A LEGEND, debuting on Digital, Blu-ray & DVD January 21

Billed as a sequel to the 2005 film THE MYTH, A LEGEND is really closer to a remake (though don't quote me it's been long enough since I saw THE MYTH that I could be overstating it) . The film is the story of a professor, played by Jackie Chan, finding some ancient relics that mirror ones in his dreams. His dreams tell the story of the battle between the Huns and the Hans and a beautiful woman tasked with keeping the land safe.

I know a lot of people are getting upset that they used AI  to make Jackie tat look younger, but the truth of the matter is that the film has a more serious problem and that is a wildly uneven script. Drifting erratically from grand action to soap opera and back again the film feels like it doesn't now what it want to be. The film feels like it is trying to make a point about the glory of China instead of being an entertaining action film.

I know I have been admonished by some of my friends for covering films from China owing to their crack down on artists and dissenters, but the truth is the Chinese government intervention in the making of films is going to do more damage faster simply because no one is going to want to see the films or the art produced. A LEGEND, like several recent other films from China, has the feel of a film that had the government crawling all over it, making it less enjoyable because the plot feels contrived and the film praises the glory of a mythical China that exists only in legend.

While the action is very good (if incredibly slick) I'm not sure it's quite up to the task of making the film  worth seeing. The problem is there is too much blah around it.

Escape (2024) hits digital January 14

North Korean soldier has been plotting his defection for years, making maps and working out the best way to go. When things go side ways, he finds someone else blamed and himself hailed as a hero thanks to the intervention of a "friend". Put into a new and dangerous situation he begins to plot anew.

This is a good but kind of by the numbers film.  While I wasn't really certain how this was going to play out at first once the initial escape attempt is turned on its head I had a pretty good idea who this was going to go once the friend intervenes.  I don't blame the filmmakers rather the seeming need to make a rah rah North Korean soldier escapes tale. I would have been shocked if this had ended as badly as the film seemed to hint at times.

While completely enjoyable, I still wish the film had been a little grittier and a little real world meaner. Say what you will the North Koreans are kind of cartoony, even if they kill people, and it takes the edge off everything.

Worth a look when the film hits digital.

The Prosecutor (2024)

Donnie Yen makes an awkward stab at being a regular actor in a weird hybrid of court room thriller and action movie.

The plot has Yen playing an unhappy police man who retires and becomes an attorney and prosecutor. He figures that he will be able to get justice done. However there are forces at work which are corrupting the judicial process. This is brought to light in his first case, the story of a young man arrested for drug possession after he receives as package that has drugs in it. The package was really for a friend who is connected to a drug cartel. As Yen digs deeper things get deadly.

This is a film that doesn't quite work. The mix of action and drama is doomed by a script that never weaves them together. While there are some great fight scenes that fit nicely in the film, there are several more that feel shoe horned in, as if director Yen didn't trust his acting chops. He should have since it was his acting ability that has made his turns in films like BODYGUARDS AND ASSASSINS, The IP Man films, ROGUE ONE and JOHN WICK 4 so memorable, (It's also something I discussed with him both times I interviewed him)

The action itself is a bit uneven, owning in part to the randomness of a couple of bits and to the fact that it lifts too much from first person shooters and the John Wick films. Yen needs to realize that the Wick films were stealing his best stuff, he doesn't need to riff on the borrows.

Reservations aside. I did like the film. It's not bad, it's just wildly uneven. It also points to the possibility that the next time that Donnie Yen mixes action with drama something truly special might result.

Laws of Man (2025)

It's 1963. Two U.S.Marshals are hunting bad guys in Utah.  As one case begins to turn side ways they rapidly realize that they are in way over their heads.

For most of the running time LAWS OF MAN is a kick ass thriller, with a great cast, some wonderful turns, solid action and some great performances (including Harvey Keitel channeling Dennis Hopper). Watching the film I was in love with everything about the film because it wasn't taking the well worn road, and even if it was it was dressing it up enough that you didn't care. 

