Reviews

This film is awesome. that's certainly a word that springs to mind when writing this. it starts simple, gets complex, introduces new characters that seem to reside well over in cliché land, then you realize that it's all part of the joke. it's all executed with a tone that manages to slide between bad ass samurai stuff, tragedy, slapstick comedy and it's all done with a whole heap of directorial flair.

the plot is extraordinarily standard. a wandering, masterful and generally kindly blond swordsman named ichi comes into a divided town. sounds familiar? it should. a disgraced ronin and two vengeful orphans arrive at the same time, precipitating a shift in the balance of power between the two gangs, as one manages to hire the ronin, who turns out to be a master swordsman. the orphans may have business with one of the gang bosses, and since ichi takes them under his protection, he's on a collision course with the gangs. still sounds familiar? it still should.

what's kind of remarkable is how little ichi does for most of the movie. rather than seeking out evil to be punished, he spends most of his time in a gambling hall and hanging out at a farm lady's house (who has one of the sexiest speaking voices i've ever heard) this might make for a dull movie, but kitano uses that time to let the other characters blossom. we can't help but feel for the master samurai roped into helping bad men by his ailing wife's illness, even as he cuts down enemies in brutal, street fight like sword duels. the origin of the orphans may very well reduce you to tears with its simple poignancy, and the bumbling cousin of ichi's host is consistently hilarious. and thus, it's not so much about ichi himself, but the lives he affects.

with the plot being as simultaneously paper thin and complicated as it is, it should come as no surprise that it has a lot of directorial flair to carry it through transitions. it's a rhythmic film, be it in the fairly literal sense when sounds in the film become toe tapping music, or in the film's simple score carrying us ever forward towards the confrontations we know are coming. every now and then there's a slightly surreal moment, but it's usually brought back to non-abstract currency before you know it.

to sum up, it's a clichéd samurai film, but with a real emotional core, that turns it into a partial deconstruction of the genre. it's also a slapstick martial arts movie with great comedy and fight scenes. or maybe it's an art film that still lets us cheer when the bad guys get theirs. it's all of these things, and a damn entertaining watch.

two elements i should mention, because they do get criticized. one: yes, the blood looks amazingly fake. if you believe it's supposed to, you're more trusting than i am, and really, it doesn't look any sillier than the blood fountains of other samurai films. second, yes, the film ends with an extended tap dance routine. it sort of fits the plot, but far more than that, it fits the vibrant emotional tone of the movie. also, it's a great dance routine, so why complain?

So, Tony Jaa's latest face kicking marathon finally got an Australian release, and, well, it's hard to judge. Really, narrative wise, it's only half a movie. According to Wikipedia, the production ran out of money, and so released Ong Bak 2 with plans to follow up in Ong Bak 3. Which is why the film abruptly stops, leaving villains un-fought and an elephant jacking unavenged. So, the film. Set in the 1400s, it plays out more or less like Conan would if it had been made in Thailand. Orphaned by war and treachery, Tien (Tony Jaa, eventually) is rescued from slavery by a gang of honorable bandits and prophesied to be an unmatched martial arts master. He then spends the next few years becoming said master, learning every weapon you can think of, and a few you couldn't have. He becomes leader of the bandits, but realizes he cannot leave his parents unavenged. The loss of what would have constituted the climax leaves the film very unevenly paced. The training sequences and flashbacks constitute the majority of the film's running time, rather than the half or even third it would have been otherwise. This leaves barely twenty minutes for the revenge to be enacted. As such, it'll be hard to really judge it narratively until we've seen ong bak 3. What can be judged is a very well shot film that is far more ambitious artistically than anything Jaa's done so far. Of course, that's not why you're seeing it. The fights are superb, which will surprise you if you have no idea who Tony Jaa is. Dispensing with the kick-boxing (muay Thai boran, if you're a nerd) he's used in previous films, Jaa blends about 7 different cinematic martial arts, everything from traditional Chinese Kung Fu and drunken boxing to Thai and Japanese sword styles, right through to wrestling, Indonesian ground kicking and a little bit of Brazilian jujitsu. The result is a varied, unusual style that results in absolutely beautiful fight scenes, exactly what we've come to expect of the obviously incredibly ambitious jaa. The highlight comes in the climax as jaa cycles through half a dozen weapons in about three minutes then tricks off an elephant. He also does the first really interesting one on one fight of his career, taking on a huge pacific/south east Asian wrestler/brawler. However, the climax is, pardon the phrasing, anti-climatic, as to say it ends abruptly really doesn't do it justice. Again, it will all depend on whether the third film in the very loosely associated series delivers. I have my doubts. However, i read the following quote: "in Ong Bak 3 Tien's legs and arms will be damaged by torture and require Jaa's character to "fight with some sort of boneless action. This is homework for Panna Rittikrai and Tony Jaa to create the action for us to see what it will look like to fight in the state of boneless condition." Holy hell. I can't even think how that would work, but Jaa's on the case, see you then, kick-boxing cowboy.

