Revenge City

Although there is a lot of tough cigarette smoking, the film isn't as bad as the IMDB ranking said it would be. I quite enjoyed it. The ending could have been better, but hey, I suppose the directors hoped it might be a cult film, so I forgive them. All in all I had a nice evening thanks to 'The Girl from the Naked Eye'.

Late August and most of September is usually a crappy time of year for films at least for me. Sure there is Expendables 2 out and Lawless coming out Friday, but they aren't movies I desperately want to see or willing to fork at least ten bucks for to see, so this is usually the time I rent films, and that's what I did a few days ago. I rented The Raid: Redemption, Flowers of War and The Girl From The Naked Eye. The Naked Eye was a spur of the moment decision on my part. It's only a buck to rent at the Red Box and the summary sounded decent, so I decided to check it out which leads to my review of the film. This will be another relatively short review.

The film follows Jake (Jason Yee) a driver for high class escorts who seeks justice for Sandy (Samantha Streets) who he finds shot dead in her apartment; even though he's a driver, a recovering alcoholic and in debit to the mob. The story is a noir-mystery that was influenced by the films of the late 1930's, 1940's and the 1950's. Even for the direct to DVD you can tell the film didn't have that big of a budget. Still the story works pretty well as Jake gives us his internal monologue as he tries to find Sandy's killer. The flashbacks gives detail into the relationship of Jake and Sandy and also gives depth to these flawed characters trying to get out of the sh*tty lives they have. For me this was a surprisingly good story with a sad and fitting ending.

The acting by these C level stars was pretty good. Jason Yee was great as the lead showing depth of emotions that fit the role. I had never heard of the actor before this film. He's manly stared in direct to DVD films, but I was surprised he had an un-credited role in The Dark Knight Rises as one of Bane's mercenaries. Ron Yuan (Simon) did a decent job as Jake's boss. He's another actor I'd never heard off, but you might recognize his voice. He gets most of his work from video games. He's had roles in Command and Conquer, Prototype, Alpha Protocol, Fallout New Vegas and many others. Another unknown actor Gary Stretch plays Frank who has an interest in Jake and Samantha. He does a good job playing a bad guy, and apparently has had many roles in direct to DVD films. Samantha Streets is a beautiful actress and did a great job playing Sandy. She's only had guest roles on television shows and minor roles. I think some director or film studio should give her a chance. Samantha is attractive and is a pretty good actress. The overrated retired porn star Sasha Grey is on the cover of the DVD, but she's only in the film for a minute. I know why the studio did that so she could draw attention to the film, but like I said she's only in it for maybe a minute. On a side note I know some men find her attractive, but I don't see the appeal. In my opinion she's ugly and very flat chested. Sasha isn't Hollywood hot and she's not even street hot, and the majority of the women I see on the street are hotter than her. Anyway back to my review.

With such a low budget film you can't expect special effects action sequences, and that was probably the worst part of the film. The action was at best decent. The best scene for action was the climax in a hallway, which was surprisingly really good, but that's pretty much the highlight of the film action wise. David Ren wrote and directed this film and he does a good job with the budget he has. I didn't know this until I looked him up, but he also directed another decent direct to DVD film called Shanghai Kiss, which I enjoyed.

In my ratings you'll find I'm harsher in my criticism to films that I see in the theater then when I rent or download films. I expect more from films that are released in the theater, because they're supposed to be the higher quality films in writing, directing, acting and action/effects. I am a little more forgiving for films that are direct to DVD or films I rent. Would The Girl From The Naked Eye be worth paying at least ten bucks to see in the theater no, but overall the film is pretty good and I recommend that you rent it; it's worth the buck you'd spend to rent it at Red Box. It has a good story and characters with decent acting, below average action and good directing.

THE GIRL FROM THE NAKED EYE is one of those movies of which I'm torn between high and low ratings, because even though it excels on all levels of DTV cinema, it does so unevenly. It's one of the few movies I had actively anticipated to see, and the fact that I waited for so long probably raised my expectations to counterproductive levels...but rest assured, it's a good film. A very good film, if you're thinking strictly in terms of DTV action. Oh what the heck - have four stars, movie.

