Starring: Michael
Dudikoff, Steve James, Judie Aronson, Guich Koock, John Fujioka, Don
Stewart, John LaMotta, Tadashi Yamashita, Phil Brock, David Vlok
Plot: Joe Armstrong
(Dudikoff) a drifter conscripted into the U.S. Army to avoid going to
prison finds himself drawing on his ninjutsu training when his unit
are caught up in a plot to steal weapons from the army being carried
out by the Black Star Order of Ninjas.
Review: A standout
title for Cannon films which would inturn spawn a further four sequels as here
they once more attempt to cash in on the Ninja trend which itself was
less focused on any kind of historical accuracy and instead more
focused on the look of the Ninja outfit and general excuse to wheel
out all kinds of fun gadgets and weapons.
Here Michael
Dudikoff plays Joe a loner who has been trained in the ways of
Ninjutsu from birth which certainly comes in handy when he’s
required to pulls out these skills throughout the film and despite
not being a trained martial artist tapped into the James Dean vibe
that Cannon films wanted after audiences struggled to get on board
with the idea of a female ninja in the equally cult “Ninja 3: The
Domination”. Certainly Dudikoff nails that James Dean persona of
the loner with a chip on their shoulder but then here Dudikoff is far
from the most expressive of actors and for some reason seems to have
the same expression throughout. Even at the end were he is the hero
surveying the smouldering remains of the battlefield does he not
crack a smile and instead maintains the same gruff expression.
Thankfully what he
might lack in expressions he does make up for in terms of his
abilities as an action star even though he didn’t have any martial
arts skills at the time of filming unlike his co-star Steve James
which turned into something of an issue between the two with Dudikoff
not wanting to be shown up with James requesting that his fight
scenes be filmed on the opposite side of the compound to Dudikoff to
avoid further problems. The pair would eventually squash their issues
halfway through the production but watching the film you could easily
believe that Dudikoff was a trained martial artist especially when
you look at scenes like the sparing session between Dudikoff and
James. James though makes for a great co-star and much more than a
sidekick which is character had originally been written as and thanks
to James changing a lot of the dialogue which was one of the main
conditions of him agreeing to do the film and certainly it makes him
much more of his own heroic character especially during the final
showdown were he gets to fight his own battle.
The action
throughout while perhaps lacking in any kind of logic especially when
you get multicoloured ninja’s but it still manages to be enjoyable
as a popcorn action flick and with it’s high bodycount and
especially during the finale which features a ninja vs ninja showdown
between Dudikoff and the head ninja played by Tadashi Yamashita in a
fight which is a mixture of the pair trading Ninja gadgets (which
include wrist lasers!!) while simultaneously engaging in an obstacle
course. Needless to say this film more than delivers in mindless fun.
Perhaps having some
kind of expectation going into this film, seeing how its an American
Ninja movie perhaps made me view this in a more forgiving light, but
when approached with the view point of just having fun with the movie
it certainly delivers while the tight runtime which dedicates a large
portion to action scenes equally helps and really makes me keen to
see what else the series has to offer.
Title: Island of Death Director: Nico Mastorakis Released: 1977 Staring: Robert Behling, Jane Lyle, Jessica Dublin, Gerald Gonalons, Jannice McConnell, Nikos Tsachiridis
Plot:
Christopher (Behling) and Celia (Lyle) are enjoying a break on a small
Greek island, while pursuing their favourite pastimes, which
unfortunately for the locals are sex and violence, meanwhile Inspector
Foster (Gonalons) is hot on their heels.
Review:
Probably the least well known of the video nasty list, yet arguably the
most notorious seeing how it only got taken off the list here in the UK
last year, still good things come to those who wait which this film
might be anything but, but still I think it’s easy to say that this is
possibly one of the most explicit movies to have made the list,
especially as it is essentially a constant stream of soft core porn,
nudity and violence, with only the most paper thin of plots to string
the scenes together, which is hardly surprising when Director Mastorakis
seemingly had two goals when he set out to make the movie and that was
to first make himself as much money as possible, while the second was to
make the most violent and perverse film possible after after being
inspired by “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, well more specifically
he was inspired when he found out just how much money Tobe Hooper was
making from it.
Opening with Christopher buried up to his waist
in what will later be revealed to be a pit of lime while Celia watches
and laughs mockingly we get our first taste of Christopher’s travel
documentary esq voice over which continues to appear randomly through
the film as the film now cuts back to a few days earlier as Christopher
and Celia arrive on the unnamed small Greek island looking like any
normal happy couple. Needless to say we are just about fifteen minutes
before they are having sex in a phone box while he phones their
mother…..yes that’s right they are also brother and sister (though
confusingly at times she is also referred to as being his cousin) and
really don’t seem to care much about the incestuous nature of their
relationship. So after that surprising opening, you would think that
Mastorakis might have blown his load early, until Christopher having had
his attempts at getting some morning fun rejected instead relives his
frustration with a passing goat before graphically killing it in what is
unsurprisingly the most talked about moment in the film.
This
murderous duo are almost polar opposites to each other when it comes to
thier motives, with Christopher murderous tendencies being drawn from
his own twisted religious beliefs, making him prone to ranting about his
role as the angel of purification and how his victims have sinned as he
kills, while these zealot esq beliefs of course makes the residents of
the island prime targets for his campaign to purify them of their sins,
especially when everyone is prone to spontaneous nudity and so sexually
open. Celia meanwhile plays things like his trusted accomplice though
seemingly minus Christopher’s religious rants, as she sets up the
majority of the murders, as Christopher voyeuristically enjoys watching
her having sex and frantically photographing her in action, which
seemingly seems to be the only cure for his own impotence, especially
when each of the murders are usually followed by frantic sex between him
and Celia and more frantic photography of their handiwork.
There
is barely a moment wasted here which is not being filled with death,
gore or sex or some amalgamation of the three, with the sound of a
camera shutter between each scene, creating almost an unintentional
feeling that each scene is like a little violent and nasty short, a
feeling only further reinforced by the beyond minimal plotting on offer
here, which is pretty much abandoned by the final quarter as we lead up
to the moments were we first joined the murderous duo, though don’t
expect anything to be any clearer by the time we get to were we first
started the film, as Mastorakis instead leaps even further into the
randomness void of pure cinematic insanity which has Celia making the
nasty (literally in this case) with a inbred looking famer, after he
beats up and farts (yes you read that right) on Christopher which is
around the same point that you realise that Mastorakis really doesn’t
care anymore, let alone has any idea how to end the movie.
The
death scenes are all explicit and filmed with an almost voyeuristic
glee, as Mastorakis unleashes a variety of interesting deaths from the
traditional stalk and slash, to the slightly more creative such as a
bulldozer blade and memorably using an aeroplane wing to hang one of
their victims during flight. Still none of these are shot with any sense
of fun are largely just gratuitous violence and gore, which frequently
makes for uncomfortable viewing.