Shinobi is about Ninjas. now, in case you don't know anything, on the grand list of things that are awesome, Ninjas are king, just edging "Giant Fighting robots who can break dance" and "Zombies who know martial arts". now, the basic story is "blah-di-blah, political intrigue, blah, 5 super ninjas are going to fight 5 other super ninjas", basically making this like the Ninja X men. each has their own skill, there's the master of poison, the one that's really hard to kill, Asian susie porter, the one that's shaped like an egg, seriously, that's the guy's power. for the middle half hour, the movie remembers "hey, i feature ninjas fighting each other, I'll make that my focus" but then decides, much like smokin' aces, that it wants to be taken seriously. and so, like an unusually badly scripted metal gear solid game, the remaining ninjas start to moan about how their lot in life only leads to death. now, i could forgive this in a movie that then had them put aside those complaints and go and slaughter samurai (who rank significantly below ninjas) but there isn't even a climatic fight, or any real resolution. to hell with Japanese action movies, i hope twilight samurai makes up its mind better.

Smokin' Aces sounds like a dream come true: a plot that promises fast moving action, a quirky, interesting cast, a director that made one of the best crime films of recent years, and a schizophrenic visual style. does it work? more or less.

Jeremy Piven is a tool: a magician who has run foul of the mob after taking his connection to them a little seriously. The FBI pick up on a plot to have him killed, as does the underworld. Before you know it, a bunch of assassins varied enough to make up two entire anime series are on the case: bumbling bail bondsman, psychotic crime commando neo-Nazis, black lipstick lesbians, masters of disguise, and a mysterious "Swede" (you always know the real badasses in action movies: they don't have real names). So all these guns are pointed at Piven, and for the first forty minutes, all is going well. The tension mounts as the various players place their pieces.

Then, chaos steadily erupts on multiple floors of the hotel where Piven is staying, and staggering amounts of violent death occur in the second 40 minutes. There are some humorous touches (Jason Bateman as a cross dressing, STD ridden lawyer, a feminist rant by one of the assassins) and a bunch of hipper than thou cameos (most of which come across as fun rather than being simply for the sake of it) but ultimately, this is a nasty crime flick played for thrills. As the death toll rises, mostly in short, sharp encounters, the film keeps the pedal to the floor.

Ultimately, the threads are tied off, and the gunfire subsides, and this is where the film flounders. If one stops at the last gunshot, one might be forgiven for thinking it is a simply a crime caper crossed with an action movie then pumped up on PCP. However, the film tries to turn socially relevant in the last few minutes, delivering a message. Though, with the script so focused on exotic types of bloodshed for most of its length, this comes across as forced, and tacked on. The emotional ending will more leave the viewer scratching their head, and sours the taste of all the hyper cool violence, making it look self conscious.

Ultimately, good fun, but ends up wanting to be taken seriously, which doesn't work.

