The Man with the Iron Fists 2

Review: What a complete waste of time! I thought that RZA would have learnt from the first movie but this one is even worse. Without Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu, this sequel really didn't have a chance, especially with its terrible storyline and weak characters. Basically it's about a evil man who runs the village and forces the men to work in a mine. The miners group together to try and take out the vicious evil-doer but they always end up getting murdered, until Thaddeus comes along. After getting saved by one of the miners daughters, Thaddeus makes them weapons to take out Master Ho and the leader of the miners, Li Kung, challenges him to a duel. With the help of his fellow miners and Thaddeus, they battle to take down his clan with there martial arts skills and weapons. The storyline is really bad and the heavy hip hop beats throughout the movie didn't match the mood of the film. The acting is pretty poor but it does look authentic and some of the scenery was impressive. Personally, I don't know how RZA was able to release another one of these movies because the first one was a joke. He seemed really out of place throughout the film and his fighting skills were terrible and hard to watch. Anyway, I personally think that this was a total waste of time and money and I'm not surprised that it went straight to DVD. Terrible!

Round-Up: Although the music throughout the movie didn't suit the scenes, I was bopping my head to RZA's beats so he should really stick to what he's good at. The whole iron fist concept really didn't play a big part in this movie and RZA seemed to be missing most of the time. On the plus side, the film didn't look low budget and some of the gory fighting scenes were OK but RZA really needs to do something with Thaddeus, who just seems to be in a bad mood all of the time. If he's going to come out with another movie in this franchise, he's need to do the Iron Fists in America because the Oriental flavour really isn't working. 

I recommend this movie to people who are into their martial movies about a group of miners who want to take down there evil boss with the help of Thaddeus. 2/10

MAN WITH THE IRON FIST 2 review by: Mike Smith

Thaddeus The Blacksmith (RZA) is back in this action adventure inspired by Kung-Fu classics. A reluctant villager joins forces with a mysterious outsider to fight off powerful evil forces, both earthly and otherworldly, in a 19th century Chinese mining town.

Let me start by saying I didn't mind the first Man With The Iron Fist movie; it was a nice Kung-Fu action Grindhouse movie but it was forgettable. Besides the start of the film, Man With The Iron Fist 2 shys away from the Grindhouse feel of the first film and focuses more on the Kung-Fu genre. One thing I was disappointed about is that this films story isn't really based around the adventure of Thaddeus The Blacksmith. The story is about a minor who must save his village with the help of Thaddeus The Blacksmith. Man With The Iron Fist 2 just helps build the legend of Thaddeus The Blacksmith a bit more, so don't expect just to watch RZA whoop ass through the whole film like the first one.

I'm not the biggest Kung-Fu movie fan but I really enjoyed myself. The fight scenes are really well done and kept me wanting more. The story is a classic stand up to evil story and this film tells it well.

Unlike the first film, there are not a lot of big named stars in this movie, but it doesn't take away from the film. Everyone does a great job in Man With The Iron Fist 2 and it feels like a love letter to classic Kung-Fu films.

But like all films, Man With The Iron Fist 2 does have some flaws, like the use of modern day lingo. You kind of forget that everyone is supposed to be in 19th century Chinese, even though it takes you out of the film I find it part of the charm. The music is all rap and/or big rap beats; I'm not by far a rap fan and yes I know RZA is a rapper so I knew what to expect and I enjoyed the beats and the scores.

Man With The Iron Fist 2 is not a top shelf movie but I did enjoy it even though it's not what I was expecting after seeing the first film 3 years ago. This film is strongly forgettable but has some fun lines of dialog. If you want to watch something a bit different and turn your brain off for 90 minutes check this out and no you don't need to watch the first film to watch this one.

Cheers and remember like won't suck as long as there is a good movie to watch.

6 out of 10

Edited by Samantha Locke

twitter: FatMikeTPK Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FatMikesMovieReviews

Here you can learn, how a movie can start and actually also end as an real epic movie - with elements from one of the oldest and proudest cultures on earth and perhaps the greatest and oldest philosophy our human civilization has developed on earth, and get transformed to an B-grade movie, in no time. Lot of crap effects with red fluid in slow motion and meaningless violence. Nothing really fits in this movie - from HipHop to music from a old Western: 'the good the bad and the ugly'... A black American actor as black American blacksmith...? If the story were great, we will probably not care about the detail so much. But a weak story, the viewer begins to wonder about all the mixed up elements from different genres.

Landscape from Thailand (with even elephants...?) - no Chinese language language at all and the play and fighting scenes are performed poorly, more like in a school theater - all of this is staffed inside a Chinese Martial-Art movie. With all this elements, incongruent set together, it seems like a awful wast of money - producing and to buying the movie.

There are beautiful scenes of Thailand... There are very deep spiritual thoughts in very small glimpses, but used like parsley on a inedible mush. Then back to the rather mechanical fight scenes. I could nearly hear the director on set: "People will see action, people will have distraction from their own miserable life, so don't bother with the story or anything else, just show some action". Underestimating the viewer and at the same time a perfect recipe to produce a B-grate Movie!