“Island of Death” is another key
example of a film which made the Video nasty list and which no doubt
otherwise would have long since been forgotten like so many of the
titles on the list and furthering the belief that the list did more harm
than anything regarding protecting the movie going public from these
kinds of movies, instead providing exploitation fans and gore hounds
with a shopping list of titles to hunt down. Needless to say you can go
through life having not seen this film and be all the better, especially
as you won’t have wasted an hour and half of your life on this film,
which left me with the same feeling I had after watching “The Human
Centipede” an equally ghastly experience, which equally was all shocks
over substance and like this film also soon realised that it has nowhere
to go and no matter how low you sink the moral standard it still
doesn’t make up for the serious lack of plotting and as such, I would
recommend this only for video nasty completists and celluloid curiosity
seekers only.
Starring: Samuel L.
Jackson, Onni Tommila, Felicity Huffman, Victor Garber, Ted Levine,
Jim Broadbent, Ray Stevenson
Plot: When Air Force
One is shot down by terrorists President Moore (Jackson) his only
hope of survival lies with the 13 year old Oskari (Tommila) who is on
a hunting mission to prove his maturity to his kinsfolk, only not to
find himself instead aiding the President to escape the terrorists
now hunting them.
Review: After giving
the world a truly unique take on the Father Christmas mythos with his
debut film “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale” which itself built on
his short films “Rare Exports Inc.” and “The Official Rare
Exports Inc. Safety Instructions” Finnish director Jalmari Helander
shared with the world his unique world view were Santa was less the
jolly fat man but rather a horned beast incased in a block of ice,
while his elves were a bunch of naked old guys. Now four years after
his memorable debut he takes a stab at the action genre while still
carrying across many of the traits which made his debut so memorable.
The most expensive
film to be produced in Finland with a budget of $10 million this is a
film which for whatever reason seemed to disappear as quick as it
appear on the release radar leaving me entering into this film with a
sense of trepidation, especially when compared to “Rare Exports”
which it seemed the blogging community were keen to discuss unlike
this film which no one seemed to be talking about. Thankfully I
shouldn’t have worried as Helander once again has delivered a film
which is similar to “Rare Exports” in so many ways as Helander
gives us his take on the action genre.
In much the same way
that his take on Christmas was unique the same could be said for his
take on the action genre which not only gives nods the action /
adventure movies of the 80’s and early 90’s which arguably shot
through what almost feels like the lens of a family film, alas one
with terrorists and gunfights. Still thanks to a committed cast which
see’s him bringing back cast members from “Rare Exports” aswell
as casting American actors like Jackson who arn’t afraid to work
with more unique material like this.
Opening to Oskari as
he stands before the hunter wall of fame, showcasing the boys who’ve
take the same right of passage he’s about to embark on were 13 year
old boys from the village are sent into the Finnish wilderness to
hunt by themselves, the photos all showing his predessorts all
proudly posing with their kills including his father he idolises.
Oskari on the other hand is not quite the hunter as we soon discover
as he struggles to pull back on his bow a worrying sign when the
trail is designed as a test of proving a young boys maturity into
manhood. This kind of tough upbringing we saw in his previous film
and once again its the same relationship we see between the gruff
father figure who hides a softer side and his son which might be off
putting to some, but this is the enviroment in which Oskari is
growing up were life is tough and childhood fleeting as young boys
are expected to be able to hunt skills the trial is designed to test.
It’s certainly far
from your usual setup for this film, especially when you consider
that featuring kids is usually the kiss of death for most action fans
enthusiasm, but perhaps because of how Oskari is introduced its
certainly less of an issue here even though Oskari still gives us a
few moments of being a wise ass kid, using a cup and string phone to
initially talk to Moore in a scene which actually was pretty charming
and no doubt equally has a lot to do with Jackson’s ability to
commit to the most random of material as highlighted by the 174
credits he currently has on IMDB at the time of writing this review.
Jackson’s Moore
himself is an interesting character racked with concerns over his
declining popularity, let alone his own concerns over being able to
perform as a president and while his character might have benefited
from more development the charisma of Jackson once more carries the
character across. At the same time he’s played off against Secret
Service agent Morris (Stevenson) along with the pychotic and insanely
rich Hazar (Kurtulus) whose schemes are less about holding the
President hostage and in keeping with his personality is more focused
on hunting Moore for sport with the intention of having him stuffed
and mounted as the ultimate hunting trophy.
While you might
expect to know the direction the film will be heading, throughout the
brisk run time Helander constantly manages to catch the audience off
guard, which might be slightly disapointing to those who saw the
trailer and went into the film expecting more of action fest, when
here the action comes more in bursts with the focus being largely on
the friendship between Moore and Oskari, while the frequent switches
between humour and drama happen so often it can be hard to really
latch onto any one mood for the film. The action scenes we do get
though are enjoyably outlandish including a refrigerator escape
sequence which makes the much lauded one from Crystal Skull seem
quite plausible in comparison as we watch Oskari and Moore tumbling
down the mountainside following the exciting chase through the woods
as Hazar attempts to transport his prize off the mountain side inside
said refrigerator. The ending though only up the ante further with
Helander ending on a huge setpiece involving an ejector seat, a bow
and arrow and an exploding lake!
While the action
might be kept to the most part to the mountain side we do get the
obligatory cuts to the pentagon crisis room were an enjoyable Victor
Garber does a lot of hand wringing as the vice president and Jim
Broadbent basically steals every scene he’s in as the head of the
Terrorist Intel Unit while somehow managing to make a sandwich last
the whole film, let alone showing a rare darker side we haven’t
seen since “Art School Confidential” and one I would love to see
more of. Yes at time these scenes can feel like throw away exposition
but thankfully they do lead up to something bigger by the finale in a
rather shocking twist that comes seemingly out of nowhere.
As with “Rare
Exports” its hard to say who exactly the audience is for this film
and with such a strange family adventure vibe running throughout the
film, combined with Helander’s general refusal to commit to any one
tone I’ve found myself refering to this as a “Starter Action
Movie”. The kind of movie you could show the kids as a gateway into
the genre before you show them the Schwarzenegger / Stallone / Van
Damme classics. More so when this film is free of the usual bad
language and ultra-violence you might not want to expose the kids to,
still if we can have starter horror movies why not the same for action movies?
Starring: Hitoshi
Matsumoto, David Quintero, Luis Accinelli, Lilian Tapia, Adriana
Fricke, Carlos C. Torres, Ivana Wong, Arkangel De La Muerte, Matcho
Panpu, Dick Togo, Salam Diagne
Plot: A Japanese man
wakes up in a plain white room covered with phallus like switches
which cause random events to happen within the room, while I attempts
to find a way out. At the same a Mexican luchadore called Escargot
Man prepares for his match despite being concerned that the fact his
opponent is much younger than him. At the same time the worlds of
these two men are surprisingly connected.
Review: Director
Hitoshi Matsumoto might be a director whose work I never intend to
seek out and yet our paths for some reason keep crossing, first with
the Kaiju parody “Big Man Japan” and later the delightfully
perverted “R100”. This time though its a lighter tone that
Matsumoto brings to this film of two randomly interconnected tales
even though from the start they couldn’t seem to be further part.
Of course surreal
worlds have always been one of the trademarks of the comedian turned
director and here that’s certainly the case for at least one half of this
film as Matsumoto plays the unnamed man who wakes up in the plain
room devoid of any colour bar his garish poka-dot pajamas. He has no
idea how he got there or why he’s there and certainly by the end of
the film we are arguably none the wiser, but it certainly doesn’t
stop it being fun to see him being put through the slapstick ringer
like your watching “Saw” with jokes.