Unfortunately it hit this point where it started to reveal things and the fact that it was November 1963 loomed large. Honestly I could have lived with the turn toward JFK as a plot point if the film didn't pivot farther into WTF territory. Once we got to the underground bunker the wheels of the whole thing came off as this grounded thriller flew up into the air.

What were they thinking?

I don't know. 

I do   know that the final 20 minutes made the film go from the first great film I saw in 2025 to just an okay film I'll probably have forgotten by the end of the month.

The ending aside, the film is still worth seeing but I would wait until cheaper streaming. Then again knowing it turns south you maybe more forgiving than I was.

RED ONE (2024)

When Santa goes missing his team grab the man responsible, a hacker who can find anyone, and force him to help them retrieve the big guy before Christmas is canceled.

I suspect that had I paid to see this in the movies I would have been annoyed, but at home on the couch with the Christmas tree in the same room I was delighted. 

While far from high art, and very by the numbers, RED ONE entertained. I knew pretty much how it was going to go from start to finish and I didn't much care. It was doing what it was doing well and with a certain amount of charm and I was fine with that. Actually considering all of the disingenuous and made purely for the cash empty Hollywood sequels of late seeing something that was at least trying something new was refreshing. I'll take something that actually has a beginning middle and end as opposed to something that is set up to be the next step to the next cash grab.

Is this the best thing in the world? No, but It made me smile. The cast sells it which was a enough to over come the wildly uneven special effects. (As someone recently said why are the best CGI from the first Jurassic Park and why has everything since then gotten worse despite advancements and costing hundreds of millions more?)

Is this worth seeing? On Prime? Absolutely.

It may not be the best Christmas film ever but it will entertain.

MEGAFORCE (1982) Thanksgiving Turkey

 

Hal Needam's MEGAFORCE was promoted heavily. Back in 1981 the film was everywhere. Stories were written and broadcast about how the film's cars, motorcycles and other vehicles and weapons were being studied  by the US Military for possible use. It was being set up as the next big thing..

...and then it died. It seemed no one wanted to watch spandex soldiers riding dune buggies,

The reviews came out and it tanked. The reviews were so bad that I went opening weekend because I suspected it wasn't going to last long in theaters. 

The plot has a secret government organization, made up of tan spandex wearing soldiers, going up against a bad guy working on world domination.  They use fancy dune buggies and motorcycles. 

Full disclosure, I like Hal Needam's films. I love how he could make entertaining films that reduced things to their most  basic level. Think about what the SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT  or CANNONBALL RUN films are. There is nothing much beyond a chase and quips...an yet they work.

Well they worked when  he either had a good script (BANDIT,  his TV  work) or a cast that could sell anything (CANNONBALL RUN). Unfortunately in the case of MEGAFORCE he had a largely second level cast and a script that stinks. 

The script, is...well...there really isn't anything there. It's as cliche as they come. You know how its going to go from frame one. It might have worked, as in his other films, if he had given us either well drawn characters or actors who ar charismatic enough to hold the screen, but he has nothing. Michael Beck, while never bad was never anything but occasionally good.  Okay yes I like Barry Bostwick and Persis Khambatta, but they are better in support than as leads. It doesn't help but they are all given bad movie hero cliches as characters.

To be honest I like the action in the film. Sure it borders on silly (especially in the final battle where Bostwick's motorcycle flies thanks to bad visual effects) but it entertains.  I think it was because of Needham's stunt work that he was allowed to direct again when this film died at the box office. (That and he was a friend of Burt Reynolds)

Is it a bad film? Oh hell yes?

Is it fun? Oh hell yes.

Should you see it?  If you can do so with friends and make fun of it.

Gladiator 2(2024)

The sequel to the Oscar winning Gladiator picks up 16 years later with the son of Russell Crowe’s character being captured and brought to Rome to fight in the arena. He ends up in the middle of political machinations looking to remove the corrupt and insane twin emperors on one side and a force looking to completely destroy the empire on the other.

This is perfectly okay historical action film that probably would have been better served being its own thing then bending over backwards to give very tenuous ties to the first film. Other than  a couple of characters everyone here is completely new, so why bother to connect them? (Oh yea no one would have gone).

