MY CALL: If someone used a more serious Freddy Krueger to ambitiously reimagine Gaston Leroux’s classic… and it’s actually pretty decent. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Phantom of the Opera: Easily A Cure for Wellness (1994) is the closest match, and packing the budget to support its grandiose vision.
Far before her Saturday Night Live days and in her first role ever we find Molly Shannon (Lawnmower Man II, Scary Movie 4), who discovers a time-forgotten page of music composed by the serial killer Erik Destler in a book that looks like a cross between the Necronomicon and Hellraiser’s (1987) puzzle box. And just in case the book’s appearance wasn’t warning enough, visions of musical notes on the pages seeping blood foretell misfortune.
A lovely young Julliard singer Christine (Jill Schoelen; Curse II: The Bite, The Stepfather) sings the piece and is transported through time to London (in a similar past life), where she finds herself the fixation of The Phantom (Robert Englund; A Nightmare on Elm Street, Galaxy of Terror, Hatchet II). The Phantom is a horribly disfigured composer introduced to us as he sutures flaps of flesh over his own gaping facial wounds. It’s pretty awesomely gross.
At this point with five NOES films under his belt as Freddy, Englund breathes strong personality into The Phantom, and the make-up department followed suit accordingly. So it comes as no surprise that his reverence for his murders and impassioned charismatic flair smack of familiarity.
The latex and gore work are effective. Skinned victims, rat-eaten flesh-gnawed faces and severed heads are just the basics. But what’ll make you wince is the flesh-suturing and slimy gooey suture removal scenes with sticky skin flaps being peeled off.
Fresh on the set of his second horror film, director Dwight H. Little (Halloween 4) swings for the fences in this semi-contemporary approach to The Phantom of the Opera. Englund is hammed up to fans’ satisfaction and expectations, the special effects are splendid (budget permitting), and with all the operatic music, do I call some scenes in this a pseudo-musical? The music takes no part in the narrative, but it is (in concept) linked to the story. I’d simply call this a film much more stylistic for its era regarding its inclusion/utility of music. This film also seems especially ambitious with respect to the set design (lots of sewers and caverns, theaters and London streets) and the wardrobe. Also, watch out for Bill Nighy (Underworld, Shaun of the Dead).
This film may have been a tad over-the-top at times, but less so than Freddy’s sequels and impressive for my honestly low gorehound expectations. No, this is more seriously approached and produced than I had imagined. I’m maybe a bit impressed. I thought I was wandering into hokey B-movie territory, when really this is more in the B+ zone.
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The MFF podcast is back, and this week we’re talking about the 1993 cult classic So I Married an Axe Murderer. The Mike Myer’s starrring movie underperformed at the box office, but has since built a loyal audience who quote the movie frequently (Heed! Pants! Now!) and love extremely large cappuccinos. In this podcast, you will hear us talk about Froot Loops, Scottish accents and cinematographers who never walk. If you are a fan of So I Married an Axe Murderer, you will love this episode.
I want this cappuccino.
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the pod!
You can download the pod on Itunes, Stitcher, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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MY CALL: After a worrisome slow start, this developed into the kind of B-movie that I not only enjoy, but that I love. This is the “B+” movie I want to own and add to my well-curated collection of giant killer boar movies. Come for Nathan Jones, stay for the giant animals brutally turning on man and the excellent creature effects. MORE MOVIES LIKE Boar: For more giant killer boar films, try Razorback (1984), Pig Hunt (2008) and, Chaw (2009, aka Chawu). For more Australian horror, try Razorback (1984), Wolf Creek (2005), The Howling III: Marsupials (1987), Dark Age (1987), Rogue (2007), Black Water (2007), Wyrmwood (2014), Charlie’s Farm (2014) and Cargo (2017).
I’ve been waiting to see this for almost two years and, in fact, it was the release of the first teasers of this film that provoked me to revisit Razorback (1984), Pig Hunt (2008) and Chaw (2009) as an amuse-bouche for my recent taste for killer boar cinema.
Bruce (Bill Moseley; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, House of 1000 Corpses, Texas Chainsaw 3-D, The Blob, Smothered), Debbie (Simone Buchanan; Patrick) and family head out to Debbie’s family farm in the Australian countryside where they meet her gentle giant brother Bernie (Nathan Jones; Charlie’s Farm, Troy, Mad Max: Fury Road). Shortly after their family vacation begins, they come to realize they are sharing the outback with a man-eating monster. That’s basically the movie.
