jrp-1 Reviews

Left for Dead (II) (2005)

Amazing effort...

[8/10 · 25 February 2006]

I've seen my fair share of high and low-budget martial-arts films. Hundreds in fact. Hell, I love them so much that I have written countless reviews and help moderate one of the biggest forums on the net: kung fu fandom. Left for Dead grabbed me from the get-go.

I finished Left for Dead only a few short hours ago and I had to share my thoughts on this UK indie gem. It wasn't what I expected; it turned out a lot better, in fact. I thought this was gonna be another USA type indie film which is usually a Hollywood action film with bad acting and lots of needless, badly performed drama between action scenes. But Modern Life? has surpassed my expectations and that of the industry. I love the fact that they created their own world inside the film, i.e. Hope City, Metro City. The comic book feel does wonders for the film, and they use the freedom of this sub-genre very well.

The pacing is really good too. There is nothing I hate more than drama bogging down a good action film. There are some pretty iffy wife flashbacks of Glenn Salvage, and that was as much as I could take! Believe me, the combined running time of the opening and ending fights far surpass that of most films in the genre.

I'm not sure whether the film was shot in sequence but you'll notice how the fights just keep getting more exciting by the minute! The choreography in the chaotic end fight was a lot better than the rest of the film…or was the best simply kept for last? I can already see myself returning to the end sequences on a regular basis. Of course, good fighting consists of more than having a few good moves, and I think Glenn Salvage and Andy Prior looked a lot more determined at the end, and the action seemed a bit tighter – it works out very well when it comes together. The over-the-top death scenes were a great touch, and fit into this twisted world very well. And who can look down on a film featuring not only guns and fists, but Japanese katanas too? Watch out for the brief fight between Glenn Salvage and a blond swordswoman, very impressive.

Granted a lot of the acting was horrible, but the dialogue was more than just filler. There is a speech Kincaid gives his henchmen Dylon and Taylor for instance, about the Nazis, and it works surprisingly well. Yes, the film has its fair share of rough spots in the dialogue and acting department, but you wouldn't believe how good it looks considering the budget and DV equipment origins.

Some trivia: I saw Andy Prior was reading Bey Logan's (UK author and martial artist) book Hong Kong Action Cinema in Glenn's apartment. Some influences might be Highlander (sword scraping on the roof), The Matrix and Kiss of the Dragon. But mostly the action is so energetic that I could care less about where the ideas came from.

At the very least this film is a guilty pleasure. A lot of its success lies in the fact that it doesn't try to be realistic. The creators' imaginations ran wild and in the end I have to applaud the cast and crew.

The Stick (1988)

A doomed mission

[9/10 · 5 July 2004]

Darrell Roodt takes the viewer through a surreal journey as we see how a group of men lose their sanity. The Angola war was a sensitive subject at the time and this film was not welcomed by the government of 1988. The film is often described as being anti-war, but that is up to the viewer since the film only shows humanity at its worst in fact. The characters in the film don't really seem to change much, but more of them are revealed as they suffer more. Some snap, some panic, the film shows it all and I guess you can call it an anti-war film if you feel people aren't capable of acting responsibly when put under this kind of pressure. The direction is solid and the script seems realistic. Well worth a watch and certainly one of Darrell's best films.

Tenth of a Second (1987)

While flying through the air?

[7/10 · 4 July 2004]

Made in the bad old days of South Africa, it tells of an English school teacher cum apartheid fighter who tries to understand his country amidst his own wasted personal life. The film isn't propaganda to be sure, even though it clearly has political motivations. The teacher only wants to fight with the pen and failing to follow through with a bad situation he lets a few innocents die. The narrative revolves around the teacher's thoughts on people and politics and the plot merely serves to set up scenes where he can, well, think some more. The film uses camera movement sparingly and the dialogue is realistic as is the film honest. A very good SA film from a great director.

Legend of the Wolf (1997)

Very good...

[9/10 · 28 April 2004]

Legend of the Wolf is amazing. Donnie Yen made what is one of the best martial arts films from the 90's. Visually the film has a great colour-scheme (green/yellow, very saturated). The photography doesn't look low-budget at all, and there's a nice village and forest where the film takes place. The action is surreal and brutal. You must lose yourself in the mayhem to fully appreciate the action scenes. The story is simple and very direct. The narrative has a story-book feel to it. The music is quite brilliant too -- at times it forces certain emotional responses from you and other times it's simply haunting or furious. Do not miss this film, it's art.

Mutiny at Fort Sharpe (1966)

Classic Western tale

[5/10 · 4 February 2003]

The film may be Italian, but it's not a Spaghetti Western. It's more like an American western of the time. The acting and script isn't too bad. Basically we have a couple of soldiers in a fort who have to fend off the vicious Native Americans.