ivanm-5

While it is certainly not a masterpiece when compared with modern films like ¨Crouching Tiger¨, ¨Duel at Forest¨ (aka Forest Duel) is a very enjoyable Martial Arts movie in the 1970s style. The plot will be familiar to fans of the old Hollywood westerns of Randolph Scott et al – even down to the hero riding off into the sunset at the end! For me this merely added to the enjoyment.

The leading actor (named as Wen Chiang Lung on the Australian DVD version I own) cuts a fine brooding figure as an ex-convict who arrives home to find his girl has married a rich loser and just about everyone else wants to beat him up. Hsu Feng plays the feisty daughter of the man he accidentally killed and proves no slouch herself in handling the many fights that litter the movie. In fact my only criticism of the film is the excessive number of fight scenes that crop up ever few minutes. I suspect that some slower scenes may have been edited out to cut down on translation and dubbing (I may be wrong of course).

Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed the film and look forward to watching it again.

"Havoc" is definitely one of the best low-budget American movies I have seen for some time. I'm not saying that it is an out-and-out masterpiece but it certainly beats most of the Hollywood efforts I have seen in the past couple of years by some distance. I'm sure that, had it been a European production, it would have received a lot more accolades than brickbats.

Although the film has simplistic plot-line about rich kids getting into trouble on the "wrong side of the tracks", this is just the backbone upon which director Barbara Koppel hangs an astute study of false impressions. In some cases these false impressions are created deliberately as in rich soft white kids pretending to be hardened gangsta rappers. At other times they are born of prejudice and misunderstandings.

There is a wonderful scene early in the film when Allison (Anne Hathaway) walks around the kitchen of her home reading the post-its that her parents have left for each other. In those few brief moments we are given an insightful impression (yes that word again) of her totally dysfunctional family while later on, when they bail her out of jail, they appear to be the perfect concerned parents.

The film is very much a vehicle for Hathaway and she carries out her responsibilities with aplomb. Her performance is well worthy of the DVD "Best Actress" award that she received for it.

The much talked about nudity is neither excessive nor exploitative and would probably not even be mentioned if this was a film from outside of the USA. What we do see is totally in keeping with the story and, if anything, the motel room scene involving Emily (Bijou Phillips) is rather tame.

The only major fault with the film is the director's brave (foolhardy?) decision to begin with a scene containing appallingly bad dialogue and wooden acting. This gives (ironically) the false impression that we are about to see a particularly bad hip-hop movie. This is a deliberate part of the story rather than a reflection of the script and the actors. The fact that the scene includes a student capturing these antics on video should be enough to alert the viewer to this fact but, judging from many comments and reviews, this seems to have passed many people by (including some so-called professional critics). Perhaps this is one case where non-linear storytelling would have helped the film.

The final climactic scene is highly unusual (close to being unique I would say) and certainly leaves you thinking.

Don't be surprised if this film turns out to considered something of a classic at some time in the future.