Marko Zaror - to not just any movie buff, but specifically a fan of martial arts films, this name may mean nothing at all. Well, maybe “ah... that Colombian whose leg Boyka broke” is him. Is that the actor himself is a Chilean and I personally remember him as a performer of positive roles, although Marco was about 50 to 50. In all the works of his Chilean friend, director Ernesto Diaz Espinosa and in two Mexican films
his main positive roles. In films from other countries, he usually played the villain, and here I have ambivalent feelings: on the one hand, Marco is a VERY decent level actor (especially for a hand-to-hand man and a drag-scissor - that is, with a certain role), but on the other hand, he himself evokes pleasant feelings , like a kind of smart guy, modest and friendly, so I like his positive image in the movies much more. So, a review of selected filmography "Latin Dragon".
I haven’t seen one of his Mexican films, I’ll say right away, but I hardly missed the mega-masterpiece. So, speaking about his roles in Chilean works, we need to touch a little on national cinema. What is Chile anyway? In fact, this is the most developed country in Latin America, plus with a low crime rate (within the region), for example, the level of intentional murders is one and a half times less than in Russia and seven and a half times less than in Venezuela. The films of Saror and his friend Espinoza do not give such a feeling, but no one measures the crime rate in Hong Kong by films John Woo, where 200 people are killed. Cinema in that country is well developed... not to say very much. Of course, for a country with such a population, it would be strange to expect any kind of fierce successes, mainly (from what I saw) this is usually a reflection on the topic of Pinochet’s dictatorship. But the cheerful boy Ernesto and his friend Marco were making genre films, and with the naked eye you can see that the guys love action films.
So, in the best tradition of reviews by my friend, known as uranium, general features of creativity Marco Zarora:
- Irony. Since Chilean creativity and the rest are somewhat different, I will make a remark. So, in Chilean films (that is, in ALL films by E.D. Espinosa) there is a certain subtle or slightly expressed frivolity. As if the author of the film understands that it’s not comme il faut to make films based on such scenarios “seriously”, he makes a wink: they say, guys, we are fans of genre films here - treat it as it should be. Espinosa himself, by the way, is a huge fan of Italian tandem films."Terrence Hill - Bud Spencer", only if this couple was engaged in fighting funny, but not very technically, then Saror is an experienced karateka, plus a very good on-screen fighter, so he smashes hari much more deftly than Spencer (the real name of this healthy dude, by the way - Pedersoli, kek), distributing clumsy blows and his signature “pigeon strike” - vertically with his fist from top to bottom on the crown. By the way, successfully repeated by Buba Kastorsky in the second part "The Elusive Avengers". And this irony is sometimes difficult to see - it manifests itself both in action scenes and in the social interactions of the main character.
- Machismo. Again, with a note of irony, but Saror is a tall, muscular guy with a strong-willed face, it is not surprising that even if he plays a complete nerd, as in "Mirage Man", the ladies definitely like him. In non-Chilean films it is much less expressed.
- Quick execution. Like the principle of karate - ikken hissatsu, victory with one blow. Common in Chilean films, but not only. Saror is quite large, and there are not many opponents of his level, so most are knocked out with one good hit, with the exception of the “bosses”. Later films tried to fix this: in "Savior" at least two intermediate opponents (mini-bosses) cause him problems.
- Acrobatics. Marco is a basic karateka and taekwondoka, often shows elaborate and beautiful jump kicks (let others judge the realism of these). In some places this is too much, for example if in "Mirage Man" these blows were relatively realistic, then again, in "Savior" they look very strange and are made completely out of theme, from the “oh how can I” series.
- Almost always (typical of Chilean films) the aspiration and motivator of his hero is a girl. Chileans, by the way, are mostly white Latin Americans, not mestizos. Well, like Argentines, Uruguayans and (to a lesser extent) Colombians. They look like the average resident of Southern Europe - maybe a little darker, but no more. So the chicks in films with Saror are these little white stoles with a beautiful figure and a pretty face, who, as a rule, are the main motivator of the GG’s actions.
- Marco's hero is almost never a 100% positive hero or a very good person - usually he is either a "repentant killer" (a cliche I hate) or an anti-hero with pronounced flaws (which he can later correct - like a character arc). So, now on specific films.
Mirage Man (dir. Ernesto Diaz Espinosa, 2007)
My acquaintance with Marco’s work began with this film, I watched it even before its release "Undisputed 3", where he was designated as the main villain and rival of Yuran Boyka. What can I say in general? I REALLY liked the film, although I have never watched it again since then, so I am telling it only from memory, since it is an extremely simple hand-to-hand action movie. We need to start with the fact that fights, as I mentioned above, are short but long - there are a lot of opponents, but they fall with one or two blows. Realistic, but also beautiful - the huge big man Saror (they write that he is 188 cm tall - I don’t believe it) jumps with his legs and knees: it’s a pleasure to watch. At the same time, his hero is really likable as a character, which for me is perhaps the main criterion in cinema in general. That is, if you put on the best fight in the entire history of cinema, but if the hero is unpleasant or just on the side, then there will be no empathy, which is why I did not like the series of films about John Wick. Keanu Reeves a nice guy, he worked hard in training, la-la-la, but the hero is such a disgusting and vomiting mug that you don’t want to sympathize with.
That’s not the case here, Persian - how can I say... a nerd, but cool. He trains at home in martial arts, practicing his blows until they become automatic, and he works as a bouncer, for which his boss just laughs at him - look at what a fool he is. At the same time, they show a scene where the hero Sarora tries to stop some pretzel at the entrance to the club, and he is not just rude to him, but spits in his face. Of course, I don’t know - maybe the dude was using something, but spitting in the face of a man with Marco’s constitution was a so-so idea, but he just pushed him away. But then he began to pretend to be a superhero, killing all kinds of bullshit (by the way, when I watched this film for the first time, it was because of it that there was an erroneous idea of Chile as a criminal cesspool in the spirit of Brazil or Venezuela, I repeat, crime there is very low for the American continent ).
Pros: good fights - this was a test of the pen and Saror has no strong enemies, at most he is knocked down. The plot is quite banal, but the author himself understood this, so he introduced a line with a small brother and his children's drawings (which give extreme atmosphere, by the way - you will see). If it wasn’t my brother, I’m sorry, I watched the film more than 10 years ago and haven’t watched it since so as not to spoil the impression. Also: mockery of journalism, which can sometimes go to extremes, and maybe even SHOULD, and this is mocked in the film. Well, the plus is Marco’s good, really good dramatic acting.
Chained Dog (dir. Ernesto Diaz Espinosa, 2006)
I mistakenly thought that "Mirage Man" the first film of the Zaror-Espinoza tandem, but no. The first try of the pen was Kiltro and... this is their most idiotic film. The absurdity of the plot, the implausibility of the fictional reality, just hits you in the face. To tell you point by point would be a shameless spoiler, but it’s funny that in this film, in the finale against Saror, the final boss is some old dick. Maybe this is some kind of local martial arts legend, I don’t know, but watching some ancient grandfather, like the mummy of a pharaoh, wipe the floor with a forehead like Marco’s is somehow not even funny. Interestingly, in the last joint film of Espinosa and Sarora, the final boss is also some kind of old man (if he were drunk, he would pass for a reference to Beggar So, but otherwise he’s just an old man), who looks even worse. What will happen in their new film? Will Marco fight a hundred-year-old wheelchair user?
Another shortcoming: the hero’s motivation. This, of course, is a girl - the highest value of the universe. Of course, I understand that it’s a love affair and all that, but it’s presented in an incredibly pathetic and clumsy manner, plus she’s like the hero Sarora, not only didn’t give, and didn’t even give a kiss on the cheek - it would be fun to make an ending where the final boss kills the Chilean character our eagle, and the heroine leaves with
on his arm). You don’t believe in the hero’s change.
The fights are the most ridiculous of all Marco's films: blows fly several meters away, incredible speeds, an absolutely stupid final battle, a general feeling of cheapness... But even so, this is not a bad film at all; for a debut filmed for three pesos, it’s actually a masterpiece,
but still, due to its pronounced shortcomings, I do not recommend watching it.
Agent Mandrill (dir. Ernesto Diaz Espinosa, 2009)
This is already an application for a classic regional action film. The main thing: here Espinoza and Saror fully embrace their “feature”, namely, self-irony, that is, the hero Marco is steep as a cliff, but we are shown his backstory, where he reacted to the ladies like I did in the seventh grade at the disco - he couldn’t handle the slow stuff invite. Here they show (albeit briefly) the path to becoming a hero and... there is also a minus here, well, to hell with it.
The fights are good. It was just then that MMA in movies became fashionable and the hero Sarora defeats big guys with painful submissions - well, like a roundhouse kick to the jaw doesn’t work (which is stupid, but it’s a movie), you have to get smarter. In this film, Marco demonstrates extremely emotional acting - I believe him, despite all the conventional stupidity of the plot and situations.
