The Man with the Iron Fists

A tribute to martial arts?

2012 didn't seem to be the greatest year for film making, or for martial arts flicks anyways. We had the amazing Avengers film and, my personal favorite The Dark Knight Rises. Both films had something in common: professional producers, directors, writers and actors, something today's entry lacks deeply. When I heard of "The Man with the Iron Fists" I thought it would be fair to give it a try. Specially after having watched a very promising trailer. However, to make good movies you not only need good actors and a budget, you're definitely most welcomed to have talented writers, producers and directors, so yeah today's entry is about one of the films you shouldn't bother watching, unless you're a complete RZA fan, something I think most martial arts fans are not. So I rate "the Man with the Iron Fists" zero stars, and I'm sorry for Lucy Liu & Russell Crowe who I guess did their best for the movie to enter into the world of martial arts classics.

I provided this rating based on the fact that I would not see this movie a second time, would not recommend it to a friend, and did not take anything away from it other than the thought that Quentin Tarantino must have been high when he agreed to lend his name out for it.

RZA plays the man with the iron fists role.

the Fighting sequences are very good.

I saw this movie because of my love for martial arts flicks, and I usually give all of them a chance. What I expected to see was some decent fight choreography back-dropped with a sick soundtrack, perhaps some old school stuff like in the Tarantino/Rodriguez flicks, but no, it was all hip-hop baesed only. I wasn't surprised though, since the RZA belongs to the hip-hop genre and if you don't remember the RZA did some music for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill blockbuster. Now from what I recall on the soundtrack part, it just did not deliver. And I know that RZA could have incorporated a couple tracks that would have lined this film up nice. Some that could have been included were; Da Mystery of Chessboxin', Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuttin ta F*** Wit, and pretty much anything from the 36 Chambers album. The fight scenes were mediocre until only near the end to which I decided I would suck it up and just watch the rest of the movie. The first scene of the film actually made me angry because the fight scene was chopped up (which I hate), and the track they used in the background (actually from the 36 Chambers album) just didn't fit right!

 a Cowboy in a martial arts flick?

The Lions clan.

Other things that were disappointing, other than Bautista from WWE showing up, was the weak script and amateurish plot. The dialogue was horrible (see quote from above) and the plot was...well there wasn't really a plot at all. I walked out of the movie asking myself/trying to remember what the story was really about. I'm not sure if it was because I was blown away by RZA's acting or because I was too busy trying to figure out why Russell Crowe was in the movie at all.

The set and costume design were the only things I thought were good about the movie. And the effort to create something visually appealing did not go unnoticed. But its all about the story and characters, which were both lacking aside from Lucy Liu's bit. Wait I think I just remembered what the movie was about...yeah it's pretty weak. Perhaps, we can blame it to the constant unnecesary homage environment the movie sets from start to finish. You don't need to be a deep connoisseur of martial arts films as to discover the many references quoted in this film. Paying homage it's not a problem of course. The problem is most of what the film tries to deliver as refreshing new is nothing but yawning old. There are no interesting new things to discover in this film. There was one particular scene where Luci Liu fights that couldn't help to be a obvious Kill Bill reference, besides the fighting sequences aren't as cool as they look in the movie trailer.

Lucy Liu reprises her martial arts role.

Hey, this is a hot lady.

If Quentin Tarantino had more involvement/any involvement at all in this movie it might have been quite possibly something spectacular. But then RZA would have probably not been in it. Hey when is Kill Bill Vol 3 coming out anyways? I guess we'd have to settle our Tarantino thirst with "Django Unchained"

Here is the movie trailer: