Night (Ara Paiaya) is an assassin who's betrayed by his boss and left for dead (aren't they always?). He's rescued and rehabilitated by a crime-fighting organisation who send him to Hong Kong. There he's trained by a mysterious martial arts master in a wonderful mixture of Yoda's training of Luke Skywalker and the Penguin scene from The Blues Brothers. Returning home, Night decides to clean up the streets and seek vengeance on his former boss. This leads to scene after scene of fighting action that sees some insane stunts, violence and inventive use of surroundings made popular by Jackie Chan. This action involves swords, guns, cars and even a forklift truck, and the balance between action and comedy is perfect; I found myself laughing more in the film's short hour length than in many other films that are twice as long.
Ara Paiaya is in his own words 'the star, writer, director, editor, producer and tea maker'. He is self-taught in all areas and when you consider the results, this is very impressive. During his commentary it's obvious that he's a very passionate individual who would walk through fire to see that a film is completed. As he had complete control of the movie, there is the feeling that what you are seeing is what he wants you to see. Unlike other directors, who get laundry lists of cuts and changes to make during and after production, Death List is exactly how he conceived it. Extras, extras everywhere! I honestly expected Death List to have the bare minimum, but there are deleted scenes with commentary, outtakes (which really should be entitled 'When Stunts Go Wrong!'), trailers, cast interviews and a number of scenes from his earlier films. One of these scenes has Paiaya coming face to face with Robert 'Freddy' Englund, which is odd, and I'm hoping that this is a tease of something to come. It's Paiaya's contribution to the features that makes me love this film, as he really did do everything. 'Dubbing Death List' reveals that Paiaya did the voices for almost every character in the film, which is an insane but nevertheless cost effective approach. His interview and commentary are excellent, revealing many secrets about the film, why it was made and just how much hard work went into its creation. Considering Paiaya did so much, it's not surprising that he's very proud of his work and there's a Kevin Smith vibe when he discusses it.
Death List is a great film for so many reasons and I'm hoping to see more of Paiaya in the future, as he's certainly talented. With the huge popularity of Jackie Chan across the world, it's not inconceivable to predict that this film and any others he makes will have a wider audience and, given a better budget, he'll be able to create an even more polished end product. Death List is still impressive though, despite the rough edges, and if you think you need wires, CGI and a multi-million dollar budget to pull off great action scenes then this is the perfect film to prove you wrong!
