Is there a name for the subgenre of Asian action movies where a team of badasses goes into a brutal fight against terrible odds that takes up most of the movie? I’m thinking about 13 Assassins and now this.
“Brutal fight against terrible odds” isn’t unique to Asia, by any stretch. That phrase could describe about a million Westerns, for one thing.
Finally saw this after reading all these opinions.
Really enjoyed it…love the action, grew up on martial arts films. Enjoyed the music. That long extended fight between the brothers and the little guy…after it was over, my wife said she was exhausted watching that.
My wife enjoyed it, very surprised.
Overall, a fun movie to watch…a lot more fun than most Hollywood big budget flicks.
This. Was. Awesome.
I’d heard it was really gory, but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t: it’s just fucking brutal. It’s what I imagine real fights to the death are like; totally improvised brutality. The hallway fight where our hero takes out like 20 dudes with his police baton and a combat knife was just fucking intense.
I don’t watch a lot of martial arts movies, but there’s a quality to this one I love; the actual hits feel really solid. Other Japanese or Chinese movies I’ve seen have hit dudes snapping their heads around in these cute little ‘oofs’, where this movie is like “knee, meet chest” and the whole guy flies back a half foot. I really felt the impact of this fighting. It was awesome.
Finally fired this up but was totally bored by it and turned it off halfway through. Sure, great fights. But there’s just nothing interesting going on–no plot, no characters, and no reason for me to care who wins any particular fight.
Gareth Evans posted this short film:
In a time of civil war, a young warrior is given the task of delivering a treaty between two rival lords. During her journey through the woods however, she finds herself hunted by two assassins intent on intercepting her message of peace in a bid to maintain the fear, instability and violent rule of their leader.
Finally fired this up but was totally bored by it and turned it off halfway through. Sure, great fights. But there’s just nothing interesting going on–no plot, no characters, and no reason for me to care who wins any particular fight.
Huh. I don’t want to armchair analyse, but this does seem to be pretty spectacular missing the point in terms of what the film’s trying to do and the genre it’s operating in. It has exactly enough plot to justify its action and no more, which is very much a positive in the genre. Generally, second tier martial arts films get dragged down by poorly executed plot and character stuff used to pad out the length, rather than focusing on their strengths, namely the choreography and stunts. The Raid 2, arguably, is a good example of this, in that it over-convolutes the story to the detriment of the pacing and action. Character-wise, I don’t know what you were expecting, but it’s got everything you need for something like this - the idealistic audience surrogate, the old timer the estranged family member, the corrupt boss, the vicious crime lord and his superhuman henchman. Obviously, we’re not talking Dostoevsky here, but it’s a martial arts film, and not even an arty one at that. Everything is in service of the action. cf Mad Max Fury Road, which has a pretty terrible script and paper thin characters. People still love it, because it’s all about the non-stop action.
None of this, of course, means you have to like it. But it does what it set out to do extremely well.
I need to watch this again. One of my favorite movie moments this last decade is the seconds before the big Mad Dog fight. No dialogue. Just shit is about to go down.
best use of a soundtrack ever. Completely stolen by Payday.
The hallway fight is one of my favorite fight scenes ever.
Anyway, on the subject of the short, I’d be very surprised if that got the equivalent of a PG-13 in the UK, but maybe in the US.
Nooooooooooooo whhhhhhyyyyyyyy
Oh, god, yeah, that’s kind of a bummer. I thought Gareth Evans was directing the remake. At least I won’t have to pay to see it when comes out.
This version is set in Philadelphia’s drug-infested “Badlands,” where an elite undercover DEA task force climbs a ladder of cartel informants to catch an elusive kingpin.
An action movie where the Philly PD use a lot of force on bad guys? No way that could be seen as an excessive move, historically.
Seven years behind the curve, but I would like more of that. Really nice single shots, taste of Ninja Scroll, and pretty good action, albeit with too many cuts and too much rubber sword. Looked good and could be great with 10% polish.
If this were a literal ladder, I might be down.
Money, that’s why. 😡
They have already done a sci fi version of The Raid, i.e. Dredd. Now they just have to butcher it even more with a “gritty” modern version. The Departed is an inferior version of Infernal Affairs but it won bucket load of awards. Hollywood had learned all the wrong lessons from foreign cult classic remade: productive value trumps good ideas every time, as long as it makes a pretty penny.