The Fifth Commandment

Kristal, the fifth commandment is "Thou shalt not kill" for the overwhelming number of Christians in the world. There are a few protestant sects that split the First Commandment into two and then combine the ninth and tenth into one. For them the Fifth would end up as "Honour you father and mother". However for Catholics, Orthodox, and other historical churches, the Fifth Commandment it the one that prohibits murder.

That said, this is not a great movie but this isn't supposed to be an epic movie that takes itself too seriously. Instead, it is simply an action film worthy of a couple hours distraction.

It does actually say quite a lot about the movie that they think the fifth commandment is "thou shalt not kill" It isn't. Gives you some idea of the lack of attention involved in producing the movie. As a kick-fest, with guns and explosions thrown-in, it stands with some merit, though the production values are not of the best. The plot is fairly simple, yet made confusing in an attempt to give it depth. The acting is pretty good given the limited script. The sound track is pointlessly noisy in all the wrong places. In all, it gives the feeling of an early eighties effort: a pleasant enough diversion for a rainy day, but don't expect to be blown away.

The Fifth Commandment (TFC) is the real deal. The action is fierce. The tension is explosive. The camera work is dazzling. This highly stylized exploration of ass whoop reminds us of A Better Tomorrow, one of the earliest John Woo films. That one wasn't perfect either, but it is in that imperfection, in that grit, that the beauty of it lies, and through that movie both John Woo and Chow Yun Fat were recognized internationally. The characters in TFC are hilarious in a comic book sort of way. This slam bam thank you ma'am action smack down is a fitting tribute to the great low budget martial arts films of the seventies and eighties. The litmus test for this movie is: did you enjoy Ong Bak? If you did, this isn't quite as good but you do not want to miss this bad ass whack fest. The Fifth Commandment is not quite The Killer or Hard Boiled, but, come one, what movie is. In its own right, this is a heavy duty no holds barred celebration of violence as a choreographed art form. Of course the plot is thin! It's not supposed to be Scent of A Woman, for crying out loud. An assassin hired to kill a Jennifer Lopez look alike doesn't take the job because it would involve killing his own brother so the people who hired him are now out to get him. Duh. Transporter 3, which has a similar plot, is a joke compared to this one. Kill Bill was only making fun of movies like TFC. Too bad it doesn't have a better ending. The last half hour drags on and ruins the entire experience.

Title ridiculously translated into Portuguese as "O 5o Comando" (The fifth Command) instead of "O 5o. Mandamento"

As a stereotypical action film review, I intend to split this review into "starter, main course, and dessert" for your action enjoyment:

The film really kicks off 13 minutes in where our main man Rick Yune displays exceptional gunplay ability, with a particular penchant for shredding his enemies' legs apart with wave after wave of lead. And this is just for starters...

Take one scene, Bokeem Woodbine lays the smackdown on a group of around 8 assailants, all while being unarmed. Why? Maybe his character is some scientific mash up of Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal. I don't know. In any case, the scene is pulled off with stylish camera work, and some cool looking fisticuffs. This main course is action packed, enjoyable, with a side order of dead bodies. Maybe...close to 100 of them.

And if that hasn't sated your appetite, for dessert, the antagonist (Roger Yuan) is exceptionally brutal and convincing in his attempts to kill everything in between him and his target (Dania Ramirez). The target who is such an arrogant, obnoxious character that at one point I was secretly hoping for her to get gunned into tiny, tiny pieces.

Conclusion: The plot is perhaps nothing to write home about. But the action is solid, the pacing is good, and all the ingredients of a great action movie are here for you to enjoy in some kind of crazy action soup.

(Thanks for sticking with all these food references!)