set of codes to various bank accounts being used to store Triad money. When it comes to light that the father doesn’t have the USB, Dong-gun is told to get on a plane to Korea and kill the mother as well. Unsurprisingly, due to the issues Dong-gun had himself as a child with his own mother, he finds himself unable to go through with it, and we all know that when this happens in a movie, it’s going to lead to some serious trouble.

While the plot differs considerably from that of The Man from Nowhere, there are a number of familiar factors in No Tears for the Dead that anyone who’s seen the former will immediately recognize. Once again it’s a little girl that’s used to trigger the crux of the plot, again we have an English speaking assassin from South East Asia who has a kind of unspoken bromance going on with the main character, and there’s even an almost identical scene in which Dong-gun holds his phone up to an exploding building. Jeong-beom clearly loved these elements enough from The Man from Nowhere that he felt comfortable to use them again here, and thankfully they all work.

There are elements of No Tears for the Dead which definitely don’t work though. The grieving mother is effectively played by Kim Min-hee, having lost both her husband and daughter at the same time, her character immerses herself in her job and by looking after her hospitalized mother. The problem is though elements like her sick mother never have any meaning attached to them, making it difficult for the audience to attach any connection to the scenes they share together. By the end of the movie, she still has a sick mother, and that’s it. If the intention behind the mother’s character was to reveal that Min-hee still has a softer side, after revealing her rather cold hearted nature in the office, then they miss the mark.

Speaking of sharing scenes, another issue that arises is that Min-hee and Dong-gun, despite playing the two central characters which all the events hinge upon, don’t have a single face to face conversation. While this could easily be argued as being an important detail in the events which unfold, as the fact that Min-hee has never had a good look at Dong-gun plays a vital part in the finale, it sadly doesn’t help to create any kind of connection between them during the rest of the movie. Whereas in The Man from Nowhere the audience is clearly invested in the relationship between Won Bin and the kidnapped girl, No Tears for the Dead misses out on that connection, and you never truly care that much about Dong-gun being able to save Min-hee from being killed.

This could have worked if Jeong-beom is able to clearly telegraph exactly why Dong-gun decides to not kill Min-hee and become her protector, but again his reasons are conveyed in quite a muddled way. Thanks to a flashback scene to his childhood we know that the mother of Dong-gun’s character didn’t care about him, and tried to dump him in the dessert, revealing what was a loveless upbringing. However the connectivity isn’t made as to how this links back to the decisions he’s making in the present day with Min-hee, we’re just left to presume he’s a tortured soul who decides not to kill her because, well, maybe she’s the good mother than his wasn’t? It’s all guess work.

Still, all of these convoluted plot niggles could of course likely be forgiven if the action delivers. Thankfully, it does. While not overflowing with action, what’s there is a joy to watch. Jeong-beom crafts together 3 impressive set pieces, from the first brief assassination attempt in a bar, which has Dong-gun taking aim while the barrel of the gun is lodged in someone’s mouth, to an awesome 10 minute shoot out mid-way through which plays out like a mix of The Man from Nowhere meets Heat. This set piece is actually the highlight of the movie, as a gun fight erupts between two adjacent apartment buildings, it delivers knife fighting, bullets, grenades, and several liters of fake blood.

Full credit has to be given to Jeong-beom for what appears to be the use of no CGI whatsoever. If it’s there, you won’t notice. Instead we have a ferocious knife fight against 3 assailants which is remarkably brutal with blood spraying onto the walls, across the floor, and even over the camera lens. It’s the type of scene which makes you wish CGI blood had never been invented. Similarly the finale sees Dong-gun in a locked down office building, which has him running around like a cross between John McClane and Casey Ryback, as he takes on his former employees and looks to protect Min-hee at the same time.

If anything, No Tears for the Dead is worth a watch purely for the action. It may be sporadic, but it’s worth the wait when it comes around. While the movie itself is hardly happy viewing – both Dong-gun as the murderer of the husband and child of the woman he’s trying to protect, and Min-hee as the grieving widow and mother trying to stay alive – are characters residing in some very dark places. But it’s not a movie which shies away from the darkness, it’s just one which could perhaps have put a little more focus on connecting the dots contained within it.