The plot line is more a pencil sketch with lots of references to things we never see. Characters are so obviously drawn and presented that you know who is going to live, die, betray or step up as each one takes the stage. Only Denzel Washington has a real character, which he presents with a fury that makes you certain that he will be in the Oscar hunt at year’s end. As for the rest of the big name cast they are fine but are largely not given to do anything with Paul Mescal  basically just looking strong (the time frame is so f-ed up that we never given a reason as to why anyone would follow him) , and Pedro Pascal looking like a world weary man of good conscious, and Derek Jacobi here just to be a link to the previous film.

The action is adequate, but not always exciting, hurt by wildly uneven CGI (the opening sea attack), modern wrestling moves or odd things they hoped we would never notice (The ship in the arena spinning like it was a top).

While I can pick the film apart I did have a good time, though to be honest the fact I was seeing it unexpectedly in IMAX with free soda and treats helped my enjoyment greatly.

Worth a look if you so inclined

100 Yards (2024) opens Friday

When you see 100 YARDS just go with it. Give it time to set the table and get going. I say this because the plot, about the son of the head of a martial arts school battling the first apprentice who now runs the school for control of it has been done to death in martial arts films and other genres as well. You've seen this a thousand times before. However the setting in 1920 Tianjin city and the vast array of characters are something new.

Playing at times as a jazz age western in modern dress 100 YARDS is truly something special. A one of a kind film that takes a well worn plot and makes it into something you've not really seen before. I say this because despite the film having a plot line I knew, I had no idea where this was going to go. I mean I really had no idea where this was going because the film is so filled with characters I've never seen before that I couldn't make a guess what was going to happen.

If you need an example of how different this film is consider the women in this film. There are four vitally important roles for women in the film and every one is not what you expect. One is the cross dressing spokesman for the The Circle, the martial arts group controlling the city's schools, whose back story is unexpected. Another is another member of the the Circle and while seemingly minor plays a key role several times. As for the two romantic partners for the men at the center of the tale... let's just say you aren't ready for who they are, so don't even try to guess. The women are seemingly not important but the truth is not for them most of the story wouldn't happen.

The action sequences are wonderfully atypical. The fights are compelling and culminate in a battle that runs the better part of the last 45 minutes. Amazingly it also advances the plot because of the things that happen during it. While a couple of people do die over the course of the film, their deaths are not the result of the fights.

To be honest I was ready to hang it up ten minutes in,certain this was a form over content film with a plot I'd seen before, and five minutes later I was staring at the screen gob smacked because I had no idea where this was going. Characters and situations were changing before my eyes.

I need to see this film again.

If you can give yourself over to the film and let it work its magic I think you are going to have a great time.

Highly recommended.

Point Break (1991)

Until I went to RIfftrax riff of POINT BREAK, I had never really seen the film since it originally opened. I never thought much of it and never went back.

Watching the film again for the first time in decades I realized why I had never gone back, it’s not very good.  The story of a hot shot ex-jock who became a lawyer, joined the FBI, gets partnered with a renegade agent and seeks to take down a team of surfing bank robbers is now a cliché of sorts. Its been ripped off and parodied  to death.  It feels like its been cobbled together from parts in a closet.

How or why any of this ties together makes zero sense. There are plot holes that the Grand Canyon could get lost in. Things just happen-because (Jump out of a plane- twice? Sure why not. Do it with the guy who is trying to arrest you? Absolutely). That Reeves is an FBI agent at the end is a head scratcher.

That people were upset about the film being remade a few years ago is a head scratcher. I mean people were upset that they turned a turd ball into a bigger turd ball.

Even the action isn’t that good. Even allowing for 33 years of advances in film techniques, its still not good.  It’s a mix of over edited moments (The house gun fights) or things a half a step slow (everything else).

Clearly this connected with people that 33 plus years on we are still talking about it. I have no idea why- more so since so many better films from the same time are lost to time

Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

 

Some how this Guy Ritchie film got lost. Despite getting really good reviews the film kind of went no where at the box office and I only caught it on cable.

