The Art of Self-Defense

In this black comedy, Jesse Eisenberg is a wimpy office underling who is victimized by a criminal gang and because of his poor combat skills, decides to take up karate to protect himself and to improve his self-image and fighting spirit. He proves surprisingly adept in his training and advances steadily under the watchful eye of a puzzling, intimidating sensai.

Performances here are respectable, but hobbled by a screenplay that is choppy (no pun intended) before it loses luster and veers off to its surprise ending. Eisenberg does his best as a cardboard protagonist, the loser extraordinaire with a thankless job, a small dog, an '80s television set and who seemingly was born to fight absolutely no one. He is upstaged considerably by Alessandro Nivola who gives a formidable, bravado-driven performance as the magnetic sensai, the real life of the film. Imogen Poots is a welcome presence as the strong-willed sole female student. Even with a muddled script, the acting is enough to keep things afloat, just barely.

As long as credibility is not your test, this film could make for weird, passable entertainment. In a very narrow way, it succeeds as a silly diversion, chock full of deadpan humor, ferocious jolts and just enough taste for blood that the squeamish should be forewarned. In the end, however, it goes down as clever, if inconsistent comedy. Not recommended, except to esoteric and casual viewers.

When I first saw the trailer for this film I knew I had to see it. It looked like it was going to be a wonderful dark comedy centered around karate of all things. I've never heard of the filmmaker of this movie but the idea of Jesse Eisenberg learning karate to fend off bullies and delivering deadpan delivery is alluring in and of itself. The film manages to blend its comedy and thrills extremely well and is a really good time all around. I was unsure about the closing stages of the film but it is certainly a remarkably entertaining and unique time.

The film is about a timid accountant who one day is mugged and beaten severely by a motorcycle gang. He decides that he wants to learn how to defend himself and stumbles across a karate gym that immediately intrigues him. He meets a very bizarre Sensei and quickly tries to assimilate the skills he learns to improve all aspects of his life and become more manly. Little does he know the darkness within the underworld of this karate world.

I loved Eisenberg's character in this. To see his character progress and to watch the confidence grow, its a joy. The Sensei character is also so entertaining. The films script is so sharp in all the right places. Even the serious moments are funny because of the dark comedic writing. That makes it worthwhile. Its also refreshing to see a look into the world of karate and the growth in stature in the art, whether this film plays it to be factual or makes up stuff.

As the film was winding down you felt the twists and turns coming and also hope the film doesn't fall apart. Luckily, it doesn't and manages to stay intact with respect to the tone of the first half of the film. This may fly under a lot of people's radars but I wish for everyone to go and see this.I don't think I've actually seen anything quite like this before. Its unique in its nature and has fun with a very creative plot.

8/10

It is refreshing to see a movie that is not like the typical garbage we have come to expect from Hollywood. This movie is not for shallow minded folks who like to be spoon fed typical brain dead movie fodder.

I saw this gem at a recent film festival. This is why I go to see movies - something original, something "real," and something important. I didn't find it preachy at all, actually I thought it got it's point across in the best way possible - by being funny and entertaining. The movie starts off by grabbing your attention with how weak of a character Casey is, and how cruel his world is. His world is unrealistically desolate and lonely. But the way he rises out of it is why the movie goes from boring Wes Anderson fantasy to kick-ass Fight Club absurdity. Yes, there are absurd moments but they are completely consistent with the theme of the movie. A theme that needs to be shown again and again in cinema. I won't explicitly state it, but it is the reason this movie goes from average to great, albeit 45 minutes in. A little more gruesome than I'm used to, but I still enjoyed it.

I got way more than I bargained for with this one. I thought it was just going to be a stereotypical "Karate Kid" kind of story - boy was I wrong - it ended up being a very clever and original black comedy. It starts off pretty slow, but at about the halfway point it jumps from zero to a hundred very quick and does so beautifully; the sudden jump still keeps in tone with the build up and doesn't overstep the mark by becoming "too excessive", it's just the right amount of insanity.

There's a nice few twists and turns along way, and brilliant dry humour throughout. The cinematography is simple but effective, the actors give great performances, and Riley Stearns has really done a fantastic job with the script and direction.

This one is definitely worth a watch if you like the genre, even if you don't, give it a go, it might just surprise you.