Paul Bramhaull’s Rating: 7.5/10

Posted in Korean, News, Reviews | Tagged , |

The Master | DVD (Lionsgate)

The Master | DVD (Lionsgate)

The Master | DVD (Lionsgate)

RELEASE DATE: February 24, 2015

Lionsgate presents the DVD for 2011’s The Master (aka Choi Lei Fut or True Master), directed by Zhou Ke. It stars Hongbo Shi, Ni Cheng, Tianlong Shi and Jintong Mai

In 19th-century China, the population is suffering at the hands of greedy landlords, corrupt officials, and unwelcome invaders. Hoping to unite his people, master Chen Xiang opens a martial arts school. But after Chen refuses to join the armies of the Qing Prince, his mother and his students are seized. To save them, Chen has only one path: all-out war. Watch the trailer.

Pre-order The Master from Amazon.com today!

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

Deal on Fire! Robin-B-Hood | Blu-ray | Only $6.59 – Expires soon!

"Robin-B-Hood" Blu-ray Cover

"Robin-B-Hood" Blu-ray Cover

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for Robin-B-Hood, directed by Benny Chan (Who Am I?).

Jackie Chan plays a gambler who turns to burglary to pay his debts. But when his buddies try to score a big payout by kidnapping a baby, he finds himself in an entirely new mess. Don’t let the baby on the cover full you. There’s some bone-crunching action in Robin-B-Hood ready to be discovered!

The film also stars Louis Koo, Michael Hui and a special appearance by Yuen Biao.

Order Robin-B-Hood from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |

1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982) Review

"1990: The Bronx Warriors" Theatrical Poster

“1990: The Bronx Warriors” Theatrical Poster

Director: Enzo G. Castellari
Cast: Mark Gregory, Fred Williamson, Vic Morrow, Christopher Connelly, “Betty” Elisabetta Dessy, Stefania Girolami, Enzo G. Castellari, Carla Brait
Running Time: 86 min.

By HKFanatic

By 1981, the Italian film industry was already showing signs that the bottom was about to fall out. Giallos, crime films, and spaghetti Westerns – once Italy’s filmic bread ‘n butter – had run their course with the public. Instead of innovating within their industry or looking to American companies to help finance their films, Italian producers decided to do what many foreign countries do when they’re desperate for a hit: rip off Hollywood.

Thus, the country that had once produced genre films that ran laps around their American counterparts (Suspiria, anyone?) gave way to a string of low-budget films that aped successful Hollywood trends. There were barbarian movies in the vein of Conan or The Beastmaster; cannibal-themed movies, always a sleazy favorite, were still easy to make a profit on so the decade saw a whole slew of them too.

And since movies like Mad Max and Escape From New York were popular with audiences, Italian directors began pilfering their iconography in a series of post-apocalyptic movies made during the early 80’s. Enzo G. Castellari, a director responsible for some of the best action movies of the 70’s (The Big Racket, The Heroin Busters) and the film that is considered the last great spaghetti Western (1976’s Keoma), made no one less than three post-apocalyptic films during the decade. First on his plate was 1990: The Bronx Warriors, filmed in 1981 and released a year later. The movie is a ridiculous mash-up of Escape From New York and The Warriors, arguably more influenced by the latter. Castellari was the kind of filmmaker who almost seemed to make great movies despite himself. With all the cheesy costumes, over-acting, and silly chopsocky fighting go on, Bronx Warriors should have been a disaster. In Castellari’s hands, somehow it’s just plain ‘ol good, dumb fun.

The film takes place in the year 1990 in an alternate reality where Nirvana didn’t make it big, and instead the US Government cordoned off the Bronx from the rest of the country, declaring it too crime-ridden to save. Now the Bronx is lorded over by various gang factions, the most powerful of which is the Riders – basically a few Italian actors on motorcycles with glowing Halloween decorations fitted on the handlebars, with some New York chapter Hell’s Angels as extras. But the true leader of the wasteland is Fred Williamson, the King of the Bronx, and his clan The Tigers. There’s an uneasy alliance among the gangs but all that changes when a rich young girl, heiress to the powerful arms manufacturer the Manhattan Corporation, runs away to the Bronx and falls in love with the leader of the Riders, named Trash. As the movie starts, the Bronx is set to explode.

Trash is played by Mark Gregory, who was only 17 years-old at the time. Enzo G. Castellari spotted Gregory at an Italian gym and offered to turn him into an actor. Gregory was a tall, long-haired bodybuilder with a babyface, who needed extensive coaching on how to walk without sashaying his hips. Even in the movie, his rooster strut looks quite silly. Gregory dubbed his own dialogue in English but had no idea what his character was saying so his line readings come across as flat and unemotional. I can’t disagree with anyone who finds Gregory’s screen presence or acting skills to be lacking, but I liked him in the movie. Somehow he just fits the whole post-apocalyptic setting. Gregory would go on to find further success with the Thunder Warrior series, Italy’s rip-off of Rambo with a Native American theme, and then disappear from acting altogether.