Savior (dir. Ernesto Diaz Espinosa, 2014)
Here, for some reason, they decided to get serious and make the choreography unreasonably pretentious. To begin with, the plot premise is idiotic. And if the main character is such a stupid cretin, then it’s a pity that we had to admire his idiocy for almost an hour and a half. Plus this asshole type of mysticism, for which you have to break your fingers: there is no cartridge in the chamber in Russian roulette because the hero has a MISSION, although purely hypothetically it should have blown his head off 20 times already. It's chock-full of religion, the plot is ridiculous and again presents Chile as the Wild West. Plus the drawn (crappy) shooting, which is not needed in a hand-to-hand film - it would be nice if they fired three times, but no - this is a full-fledged action scene.
The fights didn't let us down, though. The only two complaints (only one is about the production): the choreography is too elaborate, implausible. And secondly, the old grandfather as the final boss. The hero has a difficult fight with him, and the other two are with a random gopnik (which is unusual, a strong ordinary opponent) in the spirit of MMA, and with a bearded dude who looks like a politician from the North Caucasus (I won’t say who, otherwise they’ll make you apologize) . Overall, a watchable piece of shit. There is also a scoundrel Pindos, which is cool. American villains are extremely common in Chilean films, in fact.
Undisputed 3 (dir. Isaac Florentine, 2010)
A de facto classic of action films - one can argue for a long time how fair this is, but in my opinion Yuri Boyka has become a calling card for a reason Scott Adkins. And Saror lit it here. If I remember correctly, initially the hero Marco was planned as a gloomy fighter - the same as Boyka, but it was the Chilean who convinced the director that he should be different from him, as a result everyone agreed and we were presented with a bright psychotic. By the way, this is the only film I have seen where Saror is skinny and not sculpted. Well, here it is justified, since the Colombian Dolor uses heroin, and drug addicts and good form... well, like nuns and a brothel, go together with difficulty.
Drug Wars (dir. Carlos Victorica Reyes, 2002)
"Drug Wars" - a wretched Russian title (it’s different in the original), and the “action” genre is indicated incorrectly - this is precisely a drama on the topic of corruption and a reflection of Mexicans on the topic of what kind of hell they have to live in. Oddly enough, I liked the film in terms of its meaning - it is sincere and heartfelt, it is clear that the author wanted to speak out and he succeeded... but, unfortunately, through an extremely mediocre film. “Eggs, eggs”... that is, ugh “fights, fights” - you ask, but, unlike the song “Disco Crash”, they will not appear. There is one extremely awkwardly filmed scene where Saror fights with a bunch of people, but it was filmed not only badly, but generally beyond the boundaries of good and evil. Horrifying editing and creepy camerawork make even this one fight unwatchable at all. Do you want to take a risk? Go ahead - you have been warned. At the end there are about three more shots - not figuratively, literally, in my opinion three shots and one fight in a film - this is not an action film.
Wild Dog (dir. Jesse Johnson, 2017)
Well, the last film is complete vomit, although I have a lot of respect for the director Jesse W. Johnson. First of all, because Johnson is more or less trying and progressing. If some films were made as if to get away, then he was noticeably invested in others - there is unexpected drama, decent humor, and very high-quality action scenes. And where he kicked the fool out of boredom - there is a film Savage Dog. At one time, I took the time to write another review for this on Kinopoisk, but I don’t want to repeat myself - I’ll say separately about Saror - he’s not needed here at all. The character is absolutely flat, and one fight scene with him is not impressive, although the idea was not bad - cool taekwondo legs against the hands of a boxer,
plus in this film he has some kind of particularly disgusting death scene, after which you begin to feel a completely fierce hostility towards the main character, who is already some kind of devil. Unsuccessful.
There were a few more roles in films and TV series that I didn’t watch, but what can I say in general? Marko Zaror, firstly, is a truly good actor, he knows how to reliably act out emotions and play characters of DIFFERENT natures, and he also looks great in action scenes, being a competent specialist in real life. There may have been times when he could have made a career in Hollywood, when evil Latinos were required, but now, in a time of tolerance, this is not possible for him, although showing Latinos as villains is not as taboo as portraying scoundrels as niggas, but is also not welcome. That's all for now, enjoy watching movies
Oleg MapintasBangis Chernenko
Especially for Fight-Films.info
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Tags: Mandrill, Redeemer, Savage Dog, Undisputed 3: Redemption, Marko Zaror, Ernesto Diaz Espinosa
Tags: Mandrill, Redeemer, Savage Dog, Undisputed 3: Redemption, Marko Zaror, Ernesto Diaz Espinosa
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