• Shooting a typical french movie in the Netherlands, with all the tulips and Windmills i the background, will probably be for some people in US not disturbing - it's all together in Europe anyway and doesn't matter for them. Or... Asia is Asia... Thailand, China... whatever... For us who are, or have been in China and Thailand many times - there are enormous difference in nature and building-styles and a totally different experience to be in this two different countries. I have never been a fan of Western movies - made in Italy in the 1970s - either. I had also he kind of experience like "something is not right and steals the focus"e already 40 years ago. Perhaps you will not buy this movie and see it instead on one of the millions of super commercial TV stations - with 5 minutes movie and 15 minutes commercials. With a good mix of toothpaste, call your plumbing specialist, hairstyling, Real Estate and Carwash - you will enjoy the 5 minutes movie, in between the commercials and don't realize any in-congruency anyway. It is still to us humans one of the finest Art to make a great movie, where there are being taking care of all the details and everything fits together. Then the whole world will stand up and applaud excited.

RZA is definitely passionate about martial art movie and he invests a lot of time for this niche, but The Man with the Iron Fists 2 is a subpar action movie. It has low production value, the exotic location surprisingly isn't appealing, the script is flimsy and most importantly the action choreography is utterly disappointing. Fights are no better than scenes from ancient action flick from decades ago, and with this flaw the movie just loses its main appeal.

Story goes that there's an entity on a mining town that feeds on life force. The people of this town also have to content with oppression from the ruling clan. Meanwhile Thaddeus (RZA) is unexpectedly involved in a rebellion against the dictator. Main focus of the movie is the struggle of town folks, there's barely any continuity from the first movie and RZA himself only here as a supporting role. The plot tries to resolves its several subplots, only to be hampered with poor execution.

Writing and characterization are not satisfying, it follows the usual rebellion theme with screeching pace. Though it has a couple of twists, the direction is so slow, one can skip thirty minutes of the movie and doesn't miss much. The build-up is inconsistent with shady acting, and change of setting to beach town doesn't prove to be amusing as well. Environment only consists of a dark barren town and a rural village. The use of color contrast feels archaic, it's nothing more than the visual of B-movie. Furthermore, the soundtracks don't fit the theme, it may be intended as clash of cultures, but the end result is borderline intrusive.

While the first movie wasn't that great, it still had production value with famous names and stylish design. This one definitely has less budget as everything looks lackluster. Whereas the screenplay is abysmal, the action might fare worse. The motion seems fake even though it uses slow mo to mask it, some scenes even depict missed punches and overacting but these are still edited clumsily for the final product. It looks awkward for an action film not being able to deliver action sequences.

While it may benefit from oriental ambiance, the cumbersome plot and underwhelming choreography sink the movie like two giant anchors strapped on its limbs.

When THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS was first released, I think I was one of the few critics in the nation who gave it a favorable nod. While it was a glitzy martial arts affair, it did boast a few rather impressive fight scenes and a bevy of heavyweight stars including Dave Bautista; Russell Crowe; Rick Yune and Lucy Liu.

THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2 lacks all of that. The stars have bolted, with RZA the only hold over from the first. The fight scenes are good, but not spectacular, and the story is culled from the plot lines of many of the original martial arts films that inundated the Silver Screen in the 1970's.

Thaddeus Henry Smith (RZA), after the events of the first film, decides his soul is uneasy as a vigilante warrior. He begins a journey to return to his beloved temple, strengthen his chi (inner strength) and unite his mind and body. Along the way, he is beset by old enemies who refuse to buy his assertion that he is now a man of peace. While Thaddeus thwarts his attackers, he is rendered unconscious and sent adrift in a river. He lands in a small mining village, ruled by the evil Beetle Clan; a gang of cutthroat bullies led by Master Ho, played by Carl Ng and Lord Pi, played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who allows those who disagree with him the opportunity to fight in what appears to be the original octagon of the UFC. The people of the village are mere cannon fodder for the Beetle Clan, but one family, Li Kung, played by Dustin Nguyen and his wife Ah Ni, played by Eugenia Yuan, are secretly members of the Praying Mantis Clan. Why they are in hiding, or why the Praying Mantis fighters are reluctant to reveal themselves to the Beetle Clan is never really explained. I guess if there are too many Beetles and Praying Mantises, the members of the Orkin Clan will appear. Thaddeus doesn't want to become involved in the village's conflict, but obviously, circumstances will dictate that he takes a side and fights for honor and friends.

RZA desperately wants to promote himself as a martial arts star, but frankly he was the weak link in the first film and his sole fighting expertise is pummeling thugs with his iron fists, complete with a multitude of spraying blood packets. The fight scenes in THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2 are okay, but there is nothing stellar, and certainly nothing that compares with what Jason Statham and Tony Jaa are doing in FURIOUS 7.

Despite enticing cinematography by Roel Reine and several scenic shots from the Thailand locations, THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2 is an average view. It seems RZA is planning more films to highlight Thaddeus' journey back to the temple. Until he reaches his destination, he'll walk the Earth, helping people, like Caine in Kung-Fu. Let's hope his next adventure has better fight choreography and a handful of grade A list stars to help the endeavor.