Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone

I just finished watching Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I enjoyed the Green Ghost movie more. Why?

First, the fighting was top notch. I was quite frankly shocked with how good the choreography was. I've seen indie movie kung fu and it looks bad. Real bad. But this was superb.

The acting was decent. Also a lot better than I expected. The only guy I kinda knew was Danny Trejo. But the others were solid too. The lead reminded me of Johnny Lawrence's brother or cousin. I was surprised as I thought he was just comedic relief. But the dude can really fight.

The special effects were adequate...even good for an indie movie.

There was heart in this movie, a strong message about who your family really is, some laugh out loud humor, fantastic fighting and really good directing.

I definitely want to see them do a sequel or a bigger budget version of this film. Will be following the people associated with this for sure. I'd give it a solid 7.5 out of 10. Will be watching again.

For a silly vanity project, this comedic fantasy may be worth a look as family entertainment. A Texas Nissan dealer named Charlie Clark stars in and co-wrote the tale of a wannabe luchador (masked Mexican wrestler) who finds himself in the middle of a supernatural struggle among ancient powers. He's far less prepared to become THE ONE than Keanu was in The Matrix. His training and the big battle ensue, per the usual course of events for these things. They even play Eye of the Tiger behind the training sequences. The rights to that song may have been the most expensive part of the production.

There are a few laughs along the way, variably offering a fantasy adventure and spoofing the genre. Telling the two apart from moment to moment may be up for debate. Perhaps the basis for one of those drinking games of downing a shot whenever some trope appears. The cast is largely unknown, except for a supporting role from the legendary Danny Trejo as one of Charlie's mentor immortals. He gets in one line during the second half that's almost worth whatever time his fans spend watching this on its own. Someone named Marko Zaror plays the biggest baddest villain with a typical sort of plan to rule the world and eliminate all humans. He looks like a young Arnold Vosloo, which should serve him well for landing a string of heavies' roles in low-profile flicks. Clark's acting career seems less likely to thrive than his dealership, though he comes across as a likeable lug. They show clips of his actual family, adding to the warm-fuzzy factor of the project.

Think of this as plying the Spy Kids franchise waters, on a lower budget, and with a quality somewhere between the delightful first and lamentable third installments of that series.

Needless to say that I hadn't heard about this 2021 movie titled "Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone" prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2023. I stumbled upon the movie by random chance, and seeing that the movie had Danny Trejo on the cast list, then of course I opted to sit down and watch it.

Writers Charlie Clark, Michael D. Olmos, Brian Douglas and Rafael Antonio Ruiz put together a fair enough script and storyline for the movie. I will say that the movie was watchable, though it wasn't particularly much a movie that appealed much to my liking and preference in entertainment.

The acting performances in "Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone" were okay, and they had some good actors and actresses on the cast list.

Visually then "Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone" was actually a nice surprise. The special effects and visuals in the movie were good, and definitely added a layer to the movie and thus helping to make it more watchable.

I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as "Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone", I just happened to not be a part of that particular target audience. While the movie is listed as an action comedy, I have to say that director Michael D. Olmos failed on the comedy aspect, because it was hardly present throughout the 82 minutes that the movie ran for.

My rating of director Michael D. Olmos's 2021 movie "Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone" lands on a five out of ten stars.

It has some funny juvenile humor. It feels like a mashup between a Marvel comic book, Kung Fu martial arts, Mexican comedies films drenched in cheese. My favorite parts were with Danny and the homage to the guy's mother during the end credit. The end credits touched me.

Was it worth the wait? The first Green Ghost trailer was uploaded to YouTube in 2016, giving the impression of a brawl tournament type of movie. In the trailer, Charlie Clark/Green Ghost was actually featured and named last. A few years later a second trailer surfaced which was a bit longer than the previous one and again, made it look like a fight tournament movie. Both trailers have been removed by Charlie Clark ever since.

Well, Green Ghost and the Master of the Stone is nothing like the two old trailers suggested, and it is nothing like the campy but fun zero budget Green Ghost mini series from the, I assume 2000s, also starring Charlie Clark.

The movie version is a PG-13 rated action adventure martial arts fantasy family comedy, and it is a drag. The plot is silly, the characters are shallow and the fights are mostly overlong and look like a martial arts stunt demonstration. I didn't care for the fantasy elements, I'm here for the fights and they are literally lacking punch. If anything, the best fight was the first fight with Bobby Lashley. What should've been the highlight was Marko Zaror vs. Cain Velasquez, but it turned out to be the worst fight. I don't even remember if Charlie Clark/Green Ghost had any fights at all. In the mini series he was beating up and knocking out huge muscle guys by the minute. In the movie version he is in training, like the Karate Kid.

There's really nothing else to say about this film. It's not good and not memorable. If you like Danny Trejo it might be worth a rental but watch at own risk.