by Julian Wood
Worth: $16.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Xie Miao, Joe Taslim, Yang Enyou, Brian Le, Yayan Ruhian, Jija Yanin
Intro:
Imaginative and kinetic...
Genre films have their cliches, but such is the love that fans bring that these become badges of honour. In fact, the faithful would be disappointed if they didn’t see the tropes. For example, what would a film like this be without the undaunted lone martial artist taking on impossible numbers of armed henchmen? This actioner ticks a lot of the boxes. Over a relentless and exhausting nearly two hours span, it features dozens of huge set piece fights and breathtaking stunt work. It is no surprise to find that Director Kenji Tanigaki is a veteran stuntie himself.
The plot can be kept to a minimum as all that really matters is that the hero is goaded into going up against impossible odds. We start with Miao (Xie Miao). He is a humble carpenter who loves his little daughter. For some reason, Maio is mute, but he lets his furious fists do the talking. When his daughter is taken by a child-trafficking gang, his unstoppable John Wick-like rage is activated. Really, Miao couldn’t be more pissed off if they had stolen his dog. Along the way, he bumps into investigative journalist Navin (Joe Taslim), who just happens to be an equally unkillable fighting machine. That was lucky because the two of them have to spend an hour or so fighting teeming hordes of bad guys.
Some of this is laid out Oldboy-style as a kind of left to right tableau in which the heroes hack and chop their way across the screen swimming against a tide of fighters. The filming is imaginative and the kinetic mise en scene and the varied camera angles and close ups of damage done are visceral and engaging. The overall setting is gritty, with a dark sepia palette which adds to the atmosphere without becoming too murky to follow.
The film also has some fun with the heroes’ Jackie Chan-inspired resourceful use of whatever is at hand. This includes one memorable sequence where they end up using push bikes as weapons. Today’s push bike users take note. The fact that the film doesn’t take itself too seriously, but still manages to keep up the balletic and, yes, furious pace is also in its favour.
