18 Fingers of Death!

I really, really wanted to enjoy this movie but it just didn't seem to gel. A movie spoof is supposed to be funny, not make you sorry for the people appearing in it. Not to mention sorry for the people who financed it because you pray they can somehow make their money back and yet you know they probably won't. A movie lives and dies by it's script and for a comedy spoof this just wasn't very funny at all. And I agree with the 2 other people who said the "fart fight" featuring Lorenzo Lamas was the definite low point. Flatulence on film was funny when Mel Brooks did it in the classic "Blazing Saddles" but that was a long, long time ago. And how disappointing to see a film with the smoking hot Robin Shou and veteran Don "The Dragon" Wilson and neither one of them fights?? Just much too brief cameos for both, truly a shame. Might have helped things a bit here, at least there would have been some great fighting to make up for the lack of great comedy.

Do not spend your money on this movie. I love mockumentaries and potty humor but I did not even crack a smile during this entire film. I gave it 2 stars 'cuz Pat Morita was in it. I am still baffled at how this kind of crap gets backing and then money is spent to promote it, and then it's distributed, etc. I'm all for up and coming talent but keep the small budget crap on the shelf for art's sake. Release it later if the director or an actor/actress makes it big later on. Why do I keep falling for this crap. Those who wrote positive reviews must be very very brainless or a part of the film in some way.

If your friend spends his/her money on this move...kung fu his butt and don't watch this. My eyes still burn. Help me.

The idea of a mockumentary on creating a stereotypical low-budget martial arts movie is great. This movie definitely had some potential - some of Lew's lines on the aspects of these martial arts movies are great! But the whole thing is just too corny to be genuinely funny. Silly celebrity sound-alike names really take away from the celebrity impersonators ("Steven Seafood"? Why not just like, "Steven Seagull," or just use his real name? I think laws on parody would have had them covered).

Add to that very poor editing, with lines obviously recorded afterwards and edited in (they even overlap what the on screen character is saying) and a "fart fight" scene, and the whole thing just goes down the chutes.

It's really unfortunate that some of the best scenes are in the trailer! It opened promisingly enough ("I'm Deadly Thug #1!") but just couldn't keep up. Worth a rent maybe, but that's about it.

An amiable and amusing mockumentary, 18 FINGERS OF DEATH stands roughly in the same relation to Kung Fu movies as SPINAL TAP does to rock music. Low rent action star Buford Lee (James Lew, familiar from supporting roles BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS and TRAFFIC), sporting a certifiable Bruce Lee accent, is trying to get his new martial arts film 18 FINGERS.. off the ground. His travails are recorded by first time documentary maker, ever enthusiastic fan Ronald Mack (Maurice Patten). Along the way there are gentle parodies of martial arts heroes 'Stephen Seafood' 'Chuck Snorris' and most memorably, 'Antonio Bandana' etc, extracts from Buford's previous releases and scenes of the rehearsal and shooting of his latest one. Much of the acting on offer here is fine and the cinematography is excellent too (my DVD box claims the ratio is 4:3 but it is actually 1.85:1). The relationship between Lee and Mack is what gives the film its gravity – one especially relishes the scene when the star proudly shows him his collection of treasured Kung Fu memorabilia, including 'the actual socks worn by Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon' (sadly unwashed) - and the obvious affection shown the genre by the principals shines through constantly. It's a shame that the film somewhat runs out of steam at the end, especially once Mack has left the story. Occasionally too, jokes could have been sharper, a fact especially true of the late, extended fight scene between Bandana and Lee which plays out the old farting routine for too long, its introduction a sure sign that invention is flagging. One misses the insane surreality which appeared in KUNG POW its absence due, perhaps wisely, to 18 FINGERS' recognition that such elements would appear somewhat jarring in the context of a supposed factual format. But the buoyant Patten is a real find, one of the best things in the picture in fact, clearly a talent to watch, Lew's more restrained performance allowing his co star his head. On my copy some of the action scenes seemed a bit dark, but this is not too much of a distraction. All in all, this is worth watching, with no real slow patches, although as one might expect martial arts fans – and lovers of straight-to-video chock socky - will laugh the most.

Going by the previous comment here I thought this movie would be comical exploration into the kung-fu world. What a mistake that was! The only laughs I got were at the expense of the acting and the script (if there even was a script, often it felt as though the entire movie was being ad-libbed by a first-year college movie class). Although there are numerous references to classic kung-fu movies, they don't come across as a tongue-in-cheek homage, but rather a pathetic attempt to legitimise the meaningless content. There are plenty of low brow jokes which only serve reinforce the weak script and poorly written characters, with nothing original or witty as a saving grace. A waste of time & money.