Broken Path

That may seem like an odd comparison to make, but just like My Dinner with Andre about 30 minutes into Broken Path you realise that we're not changing location. Yes, this is essentially one long 90 minute fight and as a result feels much more like an experimental art film than an action film. Some people at the Phantasmagoria film festival where I saw the film this weekend found the superhuman resilience of the characters a bit unrealistic but I just saw it as live-action anime. The only problem I had was the character of the wife is pretty useless throughout the film, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed this and found it both a challenging and interesting take on a usually formulaic genre.

I saw Broken Path at the Phantasmagoria film festival this weekend and was very excited indeed. Johnny Yong Bosch gives a terrific account of himself here, as does Dan Southworth (a favourite performer of mine since the awesome US Seals 2), Motoko Nagino, and the other tremendous action performers in the film. The film is virtually one long non-stop fight from about 20 minutes in, after establishing Johnny's family life with his wife and young daughter. The action is outstanding, especially the final showdown between Johnny and Dan which really has to be seen to be believed, and the action scenes with Motoko Nagino kick ass, she is a tremendous performer, exhibiting some terrific fighting and stunt skills, and being a great actress as well. There a re a few criticisms such as the fact that every person in the film receives numerous injuries that would kill anyone instantly and then carry on fighting which just feels a bit silly. If the film was an animated Japanese film then you'd probably not bat an eyelid but some of it really was ridiculous. However the action scenes themselves were just terrific viewing and I think I could watch any of the set-pieces again and again. You can see what the cast had to go through making the film, and I'd love to see an outtake reel. In short if you love films like Drive, Wicked Game and so forth you will get a serious kick out of Broken Path, just don't expect any kind of realism per se.

It's not exactly a first-rate action-thriller. Exposition and any quiet character moments are decidedly ham-handed, and plot development generally tends to be direct and forced. Maybe it's the cast, or maybe it's the particular skill set of filmmaker Koichi Sakamoto, but the acting as we see it is all-around variable in its strength. But then, these were obviously a lower priority in the first place, for 'Broken path - also known as 'Broken fist' or 'Attack of the yakuza' - is clearly and squarely focused on its action above all else, and the rest are just details to help flesh out the movie. Sakamoto himself boasts a stack of fine credits as director and stunt coordinator, and make no mistake, the stunts, effects, and fight choreography here are utterly fantastic. Following some character introductions in the first fifteen minutes, and aside from occasional instances of plot development to follow, the lion's share of these ninety minutes are naught but a panoply of fight scenes, and I'd be lying if I said they didn't look great. As the stars also have their own backgrounds in this capacity, namely Johnny Yong Bosch and Daniel Southworth, such sequences are only further bolstered.

It's safe to say that the strength of all other elements is less certain - not ever outright bad, but less consistent. The story is baseline satisfactory; the scene writing and dialogue are less self-assured, and the sequencing and editing trouble the viewing experience in a like manner. Subtitles are hard-coded into the presentation for instances in the first third when Japanese is spoken; curiously, this isn't always the case for the whole length. The film doesn't shy away from blood and gore, and while these perhaps don't meet the level of "horror flick extravaganza," they look terrific all the same. The costume design, hair, and makeup toe the line between "serviceable" and "well, that was a choice." Sometimes Clint Childers' cinematography is overly excitable, but on the other hand, the one thing that he and editor Jochen Fitzherbert do not do, I'm happy to say, is to chop up the proliferate action sequences in the all-too common manner of substituting zealous cuts and camerawork for actual strikes and blows. For the most part 'Broken path' lets us actually see the stunts and fight choreography, and the break from the routine approach of U. S. blockbusters is most welcome.

There's no missing the fact that the cast is very small, with only a select few antagonists assaulting our protagonists. Moreover, the entire narrative takes place within a single location. The production seems to have had fewer means at its disposal, though it's hard to say whether the budget shaped the screenplay or vice versa. Yet to whatever extent the resources here were limited it's not reflected in the final product; the indelicacies and subjective faults are questions only of the writing, direction, and acting. Above all, it's readily apparent that the available resources, and all creative energies, were poured first and foremost into the stunts, effects, and action sequences, for I can only repeat that these are superb - if anything, only ever increasing in their vitality - and earnestly thrilling and invigorating. Yes, it's a bit unfortunate that the other facets of the picture suffer from a lack of equal care, but the truth of the matter is that all involved knew exactly what they wanted this to be, and within that slant there is no pulling of punches. Honestly, the strength of the action far outshines any other considerations as far as I'm concerned.

No, it may not be a first-rate action-thriller - but for a second-rate action-thriller, this is probably just about as good as it gets. It may be a rough start, but once the violence picks up we see the value that the movie has to offer, and it's resplendent. I had mixed expectations at best, but when all is said and done I'm very pleased with just how entertaining and engaging this 2008 flick turned out to be. It may not wholly demand viewership, but if you're looking for a martial arts action romp, I'm happy to say that 'Broken path' is well worth checking out.

Sorry, but I cannot for the likes of me understand how this piece of garbage can have a 7.0 rating here! It makes a mockery of the rating system.

Rarely have I ever came across such a terrible piece of rubbish as this so called "Movie" It is 90 minutes of pathetic kicking and bitch slapping, that is all it is - nothing more, so if you like to sit for 1 1/2 hours watching a bunch of ham actors grunting slapping kicking (cuddling a teddy bear) then I feel sorry for you.

I just cannot understand how it got its rating of 7, if it had made 2 it was doing well.

The only redeeming feature about this movie is when it finally ends, and that should have happened after about 2 minutes.

Absolute garbage.

i've stumbled upon this movie in a martial-arts themed forum and i couldn't find much about this movie online, so i decided to give it a try.

Storywise there's not much to talk about. It's really bare-boned and that's being incredibly lenient. The writing's pretty much as cliché as it gets: Guy with dark past starts a new life, founds a family, but eventually his past comes back to haunt him. This is where the movie starts off. Aside from a silly twist at the end that's it. If you're looking for a solid storyline you've come to the wrong place. To be fair, 90% of the movie is fighting.

Some of the acting is terrible, at times even downright goofy, especially when the mask-wearing goons are involved. The worst performance is delivered by the "daughter". I don't want to give anything away, but she does not convey much emotion. She's cute though, I have to admit. The protagonist and his wife fare much better when it comes to acting. Nothing special, but fairly decent.

The best aspect of the movie is by far the fast paced action. The fight scene are nicely choreographed and occasionally made me wince. The physical prowess of the actors is surprisingly well showcased. In this department I don't have much to complain about. It really is better than I expected. What bothered me are the scenes where he's down and about to bite the dust, when suddenly he hears his wife screaming. All of a sudden his rage enables him to withstand anything, grants him more strength and skill than he displayed before (although he is heavily wounded). This is fine as long as it happens once, maybe twice. In this movie you stop counting... Maybe that's a personal preference.

There is some gore in this movie! It comes rather unexpected, because it's really graphic, but I enjoyed it's silliness.

To conclude: The story is horrible and cliché. Some of the acting is decent, some is really goofy and some is just terrible. The fighting is good, but not perfect. If you're a fan of fast paced action packed martial-arts flicks, give it a watch. There's not much besides fighting anyways.