The hand-to-hand action genre is now trying to get out of the decline into which it was driven in the early 2000s, it is succeeding, but so far this has not finally happened and there are not as many good action films as we would like, and what we have are average crafts. Among all this, several actors stand out, so outstanding that they could well be called genre-defining - Iko Uwais, Tony JAA, Donnie Yen, Vidyut Jamwal, Jason Statham и Scott Adkins. The latter is the most popular: Adkins and his Boyka have gathered a huge number of fans, especially in Russia and the CIS, of course - he’s ours, Russian; I’ll be honest - the hand-to-hand action movie and the sites dedicated to it (including this one) largely exist thanks to a prospector from the UK.
Specifically at Fight Films there are several actors whose films are HIGHLY anticipated - this is Adkins and this is Alexander Nevsky. Nevsky Showdown in Manila “measured” expectations, it's time"Undeniable-4" (Boyka: Undisputed 4), which I watched yesterday and in the aftertaste I’ll tell you what happened.
Chapter one - plot and script.
What's more important in a hand-to-hand action movie - the plot or the combat? For me, it’s fighting, but you can’t do it without a plot; if you want to shoot without a plot at all, you’ll have to rely heavily on fights and action, as Mike Möller did in "Street Fighter". In our case, there is a plot - this is a plus, it is simple and understandable - again a plus, it has the traditional “Undisputed” drama with teachings and simple truths, not hidden behind some arthouse metaphors "Dark Knights" Nolan and "Girls are crazy" и "Watchmen" Snyder (yes, yes, I’m back at it again).
According to history, Yura Boyka decides to legally participate in MMA fights, and at the qualifying match, angry at his opponent who does not want to “fall,” he beats him to death. Ashamed of this act, he goes to Russia, to the wife of the deceased and learns that she has a debt to the local mafia in order to work it off and atone for his guilt. Yurets agrees to fight for the mafia in the arena.
But there is a little problem - this plot is hackneyed, and the elements are taken from black-ish B-sheks and sports dramas, judge for yourself: again underground tournaments with dishonest enemies and rules, again an accidental murder in anger and working it off and of course, again a moronic mafioso lawbreaker on pathos (just recently "Hammer" I watched it with Chadov, 1 on 1, only the local Zurab is older)... Against the background of the second part, it looks, if not bad, then at least with an assessment "well, that's right“And only one thing saves this from comparisons with “Shadow Fighting” - not knowing how the story will end and whether Yura will fulfill his dream - to become a legal famous fighter.
There are also problems with script details:
- At MMA tournaments, a knockout ends the fight, and Boyka’s opponent LOST after the first fall on the floor, there was no point in continuing.
- In an MMA fight, some strikes seemed unacceptable to me. Vale Tudo?
- The elderly boss is a lawless man. How such sheep with such concepts and tricks reach such an age is unclear.
- Boyka could have been killed 15 times without any problems. Yes, I remember, this is a B-action movie, but I’ll still note this moment. Now times have changed somewhat and for a more or less ambitious action film the script needs to be worked out in more detail.
- Where's Gaga? His presence could solve many problems. Ivanir seems to be still alive and actively filming. This character is missing even in cameos.
For the plot, taking into account the specifics of the genre (I remind you, we are not watching "Forrest Gump", respected by me, and a B-hand-to-hand fighter) I’ll give it a “4” with a big minus - there is teaching, there is drama, there is no unnecessary arthouse, but the cliches are taken from cheap S-sheks. I'll take the scenario worse - a strict C grade.
Chapter two - battles.
What we were waiting for. The fights are still cool:
- The cameraman was great, he filmed correctly and didn’t drink before filming.
- Scott in his repertoire - creates combos for enemies with his hands and feet, performs fancy super jumps in the air with new combinations, there is wrestling and ground game (albeit a little), there is a fight with two opponents, there is a large final boss and there is an awesome Brahim Achabbake.
- There are a lot of fights in general, the hero will fight not only in the ring. It is noteworthy that simple enemies fall within one or two innings, which is pleasing, especially after watching action films with Jeff Wincott and some series"guy in a hat", where the battle with a simple gopar dragged on for 10 minutes.
- There is blood on the spot - bruises, broken jaws, flying teeth, mouthguards, swollen faces, cuts - this is always necessary and it is there.
But there are a few problems:
- Diversity has dropped significantly. The second part was stylish Lateef Crowder, boxer Michael Shannon Jenkins, fights in a quarry with a chain and "Striker with minus sign" Marko Zaror. Here ALL “Boyki”, everyone fights in general similar to each other, except Martin Ford. Everyone makes similar blows, there are no specific wrestlers, ground fighters, taekwondo fighters - even in clothes everyone is the same - Yurets just knows 1-2 more techniques and he also has more hit points.
- The final boss was a bit of a let down. No, Martin Ford is epic in appearance, but apart from the huge damage and armor indicators, he is not memorable for anything else. I thought that it would be worth it for him to remain in the mask that he came out with - for greater similarity with Shao Kahn, and without it, do more brutal techniques such as bites, savagery, and so on. As an opponent for Boyka, Achabbake was an order of magnitude more dangerous.
