Left for Dead

I don't normally DO action or martial arts films. I'm a girly girl. But every so often you have to relent and let the boyfriend watch something HE wants.

'Left For Dead' was it. He followed the production of this in magazines in the UK like Impact and Combat. We had a double bill of this and Richard Jobson's 'Purifiers'.

Comparing the two is like chalk and cheese (although they both share similar actors and stunt men and where made around the same time). One is interesting. Enjoyable. Fun. And exciting. The other is The Purifiers.

Left For Dead surprised me. As I said I don't normally DO action or martial arts films. But this was a fun movie, enjoyable and not badly put together for an independent action film.

If you have the choice of watching one or the other Left For Dead is the one to go with.

Lets get one thing straight from the get go, this is a Martial Arts action film, so the plot is not all that important, however work should of been done on this aspect of the film, as it is lacking even considering the genre. But that said the action is what people will be most interested in. It is a mixed bag of fighting action. Some sections here and there are well done and its obvious there is a lot of talent in the film, however here come the faults…. The speed of the fights can be slow and lack energy, in part due to the performers and also the director. When a fight is shot in a certain way allowing you to see more of the action akin to Hong Kong style, camera speed is very important as it is easier to see the pace with longer cuts and wider angles. Quite a lot of the fighting falls into the 'pitter patter' form. There is not a lot of contact made and some people seem afraid to hit each other. This is a fight scene, not a toy fight and there is a distinct difference. There are quite a few misses in the fights when air can be seen, this is a kindergarten error, it also takes any viewer away from the sub-reality films create and an illusion is broken. Also two actors playing main parts are just painfully bad at fighting. One of them also looks some what similar to a hamster!

I know this may seem like a harsh review, but its true and I think its important not to sugar coat things to much, so giving the film makers a chance to improve.(well maybe not the hamster comment.

Man this movie sucks i'm glad i didn't pay for it (netflix) but i did waste a movie that i could've watched from my que. The camera work is garbage along with the fight choreography these guys don't even make contact! once i saw that glenn salvage guy knock 2 guys down with a lousy hook kick that had NO sound effects i nearly spat my drink and turned the movie off which i did anyways 2 mins later. The muzzle flash's on the guns are poorly added in along with blood which they probably couldn't afford or knew how to make stage blood. The stupidest characters EVER! that one fat idiot with the 2 piece sword that he got off of karate depot that he clearly does not know how to use! i mean comeon doesn't he know he looks ridiculous? i wouldn't even have let them put my name in the credits if i were somehow in this movie. don't waste your time look else where. these actors should hide in shame.

In the opening scene of 'Left for Dead' the low budget roots of this homegrown, self-funded British action film are painfully obvious. Thankfully the ambition and love of the genre that the filmmakers have clearly injected into the project are infectious and within minutes all its flaws are forgotten. With its straight-forward, engaging revenge storyline and numerous energetic and accomplished fight scenes 'Left for Dead' is a kick in the head for a genre that has come to rely too heavily on special effects and wire-work. Few filmmakers at this level of funding would even attempt to make such an elaborate, time-consuming and large-scale project, especially in a country in which genre films in general are a rarity, but the finished film stands as a testament to their success. The spirit and inventiveness of this back-to-basics action film puts some of the most expensive and explosive blockbusters to shame and needs to be seen to be believed.

When my latest online order of imported DVD's arrived the first one I watched was LEFT FOR DEAD, which I had imported from the UK, when I popped it in my player and started watching the first thing that almost made turn it off was the very poorly staged gunfight sequence in the beginning, I thought to myself then "Oh hell no" but I then decided to watch until the end and give it a chance to redeem itself.

Redeem itself it certainly did, the beginning of the film came off almost completely disjointed, I mean to me it looked like this thing was going to be a total disaster, that's how bad it started but as the film progressed it started to look like things were getting more and more organized, such as the editing was very uneven at first but got better as the film progressed, the acting was bad but it also got better and the best action scenes in the film were in the final act that feature a whole collection of well staged and nicely choreographed fight scenes that came up one after the other non stop.

Overall, the start of this film might put you off if you are really fussy about the quality of your action films but give it a fair chance, the action in the final act is certainly worth the wait.