Chinango

Found a copy of Chinango in an airplane. I wasn't really into the films the airline was showcasing so I popped Chinango into my laptop. What a surprise. This is old school gun-ho film making. Filmed entirely in Mexico City in what looks like 16mm, the style is 70's camp, yet the over the top action scenes and amazing soundtrack keep the story and visuals rocking. Using obvious low budget tactics it is profoundly admirable the epic scope of the end result. Raw and realistic martial arts, extreme Mexican/Chinese curious art department, Susan Gonzalez is racy in a blue bikini, pop art cinematography and some of the most absurd comedy, a fantastic fiasco and a golly good show! I have since passed the film on to another stranger on a train.

This movie was unbelievably bad. The only thing good about this movie was the pathetic... everything which gave me some good laughs. There were also some unexplained scenes like the bad dude masturbation off while stretching and the random scenes of the Asian lady taking water.

Oh and also apparently being shot 3 times by a pistol doesn't phase the hero, but when the acting, camera everything, sound quality, picture quality, unexplainable plot, fight scenes are @#$!$!!! you can't really expect anything less. So if you want to get a comedy but don't know what to get look no further than Chinango. Wedding Crashers has nothing on this movie as far as laughter goes.

CHINANGO is the third starring vehicle for Chilean karate superstar Marko Zaror, and so far the only one of those he made in Mexico and through a Mexican production company (Producciones Lobo). Like the film he starred in before it, MIRAGEMAN, it had apparently next to no budget and by most standards looks like film school project, but unlike MIRAGEMAN, it doesn't make much particular use of its independent status and comes off as the rough draft of a better movie. No remake has ever been produced, but since just about everything Zaror has been in afterwards has been a lot better, I'm glad that he made this one, if only to get it out of his system.

The story: A martial artist searches for a mystical medallion left to him by his grandfather, entering into a dangerous contest with an underworld boss (Hugo Stiglitz).

Apparently, this film was shot on 16mm film and without a single permit, meaning that the cast was most likely running around Mexico City and filming snippets in private apartments and back streets with a hand-held camera while trying not to get caught. It certainly gives that impression: the camera-work can get *really* shaky at times, and the occasional jumps between shots makes it feel like the filmmakers didn't have all the time they wanted to shoot. With that said, the production still seems relatively tight: with the exception of some embarrassing pre-rendered CGI inserts, the movie rarely gives the impression of having undertaken something too large and aesthetically looks good enough given its limited resources.

Disappointingly, the major shortcoming here is that the story quickly gets very boring whenever Marko's not fighting. Some of the characters border on interesting, like the lead villain, but in the end, there's very little by way of acting that can make you forget the unsteady camera and the awkward dialogue. Of course, there are a couple strange features that make you look up and take notice - like the traditional Chinese orchestration over the Mexican landscape, or the scene wherein naked Marko needs to flee his apartment - but in the end, I found myself hoping for a movie that went more over-the-top to make up for the blandness of its production (e.g. CONTOUR).

Marko Zaror's fight scenes are a highlight in any movie he makes, and this is no exception. In the course of seven fights, he shows off not only his acrobatic kickboxing skills but also his apparent talent for stuntwork. He even has a pretty good head opponent in muay thai practitioner Francisco Calvo, and gets into a mildly Jackie Chan-inspired brawl wherein his opponent attacks him with a broom and he fights back with a wooden stool. Sadly, none of these encounters is a five-star affair, or even a four-star one. While Marko's had better fights in general (see UNDISPUTED III if you haven't), these ones are slowed by endless insertions of shots from other scenes - like in the latter aforementioned fight, wherein the movie keeps cutting away to a comedy brawl between an enforcer and a cabbie, or in the former, wherein it cuts away to an awkward fight between two women. Also, the DVD cover features what appears to be a capoeira practitioner, but there's none of that in the movie.

If you're a nut for Marko and just want to complete your collection of his films, buy away, but don't do so thinking you're going to get that great of a feature. CHINANGO shows the potential of no-budget cinema as a conduit for martial arts adventures, but it's going to take more practice before this one can compete away from its niche audience.

I actually enjoyed this movie. I won't lie... but I didn't enjoy it for the same reasons the directors wanted me to enjoy it. This movie is apparently an action thriller with amazing choreography, special effects and plot. None of this is true. The fighting is pathetic. There are random sound effects that make no sense. For instance, when there's a brawl in the nightclub, you can hear laser guns from star trek randomly while punches are being thrown. The special effects are a joke as well... I could do the same stuff using Powerpoint and the plot makes no sense.

So why did I enjoy this movie? Well it's so pathetic and bad that it is hilarious. I laughed for hours at random scenes and it made my day... not to sound too harsh, but the movie is horrible. I still suggest you watch it if you want a good laugh. =)

I do love a great martial arts movie even tough the story isn't the best in the world. Normally as long as the fight are good, i can live with a "not so good" story. This movie got Marko Zaror, believe me, the guy can fight. He oppose Scott Adkins in Undisputed 3 as Dolor, the bad guy. And that was the first time i saw him in action but my reflex was "he truly match Adkins as a fighter" So seeing this movie in a bucket of low price DVD i tough "i don't care about the plot, Marko's in it, so fights are gonna be amazing". But man i was wrong. First there isn't that much fight, then for what it got sure we got Marko doing some nice flip and all, but the choreography is badly done, the sound of the punches remind us of an old 70s Martial Arts movie, which is unacceptable for a 2000s production. If it was all that.... The story is boring, and the production.... grainy images... cmon... For a movie that advertise as "No Wire, No stunt double, like Ong Bak, its more like the wires already got over the budget... No disrespect to mister Zaror, i know the guy is an awesome fighter, but this movie prove you can have a great lead actor(in his domain) but still have a crappy movie. I saw countless of 90s martial arts movies with the most basic story as it can get: Good guy either got his butt kicked or his friend got kill by the bad guy, he train to an old master, he get back and kick the bad guy's butt. Classic, but it work, here this story about the medallion was truly garbage and not fun at all to follow. And like i said, if the fights would have redeem the movie... but sadly that was not the case...