Maria

This film is the average of films in every dimension. It is generic and completely forgettable. There are worse ways to spend the time it takes to watch it, but there are equally many better ways.

As a reviewer old enough to remember when these films were made only one place on the planet -- Hong Kong -- I consider this a solid effort with above average fight scenes. The problem could be that, in an effort to make English viewers feel more comfortable, the actors had to read some of their lines in English as if they were slang phrases -- something common in Japanese movies but which seemed awkward and stilted here. So ignore that. And the obligatory husband and child both seemed whiny and annoying so it was almost a relief when they were removed from the story. The rest of the movie is fine.

"Maria" is a typical revenge film, full of clichés, but highly entertaining. The language is a complete mess, probably because Cristine Reyes does not speak English. But she is gorgeous and sexy, with great choreography of martial arts and remembers Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill". In the end, "Maria" is a good entertainment for fans of the genre. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Vingança de Maria" ("The Revenge of Maria")

In this revenge thriller, we follow Maria (Cristine Reyes) a woman with a troubled past as an assassin who has now retired and started a family. When her old partners discover she is still alive, they murder her husband and daughter in cold blood and she vows revenge. For the most part, it does drag quite a bit and I think that's due to a really poor script. The bad guys say typical bad guys things which completely detracts from the authenticity and just feels very last minute. The acting is not too bad at all; particularly from Reyes who brings a good lead performance and Ronnie Lazaro is also fun as Sir Greg. There are a couple of really well choreographed fight scenes with a keen focus on martial arts and take a lot of inspiration from recent action hits such as John Wick. It's biggest saving grace is the soundtrack with awesome pounding rock songs by Mr Bones & The Boneyard Circus which went straight onto my playlist! I'd recommend the soundtrack and Maria's incentive for vengeance is justified propelled by a disturbing sequence half way through. Not for the faint hearted but also retreading old ground and not bringing much new to the table

The cinematography was great. The writing was the worst thing about this movie. Try's way too hard to beAmerican cliche but ruins the whole move. The 'boss' is totally ridiculous and in no way to be taken serious or threatening. I know fight scenes are never realistic but we watch them anyway for fun, but this, totally ridiculous even though the choreography was done well. The special effects were very poor and way to much blood spray in every scene. This effect has been way over used in many films and does not look realistic at all. I felt nothing for the main character as i should have but there was no character development except for when they kill her family. Even then, it was too rushed. Had high hopes for this but it failed. I would recommend Buy Bust with Ann Curtis for a better movie all together.