The first film in this series was awesome. Bourne was sympathetic, Franka Potente was wonderful and the baddies were really easy to hate. Full marks for all that, so what went wrong? the film starts out with a flashback, Bourne remembering a job he did in Berlin while he was with the clandestine hit squad, Treadstone. Bourne has gone off the grid, living in various third world countries with his girlfriend. the plot kicks off when a high level CIA purchase in Berlin is swindled, both the client and buyer killed, and Bourne's fingerprints are all over it. before long, Bourne comes under fire in Goa, India from the same man who did the killing in Berlin. following the loss of his girlfriend in the attack, Bourne swears vengeance, and heads off to Europe.

One off the best things about Identity was its ability to make the audience care about Bourne, he's a nice guy, he's human. In this one, he might as well be the terminator. We see Bourne as his enemies must have seen him before his amnesia: cold, heartless, pitiless. He behaves more like a villain, keeping us at an emotional distance.

If you've ever read a Tom Clancy novel, you'll work out the plot about 4 minutes after meeting the bad guys. and with Bourne acting like a kill-bot for the whole movie, the film has neither a complex plot nor an emotional core. We stop sympathizing with his rampage of revenge after he stops letting us.

The climax, a wild, slick car chase through Moscow is objectively great. but by this point in the story, with the main nasty bloke sorted out, we don't even know what Bourne's doing in Russia. and so this extended action set piece is wasted on an audience who haven't been told what's going on. the quiet character scene that follows where Bourne reveals the truth about the death of a young girl's parents to her should have preceded the car chase.

none the less, the whole movie is slick, but it lacks the emotional centre and clear objective of the first. while clear objectives don't always work (they can be detrimental in a lot of films) this is a thriller, and if we don't know where the hero is going, and he's a jerk, we don't care

If you're ever wondering what action movie to take your girlfriend to, this is it. a thinking man's thriller with a solid human story at it's core. it's the best bits of James Bond meets the good stuff out of Chick Flicks.

So what's it about? Jason Bourne (Matt Damon, in what was one of his first high profile roles since Good Will Hunting) is found floating at sea shot twice. he has no memory of who he is, but it turns out he's rather handy and snapping wrists and making daring escapes. with the help of nice young German girl, (played by the eminently lovable and very sexy Franka Potente) he finds out he's a super bad ass living weapon cum CIA agent, part of a black bag hit squad. and his bosses aren't too keen on him staying out of the cold.

and so Bourne is pursued by everyone in Europe (shot on stunning location) from bumbling security guards, cops, marines and his ex colleagues. the action scenes are great: a mix of Hitchcock-esquire escapes, Italian job type car chases and brutal fist fights. these action scenes are helped by director Dough Liman's skill at making us care about this guy: he's so nice. the whole story is Bourne becoming human, that it wasn't what he did, but who he is that defines him.

As Bourne ninjas his way towards a final showdown with his ex boss (played by the snarling Chris Cooper) we get to know him better, he lets us in. rather than some cocky womanizer, this is a guy who hates killing, hates fighting, yet is flawless at it. and therein lies Bourne's superiority over James Bond as a character: he's human, we relate to him, and want him to win not because he's cool, but because he rather just rent out bicycles with his Teutonic girlfriend. he never enjoys what he does, and this humanity allows us to sympathize.

consider the whole film a journey from the darkness to the light.

many compare hardcore action films like this to porn: you get some action, you get some poorly written dialog, you get some action, poorly written dialog, and so on. as it is with this, but the action is great. Sasha mitchell is surprisingly good, doing a decent impression of someone playing a leading man, but it's his high kicks we want to see, and we get them in spades.