The main humour of
the film comes from him trying to figure out his new surrounding
which seem to have designed to purposely test him at all times. The
main one of these challenges being the phallus like switches which at
one point turn into cherubs which emerge from the wall before
disappearing again. Each switch causes something to happen or appear
in the room, be it a plate of sushi, a pair of chopsticks or even
cause a Zulu warrior to run through the room and this is the
challenge which he is faced with let alone the fact that they all
look identical.
Just seeing
Matsumoto try and find a solution of each problem as he encounters is facinating to watch and his background in comedy only helps further sell even
the simplest of jokes such as counsuming a small pile of sushi after
resigning himself to the fact that there is no soy sauce only for the
next switch he presses to produce the much desired soy sauce. Often
these problem solving sections are presented with comic book
storyboards while he stares at the viewer just clicking his fingers
and the trail and error of the situation is designed so that you want
to see him succeed yet at the same time the pay off for each failed
plan is so amusing your equally wanting to see him crash and burn
aswell.
The second story
involving our ageing masked Mexican wrester is a much gentler far and
works well running parallel to Matsumoto’s tale. Escargot Man
loves his craft as a wrester yet at the same time he’s worried that
his age is meaning that he is almost out of the game, especially when
faced with competing against a pair of wrestlers half his age. Seeing
him permanently wearing his mask regardless of if he is wrestling or
not felt like a fun throw back to the likes of “Santo” while at
the same time keeping in with the traditions of Lucha Libre. Over the
course of his story we see the impact it has on family, including his
son who is see defending his father’s in ring ability when two of
his classmates make fun of Escargot Man.
Compared to my
previous encounters with Matsumoto’s work this one surprisingly
didn’t have a darker edge to it, or even go anywhere remotely
downbeat in its tone. True instead the finale is a random mish-mash
of ideas which includes a Kiss tribute act, ascension and a rather
unique ending to Escargot Man’s match. True by the end of the film
I might not have been any the wiser as to what I was watching than I
was at the start but the ride is so unquestionably fun you really
don’t care, while for those willing to take a few risks with their
movie watching then this is certainly worth checking out, especially
as a more gentle introduction to Matsumoto’s work.
Stephen (Gweilo Ramblings / Eastern Kicks) and myself head to Thailand for the latest instalment of our introduction to Asian cinema which on this episode looks at possibly the most fabulous western ever "Tears of the Black Tiger". Download Music - Free Audio -
An Eastern Western which combines elements of romantic melodrama with John Woo style heroic gunplay and a Sam Peckinpah western to create something truly original
We also take a look at the career ofMeiko Kaji as well as the live action spectacle that is “Kaiju Big Battel” and their upcoming video game from “Super Walrus Games“
Starring: Milla
Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Kevin Durand, Sienna Guillory, Shawn
Roberts, Aryana Engineer, Oded Fehr, Colin Salmon, Johann Urb, Boris
Kodjoe, Li Bingbing
Plot: Picking up
directly after the end of “Resident Evil: Afterlife” Alice
(Jovovich) now finds herself captured by the Umbrella Corperation and
placed in an underwater facility which also doubles as a
demonstration ground for the effects of the T-Virus. Now Alice must
team up with the mysterious Ada Wong to escape the facility which is
now under the control of a recently reactivated “Red Queen”.
Review: Its
staggering to think at this point in the series that we are five
films deep in the franchise which at this point has also gone on its
own very unique path from the source material as we continue to
follow the journey of Alice in her battle against the Umbrella
Corporation and of course the zombie hordes created by the T-Virus.
Still just when we thought the series had already gone way off the
deep end Director Paul W. S. Anderson somehow manages to find a way
to top it.
Seeing how the
previous film ended on the fantastic cliffhanger of Alice on the deck
of of the Umbrella Tanker Arcadia as she stared down a squadron of
Umbrella Tiltrotors. Now half expecting the film to open with Alice
being captured what Anderson gives us instead is actually something
pretty special as we get to the events which transpired played out in
reverse slow motion which honestly only serves to make it all the
more impactful than if we’d seen it played out normally.
One of the strengths
of the series has always been Jovovich’s performance as Alice a
role she truly has made more and more her own with each film even
designing Alice’s outfits through her own fashion line. Here though
we get to see a new side to Alice as she finds herself waking up in a
suburban dream life complete with husband and deaf daughter Becky
(Engineer) only for dream to quickly turn into the same sort of
zombie nightmare we saw at the start of Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of
the Dead” remake. Here in lies the kicker for this instalment as
Alice finds herself in a facility made up of large scale remakes of
various cities such as Tokyo and New York which originally had been
designed as a way of selling the T-virus to various countries
replicating the rival country at the facility. This of course really
is just an excuse for Anderson to craft a series of large scale and
flamboyant action sequences as the film itself feels like one long
shoot out, especially with the plot moving at such a fast pace.
The action
throughout is great to look and while this entry perhaps features
more heroic gunplay than previous entries with the introduction of
Ada Wong here played note perfect by Li Bingbing whose performance
was surprisingly dubbed well by Sall Cahill but watching the film I
couldn’t tell . Ada as a character though is finally a character
able to stand toe to toe with Alice and to see them working together
in the film really was a thrill. Afterall why have one kickass lady
when you can have two.
Each of the settings
are unique enough to stand out and provides a decent change from
another round of post-apocalyptic wastelands or the sterile
facilities of the umbrella corporation. True none of it is shot with
seemingly the slightest concern for what is realistic or not but its
really hard to complain when its so much fun to have scenes such as a
high speed chase through a simulated Moscow or an army of zombie
soldiers. These scenes only being added to by Anderson’s visual
style which here once again works really well.
This facility setting for the film
also means we get to see the return of several characters such as
James (Salmon) and Rain (Rodriguez) who get to return to the series
as clones. Rodriguez in perticular getting to play two versions of
herself as we see her playing her Strike team persona from the first
film sent to hunt Alice and Ada aswell as the suburban version who
plays like the complete opposite as she acts openly shocked at the
idea of using guns. Yes I could have done without seeing Colin Salmon
again, but then I can pretty much do without seeing him in most
things., Rodriguez meanwhile is enjoyable as always and getting to
see the super powered version at the end was only an added treat.
For some reason
Anderson here also chooses to saddle Alice with a Deaf daughter, who
its explained early on is infact a clone from the suburban simulation
created to play her daughter. Of course knowing this Alice still
shows a mothers devotion to the child perhaps because Anderson
couldn’t find a way to morally justify dumping the kid without
turning her into a zombie kid. Maybe this was just another way of
working his obsession with James Cameron’s “Aliens” into the
film and creating his own version of Ripley and Newt. At the same
time you could also see the different settings the group travel
through as being a nod to “Westworld” which was also reportedly
another source of inspiration for the film.
Ending on another
tantalising cliffhanger with Alice having her superhuman abilities
restored and the sight of humanity making its last stand from the
grounds of the fortified White House. Say what you will about
Anderson as a director he really knows how to make an audience crave
that next instalment.
