La Venganza Del Dragón

No pun intended - a human is who he is. We are mostly unable to escape our true self. No matter the country we end up in ... our true colors will shine through. Of course if that means, you get to show off your fighting skills .. well that is very much appreciated.

Xavier Gens - he has done quite a few good movies. Some may argue it has been some time since his last good one. I will leave that judgement up to you. I know if you like action movies, you will have a field day here. The action choreography is really top notch. The level of violence through the roof ... the stunt people are quite known (tv show which I have not seen yet).

Main character is good, pacing may be a bit too slow for some I reckon ... but you can't have fighting all the time ... there needs to be some story in between ... even if it seems to lead nowhere ...

The European problem is not really a European problem. And one of these problems as an embodied problem solver, difficult fare? Had I considered this film choice carefully?

France, the country of origin, is probably at the top of the Lost Countries, bearing the rotten fruits of its dirty-golden years like no other nation. Fortunately, despite the bitterness, a change of scenery. Thailand. A little martial arts, even more idyllic holiday atmosphere. Everything could be fine now, but unfortunately the cobbler sticks to his last. Prototype: it has to be a lot very quickly, with as little effort as possible. So let's say impatience is in this blood, only evil tongues speak of criminal energy.

Enough negative energy, after the first quarter we get to see a real action pearl, a dramatic 90s Van Damme story build-up, which then leads to a 2010s The Raid-style battle. Yes, the finale is the same as always with these films, but it's somehow essential fan service. Comparisons with the current "Sixty Minutes" are legitimate, but France can do it better than Germany, wild Bangkok versus overrated Berlin is also self-explanatory, and so are learned martial arts skills versus martial arts history. However, it's nice that films like this still exist.

The movie looked to me like a modern approach to a 90's scenario, which isn't something bad, I am just noticing it - one goes on a straight revenge over the bad guys.

We don't get to know the full story of Sam, but it's seems he is the typical French of non-French origin - involved in gang life. However, he decides to leave it, but as it's well known - you can't leave it if it doesn't leave you. So even in his attempt, unwillingly, he still stays a criminal which he never stops being - even after restarting everything in Thailand, the first big thing he wants to achieve in life, he tries it the criminal way, which brought all the consequences it could - one reckless decision.

The actor performs very good in the fighting scenes, they are a slight copy of the series of martial arts and raw violence movies from Indonesia (The Raid, The Raid 2, The Night Comes for us, Headshot etc.) which is fine, but is kind of obvious.

The acting is good, the music and the camera are fine. The Thai atmosphere is well recreated. It's overall a simple movie, but well-made and in case you have nothing better to watch or just need some good fighting one "Farang" ("Mayhem!") is worth it.

"I loved her more than you ever could."

Mayhem! Is directed by Xavier Gens and stars Nassim Lyes.

We're only about 7 days into 2024 and I think we already have a contender for best action movie of the year. Mayhem! Also known as Farang (Foreigner) is like if you combine Taken and John Wick and The Raid movies and you blend them all together.

Sam (Nassim Lyes) is a guy who's taken a lot of punches both mentally and physically. When we first meet him he's an ex-con just getting out of jail trying to get his life together and escape his local gang. He eventually does build a life for himself and wants to buy a house for himself and his wife however Thailand's laws and a powerful real estate developer get in the way. As you could guess one thing leads to another and Sam is on a warpath for revenge.

Despite the story being so cliche I appreciate Xavier Gens as a director for essentially showing all of Sam's struggles for about the first half of this movie and showing the pain and hardship he has to go through so when his wife is eventually killed it's his breaking point and the Sam we get for the rest of the movie is cold and brutal when he has to be. The grounded approach of the movie's action design, combined with fight scenes that get more gory and brutal than the last really make this great. Sam also isn't invincible here making all the fight scenes feel genuinely dangerous. Xavier Gens (Hitman, Gangs Of London) is also a second unit director on the upcoming Gareth Evans, Tom Hardy movie, Havoc as well so if you already weren't excited for that this movie is even more reason to be.

This movie was a huge suprise for me and is easily a contender for best action movie of the year already with a star making performance from Nassim Lyes. Unfortunately I feel like this film will probably get buried because of its DTV release through IFC Films. Xavier Gens is certainly a name to watch in the action space going forward.

Let's get straight to the point. The fight scenes in this movie are amazing, some of the best I've seen. And I've seen a lot. I am well-versed on the artistry of movie fight scenes. This is about as clear and hard-hitting as they come.

You can see everything. You can feel the hits. You almost experience the pain felt by these characters. My jaw dropped repeatedly. And there are a bunch of cool shots and camera movements during the fights.

As for the rest of the movie, there really isn't much there. It's the most bare-bones revenge plot we've seen a thousand times. Technical aspects are more than fine, but there isn't much to latch onto.

You could argue the same about GOAT action movie The Raid: Redemption. The difference is, The Raid doesn't focus on that bare-bones story. 70% of the movie is action scenes. It's more like 10% in this movie. Action is scarce until the climax and most of the focus is on the uninteresting story.

My personal recommendation: watch only the hallway/elevator scene at the end.

(1 viewing, 1/15/2024)