La Venganza Del Dragón

Been awhile. The last film I saw from Gens was Frontier(s) some years back which was eye opening and fiersome.

Fast forward, and here we are. He's done some "smaller" projects I believe since my indoctrination into Euro horror and thrillers, abd this one did not disappoint.

All too familiar tropes won't work if you don't have the atmospheres, the cinematography, and in this particular case, the extreme violent sequences. So beware, this film was far away from the faint of heart, but he did pay over and above homage to some of the better directors in the subgenre---Takashi Miike, Perk Chan Wook and the more recent to join in this clan, Gareth Evans.

It's bleak, it's realistic and graphic at the core of the violence. But when you have a solid lead protagonist---the violence comes through that character rather easily. It's a story of redemption in its infancy that turns on its heels into one of the best revenge films of the the past 10 years. Gritty, beautifully shot, and gripping enough to hold you, and even hard to look away when its at it most challengingly disturbing.

Bring on the XG shark film...

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.

Mayhem!, efficiently directed by Xavier Gens is violent, melancholy and features two extendedly-bloody fight sequences. Unfortunately, Mayhem makes the cardinal sin of making you wait almost an hour for any of the fight choreography promised in the trailer to appear. The Mayhem part of the movie really only applies to the last 35 minutes. Thankfully, the fight choreography is punchy, bloody, violent, and framed in a way that will make anyone who's watched The Raid movies smile. The question is, does the roughly 45-50 minutes it takes to get to the goods worth it? Sort of. The story is simple, clichéd and has quite the melancholic ending. The fighting makes up about 20 or so minutes of the movie and for a 100 minute movie titled Mayhem, it's not enough.

HOWEVER, if you can relax and make it through you will enjoy what Gens and his stunt team put together. The final hallway fight into a gory melee in an elevator is stunning. It's the in your face brutality promised by the movies title and I had to watch it multiple times to revel in its glory. If only the pacing was tightened up Mayhem could have been up there with the greats. Until then, it's a fine Sunday afternoon watch if you don't have anything else to do.

"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)