Broken Path

Renamed as Broken Fist in the £1 shop where I found this, I can state with absolute honesty that I wasted my money.

Starting out as a serious film, night falls and preparing for bed, a couple is suddenly attacked by a masked man with a knife diving at them from across the room. Another masked man who apparently had no lines throughout the film (I couldn't make it to anywhere close to the end so can't say), then pops up to grope the wife and constantly - very annoyingly - heckle.

Anyway, the former Power Rangers dude seems like he's been killed when he spits copious amounts of blood after having his chest stamped on, but instead of more stomps ensuring his end, they imbue him with super-human endurance and the film turns into a cuss-version of the aforementioned kids' programme, as men are kicked and somersault through the air on impact.

I said that the former Black Ranger got super-human endurance and it's true, because for the next 10 minutes I managed to watch, he fights tirelessly against a growing number of assailants with a vigour unmatched by professional sporting athletes! Hmm, obviously, it's because he's a ninja.

There is a wafer-thin plot (which fails to explain why the night suddenly turned into the middle of the day when they go outside), but the sheer ridiculous fights - and I'm a HUGE kung-fu film fan - woeful acting and tone that said the director had absolutely no idea what feel he wanted for the film, were too huge an obstacle to over-come.

This film will doubtless change it's name to Broken... something else in an effort to hide from the fact that it's an appalling bag of shite, but it shall forever be Broken and you'd be better off saving your pound for a McCheeseburger... which I'm sure you could at least get through.

BROKEN FIST turns out to be pretty good for what it is - which is a very low budget martial arts B-movie that takes place entirely on a ranch in rural Texas. There's virtually no story here, just a random guy protecting his wife from an onslaught of masked, martial arts-fighting goons, and the acting and characterisation certainly leave something to be desired too. However, what this does contain is constant, wall-to-wall fighting action, directed by an experienced Japanese POWER RANGERS director of all people! It does get repetitive and long-winded at times, but the choreography is generally decent and it generally held my interest to the end.

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 have to say that the only reason that I watched this film, was because of the 7.0 out of 10 rating that it has on IMDb. I've read a review on here that rates it as good as Drive (with Ryan Gosling) I've read another review that rated this movie 10/10. I can honestly say that in my opinion, this film falls way way short of the reviews I've mentioned. To rate it as good as Drive, is to rate Dame Edna Everage as good looking as Jessica Alba....absolutely ludicrous! To rate it 10/10 is to rate it as high as The Godfather 1&2, The French Connection 1&2, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Dark Knight, Inception, The Shawshank Redemption, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Kill List, Face Off....I could carry on believe me. The acting is some of the worst I've ever seen, no better than the worst soap operas on television at the moment and to say that the action scenes are pathetic is being kind. I would honestly rather sit and watch paint dry than this god awful movie.

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.