Starring: Steve
Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Mathilda May, Patrick Stewart,
Michael Gothard, Nicholas Ball, Aubrey Morris, John Hallam, Chris
Jagger, Bill Malin
Plot: When the crew
of the space shuttle Churchill discover a spaceship hidden in
Halley’s Comet the crew choose to investigate finding three
humanoid life forms in suspended animation which they choose to bring
back to Earth unaware that they are a trio of space vampires.
Review: When we look
at the “Masters of Horror” collective Tobe Hooper would be
another of the directors like Stuart Gordon and perhaps to an extent
Joe Dante whose work never really gets the recognition it deserves.
More so in Hooper’s case were he found early success with “The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre” arguable one of the scariest and intense
movies ever made, only to find it overshadowing the films which
followed as he strived to replicate it with the films which followed in career littered more recently with more misses than hits.
This film really
marked the beginning of the decline for his career which would following its release
descend into medeocricy outside of the occasional high point which
can be found in his TV projects such as the pilot episode for “Dark
Skies” and his episodes for the “Masters of Horror” series.
This film however would be the first film in a three-picture deal
which he was offered Cannon Films following the success of
“Poltergeist” and which would lead to Hooper directing both the
“Invaders From Mars” remake aswell as the cult favourite “The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2”.
So were do we begin
with this film? Its far from an easy question as this is a film which
is seemingly never sure what exactly it wants to be as we start off
as an “Alien” style space movie whose similarities are not all
that suprising when you consider that the script was co-written by
Dan O’Bannon. From here the film seems to be settled into its Space
Vampire groove, only to then shift into a body snatchers mood before
then switching to an all out zombie apocalypse on the streets of
London. It’s a wild and random ride to say the least and one I will
attempt to decipher in this review as best as I can, but even as I
sit down to write this review I’m left with the same sense of
confusion that I got with Hooper’s experimental hippy debut
“Eggshells”.
The first half of
the film is actually pretty enjoyable as we get the crew of Churchill
investigating the mysterious craft, finding fossilised giant bat like
creatures and our trio of naked space vampires asleep in suspended
animation. Originally this discover sequence was to be shot in
silence which would have been really interesting to see, especially
when how this opening portion is shot and the zero gravity movements
of the characters are almost hypnotic to watch and there is so
genuine tension to these scenes of exploration aboard the alien
craft.
Unsurprisingly the
focus is placed on the hot naked space chick (May) and not the two
space studs who are pushed to the background for the most part. Back
on Earth she of course wakes up suddenly and wastes little time
sucking the lifeforce out of her victims all while wandering around
completely naked and with little desire to actually find clothes. In
a fun twist her victims which are reduced to shrivelled husks also
start feeding on the lifeforce of anyone near them causing this
vampire like virus to soon begin spreading out of control, while
those unable to find a victim explode into dust which for some reason
never gets old.
We are also
introduced at this point to our hero and SAS Colonel Caine played
here by an impossibly young looking Peter Firth who I was most
familiar with his role in the TV series “Spooks” as the MI5
officer Harry, so it was kind of surreal to find him randomly turning
up here. Inturn his appearance really gives the film a feeling of a
Doctor Who episode, especially as he carries this Quatermass attitude
which I really wasn’t expecting to find with this film.
While it seems at
this point that you know were the story is going with Hooper
seemingly crafting a space vampire romp, things instead take a turn
for the random when Churchill crew member Tom Carlsen (Railsback)
suddenly returns to earth in the ships escape pod. Carlsen randomly
shares a psychic link with the female space vampire who for some
reason they never both to name, even in the credits she is listed as
“Space Girl”. The psychic link angle really is overplayed
throughout the second half of the film which is also were the film
starts to grind its gear and loose the momentum it had in the first
half with Hooper working in a bunch of Dracula style seduction dream
sequences between Carlsen and the female vampire. It also serves to
take us out into the British countryside for no real discernible
reason I could think of other than to stretch the film out or that
Hooper just really fancied filming in the countryside. The body
snatchers angle this diversion introduces makes absolutely zero sense
and what I would say needed to be cut from what is a greatly inflated
runtime which needed to loose around thirty mins. At the same time it
would also mean losing Patrick Stewart's appearance as the manager of
a hospital they believe she is hiding out in.
The ending though is really
were the film not only jumps the shark but the whole aquarium as the
film suddenly turns into a full blown zombie apocalypse which you
can’t but wonder if it served as the inspiration for the
post-apocalyptic London of “28 Days Later”. This finale Hooper
just goes nuts and throws everything at the screen with Caine
battling his way through the zombie hordes and seeing how much Peter
Firth is seen smiling throughout these scenes its hard to tell if
he’s just having fun or just given into the fact that he’s just
resigned himself to the fact that none of this is making the
slightest bit of sense. It is however a lot of fun to see London
being reduced to rubble, thanks to Hopper getting access to a
recently closed model village which he could blow up as a substitute
London.
Were the film really
excels however is with the special effects, in particular the practical
effects throughout the film thanks to John Dykstra whose work here
really stops the film from being just another throw away Cannon
title, while making it non to surprising that it was also one of
their most expensive productions alongside “Master of the Universe”
and “Superman 4: The Quest for Peace”. What it does give us
though are dried husk zombies whose body rejuvenate when they suck
the lifeforce out of their victim or explode into dusty clouds when
they can’t. By the finale they are more traditional looking zombie
effects which is to be understood, but really made up for by some fun
body horror elements.
A truly random
experience which certainly could have afforded to hack out half an
hour, especially the distraction provided by the third act which
throws in the unneeded bodyswappers element which really brings
nothing to the film apart from adding confusion to the film which
would have taken away from the film more had the finale been so much
fun. Its hard to say were this film lies in terms of being good or
bad as it somehow manages to fall somewhere outside of such ratings
and while its far from Hooper’s best film its one which is still
worth watch if only to be astounded by its sheer randomness as there
really is nothing else quite like it.
Starring: Jackie
Chan, Jackson Lou, Annie Wu, Bill Tung, Yuriy Petrov, Nonna
Grishayeve, Terry Woo, Ailen Sit, Nathan Jones
Plot: Recuited by
the CIA, Insp. Chan (Chan) to follow leads connected to a nuclear
smuggling case, only to soon find himself on the trail of a missing
nuclear warhead.
Review: Despite
being the forth entry in Jackie Chan’s legendry “Police Story”
franchise you really don’t need to have seen the previous three to
enjoy this film and hence why it was sold to western audiences as
just “First Strike” giving it the illusion of being a stand alone
film especially to cash in on the success of “Rumble In The Bronx”
which had introduced Chan finally to audiences not familiar with the
Hong Kong cinema.
While this film
takes perhaps alittle longer than his other films to get going with
Chan engaging in some espionage antics before giving us the first of
the films big set pieces on the snowy mountains of the Ukraine with
Chan wearing little more than a humorous seal hat for warmth chases
after a suspect and it what really sets the tone for the film as here
we get to see Chan really working at the height of his powers as
certainly highlighted by the now legendary ladder fight sequence
whose painful screw ups really only demonstrate just how good Chan
and his stunt team are. Its during the traditional mistake reel in
the credits and you also see that Chan really wasn’t wearing anything
remotely warm during the mountain sequences when snowboarding or
being thrown into icy water that you may find yourself questioning
the general sanity of Chan to put himself through such things.
