Shadow Glories

OK. To be honest, I was expecting to go see a little independant film. The talkative once, you know...but I could not believe that Shadow Glories was really an independant film...the action is way too professional to be handled by low budget, but more important is the interesting mix of styles from documantary to deep reality. Film noir to action. It reminded me so much of something that would come from Maxim Gorky. One thing I have to admit: I Was Very Impressed.

Truly unique vision. Uncompromising in its look at the world of kick-boxing. Many great new and fresh execution of style. This is an original film worth looking into. Astounding action. Brilliant symbolic images that build to seamless whole. Go for it. I think this one will surly become a great study in near future.

The most intense part of this great independent film is when the Referee with the weird, almost overdubbed voice instructs the fighters to fight fair. It's bittersweet, like the performance turned in by Brando in "Waterfront". He looks like a Scotch Charlie Sheen, and is so into his performance that it transitions the scene with an almost Van-Damme-like smoothness. Unlike other 'fight' films, this one seems to have been made with every scene played with fullest heart (maximum return on the indie-budget investment, no doubt). Some films feature such background characters that seem to glow forth from the rest of the picture, as does this referee character. It's hard to overlook such amazing talent, especially when he's given such a pivotal role. His counterpart (another Ref, played by the former mayor of Lewiston, Maine, where this movie was filmed) seems over-the-top in comparison. This films beauty is in how the McLean referee internalizes--keeping his acting to a level of realism very similar to Hopkins' "Lambs" role in 1991. If only this piece of genuine cinema been offered to wider audiences, we might have seen the beginning of a new era of such fight-genre films. Perhaps it will re-emerge. Ten stars.

All I have to say is that this film has balls of steel. Remarkable timing, and essential ideas make this film very special. In an unusual style, the film was able to make a brilliant impact on me and my friends. Most appropriate for teen-agers.

This film is neither the best of the best, as other users have posted until now, nor the very poorly directed and acted film most external reviewers say. The script has a number of scenes that will make you remember similar scenes from Rambo films (as far as boxing and bloody action goes), and the 2005 Oscar winning Million Dollar Baby (as far as drama is concerned). Sure, the people here are amateurs, in comparison with the bigger names and bucks behind the other productions, but they do quite well. You can't reject a film like this just because it has faults. I had read so many put-down reviews that I risked watching the film, and I found it interesting, and active, and not as patronizing to women in martial arts as most of the other stuff - though even here there is a lady doctor in the end giving us the conservative viewpoint that boxing can severely hurt your brain, and the innuendo is... if you're female. I did not like the start of the film, but if you keep our attention after you think the film ends, you'll understand it. The director even managed a couple of surprises in the end! In this sort of story, it is not usual. Even they are not as poignant and effective as those in Million Dollar Baby, they help make this work worth seeing. Recommended to feminists, action fans, kick-boxing fans (these can't expect much realism, though).