MOVIE REVIEW | John Wick (2014)

“People keep asking if I’m back and I haven’t really had an answer. But yeah, I’m thinking I’m back.”

A dumb action movie.  A dumb action movie starring Keanu reeves.  A dumb action movie, starring Keanu Reeves, written and directed by his stunt double from The Matrix series.  It’s like the makers of John Wick were going out of their way to make me not want to see their movie.  But then, people whose opinion I trust kept talking about John Wick and how great it was.  Then I realised, when I do watch dumb action movies, I often like them.  And Keanu Reeves may have made some shit bombs, but he’s made good stuff too.  So it was time for me to stop looking down my nose at this dumb action movie, starring Keanu Reeves, written and directed by his stunt double from The Matrix series, and just see John Wick already.

The titular Wick (Reeves) has just lost his wife to some variety of sickness.  Alone in his misery, he receives one last gift that she arranged before her death, a puppy.  One day, his fully sick muscle car attracts the attention of a young Russian gangster, Iosef (Alphie Allen).  When Wick refuses to sell the car, Iosef and his goons break into Wick’s house, kick his ass, kill his dog and take the car.  But as Iosef and the audience soon learn, John Wick isn’t a man to be messed with.  He’s a former hitman so proficient with his trade that he once killed three men with a pencil.

***2014 RECAP*** MOVIE REVIEW | The Raid 2 (2014)

“You apologize to them in their languages, in our land. Where is your honor!?”

When The Raid: Redemption came out, it took me three years of hearing constant praise from every critic I heard talk about it, before I actually saw it. I immediately regretted dragging my feet, because it proved to be the greatest martial arts movie I’ve ever seen. Granted, I haven’t seen all that many, but The Raid: Redemption is head and shoulders above the rest. When The Raid 2 came out earlier this year, I was excited, but once again dragged my feet in watching. But this time, for a different reason.

This time, I hesitated because I didn’t want to waste the impact, the thrill of seeing The Raid 2 for the first time. I got anxious, knowing it’s one of those movies where the first viewing would undeniably be the best viewing. But today, I finally felt like the time was right, and I watched The Raid 2.

MOVIE REVIEW | The Raid 2 (2014)

“You apologize to them in their languages, in our land. Where is your honor!?”

When The Raid: Redemption came out, it took me three years of hearing constant praise from every critic I heard talk about it, before I actually saw it. I immediately regretted dragging my feet, because it proved to be the greatest martial arts movie I’ve ever seen. Granted, I haven’t seen all that many, but The Raid: Redemption is head and shoulders above the rest. When The Raid 2 came out earlier this year, I was excited, but once again dragged my feet in watching. But this time, for a different reason.

This time, I hesitated because I didn’t want to waste the impact, the thrill of seeing The Raid 2 for the first time. I got anxious, knowing it’s one of those movies where the first viewing would undeniably be the best viewing. But today, I finally felt like the time was right, and I watched The Raid 2.

MOVIE REVIEW | The Raid: Redemption (2011)

I don’t really go in for action or fight movies.  I got my fill of martial arts stuff with a brief Van Damme obsession in the early 90s.  I gave a Bruce Lee a classic a go and respected it without really loving it.  All of that is to say that it takes a lot buzz and critical hype for me to take notice of anything too action or fight based.  And in the case of The Raid Redemption, it took several years of relentless buzz and critical hype, plus the recent release of its sequel, before I finally caved in.  Now, as I sit here with my mind still smouldering, all I can wonder is, why didn’t I just believe everyone and watch this years ago?

Rama (Iko Uwais), a rookie Jarkarta cop, gets ready for work and kisses his heavily pregnant wife goodbye after promising her that he’ll stay safe at work that day.  So of course, he has an uneventful, boring day, before returning home to her.  Oh wait, sorry, this is an action movie, so of course this clunky, clichéd introduction to the character of Rama means he’s about to have the worst day in the history of Indonesian policemen.  Thankfully, that’s the only real misstep The Raid: Redemption takes, and the following 90 minutes or so is balls out amazing.