For the fights I give it a 5 minus, it’s still coolly filmed and choreographed, but variety is the key to the viewer, and there are fewer of them.
Chapter three - acting.
In action films this is usually of little importance, the main thing is that they don’t look like logs at all, like Kristen Stewart in "Twilight" (yes, imagine, I watched it). Here it is very average: Adkins plays Boyka normally in battles and in anger - but no better in drama; the fact that he is truly ashamed and repents is not believed in all scenes. Second place - Zurab, played a lawless man well, but the actor should have been younger - it’s hard to believe that an older authority figure would behave so inappropriately. Third place - the main character, the rest - dullness.
There is a little problem - Adkins lacks a good actor-partner. In the second and third parts it was Mark Ivanir, it is not here, and they could not replace it.
C for acting.
Overall: A strong B-shka with good fights, but with a plot of black S-sheks. It's worse than parts 2 and 3, but not much worse and it's quite watchable. At 4 with a minus out of five. We are waiting for the continuation.
Home » Reviews » Author's reviews »
Tags: Boyka: Undisputed, Isaac Florentine, Brahim Achabbake, Martin Ford, Scott Adkins
Tags: Boyka: Undisputed, Isaac Florentine, Brahim Achabbake, Martin Ford, Scott Adkins
A great movie! Event!
None of the reviews noted that in a couple of places Achabbake and Adkins throw kicks, but do not touch their opponents.
I chose Undisputed 2, it still has the best fights and the drama adds to the plot of the last film like nothing else.
Anton Clemens,
There were much more problems with this in Undisputed 3.
Anton Clemens,
Such things are not uncommon in action films, there is a justification for them (to shoot in long takes without editing, you need to rehearse for a long time and shoot 20 takes, taking into account the fact that not all of us are stuntmen with the “can be beaten” perk) and, if they are subtle and are not conspicuous, I try not to suffer from Bazhenism, noticing all sorts of small mistakes.
I just watched the film, I generally agree with the review, thank you for it - it helped me gather a little thought and, as a result, share my opinion!
The fights are great, but yes - there is not enough variety in fighting styles (Wrestling-boxing-capoeira, etc.)
The plot is quite imaginative, it’s clear that he doesn’t grab stars from Ne6a, and it doesn’t seem like he should
Actors - Scott Adkins - as always good in his role as the ''unsinkable'' fighter, sits like a glove, Boss-in-charge Zura6 - you can smell something in his acting, but he’s really a bit old, Ivanir was cooler in all respects (and indeed , why didn’t they at least make a cameo? 3riddle...) Valentin Ganev - I was glad to see, but he didn’t even seem to say a word, well, thank you for that, Teodora Dukhovnikova - she played normally, the only thing I immediately thought was that they couldn’t have been more attractive (with forms) choose an actress for the role? But then I realized that such an approach would rather distract (take away) from the main motive of actions and the message of Boyka and Alma, Nightmare - for some reason I thought at first that it was Nathan Jones, but it turned out that it was Martin Ford - he really is scarier (more nightmarish) in a mask ) and he lacked immoral-associative behavior - he could have taken someone from the extras and thrown him into the striker or turned on a “berserker” after the first lula from Boyka
According to the "Russian" names of the village - Drovni, I laughed the first time (why the name reminded me of the Pokemon Drowzy) Then the second, the absurd Ozerov brothers - very suitable for brothers of circus stunt performers, rather than for nickname fighters, it would be better if the Uraganov Brothers or 3a6ivalovs and so on and so forth =)
The solution is that the screenwriter did not fall asleep with his nose on the keyboard, but simply became dull and could not come up with anything, and the producers took him by the mane and shot him with his muzzle at the keyboard and what happened was what happened
ps Regarding Brahim Achabbake, why do I persistently see him (reminds me) of Quan Chi from MK?! =)
Achabbake is generally cool, albeit a faceless stuntman. If you work with his appearance and image, you can turn him into a very bright villain in one of the films.
Danil Chupakhin, these are my personal cockroaches, but I don’t like Achabbake’s type. Somehow his face is slightly puffy or something, and it turns out to be a type that irritates me. I wouldn't want to see him as either a hero or a villain. Maybe like in “Never Back Down 3” with a minor bad guy who was kicked around by Gija Yanin. I repeat, this is my personal perception.
By the way, yes, I thought about the same thing, only I didn’t compare it with Shao Kan, but I remembered Nolan’s second or third “Batman”, in which there was a similar brutal type in a brutal mask.
Ps I’m having a hard time choosing between the second and third “Undeniable”. The third had more fighters and they were different, but at the same time it somehow became more pop than the second. More cranberries for the cranberry god. Can you wrap them together? :)
Wave,
One of the viewer's problems is his IMHO expectations. Everyone suffers from it - both me and others. But we have a lot of action films under our belts, and we have roughly learned to understand what we can expect and what we can’t, so sometimes we need to be sensitive to the limits of expectations and preferences.
Abachakka should have improved his appearance in the film, added some feature and offered it to the director and it would have been better.
Many wore masks and spikes. And cosplaying Bane wouldn't be a bad thing.
Danil Chupakhin,
It seemed to me that there was a slight take on Ryuji Yamazaki from the game Fatal Fury. And with the image, yes, it would be necessary.