When Trash’s new beau is kidnapped, Trash decides to appeal to Fred Williamson’s character for help. Together they have to make it through rival gang territory in one piece. The gangs are all colorfully costumed and themed, whether it’s the Scavengers, who live in the sewers with mud-smeared faces; the Zombies, who prance around in hockeypads and roller-skates; or the other gang who was cut entirely from the original American release of the film since all they do is dance instead of fight. You can see how this flick takes liberal inspiration from The Warriors. But, hey, it’s fun to watch – and pretty damn violent at parts.

Of course, the President of the Manhattan Corporation isn’t going to stand by while his daughter runs off with some punks from the Bronx. He dispatches The Hammer, an ex-cop turned mercenary who was born and raised in the Bronx. The Hammer is played by Vic Morrow in what would be his final role before his tragic death on the set of The Twilight Zone: The Movie. Vic is outstanding in this movie, particularly the scene where he sneaks into the Riders’ headquarters dressed as a mailman and blows away two unsuspecting gangmembers with a shotgun stashed in a package. He’s almost like the Terminator. At the climax of the film, he dresses in his old police uniform and starts goose-stepping around like a Nazi, ranting maniacally while his men blast flamethrowers at Trash and his crew. The scenery must have tasted particularly delicious that day.

If I have one knock against this film, it’s the fact that it’s low-budget means you barely get a post-apocalyptic vibe from the film, if at all. Several exteriors were shot in New York while interiors were shot in Rome. During outdoor scenes when the Manhattan skyline is visible in the distance, you can clearly see that traffic is proceeding in the usual and orderly fashion. In Escape From New York, John Carpenter made use of matte paintings to create a striking vision of a ruined New York; there’s nothing in The Bronx Warriors that remotely compares. I mean, the filmmakers weren’t even allowed to close off traffic on one city block while they were shooting the film’s motorcycle chase scene. For a story that’s supposed to take place in the “far future” of 1990, when the Bronx has been cordoned off from the rest of society, the scenery looks way too…normal. Imagine Mad Max trying to sell you on the desolation of its world if you could still see working stiffs going about their day in the background of shots!

Track down Media Blaster’s DVD of 1990: The Bronx Warriors and you’ll be treated to a special feature that’s arguably better than the movie itself: a 45 minute interview with Fred “The Hammer” Williamson. Fred may be a little too into himself for his own good but the interview is full of valuable insight into the world of Italian cinema during the 70’s and 80’s. Williamson details why he loved making movies in Europe during this era; the rise and fall of Italy’s homegrown film market; and what it was like working with some of Italy’s biggest directors of the time, including the legendary Lucio Fulci (The Beyond, Zombie). Williamson doesn’t talk at great length about Castellari but seems to respect the man and how he was able to accomplish a great deal onscreen with such low-budgets.

1990: The Bronx Warriors is not a quality movie, or even one of Cestellari’s best, but it’s an entertaining post-apocalyptic flick from a time when Italian exploitation films were starting to run on fumes. It succeeds against all odds or perhaps because, unlike many low-budget hacks, Castellari intrinsically knew how to make a crowd-pleasing movie. His films may not always be spectacular but I have yet to see one from him that I didn’t enjoy on some level. In 1982, he would release another post-apocalyptic movie, The New Barbarians, also starring Fred Williamson. In 1983 came the Bronx Warriors sequel, Escape From the Bronx, which is increasingly difficult to find on DVD. For fans of trash cinema (no pun intended), they’re all probably worth tracking down.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 6.5/10

Posted in Italian, News, Other Movies, Reviews | Tagged , , , |

Casper Van Dien and Mark Dacascos are ‘Relentless’

"Aces 'n Eights" Japanese DVD Cover

"Aces 'n Eights" Japanese DVD Cover

Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers, Aces ‘n Eights) is making a return to action in an upcoming thriller titled Relentless, which will be directed by John Milton Branton (Dark Power). Martial arts star Mark Dacascos (Drive) is currently in talks to play a key role in the film. Production starts in early 2015.

Relentless involves a former US Army Ranger (Van Dien) who gets caught in the middle of a war between rival Russian and Thai Drug traffickers.

Mike Leeder (Pound of Flesh) is co-producing, along with Pamela Staton (Let It Bleed). Brahim Achabbakhe (Tekken: Kazuya’s Revenge) is handling fight choreography. Stay tuned as we hear more.  – Thanks to Big Mike Leeder!