Right away this feels like a moderately-budgeted B-movie, and I was more than a bit worried. The early gore gags are grimy and mean (e.g., the razor wire tangle), but certainly could have been more graphic for my taste. But the moment we first see the non-CGI boar’s slobber-soaked gnarly mouth, blood-stained tusks and jagged teeth, I was awash with a sense of comfort that this wasn’t a mistake.
The death scene “action” is sort of simple, but also sort of wild in execution. There’s enough sloshy splish-splashing of blood and, for all its hokiness, it tries really hard and I appreciated that. Rounding out the special effects are mangled flesh-eaten corpses (complete with rended-flesh nudity and torn-off faces) getting plenty of screen time. They look great and boast a diversity of make-ups and horrid injuries. We also see the beast worrying a dead body with its limbs gangling about on more than one occasion and it is delightful.
This tusked beast is covered with open wounds as if it were a zombie and I love the practical creature effects as it goads and roars at its victims. It’s funny how this boar, which looks great by the way, looks just like the giant killer boar from Pig Hunt (2008) because of the massive facial lacerations and the dead white eye.
Director Chris Sun (Charlie’s Farm, Daddy’s Little Girl, Come and Get Me) reached deep into a line-up of Aussie actors for this. Watch out for the feisty old bogan Ken (John Jarratt; Wolf Creek 1-3, Rogue) and his crotchety beer buddy Blue (Roger Ward; Mad Max, Turkey Shoot), Steve Bisley (Mad Max), and Madeleine Kennedy (Charlie’s Farm) as a promiscuous camping victim. Ken is an unsung hero, taking every opportunity to challenge the boar. But Bernie (Nathan Jones)—well, let’s just say that I seldom smile as big as I did when I saw Nathan Jones emphatically singing along to Ice Ice Baby. But, oh, it gets better…
When the snarling giant rabid Hell-Muppet is completely in-frame in non-action shots it’s fully animatronic—which is so cool. When it’s in-frame and getting shot up, it’s ScyFy movie-of-the-week CGI. But it’s awesome anyway. I really don’t care because I like the way it moves, jerks, snaps its jaws and reacts.
As we get deeper into the film, the action progresses. We finally see an on-screen kill. Despite being cheap CGI, it was handled well enough and I joyfully cackled at the violent thrashing of the body. Yes it’s fun and feisty… and it’s stupid. Somehow, in broad daylight and out in the open meadows, a full throttle charging two-ton boar “sneaks” up on several victims as if the ground wouldn’t be pounding under its massive frame and as if no one would notice something the size of a van plowing across the plains at them. This thing teleports like Jason Takes Manhattan (1989).
But once I saw Nathan Jones fighting a boar ten times his already huge size with a knife and his fists—all flaws are given. Even after he was nearly gored to death, he continued to taunt the boar like it was some barfight or Monday Night RAW. I was SCREAMING at the screen rooting for him even when it was clearly futile. I’m pretty sure I love this movie. And it’s great that Nathan Jones got to play a good guy!
After a worrisome slow start, this developed into the kind of B-movie that I not only enjoy, but that I love. This is the “B+” movie I want to own and add to my well-curated collection of giant killer boar movies. Whether you love Nathan Jones or giant animals brutally turning on man, this is probably for you.
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MY CALL: After a terrible hour, this managed to turn into something I actually enjoyed. The gore and creature effects are great, even if limited to the last 20 minutes. MORE MOVIES LIKE Pig Hunt: For more (and considerably better) killer pig films, try Razorback (1984), Chaw (2009, aka Chawu) and the upcoming Australian film Boar (2017).
Opening scenes in horror movies are significant. We may not get into major reveals of our monster’s appearance or nature, but we often get glimpses of its capabilities or motives. And if the “I’ll be right back” red-shirt and his intestines are the paint, then the screen is our canvas. Based on the first few minutes of Pig Hunt, I’m immediately disappointed with my movie decision this evening. We see neither claw nor tusk nor tooth nor silhouette of our monster, and not one laceration of any sort is presented. Just someone screaming as something presumably horribly happens to him off-screen until he eventually silences and blood flows into frame. Yes, we know it was a giant boar because we read the movie title; and yes, we know this movie is probably gonna’ suck now.