The true story of a bunch of soldiers willing to fight war down and dirty, the film follows a band of misfits as they go to a Spanish island to stop a German freighter from being used as submarine supplier Ship.  Of course t goes side ways and in unexpected ways. Sporting a cast that includes Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding among others, the film is an old school film done with modern sensibility. Blood flows and curses spoken. It’s a film that doesn’t rely on rapid cutting for effect but on situation and character. The result is a wonderful popcorn film.

I had a blast.

Is it high art- no but it’s damn entertaining.

Recommended

Zero (2024) Beyond Fest

Two Americans wake up in Dakar with bombs strapped to their chests and told that they have ten hours in which to complete certain tasks or else they will be killed. This results in a mad dash across the city.

On the face of it ZERO is a great action film that mixes fantastic action sequences with some very funny lines. It’s a dark  film that carries us along from the first frame to the last.

The problem with the film is that it is a bit bleak and obtuse for it’s own good. The film’s mysterious voice (Willem Dafoe) talks about all sorts of great deeds and  the like, but I don’t think we ever see it. The film is ultimately a mad man toying with a several people while causing mayhem along the way. It was fun until I realize that there wasn’t going to be a happy ending.

As a film in the genre of people having to complete various tasks by a certain time, this film is really good. Actually its one of the best to come along in the last decade or so. The problem here is that the motivation behind the task is kind of muddy. The film, thanks to the stinger at the end, wants to be a kind of a spin on the SAW franchise. It irks me that the film has to lean back of things that went before when it’s clear that everything else connected with the film is top of the line and had the film been more logical with the plotting it would have been one of the best of 2024.

As it stands ow it’s a really good, if rather bleak, action film.

Ghost Killer (2024) Fantastic Fest

GHOST KILLER has a young woman with a messy life  ending up having the ghost of a murdered assassin attached to her. He won’t leave until she gets revenge for him.

This good but odd mix of horror, action and humor is entertaining but at the same time isn’t as satisfying as it should be. Blame the uneasy mix of genres that doesn’t always blend as perfectly as it should.. It’s never fatal but it’s bumpy.

And as good as she is I think part of the problem is Akari Takaishi in the lead. She’s fine but the role and her performance is played much too close to her one in the Baby Assassin’s Franchise. Watching her I kept waiting for bigger laughs.

My quibble aside, GHOST KILLER is worth a look.

Bangkok Dog (2024) Big Bad Film Festival

Under the radar government organization sends an agent to Thailand to to take down a crime lord.

Destined to spend eternity in direct to video hell, BANGKOK DOG is a very by the numbers action film done in by poor fight sequences. I turned off immediately and kind of disconnected.

Yea, this is an action film where the action looks terrible. It seems to all follow a similar pattern of blows and almost all of it seems to involve our hero, DY Sao, leaping in the air giving an angry Bruce Lee face. Okay yes he doesn't do it all the time, but enough that you wonder why he's doing it when there is no call for it. The blows don't really seem to have weight, to the point you wonder why the bad guy went down. 

I don't want to pick on the leads but they have no charisma, or at least not enough to carry the film and I'm certain that DY Sao won't have been picked except that he did the fights and is a producer.

The less said the better.

100 Yards (2023) Big Bad Film Festival

When you see 100 YARDS just go with it. Give it time to set the table and get going. I say this because the plot, about the son of the head of a martial arts school battling the first apprentice who now runs the school for control of it has been done to death in martial arts films and other genres as well. You've seen this a thousand times before. However the setting in 1920 Tianjin city and the vast array of characters are something new.

Playing at times as a jazz age western in modern dress 100 YARDS is truly something special. A one of a kind film that takes a well worn plot and makes it into something you've not really seen before. I say this because despite the film having a plot line I knew, I had no idea where this was going to go. I mean I really had no idea where this was going because the film is so filled with characters I've never seen before that I couldn't make a guess what was going to happen.

If you need an example of how different this film is consider the women in this film. There are four vitally important roles for women in the film and every one is not what you expect. One is the cross dressing spokesman for the The Circle, the martial arts group controlling the city's schools, whose back story is unexpected. Another is another member of the the Circle and while seemingly minor plays a key role several times. As for the two romantic partners for the men at the center of the tale... let's just say you aren't ready for who they are, so don't even try to guess. The women are seemingly not important but the truth is not for them most of the story wouldn't happen.

