The Man with the Iron Fists

Yes I gave this movie an eight! Why, you might ask? Because it did all the things it was supposed to do. Reading all the reviews, I can't understand what people were expecting this movie to be. Judging from the trailer, you can tell it's going to be a dope kung fu movie but you also see that RZA is playing the main character. I didn't expect much from his acting but he did an okay job nonetheless. The plot was solid, nothing complex or in depth like Inception or Dark Knight but who really expects a complex plot from an action movie. I sure as hell don't. I'm a film student and I noticed a lot of things wrong from a logistics stand point, but I know how to turn off my head and just enjoy a film for what it is. I didn't make the movie, so why waste my time talking about what I would have done differently because I'll never get the chance to. But I can write a review based on how I experienced the film.

THE GOOD - The score was great. An interesting mix of hip hop, symphonic and other genres. The costuming, weaponry, set design were all great and looked great on film. This film had a lot of funny moments. As an adult, I can appreciate the humor from a dirty joke and they did them well. The fighting and action were awesome. There were times where my best friend would consistently tap out of excitement for how awesome the fight scenes were. The acting was okay, but I think the best job goes to Lucy Lui and Russell Crowe because they gave the best performances.

THE BAD - I don't know about RZA playing the main character. He did okay on some parts but on others he was very dry. I also would have preferred someone else to narrate. Like Morgan Freeman or Laurence Fishburne. I named those black actors because it seemed like the Filmmakers were going for an urban feel, but RZA's strong east coast accent was very distracting at times but I don't think that was a huge flaw, it's just a matter of taste and that's what the director wanted so I can respect that. There were a lot of cheesy moments. Some of the dialogue was cheesy and even certain points in the movie, you kind of whisper to yourself "Really?!" But knowing Quentin and RZA they both are Kung Fu lovers so I looked over the cheesy moments because I knew they were just paying homage to all of the Kung Fu movies that they grew up watching. It would have been nice to have a more detailed plot. Some characters weren't established well enough to care for them, but with me I didn't want to care I just wanted to see some flying kicks and daggers. Those nappy ass wigs that the Wolf Clan made me want to chew bricks. The hairstylist should be fired but, again, it's all a matter of taste. That was just a creative choice made by the director and I can respect that.

Overall, the movie is just a fun flick to go see on a Friday night. Lots of blood, decapitation, fun martial arts, subliminal dirty jokes, sarcastic humor, special effects, and a unique, urban take on the classic Kung Fu films we've learn to love over the years. This is not a movie you waste your time dissecting. You either love it or you hate. I took the movie for what it was and I loved every minute of it. It had everything an action flick should have, great action, great costumes, great weapons, solid plot and good actors.

Congratulations, RZA on your first film. I'm sure he can'y do anything but get better. He definitely has a vivid mind and I'm anxious to see how he evolves.

Lastly, whenever you're reading a review, make sure you learn how to decipher an authentic review from that of an upcoming filmmaker. We all tend to be very hard on each other and ourselves. A lot of these reviews, contain inhibitions about creative taste rather than the movie itself. No one cares about what you would have done differently. All they care about is if it's worth their ten, fifteen, twenty dollars. That is all.

The film had potential with a decent storyline and all-star cast, but fails to pull in the viewer to care about the characters or outcome of the story.The movie far too often goes for cheap,juvenile sexual exploitation.The target audience for the movie seems geared towards males 16-24 and no one else.I've also noticed that the more people see the film the ratings here on IMDb decline.RZA also has very little acting skills and it was a major reason why the movie falls flat. Russell Crowe and Lucy Lui did a fair performance,but even they couldn't salvage the movie.I'm being very critical with my review b/c it's unfortunate to see a movie that had the potential,but didn't live up to it.

THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS.

I really liked it.

The movie was made by Rza, who is a member of the band Wu Tang Clan. He got together with Quentin Tarantino to make this movie and it definitely feels like a Tarantino movie.

The movie does not especially feel new. It is made in the old fashioned kung-fu movie style. It feels old, there are a lot of floating around a bit like Crouching Tiger. The blood and violence is so over the top just like the old fashioned kung-fu films. Bloody literally flies! :)

The difference between the old movies and this one is the soundtrack. During some scenes there are some WTC songs and hip hop songs... which i liked. I thought it brought a new feel to the movie. It worked really well.

It has got some big names it it. The film stars Rza, Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu and former WWE Champion, Dave Bautista. There are some pretty good effects in it and also some great fighting scenes. The choreography was good too.

This film is excellent entertainment.

I will give this film a 7 out of 10.

If you like the old style Monkey TV show, kung-fu movies then you will love this.