BUT… for those patient viewers among you, this B-movie will indeed eventually pay-off in the end.
Heading out on a hunting retreat, John (Travis Aaron Wade; Living Among Us, Supernatural) takes his girlfriend (Tina Huang; Arrow) and his buddies to his newly inherited family cabin. They get directions from some strange folks at a gas station who warn them of The Ripper, a 3000-pound boar that wanders the woods. Sounds legit.
The writing is every bit as terrible as off-the-street-amateur acting, and both the editing and camera work are wretched. Director James Isaac (The Horror Show, Skinwalkers, Jason X) really hits below his weight class here. Knowing his other work, I am forced to wonder how this movie was so phoned-in compared to Jason X (2001)—and say what you want about that movie, but it was REALLY fun to watch and it knew exactly what it was. And while Pig Hunt will eventually wander into entertaining territory, it’s not until after we’ve wandered the boring woods for about 75-80 minutes! BUT… again, this movie will “eventually” pay-off.
The first 60 minutes feel like a porn screenplay got adapted into a super-low budget horror. The special effects department must have called in sick because the gore was generally absent for the first two acts. Our first two deaths are 100% off-screen and when we see a severed horse head it is completely uninspired. For those who care, there’s some dude-butt, hippie Xena Warrior Princess cultists living in a van, and a lot of toxic masculinity.
Eventually there’s a really brutal bone-protruding leg break and a boar is sloppily-gorily gutted, giving us some minor sense of hope that this DVD isn’t going to turn into a coaster or a frisbee in the near future. But it’s not until the second half of the final act that we come across reasons to actually support this film.
A half-dead chomped-alive dude is missing chunks from his arms and legs, and it is deliciously bloody. In these final 15-20 minutes, we FINALLY see our giant boar monster and, you know what, it’s awesome! I loved the practical effects. Its snotty skin covered in sparse thick hairs and horrible gashes; its big dead white eye wanders and blinks; its big animatronic mouth is littered with crooked chipped nightmare teeth… it’s a Hellbeast for sure. The thick opaque snot on this thing is unreal! Where has this thing been all movie!?!?!
How you know you’re watching a bad movie…
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There’s this one sex scene that’s a little too raunchy, suspiciously over-written, and lasts a little too long despite the lack of nudity… I felt dirty.
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Flower-power boar-worshiping cultists with sickles and kukris that farm marijuana and look like a group of porn stars took up LARPing.
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If the biggest boars in the area are 350 lbs and this one is 3000 lbs, isn’t that a bit extreme?
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Gnarly-toothed, coke-snorting rednecks cracking a racist joke referring to a scantily clad Tina Huang as “takeout.”
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A vengeful family of rednecks led by a pappy priest in overalls.
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Lots of boobs in hot springs. Lots of them!
I spent an hour making the best of this weak flick until everything thankfully came to gory fruition in the end. I bought this blind and, against all odds, I do not regret it. My recent obsession with giant killer boar films did not lead me astray. Now on to the Australian movie Boar (2017)!
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MY CALL: Seasons 1-3 were spectacular. Season 4 certainly has its share of impressive moments and remains a favorite and high-quality series—but it just doesn’t measure up to the previous seasons in my opinion. If you enjoy thoughtful cautionary morality tales, social commentary and science fiction, then this should be your favorite show ever. MORE SCI-FI ANTHOLOGIES: The Twilight Zone (1959-1964, 1985-1989, 2002-2003, 2019), The Outer Limits (1963-1965, 1995-2002), Amazing Stories (1985-1987), Oats Studios, Vol. 1 (2017), Electric Dreams (2017-2018) and Love, Death & Robots (2019). Also check out Dust on YouTube!
I’m a big fan of Black Mirror (2011-17; 4 seasons), an anthology series which focuses its allegory on our potential trajectories misusing, overusing, or addicting to technology and/or social media and the stories all seem take place somewhere in the near to distant future, once such technologies have developed beyond their present-day capabilities.
But most interesting is that some episodes feel more like thrillers (on the verge of horror-ish), deep science fiction (USS Callister), more dramatic (The Waldo Moment), crime thriller (Crocodile), action (Metalhead), romantic (San Junipero), and still others are almost like dramedies (e.g., Nosedive). So, whereas some cling to their science fictionality, others embrace sci-fi elements as simply a backdrop (or a “given”) in their films.