Before i go any further, you should know that this is the sort of film where the plot is put on hold for a few minutes so that the hero can fight a bar full of bikers for no apparent reason, where going and picking a fight with another bunch of bikers in a very public display is the best course of action when trying to infiltrate a tournament anonymously. OK those facts are out of the way.

the plot is some sort of nonsense about a tournament (because apparently former Thai kick-boxers can very easily set themselves up as drug kingpins with nothing better to do than organize tournaments) Tong Po is back, albeit played by a different actor, and the former Goro from Mortal Kombat lookalike has discovered the joys of speech, unfortunately he speaks in an annoying whiny voice. but he is played by an impressive martial artist as compensation, who soaks up damage in the final fight until he fights the hero, one again one of those things. but who cares? the martial arts are a very good standard for a low budget, dodgy film with a no name lead (more or less), and feature some very well done, quite brutal, fights

The almost comically inexpressive Ogami Itto begins his journey in this film. you need to understand that these are not films in the traditional sense, but more, excuses for bloody fight scenes and breathtaking swordplay. as always, the plot takes about half an hour to put in an appearance, a corrupt clan head needs killing, as is usually the case. meanwhile the Japanese council for examining signs stands around looking at Itto's sign discussing very loudly what it means, and a prostitute picks a fight with some gangsters.

As you can see the plot is fairly inconsequential, what makes the movie even notable is its fights, all of which are beautiful and ferociously bloody as Itto employs all the tools of death his baby cart contains, which somehow isn't as ridiculous as it sounds.

so all in all, the kid is cute, the prostitute is hot, and the sword-fighting kicks ass, so see this movie

i unfortunately could not enjoy this film as it could have been thanks to the great enemy of kung fu fans: dodgy subtitles. thus the characters spouted lines that translated as "why did father my die so sad". i know, but anyhow the rest of the film is jaw dropping. little to no wire work, and some of the most inventive martial art choreography ever seen make this a special treat. worlds away from the graceful, but impact-less fighting of CTHD and HOFD, this is nasty, characters are surrounded and chopped to pieces heroes get beaten in all sorts of nasty ways. the editing and camera-work seems to have influenced gladiator, with choppy nasty hits.

the plot is rudimentary, something about sword-makers, evil bald men who probably eat little children and have swords with more gadgets than 4 James bond movies, and two badass friends who kick said guys bald ass. this has no political subtext, no unnecessary complications, just good old fashioned fighting, worth checking out

this film seems to be divided into two parts, the one is the martial arts, political part, which is cool and the other is the love story which is far too sappy.

the plot is simultaneously thin as paper yet so convoluted as to be incomprehensible, starting with the main character's nose. the story runs something along the lines of "Hero comes from ancient dynasty, knows martial arts secrets, and is in love with a forbidden woman. meanwhile said woman is key to labyrinthine politics involving Mongolian warlords, Chinese Warlords, corrupt officials and everything in between." the double crosses go on endlessly, until it's rather tricky to tell who the hell is betraying who. meanwhile the whole tepid "I loved you once but now you're a murderer, No i'm not you betrayed our love" thing drags on.

the fight scenes are fantastically choreographed but poorly shot. characters fly at each other and slash in a graceful sword dance, but the camera tries to match their acrobatics, resulting in an eye hurting riot of movement. the hero's undefeatable signature move (i almost expected him to cry out "Hado-Ken" whenever he uses it) is used way too often, and leaves every fight with a predictable close. it's other problem is that fight scenes are scattered liberally throughout the film, with no correlation between the quality of a fight and its importance, so many of the best fights (an incredible scene as the hero's war band descends on an enemy fort) are used on the most mundane plot points, with average fights for the more important scenes (including a terribly weak climatic fight). the other problem is that since the hero's fighting style is so effective (even without the street fighter style finishing move) that he uses the same moves in every fight, with little to no variation, all the fights end up shockingly repetitive.

meanwhile the hero alternates between a quivering lipped softie, and stony faced mannequin. one of the villains fairs much better, and, annoyingly, wins our sympathy far more effectively than the hero does.

this may sound an unfair blasting of the film, and i wish i could sound more even handed, but the film could seriously have used some comic relief (one joke in two hours is not too much to ask) some editing (way too much sepia toned slow motion) and just some good old fashioned still cameras (ones that didn't back flip with fight scene) my rating 5/10, potential but mostly squandered