Perhaps to the
benefit of Chan for doing all those snow sequences the majority of
the film takes place in Australia were he soon finds himself caught
up with the sister of the suspect he’s been pursuing Annie here
played by Annie Wu in her film debut. Of course the general plot is
pretty thin and this is especially the case with her character whose
only real purpose is to play the damsel in distress while the fact
she works at the aquarium really is just to setup the finale. This
isn’t a major issue thanks to the general charm of Chan’s
performance aswell as the fact that most viewers will be here for
the stunts and fights than the plot.
This is a great film
for newcomers thanks to the light-hearted plot let alone how
frequently ludicrious it is to have a film which features an aquarium
of man eating sharks and a final showdown which takes place
underwater. This of course is largely thanks to Chan’s performance
as he’s essentially the every man rather than the bad ass, its just
he also happens to be a martial arts master. At the same time he taps
into the same slapstick action energy of Buster Keaton and Harold
Lloyd especially with the fight scenes being focused on using the
environment around him and making one movement flow into the next.
There is no better example of this than in this film when he is
attempting to escape from a pair of Russian thugs, one being played
by man mountain Nathan Jones.
As I mentioned
already the action is really the star of the show here and while it
might not top what we’ve seen in the previous three films in the
saga it is still inventive and unquestionably better than his current
output were its clear as he’s getting older he’s less willing to
maim himself for his art especially when those bones don’t heal as
quick as they used to, but hey this is the guy whose had so many
injuries that he can no longer get insurance so you can hardly fault
him for wanting to take it easier in these later years of his career.
As such its fun to see a film like this when he was wanting to take
those risks. Here Chan is clearly trying to give the audience
something they haven't seen before which might explain the underwater
fight finale, while the snowboard chase and the apartment escape
which sees Chan repeatedly running into closed windows all make for
fun highlights.
Frustratingly all the releases of this film bar the Japanese DVD are missing 21 mins from the film, while also dubbed which is less of an issue considering the style of film, but you would think that by now we would be able to get the original version of this film which sadly is still not an option.
A fun entry in the
“Police Story” saga though while perhaps not the best film of
this period it is still miles better from his current output, while
providing the perfect start point for the newcomers to his extensive
body of work.
Starring (English
Dub): Patrick Seitz, Michelle Ruff, Liam O’Brien, Lauren Landa,
Laura Post, Afred Thor, George C. Cole, Jamieson Price, David Lodge,
Michael McConnohie, John White, David Roach, Sam Regal, Joey Morris
Plot: The Redline is
one of the most popular races in the galaxy attracting some of the
most dangerous and competitive racers who will do anything to win. At
the same time with the race set to take place on Roboworld, a planet
ruled by militant cyborgs whose President doesn’t take kindly to
the race happening on the planet especially when it threatens to
uncover secrets hidden beneath the planet surface.
Review: Originally
planned to be released as one of four films released by Madhouse in
2009 alongside Summer Wars, Mai Mai Miracle and Yona Yona Penguin
though delays saw it finally being released in 2010. This is of
course not taking into account that the film already took seven years
to complete the 100,000 hand-made drawings which make up the film.
The directorial
debut for director Takeshi Koike who cut his teeth working as an
animator on classic anime titles such as “Wicked City” and “Ninja Scroll” before getting his first chance to direct as part of “The
Animatrix” were he directed the short “World Record” which also
showcased a unique anime style which you can see served alongside his
work as a Key Animator on the likes of “Dead Leaves” and “Afro
Samurai” as test run for this film.
Using a hand drawn
style compared to the preferred CGI assisted animation that most new
anime titles favour this is a stunning film to look at as this
constantly looks like a comic book page brought to life with each
scene crammed with intricate details which serve to complement the
colourful characters that this film is certainly in no shortage of.
Heading up the racers is pompadour favouring JP (Seitz) who despite
being blown up in his last race in the Yellowline his popularity sees
him being voted into the Redline were his rival of sorts, the
wonderfully named Sonoshee “Cherry Boy Hunter” McLaren (Ruff).
Racing against this
duo we get a classic roster of oddballs and mutants such as cyborg
and reigning champion Machinehead (McConnohie) whose body is also his
own vehicle, bounty hunters Lynchman (White) and Johnny Boy (Roach),
dirty cop Gori Rider (Cole) whose only entered to seek revenge on
fellow racers and sibblings Miki (Regal) and Todoroki (Morris). This
colourful cast of characters really is a great throwback to the
sci-fi sports movies like “Arena” while Koike clearly is drawing
inspiration from western comics like “Heavy Metal” and the
British mainstay “2000 AD” which also gave the world “Judge
Dread”. Another big inspiration especially with the scene
construction appears to be the French artist Jean “Moebius”
Giraud while at the same time Koike can equally be seen to be finding
inspiration in the work of “Akira” creator Katsuhiro Otomo, “Dead
Leaves” director Hiroyuki Imaishi whose frenzed animation style
heavily influences the race sequences and Leiji Matsumoto with whom
it would seem he shares a love of switches and dials as seen with the
frequent shots that Koike includes of the vehicle interiors.
Playing out like a
weird combination of “Wacky Races” meets “Aeon Flux” the film
wastes little time in establishing its world as we open to the final
stretch of the Yellowline race and even though it might not have the
prestige of the Redline the competition is just a fierce with the
competitors being shown unleashing rockets and various weapons on
each other as they constantly push their quickly crumbling vehicles
towards the finish line. Just within this opening sequence
The race sequences
are unquestionably the selling point of the film as Koike favours a
fast paced animation style which ignores the rules of physics let
alone any kind of plausibility and even when the racing action
threatens to slowdown you have the Roboworld military who turn out on
mass to stop the race happening and this is not even without
mentioning the bioweapon which gets unleashed in the middle of the
race as here it is all about the spectacle and that’s something
which he delivers by the truckload as this really is a unique
experience that words really don’t do justice as this is a film
which has to be experienced to fully appreciate it.
Thankfully the film
doesn’t just rely on having a bunch of exciting action sequences
and while the character development is minimal to say the least with
most of the racers getting a brief background you still feel that you
understand their motivations and characters. JP as the lead obviously
gets a lot more attention as we see the relationship between him and
his pit crew, though his relationship with Sonoshee feels alittle
underdeveloped especially in terms of their past which is limited to
a brief flashback of him sabotaging one of her early races.
While the film might be lacking depth in some areas such as characterisation there is no denying just how fun and frenzied it is which really helps to distract from such issues especially when its such an exillerating and exciting experience from start to finish, this is an anime which puts the pedal to the metal from the start and doesn't let up until the end credits so strap in and just enjoy the ride!
Starring:
James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp, Thomas
Kretschmann, Common, Marc Warren, Konstantin Khabensky, Dato
Bakhtadze, Chris Pratt, Kristen Hager, Lorna Scott
Plot:
Wesley (McAvoy) is an office clerk in a dead end job, who discovers
that his recently murdered father was a member of an a group of
master assassins known as “The Fraternity”. Now he is offered a
chance to take his father’s place as they hunt for his father’s
killer.
Review:
After exploding onto the scene with his genre bending double header
of “Night Watch” and “Day Watch” which saw the forces of
light and dark battling in modern day Russia, it was only really a
matter of time before director Timur Bekmambetov got called up to
bring his unique and highly visual style to the Hollywood system,
even though he’d technically already made this back in 2001 with
the Roger Corman produced remake of “The Arena”.
