L'homme aux poings de fer

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.

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.

I have recently been reading reviews of this film and I think people have been suffering from overly high expectations. It is NOT Django! It is a tongue in cheek take on old school martial arts films and I for one enjoyed it a lot. The fight scenes were outrageous and rightfully so. If you appreciate the beauty of Asian women then you are in for a real treat with this film. The plot wasn't deep but it wasn't meant to be. It is just a bit of fun and nostalgic for the films made by such production companies as golden harvest. Sometimes a guy wants to watch a movie and not have to think and this is the perfect film for that.

I found it interesting that Russell Crowe was in this film. He must have quite a sense of humour. Casting Batista I thought was pretty good as the character suited him well. Lucy Liu is always sassy and I the other actors brought some much needed humour to the movie.

"We had decided to leave this place, but it turns out that the universe had other plans." When a legend of a golden treasure is heard of a group of various warriors come to a village. When an evil faction looks to take control it is up to the local blacksmith (RZA) and a rogue British soldier (Crowe) to stop them and protect the village. I have to admit that I am not a huge fan of movies like this. I have never really been into martial arts type movies although I have seen some really good ones. That said, while not being all that amazing of a movie itself this one was super entertaining and had some interesting fight sequences that I really enjoyed. The movie is way over the top and unbelievable, but it fit in this movie. If you are looking for an Oscar worthy type martial arts movie then I recommend 13 Assassins or War Of Arrows. This movie is really just visually fun and the fighting is entertaining, which is good sometimes. I liked it more then I expected. Overall, better then anticipated, martial arts fans may really like this. I say B.

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