I’ll be the first to admit that the quality of the episodes can vary quite a bit, but each season still has its great segments/episodes. Season 3’s Nosedive was among the best of the entire series, with Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, The Village) starring in this social commentary on tracking rankings/ratings of everything—even individuals. Likewise, Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina, Dredd, Star Wars: The Last Jedi) shifted our sentiments from hope to harrowing in Season 2’s Be Right Back, which was about reconfiguring one’s consciousness from the sum of their electronic correspondence… and then the “next step.” San Junipero and White Christmas definitely share a powerful fanfare as well. These “episodes” were outstanding films all on their own.
Season 4 boasts a 6 episodes—compared to Season 1 with 3 episodes, Season 2 with 4, and Season 3 with 6. For me, the standout episode was the very first: USS Callister.
Wow, I adored USS Callister (director Toby Haynes; Doctor Who, Sherlock, Being Human) so much. Kind of twisted yet occasionally light-hearted and loaded with veeeery Trekkie-esque fun. The story is about the psychological tyranny of a starship captain (Jesse Plemons; Battleship, Paul, Fargo) and it will remind you of the little boy that always got his way in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983). Among the crewman, Jimmi Simpson (Westworld, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Stay Alive) provides some of the comic relief, but everyone gets their moment to shine.
Still pleasant, but not even in the same league was the likewise lighter-hearted Hang the DJ—lightER for Black Mirror at least—which issues commentary on our young dating app-driven society.
Getting more emotionally heavy is Arkangel (directed by Jodie Foster). “Mother will protect you” is the morally over-reaching cautionary aspect of this segment. The theme here is protection versus invasiveness between a mother (Rosemarie DeWitt; Poltergeist) and daughter. This started out so interesting—addressing issues of privacy and surveillance between parent and child—then fizzled to an intriguing yet sluggish pace. Still emotionally powerful, I found myself questioning the limits of what is okay and when to let go.
Outside of delivering the typical allegory on where a certain technology may lead us and how we’ll respond to it, Crocodile packed little punch for me (in the context of the Black Mirror series). Well-acted, but more vague in its intentions compared to the other rich episodes. This completely lacked any clear moral compass. On its own it’s a great (and intense) short film with solid allegory and wonderfully clever allusions in the title. But our murderous perp never learned any lesson outside of the commonality that we should be good and honest and moral people. She behaved like a sociopath with little reflection outside of her aversion to getting caught. Again, it just left me with an empty feeling. But… perhaps that was the goal.
Metalhead was an odd killer robot film with an odd (if not obscured) message of morality. Good film… but wouldn’t have expected to find this in a Black Mirror season—but more likely Dust on YouTube. The filmmaking and writing are near Black Mirror S1-3’s “quality,” but the style is not what we’ve come to love in the series. This is more… mean. Almost mean like S1E1 (i.e., pig-banging prime minister).
And remaining askew of my expectations in style, I feel like a few “okay” ideas too minor to develop into an entire film resulted in Black Museum, an abbreviated anthology film in itself. Cool in concept, poor in execution, but not a good way to close a season in my opinion.
Overall, I feel that with each passing season, Black Mirror drops a bit in quality. But even with such criticism, I continue to love this series and the notions it chooses to explore. Very much looking forward to Season 5 (June 2019).
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The MFF podcast is back, and this week we’re talking about Judge Dredd (1995) and Dredd (2012). These two movies about the same character couldn’t be more different, and we love that. Both movies had behind the scenes issues, and the end results were either fantastic or uneven (guess which is which). However, they are both entertaining in their own way and if they were combined, would make for a fun Dredd movie. In this podcast, you will hear us talk about flying cars, Armand Assante’s line delivery, and the training regime of rookie Judges. If you are a fan of Dredd, you will love this episode.
Karl Urban’s chin does some great work in Dredd.
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the pod!