Based
on the cult graphic novel by Mark Miller and J.G Jones of the same
name this is one comic book adaptation where its best to have no
connection to the source material which was set in a world where the
Supervillians had won their secret war with their superhero
counterparts leaving them free to run the world free from
interference. Sadly this was all scrapped from this film adaption
which was crafted instead as a project for Angelina Jolie who was
coming to the end of her contract with Paramount with plans for a
third “Tomb Raider” movie being stuck in development hell. Miller
though was happy with the end result, even remarking that the
previsualized footage had raised his expectation for the film
adaptation.
When
we meet Wesley at the start of the film he is your usual office
drone, being constantly beaten down by his overbearing boss popping
anti-anxiety meds for his panic attacks, while his girlfriend cheats
on him his supposed best friend Barry (Pratt). It’s clear he’s
going nowhere fast until his life is thrown into chaos by the arrival
of Fox (Jolie) especially as it comes with an accompanying pharmacy
shoot out and high speed chase with his father’s killer and fellow
assassin Cross (Kretschmann).
While
he might be far from the most likely candidate to be an assassin, it
seemingly doesn’t matter seeing how his father’s legacy soon has
him being recruited to take his place in “The Fraternity” lead by
Sloan (Freeman) and did I mention that they get their targets from
the mythical “Loom of Fate” which like the COG’s in “Minority
Report” identify targets before they have the chance to cause
create “Evil and Chaos”. An addition in this reworking that makes
me wonder how exactly anyone thought it was a logical idea but its
the one we are going with here, which is made only the more comical
by how seriously everyone seems to be playing things.
It’s
this crash course in assassin skills which makes up much of the first
half of the film and also where the film is the strongest as Wesley
learns marksmanship, hand to hand fighting and knife skills most of
which involves him having the living hell beaten out of him by his
fellow assassins. At the same time he also learns to tap into his
adrenaline to give him superhero levels of strength, perception and
speed. These later skills adding a surreal edge to the action as
Bekmambetov seemingly takes this as a cue to craft any kind of
bonkers and over the top action sequence he can think of. However once
we get into the pursuit of Cross the film kind of loses its way and
becomes a more traditional action thriller, if a totally over the top
one with a train based chase sequence and exploding rat based finale
ensuring that its still memorable even if the pacing isn’t as tight
as the first half.
McAvoy
is completely believable as both Wesley the office drone and the bad
ass assassin despite initially being turned down for the role due to
not having the traditional leading man look or build and while Ryan
Phillippe was considered for the role and no doubt would have been
equally interesting to see in the role, there is something so
likeably about McAvoy that you can’t help but cheer him on as he
finally snaps telling his boss what everyone actually thinks about
her, before smashing a keyboard across the face of his former best
friend as the displaced keys (and his tooth) spell out “Fuck You”.
Angelina Jolie meanwhile slips effortless into her action heroine
persona with the changes she brought to the character only adding to
Fox rather than detracting such as her now largely silent persona
through to the smaller details like the binary code list of targets
she has tattooed on her arm making it easy to forget the fact that in
the source material she looked more like Hallie Berry as its a role
she unquestionably owns here.
The
supporting cast are equally great thanks to the colourful characters
they play with Konstantin Khabensky making his English language debut
as “The Exterminator” reuniting with Bekmambetov after working on
both Night Watch and Day Watch together with Bekmambetov seeing his
casting as a way of having a familiar face on set and along with his
fellow Russian Dato Bakhtadze who plays the knife expert “The
Butcher” providing some of the best moments of the film, while both
Common and Marc Warren clearly seem to be relishing having more meaty
supporting roles than they are used to playing.
The
real star though here though are the action sequences which give zero
thought to their plausibility with Bekmambetov it could be argued
using ideas he had left over from Night / Day Watch only with none of
the supernatural elements to cover for this kind of randomness. That
being said there is something so fun about watching a car chase in
which a Porsche barrel rolls over a police blockade or watching Fox
and Wesley play a game of capture the flag on a moving train. Perhaps
because they are shot so care free and clearly within the confines of
this universe than any kind of reality its never a push to accept any
of this and just enjoy the ride. Shot with a mixture of crisp focus and gratuitous slow motion, while there might often be a lot happening in these actions scenes its easy at the same time to follow what's happening, while the ending might be the most gratuitous scene of gunplay since "Hard Boiled".
While
I might not have liked the film much on that original viewing, upon
returning to the film though I discovered that viewing it on its own
merits there is a pretty fun popcorn action flick to be found here in
the vein of “Shoot-em Up” or “XXX”. Yes it might not be the
most realistic of films but when its this much fun who really cares?
Director:
Jonathan King Released:
2006 Starring:
Nathan Meister, Danielle Mason, Peter Feeney, Tammy Davis, Glenis Levestam,
Tandi Wright, Oliver Driver
Plot: Henry
(Meister) has an overwhelming fear of sheep thanks to a childhood pranks played
by his older brother Angus (Feeney). Now returning to his family farm with the
intention of selling his share, he is soon forced to confront his fears when
his brother’s secret experiments on the sheep causes them to turn into vicious killers.
Review: Greeted
with some excitement on its initial release as it drew favourable comparisions
to the early work of fellow New Zealand gorefather Peter Jackson much less the
fact it was a film about killer sheep something which like Wales there’s
certainly an abundance of making them essentially the perfect creature of
terror for this debut feature.
Establishing
its comedic tone early on this mixture of comedy and splatter is unquestionably
the right way to go for a film with this daft a premise with director Jonathan
King filling the film with numerous outlandish or cartoonish characters
including a group of morally devoid scientists and Henry’s cad of an older
brother who in the fifteen years since Henry was left traumatised by him hasn’t
exactly gotten any better and possibly worse the intervening years which have
passed. Henry meanwhile is a neurotic mess,
completely overwhelmed by his fears so that even the mere sight of sheep can throw
him in a blind panic.
Once more
though it’s the fault of the environmental activists that this chaos gets
unleashed as like “28 Days Later” eco warriors Grant (Driver) and Experience
(Mason) trigger the outbreak of killer sheep when they steal one of the mutated
lambs which soon infecting the rest of the local sheep population. Worse still
when said lamb bites Grant he runs off into the woods only to return as a
mutant man-sheep reminisant of the monster from “Godmonster of the Indian Flats”
Surprisingly
though for a film with such an outlandish plot this film is something of a slow
burn with the sheep related antics while frequently inventive are keep as a
lurking threat until really the final quarter when the film really becomes something
special with King raining down gore and splatter with the same kind of
grotesque inventiveness that Peter Jackson wowed us with early in his career
with the likes of “Bad Taste” and “Braindead” (or “Dead Alive” for you folks in
the states). This however is not to say the film is a bore until then as the
film frequently finds inventive situations for King to put the group in such as
a sheep randomly appearing in a land rover the group are trying to escape in
while in motion and which also shows us how well a sheep can drive a car.