Posted in News |

Pre-order Donnie Yen’s ‘Kung Fu Jungle’ at DDDhouse.com

"Kung Fu Jungle" Chinese Theatrical Poster

"Kung Fu Jungle" Chinese Theatrical Poster

DDDHouse.com now has Donnie Yen’s Kung Fu Jungle on Blu-ray & DVD for a December 23rd pre-order. Keep in mind that the DVD version is Region 3 coded, so you will need a multi-region DVD player to view the movie. Fortunately, the Blu-ray version is coded for region A, so it’s good to go on your current North American Blu-ray hardware.

Directed by Teddy Chen, Kung Fu Jungle (read our review) follows a top-notch martial arts instructor (Yen) at the Hong Kong Police Academy who is imprisoned for accidentally killing a man. He may not be able to stay behind bars for long as shortly after his arrest, a deranged killer (Wang Baoqiang) begins targeting the best martial arts fighters in Hong Kong.

Why wait for Kung Fu Jungle’s North American release, when you can grab it now!

Posted in News |

Dokuro-Jo: Seven Souls in the Skull Castle | DVD (Ytinifni Pictures)

"Seven Souls in the Skull Castle" Japanese Poster

"Seven Souls in the Skull Castle" Japanese Poster

RELEASE DATE: March 24, 2015

Ytinifni Pictures presents the DVD for Hidenori Inoue’s Dokuro-Jo: Seven Souls in the Skull Castle, a martial arts thriller that was filmed Live, on Stage, in Tokyo.

Eight years after the fall of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi is attempting to unify Japan, but he is opposed by Tenmao, a mysterious masked resident of Skull Castle. Watch the trailer.

Dokuro-Jo: Seven Souls in the Skull Castle stars Shun Oguri (Azumi), Mirai Moriyama (Human Trust) and Taichi Saotome (Zatoichi).

Pre-order Dokuro-Jo: Seven Souls in the Skull Castle from Amazon.com today!

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

2nd trailer for Michael Mann’s ‘Blackhat’ with Tang Wei and Chris Hemsworth

"Blackhat" Theatrical Poster

"Blackhat" Theatrical Poster

THE MOVIE: Blackhat (aka Cyber), directed by Michael Mann, is an upcoming cyber-thriller starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Red Dawn), Tang Wei (Wu Xia), Leehom Wang (Lust, Caution), and Andy On (Black Mask 2).

In Blackhat, a furloughed convict and his American and Chinese partners hunt a high-level cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta. The film hits theaters on January 16, 2015.

Updates: THR reports that that Tang and Wang will play a brother-and-sister duo. Tang also will be Hemsworth’s love interest. | Based on JayneStar’s new article, actress Tang Wei is having difficulty with some of her English dialogue. This is supposedly causing frustration for her co-star Chris Hemsworth.

Hemsworth revealed the plot: “It’s based in the world of cyber terrorism. Basically, something similar to the Chicago Board of Trade is hacked into and it sets off a chain of events around the world, affecting the stock market. And the code that was used to hack into it, my character had written it years before and he happens to be in prison for cyber crime. He is pulled out and offered a deal if he works with a joint task force of the FBI and the Chinese goverment in trying to track this guy down. It starts off in Chicago and ends up in Kuala Lumpur, in Hong Kong and in Jakarta. It’s this sort of cat-and-mouse international heist-thriller.” | First trailer.

BREAKING NEWS: Watch the 2nd trailer, courtesy of yahoo.com.

Posted in News |

Deal on Fire! Spaghetti Western Double Feature: Grand Duel & Keoma | Blu-ray | Only $2.96 – Expires soon!

"Grand Duel & Keoma" Blu-ray Cover

"Grand Duel & Keoma" Blu-ray Cover

Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray for The Spaghetti Western Double Feature, featuring Lee Van Cleef in Giancarlo Santi’s The Grand Duel (aka The Big Showdown) and Franco Nero in Enzo G. Castellari’s Keoma.

In 1972’s The Grand Duel, a grizzled ex-sheriff helps a man framed for murder to confront the powerful trio of brothers who want him dead; In 1976’s Keoma, a half-breed gunfighter weary of killing as a way of life. But when he returns to his troubled childhood home, Keoma is caught in a savage battle between innocent settlers, sadistic bandits and his vengeful half-brothers.

Two classics for A Few Dollars… literally. Order from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Deals on Fire!, News |