You can download the pod on Itunes, Stitcher, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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The Perfection is a fun horror movie that goes for broke with its gore and twists that are simultaneously unpredictable and predictable (trust me). Director/writer Richard Shepard (Girls, The Matador – watch it now, it’s fun) recruited Allison Williams (Get Out), whom he directed in HBO’s Girls, and together they went for broke, and made a film that is getting lots of buzz for making people vomit. What I like most about The Perfection is how you never really care about where it’s going, because the journey is so bonkers. Writers Nicole Snyder and Eric C. Charmelo (both have written episodes for Supernatural and Ringer), should be appaluded for devsing this weird story, and juggling twists-and-turns featuring femme fatales, sex, vomit, flashbacks and horrible bus rides.
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The Perfection tells the story of a cellist named Charlotte Willmore (Allison Williams) traveling to Shaghai to reunite with her former teachers. While in Shanghai, she is asked to help judge a competition that will award a young cellist with a scholarship to a prestigious music school in Boston, that is owned by Charlotte’s former teacher Anton (Stephen Webber). While at the competition she meets Lizzie (Logan Browning), the schools latest rockstar. The two hit it off, and after a wild night, decide to take a trip across China together. What follows leads to some gnarly and trashy places that you will either love or hate.
The Perfection knows exactly what it is (a trashy horror film) and it has fun being what it is. The performances by Allison Williams and Logan Browning are excellent, and I admire how they seemed down for whatever Richard Shepard came up with. Normally, I’d go into spoiler territory, but since I knew nothing about the movie beforehand, I recommend you do the same. Don’t cheat yourself out of a roller-coaster of a film because a twist was spoiled.
If you are a fan of fun horror films that might be smarter than they let on, I totally recommend you watch The Perfection.
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MY CALL: A terrible yet terribly amusing B-movie that has nothing at all directly to do with Dungeons & Dragons despite its misleading title. MOVIES LIKE The Dungeonmaster: Do you like this 80s fantasy badness? How about Flash Gordon (1980), Sorceress (1982), Thor the Conqueror (1983), Krull (1983), Conquest (1983), Deathstalker (1983), The Devil’s Sword (1984), The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984), Barbarian Queen (1985), Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans (1987) and Kull the Conqueror (1997). Like all the 80s fantasy but don’t care for all the “bad”? Then perhaps aim for Legend (1985), Beastmaster (1982), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Conan the Destroyer (1984) or Willow (1988).
This “allegedly” PG-13 film (according to my DVD box set anyway) features some ample full-frontal nudity in just the first few minutes! I’ll bet some preteens in the early 80s got one Hell of a pleasant surprise with that! I’m reminded of the classic Of Unknown Origin (1983), which opened with a breasty Shannon Tweed shower scene after not even one full minute (i.e., 0:00:59) of running time.
Our lucky dreamer Paul (Jeffrey Byron) is about to bed his very naked dream girl (Gina Calabrese; Vicious Lips) when a gang of zombie orcs drag her away. FYI, this has absolutely nothing to do with the plot—just a raunchy dream sequence for the sake of a raunchy dream sequence. Upon awakening from this fantasy, we find Paul is a computer programmer phenom living with his sultry dancer girlfriend Gwen (Leslie Wing; The Frighteners, Strangeland) who is a tad jealous of his relationship with his talking computer CAL.
Seeking a worthy opponent, the evil wizard Mestema (Richard Moll; House, Evilspeak, The Sword and the Sorcerer) pulls Paul into fantasy-land and holds Gwen hostage until Paul completes seven challenges of sorcery against technology. This quasi-anthology film actually features seven different directors (for the seven challenges) who all went on to great success in B-movies. It’s a shame there is no real success to be found here.
Rosemarie Turko (Scarred) directs the segment “Ice Gallery”, in which we find lackluster historical figures brought to life. A ghoulie king sends his undead minions to attack Paul in John Carl Buechler’s (Cellar Dweller, Friday the 13th Part VII, Ghoulies go to College) segment “Demons of the Dead.” Paul thwarts the demons using his computer as a laser-shooting Nintendo Power Glove, which he’d then use to disintegrate a hair band in Charles Band’s (Parasite, Doctor Mordrid, Hideous!, Meridian, Puppet Master: The Legacy) segment “Heavy Metal.”