The story: when a young call girl (Samantha Streets) is mysteriously killed, her only friend (Jason Yee) must untangle a deadly urban web to find the murderer.

Be aware, folks, that this is basically an action-packed neo noir flick - something like SIN CITY without superhuman characters but with a lot more martial arts. It's pulled off surprisingly well, by a surprisingly good cast: Jason Yee is yards ahead of Seagal or Statham as a dramatic action hero, and Samantha Streets is no mere pretty face; and along with an expectedly good performance by Gary Stretch as a dirty cop and an amazingly adept portrayal by Ron Yuan as a pimp, there's a pretty good ensemble to be had here. The script has obviously also been given a good deal of attention, as it feels more like a genuine feature nearly ready for a theatrical release than the typical made-for-DVD dreck. However, regardless of how skillfully it handles the drama throughout its first three-quarters of runtime, the finale disappoints by more or less dropping the solution of the mystery into your lap and then ending sort of unenthusiastically. I'm not sure whether the script writers (including Yee himself) ran out of steam or just couldn't get the ending filmed properly, but I was disappointed either way.

The film's trailer gave the impression that the movie's action content would be one I could really sink my teeth into, and it's true...for the most part. I've admired choreographer Ron Yuan's work ever since watching Angel of Death, and I daresay that NAKED EYE here is his best offering to date. Sadly, it's not as consistent as I would have liked. Twenty minutes in, the film first displays its adrenaline clout via a series of brief exchanges that expertly showcase Yuan's convincing yet liberal style: the vast majority of the fights look realistic enough to actually happen, yet there's no skimping on impressive kicks. A few minor scuffles here and there keep things alive until an ultimately disappointing club brawl. I thought for sure that the movie had failed in its action content when Yee's two battles with the usually-amazing Lateef Crowder didn't exactly do either man justice, but then the film threw a fastball at me in the form of an incredibly pleasing four-on-one fight in a hallway filmed in a single shot with a single camera - easily one of the best fights I've seen this year.

The occasional digital backdrop and digital blood during the fights give the impression that this is a cheap movie, but don't be fooled - it's classier than most things on the market with a similar budget, with swell cinematography and a memorable soundtrack. Having expected neither, I'm happy to say that while the film didn't meet some of my expectations, it outdid others just by being much more competent than anticipated. There's a good chance that people who don't view it on its terms won't have as much fun with it as me, but general martial arts fans, leisurely noir aficionados, and people who've spent the last five years waiting for a new Jason Yee vehicle should definitely be entertained.

Over the last few years martial arts films have been making more of a comeback. Sadly most of them just aren't all that great. The upside is if they can deliver on the fighting then you can look past everything else. The Girl From The Naked Eye takes on the martial arts genre, while sporting a comic promotional look and an appearance by ex-adult film star Sasha Grey. Will it be one of those surprise gems that deliver the needed action or will it be an immediate knockout?

The Girl From The Naked Eye follows a man who will stop at nothing to track down the killer of the escort he was assigned to protect. This movie looked and felt like it had some good potential. All this was put to rest once the film got going. The story was all over the place and led by some really poor acting. Sasha Grey has established herself as a pretty decent actress with roles such as Entourage, but here is pretty much just a selling point for promotion since she barely even shows up. Yeah it had some decent fight sequences that are entertaining, but not enough to really help this movie work like it wanted to. There are some recognizable martial arts guys showing up to fight here and there, which makes it that much more of a disappointment when they fights don't always work. When you finally get to some of the better action and the movie seems to be finally be going somewhere, it takes a strange turn and just kind of ends. The ending made little to no sense, but this may have something to do with the slow paced story that was all over the place early on.

This was a movie that should have worked but just does not. If you are of the mindset of watching martial arts films just for the fighting, there are so many others that are a much better option. Enjoy anyone in this film or not, do not let the eye catching cover art suck you in that is the best part of the movie.

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-dallas/bobby-blakey

I wasn't on the edge of my seat but I didn't fidgit either. So so acting. So so story. Some rather good flashes of artistic directing. Many Bruce Lee-like fight scenes. Hugely overdone instances of smoking to the point of distraction.