The action sequences are wonderfully atypical. The fights are compelling and culminate in a battle that runs the better part of the last 45 minutes. Amazingly it also advances the plot because of the things that happen during it. While a couple of people do die over the course of the film, their deaths are not the result of the fights.

To be honest I was ready to hang it up ten minutes in,certain this was a form over content film with a plot I'd seen before, and five minutes later I was staring at the screen gob smacked because I had no idea where this was going. Characters and situations were changing before my eyes.

I need to see this film again.

If you can give yourself over to the film and let it work its magic I think you are going to have a great time.

Highly recommended.

EYE FOR AN EYE 2 (2023) Big Bad Film Festival

After her brother is trampled to death by some very bad men a young girl gets hooked up with a blind bounty hunter and asks him to get revenge for her.  

When you go into EYE FOR AN EYE 2 you have to understand a couple of things. First is that while there is a bunch of action, the film is largely about the relationship between the two main characters. Things are focused on the two characters interacting. Yes some of it is expected, but some of it is not. And even the expected stuff some times has a sting in the tail.  As a result the plot line is related to the pair interacting and getting to the point where the final show down with the bad guy happens...

...and about that bad guy, he's fricking evil. Not only does he trample a young boy to death (graphically),  he kills a dog by kicking it to death (mostly off screen). Since he isn't on screen much the filmmakers want you  hate him and you do. You will be chomping to see him die.

The action is stunning. Yes, its stylized, but it works. I love that is not rapid-fire close ups but full figure clashes. Sure, there are cuts, but it's not rapid-fire pieces of action. You feel everyone is actually engaging and not just fighting for that one shot.

And that's another thing I love about the film- the use of the frame. The images are both natural and deliberate. You can see how they the framing gives you more information. I didn't realize it at first but there was a moment where suddenly the Lieutenant literally went over to the girls side and I realized the film had been doing it all along. The film also uses split screen to great effect a couple of time.

How is the film over all? I really liked it. To be certain it does play as a kind of Zatoichi meets Lone Wolf and Cub at times, but you really won't care because the the two leads are so strong. It's absolutely a variation on a theme, but its so well done you won't care. I think this is going to play best on a second and third viewing when you see the film for itself and not what you think it should be.

One of the great finds of 2024

Life After Fighting (2024) Big Bad Film Festival 2024

All hail Bren Foster. LIFE AFTER FIGHTING is a bold announcement that there is a new martial arts action hero on the block.

The film tells the story of a martial arts instructor who ends up tangling with human traffickers after a couple of his students are taken. Not one to idly sit by while kids are carried off, Foster wades in and kicks ass breaks bones and crushes trachea. 

Okay, let me address the elephant in the room. this film is way too long. Sure it is full of fights, but the listed run time of 126 minutes is a bit too long and there is a point where you feel overwhelmed. It's far far from fatal, but  there is a point  where you feel if this had been trimmed it would be hailed as one of the best films of the year.

The over length aside this film kicks serious ass. Foster is a big bad martial arts machine and he is fun to watch as he kicks ass  and breaks heads. The fights are beautifully staged and you can feel every bone crushing blow. This is one of the few recent films with hand to hand combat where you end up wincing with the strikes. How it it that the people on the receiving end Foster's blows are in one piece?

This is popcorn action cinema at it's most enjoyable.

Watching the film alone on a screener I was kind of saddened that I didn't see this at the Big Bad FIlm Festival with an audience of action film lovers.  This is an audience film and needs to be seen where a bunch of people can react to it together.

I had a blast and as such LIFE AFTER FIGHTING is highly recommended.

Strange Darling (2023) Popcorn Frights 2024

 

There are very few things that are a certainty, death, taxes and JT Mollner‘s STRANGE DARLING is going to be a film with a huge following. The story of a serial killer chasing after his latest victim who is trying fleeing is murderous intentions. It is told with enough style that Mollner is going to be dining out on it for decades to come.

Shot on 35mm this film is a technical marvel. A flash back to the driving films of the late 70’s and early 80’s, this is a film that recalls the technical virtuosity of films like VANISHING POINT, the first two MAD MAX films, RACE WITH THE DEVIL and drive in horror. MOLLNER knows his film history and he mines it for ore to use here. What he’s doing is not lifting bits or sequences, but instead using the past a template for his work. His film was built on those earlier films but not a copy of them. He is using film history the way it should be used – raising up the art form by standing on the past, not making an exact copy.

As a physical film this is one of the best films of the year and probably of the last five years. The skill with which this film has been assembled is absolutely beyond compare. If Mollner can make more films with this sort “oh wow” factor he will be hailed as one of the greatest ever.

However as much as I absolutely love the craft of the film I’m not really a fan of the storytelling. Told in six out of order chapters the story doesn’t really work. It’s a standard issue bad guy stalks a woman tale with a few twists.  The characters are not really real people, but are constructs that exist because the cast is so good. Additionally if the story wasn’t told out of order there wouldn’t be suspense. While allegedly based on a true story some late in the game turns feel added on just to keep the story going. Mollner may be a wizard in making the film, his scripting could use a little help.

But the script is not what you are going to remember when you come out of the film. What you are going to remember is the driving nature of this thrill ride of the film. It’s such a cinematic blast that you are going to want to go again not long after you get to the end credits- I know I did.

Recommended

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Wade is retired and celebrating his birthday when the time travel authority shows up ans whisks him away. They want him to a job for them. If he does he will survive the collapse of his time line...a collapse that Paradox the man in charge of his time line, is planning on bringing about as fast as possible. Having been told the reason that collapse is due to the death of Wolverine, Wade makes B-line to find one to replace the one who is dead. Chaos follows as Deadpool, with the worst Wolverine in tow, travels the multiverse

I liked the film way more than I had hoped. 

Unexpectedly, there is a real story, something many recent big budget sequels seem to have forgotten to include (Mission Impossible anyone?).  While there is a looseness to some of the plotting, in part because the film is messing up with the notion of the multiverse and the, surprisingly few, cameos, the spine of the film- the drive for Deadpool to save his friends at any cost is incredibly strong. Actually the story is so strong that you actually feel real danger. We don’t know if everyone is going to be alright- yes it is a comic book movie which means no one stays dead- but it isn’t a certainty. I say this because we don’t know if there will be a sequel. We don’t know if there will be other appearances. Sure Disney will probably cart Wade and Logan out again, but it isn’t set in stone. Most importantly because the Logan in this film isn’t the Logan from LOGAN (that one is most assuredly dead) we know that some characters can die and at least some variation of them can stay dead.

What sold me on the film were two things I suspect most people over looked.

The first is Hugh Jackman’s performance. 

As good as everyone thought he was in LOGAN, he’s better here. This is a Wolverine who is broken. He messed up and cost the lives of all the other X Men. His speeches about what happened and about being a failure, being the worst Wolverine in the multiverse, about needing to be an X Man, but not being able to let anyone know, and feeling he wasn't a hero, are crushing. These moments were the first time in any of the MCU films where someone truly understood the heart and soul of what a hero is all about. The speeches, thanks to Jackman’s delivery, cut through the bullshit and got to what it is like being a superhero. The only thing I can compare it to is the Iron Giant’s declaration of choosing to be Superman.   Yes, really. This is the first MCU that really opens the soul of being a superhero or someone trying to be. They are moments of raw emotion in Jackman's delivery that are magic and that connect unreal to heartbreakingly real.

The other moment is when the heroes decide to attack the compound in the Void. It’s not what happens but it’s the attitude of the team that Wolverine and Deadpool assemble. They are very aware that their stories are not what they should have been. They are aware in a meta- way that their last appearances were in films of lesser quality, and they want a better “ending”, a better memory for them. They want to do something truly heroic. It’s a moment any lost characters in literature or culture would wish for themselves. However, and where the emotion comes from is that it is also very much like a team of samurai on a suicide mission- we will give ourselves the ending that we all aspire to (again like Iron Giant). Of course, the filmmakers give them a great ending (for now).  I was deeply and genuinely moved by their resignation going into the fight of “F it, at least we go down heroically”. 

