The Man with the Iron Fists 2

Really bad movie, the first version of "the Man with the iron fists" is interesting; photo, music, plot, cast. But this second version is bad from start to end; aerial shots are really poor (drone shakes once in a while as well as the color quality), acting of the secondary characters is poor as well, not even overacted is just bad acting (90% of the cast is secondary or not decently known actors). The plot, visual effects, make up and fight choreography is also poor. After 10 min is really hard to keep on watching, you really have to try hard to kind of enjoy it. The music is kind of OK, but not compared to the first movie, which in my opinion was the most interesting part of a Kungfu kind of movie with the RZA music taste.

Unfortunately a really, but really bad sequel.

If you like B type of movies, like the 80's delta force or American ninja, you might like this one, I say might.

RZA is definitely passionate about martial art movie and he invests a lot of time for this niche, but The Man with the Iron Fists 2 is a subpar action movie. It has low production value, the exotic location surprisingly isn't appealing, the script is flimsy and most importantly the action choreography is utterly disappointing. Fights are no better than scenes from ancient action flick from decades ago, and with this flaw the movie just loses its main appeal.

Story goes that there's an entity on a mining town that feeds on life force. The people of this town also have to content with oppression from the ruling clan. Meanwhile Thaddeus (RZA) is unexpectedly involved in a rebellion against the dictator. Main focus of the movie is the struggle of town folks, there's barely any continuity from the first movie and RZA himself only here as a supporting role. The plot tries to resolves its several subplots, only to be hampered with poor execution.

Writing and characterization are not satisfying, it follows the usual rebellion theme with screeching pace. Though it has a couple of twists, the direction is so slow, one can skip thirty minutes of the movie and doesn't miss much. The build-up is inconsistent with shady acting, and change of setting to beach town doesn't prove to be amusing as well. Environment only consists of a dark barren town and a rural village. The use of color contrast feels archaic, it's nothing more than the visual of B-movie. Furthermore, the soundtracks don't fit the theme, it may be intended as clash of cultures, but the end result is borderline intrusive.

While the first movie wasn't that great, it still had production value with famous names and stylish design. This one definitely has less budget as everything looks lackluster. Whereas the screenplay is abysmal, the action might fare worse. The motion seems fake even though it uses slow mo to mask it, some scenes even depict missed punches and overacting but these are still edited clumsily for the final product. It looks awkward for an action film not being able to deliver action sequences.

While it may benefit from oriental ambiance, the cumbersome plot and underwhelming choreography sink the movie like two giant anchors strapped on its limbs.

I'm only writing this review because some of the other reviews are far too harsh. Yes, this is a bad movie, but it's not any worse than most other low budget chop socky I've watched, if anything it suffers from a lack of fighting. My biggest complaint would be that the asians in this flick all speak english to well and detracts from that asian market grindhouse martial arts feel. Anyway if you've watched more than five none hollywood kung fu movies you'll see it's Ok.

MAN WITH THE IRON FIST 2 review by: Mike Smith

Thaddeus The Blacksmith (RZA) is back in this action adventure inspired by Kung-Fu classics. A reluctant villager joins forces with a mysterious outsider to fight off powerful evil forces, both earthly and otherworldly, in a 19th century Chinese mining town.

Let me start by saying I didn't mind the first Man With The Iron Fist movie; it was a nice Kung-Fu action Grindhouse movie but it was forgettable. Besides the start of the film, Man With The Iron Fist 2 shys away from the Grindhouse feel of the first film and focuses more on the Kung-Fu genre. One thing I was disappointed about is that this films story isn't really based around the adventure of Thaddeus The Blacksmith. The story is about a minor who must save his village with the help of Thaddeus The Blacksmith. Man With The Iron Fist 2 just helps build the legend of Thaddeus The Blacksmith a bit more, so don't expect just to watch RZA whoop ass through the whole film like the first one.

I'm not the biggest Kung-Fu movie fan but I really enjoyed myself. The fight scenes are really well done and kept me wanting more. The story is a classic stand up to evil story and this film tells it well.

Unlike the first film, there are not a lot of big named stars in this movie, but it doesn't take away from the film. Everyone does a great job in Man With The Iron Fist 2 and it feels like a love letter to classic Kung-Fu films.

But like all films, Man With The Iron Fist 2 does have some flaws, like the use of modern day lingo. You kind of forget that everyone is supposed to be in 19th century Chinese, even though it takes you out of the film I find it part of the charm. The music is all rap and/or big rap beats; I'm not by far a rap fan and yes I know RZA is a rapper so I knew what to expect and I enjoyed the beats and the scores.

Man With The Iron Fist 2 is not a top shelf movie but I did enjoy it even though it's not what I was expecting after seeing the first film 3 years ago. This film is strongly forgettable but has some fun lines of dialog. If you want to watch something a bit different and turn your brain off for 90 minutes check this out and no you don't need to watch the first film to watch this one.

Cheers and remember like won't suck as long as there is a good movie to watch.

6 out of 10

Edited by Samantha Locke

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I thought to avoid watching this movie, because is a sequel of a terrible-boring wrongly directed movie called THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS(2012), which is characterized by wrong choices and wrong decisions in all levels: Producer, Director, Actors, Writer... The first movie was a child attempt of RZA to become a Writer-Director-Producer-Music-Protagonist ...all in one: A monumental ego catastrophe.

But finally, I saw the movie, and I was surprised. The movie continues with the story of Thaddeus and his journey through China, but now is a well done movie, with beautiful scenes, great camera handling and photography sometimes is precious. The plot is not predictable and has enough turns to keep you attached to the action developed in the movie. Dialogues are not boring or stupid ...an sometimes you could feel some poetry and oriental wisdom expressed in the lines. Fight scenes are well done and choreographs work well. The music is also a hit. CONCLUSION: if you like the action genre, the movie deserves to be seen, and the reason for it: the well done job on the Direccion, made by Roel Reiné(Dead in Tomstone, Dead Race 2-3).

Maybe is not one of the best action movies of the year, perhaps far from that, but the movie has some valuable elements that make you feel satisfied at the end. Is a kind of crazy movie that some times make you remember the style of action of movies like Kill Bill.

I give 7 stars rating, for this entertaining action movie.