Our main
group consisting of Henry, Experience and Henry’s best friend and farm hand
Tucker (Davis) are all likeable to be around as they try to make their way
through the mutant sheep hordes while King avoids any kind of romantic
connection between the group instead keeping them as a group thrown together
and now trying to just make it through the chaos that is escalating around them.
The only downside being Mrs. Mac (Levestam) who is such a fun character it’s
frustrating that she only really comes into play towards the end of the film
when we get to see her elderly badass side leaving you want so much more than
we ultimately get.
The
creature effects though are unquestionably the star of the show here with special
effects all being done by Weta Workshops who memorably worked on the “Lord of
the Rings” trilogy and its certainly an advantage to see practical effects
being used over CGI even for the larger mutant creatures such as the Were-Sheep
version of Grant which took four people to operate. While certainly far from
the easiest way to shoot the film it more than pays off in the presence that
the film has compared to so many other creature features being churned by the
likes of the Syfi channel and their seemingly never ending steam of shark
movies that they seem to put out on a weekly basis.
Still as
mentioned before the real standout moments of the film come in the final
quarter as a presentation is turned into a blood drenched massacre, including
one victim trying to fight a mutant sheep with his own recently chewed off leg.
We also get to see one of the sheep monsters being run into by a runaway plane
as King really shows his creativity in his splatter. At the same time the gore
here is very much on the cartoonish and OTT side of things rather than anything
coming to grotesque realism perfectly suiting the tone of the film. The end
finale coming close to rivalling the carnage of “Braindead” even if no one is
welding a petrol mower.
A fun
little creature feature and one which certainly doesn’t take itself seriously,
while at the same time not constantly winking to the audience like so many
similar films such as those churned out by “The Asylum” only making this so
much more of a welcome rarity.
Director:
Lau Kar-leung Released: 1983 Starring: Gordon Liu, Lily Li, Wong Yue,
Alexander Fu, Kara Hui, Yeung Jing-jing, Wang Lung-wei, Chu Tiet-who, Ko Fei,
Ching Chu, Lau Kar-Leung
Plot: When
his father and brothers are massacred by the Khitan army after they are
betrayed by the treacherous General Pun Mei (Lam Hak-ming). Now seeking
sanctuary in the monastery in Mount Wutai Yeung Dak (Gordon Liu) soon adapts
his spear technique for use with a pole before he is soon called back to face
the Khitans when they capture his younger sister.
Review:Another key title from the expansive Shaw
Bros. library with this film being released in the final years of the studio
before competition from the rival studio “Golden Harvest” forced them to move away from
films and into TV instead. Director Lau Kar-leung though would be responsible
for directing many of the studios most memorable titles including the “36th Chamber of Shaolin” trilogy aswell as the likes of “My Young Auntie” and “Heroes
of the East”. Kar-Leung while certainly a noteworthy director not only for the
Shaw Bros. but the Martial arts genre on a whole Kar-leung was also one of the
main choreographers for the Shaw Bros. aswell as for director Chang Cheh on the
likes of “The One-Armed Swordsman”.
Collaborating
again with Gordon Liu here the relationship between with Kar-leung and Liu is probably
one of the more overlooked director / actor pairings which is only the more surprising
when you consider that they clocked up a whopping 18 collaborations together with
this film unquestionably being yet another noteworthy addition to the list. The
film plot wise of course is nothing too different than we have seen countless
times before as we open to Yeung Dak alongside his father and brothers
showcasing their impressive spear skills before being overwhelmed by the
Khitans who have a special staff to counter their spear use. From here though it’s
the usual develop winning fighting technique in this case the titular “Eight
Diagram Pole Fighting Technique” before heading off to get his revenge on
General Pun Mei.
However
despite going through some familiar moves the fight scenes we get here are the
real draw as Kar-leung crafts some truly draw dropping scenes with the monks of
the film showcasing a defensive pole fighting style based around de-fanging
wolves which they practice on a wolf statue. It’s a skill which comes in
especially handy at the finale as we get a showdown between the Khitans lead by
the general and Yeung Dek with his newly found monk brothers who put aside their
non-violent ways to help him as the style they practice proves to be equally efficient
against human foes in one of the more bloody finales as numerous henchmen find
themselves toothless. While the fight scenes here might be less numerous than
in other films in the Shaw Bros. Catalogue, Kar-leung limits himself to a mere
3 fight scenes, he makes them so memorable and integral to the plot itself that
here less really is more while the flying headbutt in the finale is something to
behold.
The
journey however is really were the strength of the film lies as we see Yeung
Dak go from a hot headed youngster to eventually finding his peace and heading
off into the wild seemingly to continue the teachings he learns at the monastery
than return to his violent ways. What only adds to this journey is the fact
that he is initially turned away from the Monastery leading him in a memorable
scene to suddenly shave his head with a blade and burn holes into his skull
with incense sticks. Even after this act of self-mutilation they feel he is
still too full of anger to become a monk leaving him to develop the titular
fighting style off in a cave as he remains determined that he can get accepted
by the monks.
An easy
film to watch and well deserving of its status as one of the best titles in the
Shaw Bros. back catalogue even if it did come during the dying days of their film
productions this film at the same time equally provides a gentle introduction
to those curious about the genre or the Shaw Bros. legacy.
Director:Terry Gilliam Released: 1988 Starring: John Neville, Sarah Polley, Eric
Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Oliver Reed, Uma Thurman, Bill Paterson, Charles McKeown,
Winston Dennis, Jack Purvis, Robin Williams, Valentina Cortese, Peter Jeffrey,
Allison Steadman, Ray Cooper, Sting
Plot: The fantastical tale of 18th
century aristocrat and teller of tall tales Baron Munchausen (Neville) who
along with his band of talented henchmen and theatre owner’s daughter Sally Salt
(Polley) must band together to save a city from the invading Turk army.
Review: Opening in an unnamed and war-torn city in
Europe, during the late 18th century in a period dubbed “The
Age of Reason” while more precisely on a Wednesday were a theatre troupe are
putting on a production of Baron Munchausen’s life and adventures, despite the
city currently being under siege and city official “The Right Ordinary Horatio
Jackson” (Pryce) continues to reinforce the city’s commitment to reason or more
precisely uniformity. Its at this moment that an elderly man claiming to be
real Baron Munchausen bursts into the theatre critizing the players for getting
his story wrong and essentially setting in motion the many strange and
wonderful events which follow, while equally setting the tone for this third and
final entry in Gilliam’s “Trilogy of Imagination” which started with “Time
Bandits” and “Brazil” and which could in many ways been seen as the films that
the Monty Python team would have made, had they not called it a day with “The
Meaning of Life”.