Speaking generally, the effects suck. But honestly, the special effects weren’t all that bad for 1984… well, for a 1984 B-movie. But the action was laughably terrible. The writing, however, is deplorable. Everything is very brief, with even the action fleeting. Just snippets really; ideas of scenes realized on-screen for a few moments… like the laser fight with the stop-motion giant in David Allen’s (Puppet Master II, and the visuals for The Howling, The Stuff, Ghoulies II, Subspecies, Puppet Master 1-5) segment “Stone Canyon Giant.” Although Steven Ford’s (actor in Starship Troopers, Contact) segment “Slasher” was surprisingly developed compared to the other shorts in terms of story, it was among the worst in terms of action/horror execution.
Then Paul basically engages in a laser-crystal snowball fight with a goblin in Peter Manoogian’s (Seed People, Arena, Demonic Toys) segment “Cave Beast.” And yes, the 4’ tall goblin is the “cave beast.” Yawn. And in Ted Nicolaou’s (Subspecies 1-4) segment “Desert Pursuit” Paul and Gwen have a soapbox derby a Mad Max-ian apocalypse.
Before we resolve the seven challenges with the wizard, can we just bring to question that I have no idea where our evil wizard came from, or why we call him dungeon master in the title. Apparently the rise of Dungeons & Dragons superseded any sense of inclusion in the script.
So what makes this a bad movie? Here are a few clues:
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Full frontal nudity in the very first scene. Like, LOTS of bushy nudity. #MPAAratingFAIL
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An evil wizard who gets handsy with Gwen. But, I guess if you saw her “classy” dance rehearsal, you might not be so surprised.
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Clumsy zombie orcs. Zombies or orcs make good wizard minions. But why zombie orcs? #OrcFAIL
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Artificial intelligence so advanced it’s silly. Paul was hitting buttons while out for a job to control traffic lights… which weren’t even connected to any main computer hub in the 80s! CAL also does research exactly as you’d ask SIRI today… but before the internet existed! So where is CAL culling all this data…? Sounds like sorcery to me. Perhaps Paul had this wizard duel coming.
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Laser fights with stone giants. I mean, if you’re going to go to the trouble to animate a 20’ tall stop-motion stone giant, then why would you make his big move a gemstone laserbeam? #GiantFAIL
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Ghoulie kings. Who doesn’t like Ghoulies (1985)?
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Under-utilized ice werewolves. For real, there’s a frozen werewolf that subsequently is animated, and all it basically does is turn its head toward Gwen. Menacing!!!!
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An evil heavy metal band. Because all heavy metal was evil in the 80s… and 90s.
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A cartoon battle between two dragons… that was complete crap compared to the flying Manticore battling a wizard’s face in Sorceress (1982).
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Offering Paul a pile of gold and a threesome in exchange for Gwen. Joke’s on you Mestema! He threw away those dreams when he chose that sultry dancer!
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Heavy use of dwarves. And this isn’t a joke. Dwarves are used as a novelty as if they’re funny in many of the segments. It’s juts crass.
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Futuristic apocalypse vehicles represented by wooden panel-bottomed go-karts. You actually see the wooden bottom when one of them flips over. LOL
Well, that’s it. That’s the movie… if we’re calling it a “movie.” It measures up more closely to a “scene salad” of haphazardly realized ideas with a gropy arcanist and some boobs. Horrible movie, but truth be told, kind of fun anyway.
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The MFF podcast is back, and this week we’re talking about the incredibly obscure 1993 horror film Ticks. If you are a fan of squishy sound effects, deadly arachnids and practical special effects you will love this episode. In this episode, you will hear us talk about evil marijuana dealers, giant bugs, and the effects of steroids on ticks. We had a great time talking about this movie because it’s an unknown gem that is light on story, but heavy on juicy practical monsters created by legends Greg Nicotero, Robert Kurtzman and Howard Berger.
The poster is legit.
If you are a fan of the podcast make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening and hope you enjoy the pod!
You can download the pod on Itunes, Stitcher, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
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Triple Threat (2019), this is The Expendables (2010) of Asian martial arts movie stars.
MY CALL: The Expendables (2010) brought our favorite action stars together on one screen. And like The Expendables (2010), this movie was a precious experience but the cast was far better than the content. MOVIES LIKE Triple Threat: For truly great Asian martial arts and/or gritty hard-R crime action, aim for Hard-Boiled (1992), Ong-Bak (2003), The Protector (2005), Undisputed 2 (2006), Blood and Bone (2009), The Raid: Redemption (2011) , The Raid 2 (2014), Kill Zone 2 (2015) and The Night Comes for Us (2018); followed by Kill Zone (2005), Chocolate (2009), Skin Trade (2014), Boyka: Undisputed IV (2016) and Paradox (2017; aka Sha Po Lang 3).
