Blood and Bone

I have a great gift in the ability to enjoy exploitation cinema and genre films. When a movie like "Blood and Bones" comes along, I am able to watch and hopefully enjoy it for what it is.

"Bone and Blood" stars Michael Jai White. White, one may remember, played the titular character in self proclaimed bad boy Todd McFarland's kid friendly send-up of the demonic "Spawn." White branched out to TV and voice acting after the nearly career killing clownish "Spawn" movie failed to generate much positive buzz. White, however, is an accomplished martial artist primarily in the Kyokushin style – a brutal full contact form of karate (though he also dabbles in Wushu which is much more screen friendly) – and film loves high impact martial artists. So White has been given another chance as a leading man with this movie, the upcoming fantastically buzzed about blaxploitation tribute "Black Dynamite," and a rumored involvement in Robert Rodriguez's developing mess, "Predators."

White plays Bone, an ex-con with a heart of gold. After his release, Bone finds himself immediately drawn to the illegal street fighting scene where he hooks up with mouthy small time promoter Pinball (Dante Brasco). Bone's motivation is indistinct at first and that gives the first part of the movie a rushed feel. However there is a Reveal about half way through that explains Bone's motivations and helps tighten up the not-too-surprising storyline. Otherwise Bone is a bit of a mystery in that his crime, his time, and his history is left completely unexplained for the duration of the film.

Once Pinball realizes Bone's talent, he quickly concocts a scheme that will get Bone a shot at the local street fighting champ Hammerman (played with corny endearment by former MMA champ Bob Sapp) arranged through Hammerman's bigger-time promoter James (Eammon Walker – "Oz" jailhouse Muslim leader Kareem Said).

This comes at around the halfway point where the film shifts gears from a tournament style martial arts flick to more of a revenge flick. Bone's personal motivation is brought to the forefront and momentum leads to one final fight with, inexplicably, David Aldridge, of whom I know nothing about. I say inexplicably because the film is draped in cameos and roles by past and current MMA stars from various leagues. Aldridge has, literally, less than five minutes screen time and that role, it seems, could have been handled by one of the MMA guests.

The martial arts throughout the film look powerful and brutal but the choreography is not inspired. White is a gifted martial artist and it would be interesting to see him in the hands of a stellar fight choreography team. The fights were entertaining enough, though, due to what many a child of the 90s martial action films would called the Seagal Factor. The Seagal Factor is, simply, when the protagonist is such an incredible bad ass that he is never – not once – threatened in the film which leads to a kind of maniacal hand-rubbing glee. None of White's fights are competitive in "Bone and Blood," but they're still quite interesting due to the Seagal Factor.

From a tech standpoint the film has numerous flaws. There are many cues that are missed and mis-fired gestures that are stopped and started by the actors awaiting their cue in dialog scenes. The music is horrible. The score somehow alternates between syrupy sweet Bill Bixby Incredible Hulk piano music and NIN-like industrial riffs. The effect is jarring.

But this is not a movie to watch for its technical merits. It's a movie to watch for martial arts bad assery and in that way it works. It does not score high in finesse or creativity, but there is a certain primal element that White taps into that makes the movie a worthwhile popcorn flick.

It seems that "Black Dynamite" is a can't miss and working with Hollywood darling Rodriguez can't be bad for White's career, so White may finally be on his way to stardom. If not, Bone ended in a way that could easily lead to sequels of "The Equalizer" type story lines. Or maybe White will take off while Bone makes his way to the small screen. When's the last time we had a prime time martial arts series? I think Bone could work there.

I saw this movie last night and I thought it was a pretty good movie. Michael jai White plays his role pretty good. The fight scenes to me were good compared to some of the other fighting movies that are in theaters. Overall, I enjoyed the movie. This is one of those movies that I would love to have seen in the theaters. If you enjoy enjoy martial arts pictures or just plain ole fighting movies, then you won't want to miss this one. The story line made sense unlike some others that are sometimes hard to follow. The only thing that I would loved to have seen be different is the lines from Pinball. I think his lines were a little overkill. The writers could have toned it down a little because he wasn't really funny if that's what they were trying to portrait.

I saw today Blood and Bone and I was surprised because it turned out being pretty good. I this saw because I've been a fan been a fan of Michael Jai White since Spawn. Anyways the movie is pretty low budget but who really cares when the fight scenes are really well done considering that I didn't see any wires. Storyline is good considering it's a fighting movie and Eamon Walker (Oz) comes out in the film which is cool because I never see him in anything the only other movie I've ever seen him in was Shopping with Jude Law on IFC. All in all a very good action film, Michael is a bad ass in the movie. And hopefully Michael Jai White gets some recognition and starts coming out in more movies.

If you love fighting movies and Michael Jai White, well its impossible to hate this one.

When I first watched this movie I was very hyped and loved it instantly. You cannot consider yourself a fan of fighting, karate kind of movies and hate this one, is simply impossible.

Michael Jai White was perfect for this role, he is a massive dude, full of muscle and the fighting was amazing. Is clear that behind all this we had a great script and a great movie director.

"Blood and Bone" is one of the best low budget martial arts films I have ever seen. This was a perfect movie to showcase the talent of the very underrated Michael Jai White. Great fight scenes throughout that are really shot well. None of that shaky camera stuff where you can't tell what is going on. I just happened to watch this movie after watching the movie "Fighting" and I have to say that "Bone" is ten times better. The fight scenes, the music, and even the acting is better. "Fighting" had very little fighting and the little it had wasn't that great. The camera was too close to the actors and too shaky to tell what was going on. They could have been playing poker for all I know. "Bone" should have been released in theaters instead of "Fighting". If you are a fan of martial arts films and like fight scenes where you can see all the moves, check this one out.