Hey folks, Harry here with a tidbit or two on that Martial Arts film that was shot in the U.K., which has been playing more and more into expanding its genre selection.... Let's see how successful they were. ALSO - We've got a thoroughly reseacred documentary regarding the 2nd' Iraq/U.S. war - that apparently is less of a personal pie in the Bush Administration's face, and more of a cold fist of facts. Here ya go...
Harry,
Long time..... oh you know the rest. Just call me MrOnlyJustGotOffHisArse...
Just returned from Cannes 2004 and saw couple of films that may be of interest to you guys.
The first, The Purifiers, a $2million martial arts (caught) film from the UK, directed by former film critic Richard '16 Years Of Alcohol's Jobson, and bound for release Uk wise from Working Title. The film stars Gordon Alexander, Kevin Mckid and former Fellowship member Dominic Monahan.
I call it a martial arts film, when in reality it's not. Not really. It has fights. And they use Martial Arts. But this film is to martial arts what Analyse That is to Mafia movies.
The plot could have been written on the back on a match, let alone match box. Five gangs rule the city. They are bought together by the big boss (played with despicable over the top ness by former Trainspotter Kevin McKid) an told that they must join up together. The Purifiers decide they don't want this and escape (well amble out of the door). The rest of the movie is them getting into trouble, having badly shot and edited fights, huge leaps of logic (Jamie Choo walking into an ice rink, not realising he was on ice then the lights come on and he falls over???) and well that's it. Jumps in logic transpire, and to be honest if it wasn't for the fact I was sat near Jobson I would have walked out.
And the worst crime... Every fight is in sloooowwwwww moooootiooonnnnn. Every fight. That's E V E R Y F I G H T. The fights are superbly choreographed and the talent is there (although most were better in the other UK martial arts film Left For Dead) but god damn I have never been so bored watching people beat each other up. This film is slight, the plot contrived and the action below the par of even the worst Segal film.
It's not all bad. Visually this film is great, Jobson has a good eye and his D.O.P excells. Whilst UK martial artists Cecily Fay, Oliver Hollis, Brendan Carr and Silvio Silmac get a good, if slight showing, others like Chris Jones, Shane Steyn and Chloe Bruce are wasted and should have been pushed further to the front.
But everything else is quite poor. Lead Gordon Alexander sleepwalks through the film and by the time the final fight between him and McKid comes along, I just couldn't have given any less of a toss. KcKid was heavily fight doubled, former Lord Of The Rings star Dominic Monahan looked lost and well... I could go on but you get my point.
The Second, Uncovered: The War On Iraq, was far better. Taking an honest, hard look at the reasons for war, interviewing key players, key personnel and studying the case of Joe Wilson (who was in attendance and who I had a very good chat to after).
A well made documentary by Robert Greenwood, they had JUST finished the film a day or so before Cannes. The film was riveting, and the response from the mostly US audience phenomenal. They are having problems getting a US distributor for this and I'm not surprised. The film is damming of the US and the UK, well made and leaves you wishing for more.