Under the direction of the squad leader Sergeant Jaka (Joe Tslim), and shifty looking Lieutenant Wahyu (Pierre Gruno), a squad of cops, including Rama, plan to seize a   high rise slum, controlled by local crime boss Tama (Ray Sahetapy).  Because Tama rents his building out almost exclusively to Jakarta criminals looking for a place to lay low, it’s literally full of the city’s most violent and ruthless criminals.  What starts as an efficient raid as the police make their way floor by floor  toward their goal, quickly turns into a slaughter when they realise just how outnumbered and outgunned they are, and look for ways to escape.

The Raid: Redemption was made on a tiny budget and that’s its greatest strength.  With no money for lazy CGI effects and fakery, director and writer Gareth Evans puts all his faith in the ability of his cast, and it pays off amazingly.  The practical stunt work and fight scenes are like nothing I’ve ever seen before.  These dudes are blindingly quick and pinpoint precise, but even then, it’s baffling to think that these scenes were thought up by someone, choreographed, rehearsed and filmed.  Everything is so fast and visceral that it feels like the cameramen were just lucky to capture the chaos.

I’ve heard a few comments about the sequel that sound like Evans might have been given a little too much money and freedom.  I’ll still see it, but those criticisms of indulgence make me even more adamant that the limitations placed on Evans in the first movie are what makes The Raid: Redemption so amazing.  Like the malfunctioning animatronic shark that made Spielberg find different ways to scare the shit out us in Jaws, the lack of effects meant Evans was forced to give us a real movie like nothing else being made in this age of CGI.

The Rade: Redemption
Directed By – Gareth Evans
Written By – Gareth Evans

MOVIE REVIEW | Enter the Dragon (1973)

Ever seen a 70s martial arts movie?  Even if you haven’t, I bet you know exactly what to expect from this one.  I don’t think I’d ever watched one until now.  But Bruce Lee and everything about Enter the Dragon have been parodied and referenced so many times in the years since, that it’s hard to not feel like I’ve seen it all before.

After topping his class at ass kicking school, Lee (Bruce Lee) is deployed on a covert mission to infiltrate the island lair of Mr Han (Kien Shih).  He’s running drugs and running whores, and not the willing ones with hearts of gold either.  These chicks are straight up kidnapped and sold as sex slaves.  Every few years, Mr Han holds a tournament to help strengthen his ranks of henchmen.  Lee uses the tournament as an excuse to pop over, and there is much fighting.

As a bad guy, Mr Han is just a little too over the top.  In a movie that seems to have gone all out on sets and locations, the dodgy cheapness of his many fake hands is laughable.  The last one seriously looks like 4 steaks knives sticking out of a tissue box spray painted silver.  His henchman, Bolo Yeung, is legitimately threatening and would have made a much more menacing opponent for Lee’s final battle.  But I guess the film makers thought Mr Han and his chintzy fake bare claw were more impressive.

The story is paper thin and really doesn’t matter.  What does matter is, it keeps finding reasons to have dudes fight.  Mr Han as a couple of scary bodyguards and Lee gets some almost allies in Williams (Jim Kelley) and Roper (John Saxon).  As American fighters taking part in the tournament, they also get a couple of cool fight scenes each to add a little variety.

I know this is probably a dumb question, typical of someone new to the genre, but seriously, what’s the story with the sound effects?  How did they become a staple of this kind of movie? Did people back in the day think they were badass?  Because all I could think with every ‘crack’, ‘snap’ and ‘thonk’ was how ridiculous, cartoony and just dumb they were.

One thing about Enter the Dragon that does more than hold up though, is Bruce Lee’s fighting.  Watching, it became immediately clear why he’s still the most famous name associated with movie martial arts, even though he’s been dead for forty years.  His physicality, intensity and skill is just amazing.  It’s impossible not be blown away when he’s really going for it.

From what I can tell, Enter the Dragon is the epitome of this genre.  The sound effects, the slow motion fights, the constantly zooming camera, the bad over dubbing of voices, the awesome soundtrack.  This seems to be the blueprint of every rip off and piss-take I’ve ever seen.  And for all its cheesiness, I totally understand its place as genre classic.

Enter the Dragon
Directed By – Robert Clouse
Written By – Michael Allin