The thing I love most about the film is that because we don’t know if Deadpool and Wolverine will definitely show up in another film  (no sequel or appearances have been announced after all and Jackman is being cagey about more) the ending, and the possibility of them dying resonates more than in any other Marvel movie (Don't even suggest you really thought that any of the other characters in any other film was going to stay dead-The fact Marvel announces 19 films ahead is why I hate the films now). The question of who will/may die has weight in this film- and even the ultimate outcome not only works but makes perfect (comic book) sense.

I also need to say that when we finally saw Jackman in full Wolverine suit, with the mask I suddenly realized, bright yellow or no- his look is genuinely frightening.

It’s a stunning  achievement, that is intellectually (and in many moments emotionally) one of the finest superhero films ever made

Mission Impossible: DEAD RECKONING Part 1 (2023)

AI program goes wrong and connects with a nihilistic nut job, who years before killed the girl that Ethan Hunt loved. Soon everyone races to get a key that will allow them to control the program.

This is a collection of fantastic set pieces barely connected by the above waffer thin plot. The film some how charms (for awhile) thanks to the great cast who make us believe that there is something here when there really isn't.

The film weirdly works until we finally get to meet the human villain, Gabriel, who not  person but the most unbeatable villain from a video game. He is godlike and unbeatable and zero fun.  More so when he just wants to kill everyone in the world just because.

The fun factor doesn't completely disappear until we get to the hand shoveled steam train and the film's plotting goes into the crapper. Gabriel kills the train crew and makes it so the brakes (at least in the engine) won't work. He then goes back into the runaway train to conduct business. The why and how of the train continues to run when no one can feed coal into the engine is not explained, nor is how the train stays on the tracks while taking curves at speed. We also never get an explanation of how people know they are on a runaway train and are not plussed by it.

Everyone wants to know why this film under performed at the box office- because what little plot there is makes zero sense, at its best its shitty decades old scifi cliche, the human villain is a cipher, the AI villain is spray of colors and after almost 3 hours the film doesn't end it stops.

It's a great looking dessert that has lovely whip cream on the outside and rotten turds on the inside.

What a disappointment- more so that I really liked this up until the party scene when it all began to slide.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024) NYAFF 2024 Fantasia 2024

 

In the 1980’s Lok,a refugee from elsewhere in Asia, arrives in Hong Kong looking to make enough money to buy an identity card. Fighting in an underground match he is propositioned for a job by Mr Big (Sammo Hung) . He declines and Big said that he will use his winning to get him a card. When Big scams him he steals a bag of drugs and flees ending up in Kowloon the walled city.  Finding a home in the dark corridors and watched ober by Cyclone (Louis Koo)  he plans on staying. However Hong Kong wants to tear Kowloon down, Lok's hidden past comes to light and bad guys want to use both to their advantage to take over the walled city.

There is way more to the story but that’s enough to get you going. The only other thing you need to know is that the film is filled with bone crushing action. From start to finish heads are being broken in some of the most amazing ways. Sure it’s all classic Hong Kong wire work, but it’s spectacular and makes you sit up and take notice.

The reason that the film works so well is that the film largely focuses on the characters. We have real people fighting to stay alive and forming  friendships based on mutual respect. As Nate Hood said to me after the film the character relationships are such that you want to see the them and life in the walled city more than the fights. (Could someone make a compelling film like this one minus the fights?)

I had a blast going along with Lok however I wish there was one thing I wish they could have done away with and that Mr Big's second in command, King (Philip Ng) is literally unkillable. King has an out of left field spiritual shield that makes him invincible. While it kind of fits with the fact that everyone gets the snot beaten out of them and still survives, the whole thing that King can’t be hurt is brought in so late into the film that it feels out of place. It feels like a cheat brought in so King could stand up to the heroes.  While I’m guessing it made more sense in the source comic, in the film it feels out of place and over the top, which is not something you want to hear in a film already over the top with it’s violence.

Quibble aside TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS is a spectacular action film and very highly recommended.

TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS plays Fantasia August 1 and opens August 9 in the US