Wicked Game

I worked on this film. Another viewer had this comment on the stunts: (I'm pretty sure there's no safe way to land directly on your head, or be forced to head butt a wooden roof by a speeding car!?). Neither of these stunts was planned this way. Tatsuro had no idea his head was going to hit the support beam and Tadahiro was not necessarily supposed to land directly on his head. There is another shot just before Tadahiro lands on his head where Luke gets side-swiped by a car and thrown 15-20 feet. Another miscalculation. This stuff looks great on film (actually miniDV), but this type of flagrant disregard for the safety of the crew should not be tolerated in any country.

Were it not for the amazing stunt work in this film there would be very little to recommend it. Shot on a minuscule budget, as evidenced by the use of disused warehouses and wide-open spaces for the majority of the shooting, Extreme Heist aka Wiked Game is essentially a show reel for two stunt teams. The production quality may be poor and the narrative weak, but the creativity and expertise of the Alpha Stunt Team and AAC is certainly adequate compensation. Following a formula similar to the far superior Drive (Steve Wang, 1996) this is something of a companion piece, co-directed as it is by that film's choreographer Koichi Sakamoto. He and Makato Yokoyama (director of the awesome Shadow Fury (2002)) have had steady careers working on the Power Rangers franchise (still going since 1993) but have never made the action hit fans have always longed for. Sakamoto and Yokoyama obviously made Extreme Heist in between Power Rangers episodes and even roped in Johnny Yong Bosch (The Black Ranger) and Jason Narvy (bad guy Skull), to star in their venture. Like Marc Dacascos before him, Bosch demonstrates skill and agility that screams out for more elaborate and high profile work. Sadly Bosch's career hasn't hit the heights of Dacascos's. The action scenes which make up the majority of the film are superb, a testament to the way talented filmmakers can produce something from nothing. Action seems to have been choreographed from whatever was affordable, with shoddy shacks and cars serving as both locations and props for the performers. The stunts are both physical and vehicular, with many sequences bringing the two into close contact. Bosch fights off hordes of minions and has a showdown with the tall villain at the climax, but even in the quieter moments he adds impressively unnecessary flourishes to his actions. Not content to sell the film solely on fights and vehicular stunts, Sakamoto and Yokoyama injected the theme of extreme sports into the story by opening and closing the film with impressive skydiving sequences. The ending is especially notable, including an interesting attempt at gunplay as they plummet to earth.

This movie features some good fight and stunt choreography done by Koichi Sakamoto's Alpha stunt team(Power Rangers T.V. series; Drive). Other than the cool fights and stunts, this movie has absolutely nothing to offer. Just like most, if not all, made-for-cable movies, this is filled with poor dialogue, poor camera work, and lousy acting and settings...but hey, you should expect that; right?! Well this movie has a grainy look to it, which I don't personally like. I kinda feels like Jackass..I don't know why, but it does to me. This is a decent film to watch if nothing else is on...just don't expect greatness.

The problem with Koichi's film is that while people like Jackie Chan and Jet Li can get away with weak scripts and acting (or even singing), they possess a certain charm that Koichi does not. The action sequences and "charm" in their films make up for any weaknesses in the script. Koichi doesn't realize this and instead say's "look at my stunts!". He has others put themselves in grave danger to advance himself. Great stunts don't make a movie, which is why Jackie Chan and Jet Li films are entertaining and Koichi's films are almost frustrating to watch. Even when he tries to be funny, it falls flat, because he has no sense of humor. On top of everything else I've written, if Koichi wanted to be a "star", he would star in his own films, but he does not, because he knows he is a bland, unattractive person, as opposed to Jackie Chan or Jet Li. If he stuck to stunt coordinating and not "success", he might make it in the film industry.

When I first saw this movie I got the impression that it was a vehicle for some stuntmen trying to turn actors. After looking at IMDB I realized I was not far off. I would not even be surprise to find that some other Power Ranger folks were also involved. The plot is a simple get something from bad guys and fight bad guys off. The sets are unrealistic much like those on the aforementioned Power Rangers. Nothing was truly outstanding action-wise either. All in all although there are action flicks worse then this movie there are many that are far better.