This film is also the one which has since
its release become something around of a millstone around the neck of Gilliam’s
career thanks to its trouble production and spiralling costs which saw his
original budget of $23.5 million balloon into $45.63 million by the end of
production, while Columbia’s new CEO Dawn Steel refusing financing previously
agreed by her predecessor David Puttnam. The situation also not being helped by
the film failing at the box office despite highly positive reviews it would
only claw back a paltry $8 Million. Despite the film going on to become a cult
favourite it has however continued to dog Gilliam career ensuring that he’s
constantly had to fight for funding for the films which followed and no doubt
explaining why he’s remained more of an indie director in the years which
followed starting with his “Trilogy of Americana” made up of The Fisher King,
12 Monkeys and Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.
Unquestionably this film is one of Gilliams
most fantastical films as he seemingly sets out with a vision to try and top
the imagery of Brazil and Time Bandits, while crafting what could almost be
seen as a “Gulliver’s Travels” style adventure as we follow this fantastical
creation on a series of ever more fantastical adventures as he rides a
cannonball, escapes a city in a hot air balloon made of women’s undergarments,
meets the king of the moon (Williams credited here as Ray D. Tutto) and the
roman god Vulcan (Reed) and even gets eaten by a large fish. It’s really the
sort of film that only Gilliam could think about attempting while one he is yet
to top in terms of imagery with “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” being the
closest he’s come, though even that film doesn’t really come close to matching
the feeling of scale and grandeur that this film has, no doubt as the result of
this film being shot purely with the use of practical effects.
While it is easy to get caught up in the
all the visual flair, this is actually a surprisingly straightforward tale with
the Baron and Sally escaping the city and along the way meeting up with the
older versions of the Baron’s loyal henchmen made up of Bethold (Idle the world’s
fastest runner, Adolphus (McKeown) the crackshot marksman with superhuman eyesight,
Gustavus (Purvis) the dwarf who not only has super hearing but also the ability
to blow down an entire army and finally the super strong Albrecht (Dennis).
More amusing is seeing these heroes as their younger selves in the Baron’s
first tale of how he avoided being beheaded by Sultan Mahmud (Jeffrey) and then
as we follow the Baron on his journey seeing them all as old men, with Gustavus
now pretty much deaf while Adolphus is by all appearances now blind. Seeing
them all pull it together for a final showdown with the Sultan unsurprisingly left
me with a dopey smile especially when this battle contains so many comical
moments such as Bethold attempting to outrun a snipers bullet only to turn it
into the world’s greatest trick shot.
One of the real strengths of the film is in its
casting especially when it comes to the supporting cast which amongst them sees Robin
Williams here working for free camping things up as the king of the moon, whose
head and body are able to work separate from each other, while more surprising
is the fact that this role had originally been written for Sean Connery only
for him to deem it not kingly enough for him. Oliver Reed meanwhile is equally fascinating
to watch as the roman god Vulcan when the baron and his followers seemingly get
sent to hell and were Reed seems to be more concerned with projecting his own
performance and giving us odd little touches such as turning a piece of coal
into a diamond. These stop off each coming with something different and it’s
these characters we encounter on these stop off which make the journey so fun
that you never really question the fact that none of it really makes a lick of
sense.
For the established fans of Gilliam's work there
is much to enjoy here, especially when he is playing up the visual side of
things as much as he does, especially using some great touches such as
theatrical flat screens to tell his story and while some aspects might not work
such as the reoccurring character of the Angel of death whose effects are
especially ropey and some of the plot might be more plodding than it needs to
be this is still a highly memorable and entertaining film and one which is truly
deserving of its cult status, even with its confused ending this is still a fun
fantasy film directed in a way that only Gilliam can.
Plot: In an alternate vision of Tokyo, the
city has been divided up by street gangs collectively known as the Tokyo Tribes
who co-exist in an uneasy state of peace, one which is soon shattered by crime
boss Big Buppa (Takeuchi)
Review:While many of the original outlandish and controversial
directors such as Takashi Miike have mellowed with age its kind of comforting
to see that there are directors like Sion Sono who is still carving his path as a truly original
voice in Asian cinema. Having previously given us suicide cults, killer hair
extensions and the hooters version of a fish shop to barely scratch the surface
of some of the randomness that his films to date have covered.I guess that he would attempt a hip-hop musical
version of “The Warriors” which I guess might be the best way of describing the
randomness he gives us here.
Based on the Manga series by Santa Inoue,
this adaptation is shot with a combination of hip-hop excess and hyper-kinetic
cinematography, its once again another unique world view that Sono gives us
here, right from the opening rap which introduces this world as a grandma works
the decks. It’s also in this scene that we get our first introduction to the
varied gangs of this version of Tokyo with Buppa’s son Mera (Ryohei) tracing
out the territories on the naked flesh of a naïve female cop who attempted to
arrest him as he rakes his knife from her breast to her butt.
Unquestionably its once again a colorful
group of characters that we get here, while the sheer number of players however
does mean that only the most outlandish of these characters prove to be memorable
as many slip into the background unless actively doing something to further the
plot at that particular moment. However whenever Takeuchi is on the screen all
attention is drawn straight to him, as his crime boss Buppa seems to have been
inspired by every crime boss from Tony “Scarface” Montana through to Durant
from “Darkman” as seen by his cigar box
of severed fingers. Here Takeuchi somehow manages to crank up his usual
snarling style several more notches than his usual craziness as he commands the
screen every time he’s on, whether he’s groping his amply breasted wife or jerking
off with a black dildo he’s a fantastically cartoonish creation and one which
Takeuchi seems to be having a ball playing. While Buppa might have made for a suitable big
baddie on his own, much of the heavy lifting required to maintain his empire is
handled by equally psychotic sons the aforementioned bleached blonde Mera while
his other son languishes in “A Clockwork Orange” inspired room of living
furniture.
While
the film might be a hip-hop musical in Japanese, a language whose suitability for
the musical style is debatable, especially going off the frequently droning
tone that most of the raps take here which is more worrying when you consider
the amount of actual rappers amongst the cast. That being said even if you’re
not a hip-hop fan it never overwhelms the film to point where it is unenjoyable
for the non-fans. That being said around
the halfway point Sono seemingly loses faith in the concept and instead opts to
turn the film into an all-out kung-fu spectacle as the rapping is changed out
for stylised ass kicking.
Action
wise if you were impressed by what he brought to the screen previously in “Why
Don’t You Play In Hell” here he cranks up the energy even further to create
some great set pieces including a showdown in a room which hides a giant fan
which is put to great use thinning out most of the cast, while we also get a
sadly too brief Bruce Lee homage and a character being turned into a human pin
cushion via a dozen samurai swords to the chest. True none of these scenes are
aiming for realism, as instead Sono aims to only add to his ongoing spectacle but
when shot with such a sense of chaotic fun as it is here, such things hardly
matter.
Perhaps due to the
sheer amount of characters and muddled plotting it wasn’t until I watched this
film for the second time that I was able to appreciate it, having been left
with a sense of indifference after my initial viewing. Perhaps more flawed than
some of his other films, this is still a highly unique film from a director who
continues to prove himself as an original and exciting force in Asian cinema,
making it little surprise that critics / Asian cinema fans continue to draw comparisons
between him and Takashi Miike even if perhaps Sono is barely pushing the
boundaries of taste in the same way that Miike did during his outlaw years. In
the meantime though this is another great entry into an already impressive body
of work, even if perhaps it fails to reach the same levels of some of his more
recent films, this is still an experience worth having.
Basically this is my love letter to the cinema I adore, with the main focus being to look away from the mainstream and instead look more in the direction of Cult, Foreign and Obsure cinema and everything that comes in between. This blog is also about keeping movie going fun and embracing the randomness, that can often be found, while also uncovering the occastional hidden great, often in the most unlikely of places.
I try to add somthing new atleast once a week, but I'd rather keep this blog fun to write and so i'm not neglecting commitments outside of this blog.
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