4/5
This martial arts film is the feature length directorial debut of RZA, actor, musician and former member of the hiphop legends the Wu Tang Clan. The influence of Tarantino style is stamped throughout the film. The Man with the Iron Fists (2012) is a beautiful homage, drawing elements from martial arts, Kung Fu, Westerns, superhero comics and films, fantastical elements and definitely the "Tarantino" style. It is gorgeously gratuitous, brutally and funnily violent. The fight scenes are deliciously choreographed by Corey Yuen who has a substantial credit-list of martial arts and action film choreography as well as a successful directorial and acting career.
The cinematography is generally great, although some shots are too much of a throw back to Tarantino with the poor usage of the "circling" tracking shot effect, that is a signature of Tarantino's, it was used in one scene much too fast that it felt disorienting, rather than adding to impact. Otherwise the cinematography was great, the fight scenes were shot very tight and fast paced, working excellently with the music which was created by RZA as well as featuring The Black Keys, Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, and My Chemical Romance, etc. There were some poor slow motion shots and some bad CGI moments, but other than that it was beautifully shot and edited complementing a stellar art design, costuming and weaponry designs which were amazing to say the least.
Also the choices to implement comic book style split screen shots worked well for the most part and connected well to elements in the film akin to Superhero comics and films. The acting was also great, RZA of course was good, although the choice to use voice over narrator was somewhat a clumsy technique, but worked well as a conscious filmic choice and used to comedic effect at times as well as a homage to many other films. In particular it felt reminiscent of Ghost Dog (1999) which was a Italian-American Gangster Samurai hybrid film which RZA created the soundtrack for and had a cameo in. Other notable performances were Russell Crowe, he was surprisingly good, perhaps due to the character he played. Also, Lucy Liu who played the character of Madam Blossom with great intelligence and sensuality and Byron Man as the Silver Lion gave a great comedic performance among many others.
The film is gratuitous on violence, sexual innuendo, excessive comic book style gore, that it is hilarious and laughable, but all the more enjoyable. This film reminds me a lot of Big Trouble in Little China (1986) in that it is a mixture of genre elements blatantly gratuitous, part comedy and part parody, and a lot of fun. The Man with the Iron Fists (2012) received mixed reviews, with only a 49% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but I definitely think this film has a niche audience, appealing to those who revel in martial arts films and Tarantino films, I feel it will definitely have a cult following, despite lack of success at the box office. This happened similarly to Big Trouble in Little China (1986) which was a commercial failure on release, but garnered a cult status and following when released on VHS (remember those old things?!) and continued to fuel a devoted group of fans. Iron Fists has been called "may just be one of the best bad movies ever" by Betsy Sharkey of the LA Times and the box office has seen a predominantly young male audience.
Big Trouble in Little China (1986), John Carpenter
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Jim Jarmusch
This film is a brilliant piece, visually stunning, characters are both amazing and outrageous, the music is stellar of course, and the fight scenes are unique and interesting. While the story is somewhat over-complicated and clumsy in the telling, this film is a beautiful hodge-podge of elements that form a brilliantly produced piece of entertainment. The opening credit sequence is just an amazing entry into the film and fans of the Wu-Tang Clan with definitely enjoy seeing a great fight sequence set to "Shame on a Nigga" from their classic album "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)".
One criticism I have is the use of "blood splatter" on the "camera"/ screen, as the blood looked fake and also this is a poor film technique, (which I argue breaks the 4th wall and takes you out of the experience), although perhaps this effect was a reference to comic book/ graphic novel style (as it occurred in the later parts of the film in tandem with split screen effect shots), however it was used a number of times and was ineffectual. The film is overall, just an inter-textual filmic feast and thoroughly enjoyable.
***The Rest of this review contains some SPOILERS***
Favourite elements were the fight sequences near the end, especially the use of booby traps and mirrors was great. The weapons and costume design were amazing, and cannot be overstated. The distinctive designs created for the different clans was just beautiful. Each had distinctive costume and weapon styles as well as fighting styles. Favourable mentions go to the Geminis with their amazing "Gemini" fighting move and especially the amazing hidden gun weaponry in the female Gemini's costume as well as their amazing intertwining yin and yang curved blades. Also, the cool looking wolf/ hyena clan and Jack Knife's awesome looking knife and gun weapon.
Jack Knife (Russell Crowe)
All the fight scenes were amazing and paired with great music. There were some great female warrior characters including the great Lucy Liu as Madam Blossom who does some great fighting, with a feminine but deadly touch using a bladed fan.
Madam Blossum (Lucy Liu)
Zen-Yi's character was also amazing with his specialty in use of bladed armour which had some deadly and hilarious effects.
Zen-Yi (Rick Yune)
The Brass Body (played by Dave Bautista) was well created, a sort of bronze 'Hulk' if you will, and the special effects used to created his brass body were great.
Brass Body (Dave Bautista) and The Blacksmith/ Thadeus (RZA)
Brass Body (Dave Bautista)
Particularly enjoyable also, was the hilarious whore sequences with Russell Crowe as Jack Knife, with some lovely gratuitous sexual innuendo and jokes. Other notable elements included the Black Widows which are a homage to the mythological style concept of women as Black Widows in literature and film, and they had great costume design and weaponry, although the silks style weapons occasionally had sloppy visual effects. Another great comedic moment was where Madam Blossom places the large golden key in the crotch of a female statue of a whore in order to open the secret passage way, just so awesomely ridiculous! And the best line of the whole film "now these mother fuckers had gatling guns".
Madam Blossum and the Black Widows
Male Gemini
Gemini
Gemini blades
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