When a wealthy heiress Xiao Xian (Celina Jade; Wolf Warrior 2, Skin Trade, Arrow, The Man with the Iron Fists) is marked for death, a team of mercenaries band together to combat the assassins out to kill her. The bad guy assassins include Deveraux (Michael Jai White; Skin Trade, Blood and Bone, Undisputed 2, Accident Man), Mook (JeeJa Yanin; The Protector 2, The Kick, Raging Phoenix, Chocolate), Collins (Scott Adkins; Boyka: Undisputed IV, Doctor Strange, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, The Expendables 2, Universal Solder: Day of Reckoning, El Gringo, Assassination Games, Hard Target 2) and Joey (Michael Bisping; Den of Thieves, xXx: Return of Xander Cage).
Our good guys who unite to combat the team of double-crossing mercenary assassins are Payu (Tony Jaa; Paradox: Sha Po Lang 3, Ong-Bak, The Protector, Skin Trade, Kill Zone 2, Furious 7), Long Fei (Tiger Hu Chen; Man of Tai Chi, John Wick: Chapter 3) and Jaka (Iko Uwais; The Night Comes for Us, The Raid: Redemption, Merantau, Beyond Skyline).
At this point I feel the need to pause. If the cast alone hasn’t excited you about this movie, then you definitely shouldn’t watch it. Not simply because it’s an all-star martial arts cast. But because the cast felt under-utilized.
The writing is… not good. Hahaha. Not sure what you expected. But I was not expecting numerous attempts (written in for Michael Jai White) to capture Schwarzeneggerian one-liners and Clint Eastwood-ish veteran-to-rookie comments. And like a Schwarzenegger-era action movie, there is no shortage of exaggerated characters, cigars at times when no one would be smoking cigars, and impressive pyrotechnics. Like a fiery pinata convention—set-destroying gunfights, blood-spewing exit wounds and dusty explosions abound.
Director Jesse V. Johnson (The Debt Collector, Accident Man, The Fifth Commandment) is no stranger to gritty crime films, martial arts movies or the regular use of stunt-fighter extraordinaire Scott Adkins. With a sunt-heavy resume himself, Johnson delivers exciting combat.
The action in this movie is brutal, but not to such sensationalized degree as The Night Comes for Us (2018)—in which the camera fawned over every grueling moment at the most visceral angles. Still, though, this is brutal. Even if brutality is not the focus of the shot, I will admonish that, at one point, a bad guy explodes on-screen into a gloriously gooey mess. One abruptly quick throat-cut early in the movie had me shocked and scrambling for the remote to hit rewind.
Our first real martial arts exchange is between Tony Jaa and Iko Iwais. It was very brief, but with it I found great comfort in the action photography, the (perhaps complete) lack of wirework and unchoppy editing. When we later find our mercenaries in a local Asian fighting arena making some quick cash, we get a better taste of the action-style of this film, which is highly practical and makes no superheroes of its martial artists. At times you may miss the Tasmanian Devil-like whirlwinds of somersaults, corkscrew flairs, 20-foot leaps, aerial cartwheels and jump spin 720 hook kicks. But this movie makes these men appear a more credibly outstanding. So you’ll be very entertained. You just won’t be screaming at the screen like you were when you watched The Night Comes for Us (2018), The Raid: Redemption (2011) , The Raid 2 (2014) or Kill Zone 2 (2015).
That said, there are not as many hand-to-hand fights as you were probably expecting, and they are also much shorter than you probably wanted. We do see Iwais fight Jaa, Chen, Yanin, and Jai White; and then Adkins vs Jaa, Chen/Iwais vs Jai White, and Jaa/Iwais vs Adkins. They’re all “very good” fights. But none of them spectacular. You’ll gasp and say “awesome”, but you won’t lose your mind and get up out of your seat like watching a half-court shot as the clock runs out.
This wasn’t epic… but it was very good. I recommend it, but I won’t scream for you to buy it as I would for The Night Comes for Us (2018), The Raid: Redemption (2011) or Kill Zone 2 (2015).
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