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"To Be King" is a highly entertaining drama that shows growth and maturity in Steve Rahaman as a budding indie filmmaker. After seeing what he can accomplish, if he keeps making films like this, I feel his career can go nowhere but up. I would say that it's an urban "Rocky" (as there are similarities in theme), but it's a completely different film. Hell, there's really not much boxing in it at all; it's all about the story, the people, and what happens when life gets tough. Steve showed that he can get the best out of actors, shots, and dialog when he puts his mind to it. About half the cast from "Blood Line" is back and, instead of it feeling like they were cast for roles, it feels as if the roles were created with them in mind… and it works so well. The main cast (Harvey, Merlino, Moss, LoDeon, Morales, Clohessy, and Goffin) handle their roles with a professional quality rarely seen in indie projects such as this. The story flows organically, with realistic dialog and situations, and the theme is strong enough to make its point without becoming too weighted. I have to say that I was very much entertained by "To Be King". I'm not saying it's a perfect movie; there are few films outside of Kubrick's library that are perfect to this reviewer. The major flaw I had with it is the score. While an excellent score on its own (much better than any score previously used by Rahaman), it still doesn't feel right at certain moments. I wouldn't say that it sours the movie at all, but that at points it becomes overwhelming when subtlety would suffice. My other nitpicks are purely minor faults that I just "would've done differently" and wouldn't be noticeable unless pointed out (an edit here, a shot there… purely inconsequential stuff). For an indie drama, "To Be King" has more potential to get Rahaman noticed than anything he's done prior. I would actually recommend this if it was playing at a local indie house as an example of what can be done when a filmmaker puts heart and soul into a project. Well done, Mr. Rahaman… now don't let it go to your head. From: http://moviereviewsunday.typepad.com

I saw this at it's NY premiere this weekend and was pleasantly surprised by it. According to the director it cost next to nothing to make; with the cast working for credit alone and the director doing all the filming, mixing, and editing himself. This shows in the minor flaws of the film, but that doesn't distract from the movie itself.

The shinning moments in this are really the dialog scenes. Like in Scorsese's "Mean Streets", you get a real fly-on-the-wall look at the down time of the characters. They riff off each other in, what appears to be, great improvisational styling. Several of the cast really shine and the casting choices made for the characters are dead on.

The film flies through at a brisk pace and has plenty of action sequences. Yet, they seem to fall a little flat in the choreography. Still, you can tell by the passion of those involved that they wanted to make this movie the best they could, and they really do try hard to accomplish that.

It's not a perfect movie, but it's worth a look as I would expect a few of the people involved with this to go on to bigger things in the future.

Holy freaking crap! Dystopian future Japan's specialized privatized police force, complete with samurai sword wielding hot Asian girl, hunts mutant "engineers" who manifest biological/functional machine weapon parts when wounded. More blood is sprayed in the first 10 minutes than the whole climax of Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive (aka Brain Dead)". Throw in a few "Robocop"-esque fake commercials, and you'll get a biting satire on Japan's obsession with suicide, kinky sex taboos, and over the top violence. I wouldn't expect anything less from the effects master behind "Meatball Machine" and "The Machine Girl". Not for the squeamish... something in this is bound to offend you. If you like hard core violent Manga or Anime and live action movies that have that feel, you'll love this as much as I did.