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Firstly, a disclaimer: All in all, this movie succeeds in what it sets out to do. It's a homage to grindhouse Kung Fu movies of the 70's and 80's and it succeeds very well in being just that kind of film. People go around saying how crap it was, but let's remind ourselves, not every movie is trying to be a masterpiece, and your subjective expectations don't mean this is a bad movie. Everyone went in expecting to see Kill Bill for some reason, because it was produced by Tarantino.

At any rate, the film has quite a nice plot, reminiscent of the movies it tries to pay homage to. It's a simple plot, not many twists and turns to it, but it does draw you in. It has drama, it plays on base emotions like greed and lust for power, and it involves a bloody multi-faction war. Basically, the governor of a Chinese province is transporting some gold (for no specific reason, I assumed it was collected taxes or army wages), and assigns a warrior clan (the Lions) with protecting the shipment while it passes through their area, which is infested with several crime syndicates. The Lions clan leader is murdered by his lieutenants as they want to claim the gold for themselves. Later on, the story starts involving another warrior clan that is protecting the gold (Geminis), a crime syndicate (Wolves), a mercenary army (Jackals), a blacksmith (RZA) that just wants to leave with his beloved woman, a whore house where said woman works (The Blossom House), a mysterious assassin (Poison Dagger), a mysterious cowboy (Jack Knife, played by Russel Crowe) and the son of the murdered Lions clan leader (Zen Yi or X-Blade).

The film contains several fight scenes and violent acts and if you are an action fan, you are gonna enjoy this. The cinematography is quite good, especially in the final battle scene. The acting is excellent for the most part (except RZA at some parts) and considering this was intended to resemble a grindhouse b-movie film. I especially enjoyed the obese Russel Crowe in the role of Jack Knife.

Overall, it's a good watch if you don't go in expecting to see the masterpiece of the year in Kung Fu movies, or a parody along the lines of Black Dynamite. It was certainly much more enjoyable than Argo 7/10

Okay, I've never reviewed movies but I'll give it the old Jr. high try. This movie with it's solid effects and even nicer fighting is still flawed. Maybe a review is too strong of a word here's my bad/ good list. I've left a grade to give a better Idea of my disapproval.

The bad: 1. Focus the dang camera (C-), I'm not an expert but who the hell is focusing? Lucy Liu during a big speech has her helper in focus and she just off focus. If I spent $2000 on a wedding video I'd like the bride in focus, geez. The focus was out of control in a lot of places which was distracting.

2. Rza (D-) although I do really think this is a work of love and it shows, WTH was he thinking staring in this? If he's too afraid of what his friends think of him if he stops doing his best droopy impression, don't be the lead actor! I mean it's 10-20 minutes, or however long he's in this, of him looking emotionless. I mean grimace man or look sad when bad things happen! How hard is it!!

3. Flashbacks (F)There's an origin flashback an boy is it misguided and uncomfortable! It's just so underdeveloped, maybe the extended version would make sense of it but it really could have been shot better. I imagine this is to Southern Americans (not South America, the Hey Y'all kind etc), what bad American war movies are to Germans. If you're gonna deface us do it with a little finesse.

4. Character motivations sucked(big ol' F), I mean really sucked! I would have been happy to give this a 7 if the characters would make a little sense. Somethings could have been resolved easily I think by just a few lines of dialogue but nope it's all thrown at you with no solid direction.

5. The "almost" makes it a crime(F), like where was everyone's head? You have an almost great movie and no one could ask for help or give it??

6.Split screens (F), Why? Was action happening at the same time?, nope. Bad call, again in the right hands maybe. Here 4 minutes of film that wasn't worth the editing time.

The good:

1. Costumes(B+) were cool, I liked them even the goofy ones, had no problems really. The wigs were really fun and funny.

2. The action(A-), was really great. Fun and funny with no real let downs you get into it and the end battle to me wasn't disappointing except for rza's acting but he was actually passable here(sort of).

3. Effects(A), yup solid, don't care if it looks Kill Billish. Come on, I've actually watched anime since forever and that's how blood sprays in most of those. Dumb to even bring kill bill into this(sort of).

4. Weapons(A+) lots of great gags and deaths. You can tell a lot of time went into conceiving these and the deaths.

5.The villain(A++), Silver Lion and Bronze Lion are great and eat up the screen, none of the heroes come close to these two guys charisma on screen! I mean why the heroes played it so straight without any wink wink moments is beyond me. Did they really think this was a serious movie?

Which comes to my overall review! 5/10 C+, basically there's a lot going right here enough to be watchable, enjoyable even become a classic b movie. But it was so close to being more it's a little sad.

nuff said, MEMO Art