Comeback of the Year
In the “Comeback of the Year” nomination, the places were distributed as follows:
- Jean-Claude Van Damme
- Sammo Hung
- Olivier Gruner and Gija Yanin.
Jean-Claude Van Damme ("Kickboxer", "Jean-Claude Van Johnson")
The last more or less decent film with Van Damme was probably "Six Bullets" 2012 of the year. Subsequent films tried to claim to be something more than just another DTV film with aging muscles from Brussels, but, alas, everything ended there. I wanted to see the same one JCVD, perhaps aging in face, but not aging in soul. Just a strong film, even if there are not enough stars in the sky, but worthy of Jean-Claude’s past achievements. Or at least a decent role. Or a well-staged on-screen battle. Well, in general, at least something.
For a remake «Kickboxer» No one made a bet, this whole idea was not an example of freshness, and in the end it turned out to be a not so great movie. However, it is JCVD embodies everything that is positive about the remake. This is not a senile character, not a shameful cameo, but decent screen time, with the opportunity to play with his face, wave his legs, make pretentious gestures, and wear a smart hat. And in general, to show young people not just your gunpowder in the flasks, but to teach a master class on how to play in action films and stay in physical shape for half a ton.
A series "Jean-Claude Van Johnson" This is a kind of reference to the film “ZhKVD”, another chance to show the presence of self-irony, and just remind that Van Damme can also do something as an actor, and not just a wooden sitter on the splits.
Sammo Hung and his "Old Bodyguard".
Main role, serious project. Not just to scatter enemies and fight back with the legendary combat belly, but also to show drama. Yet Sammo, no matter how you look at it, he was always more than just a fat guy fighting on the screen. This is a legend, a great director, a great actor and screen fighter, an experimenter, a Personality with a capital P in the world of cinema. Yes, time is running out, the heroes are not getting any younger, second "Snack Shop", "Project A" or "Eastern Condors" there won't be any more, but we're still excited to see Sammo on screen.
Olivier Gruner (Showdown in Manila, Killer X, Offside).
Lately Olivie decided to become more active and began to appear on the screen more and more often. Yes, it’s impossible to take quality, but well, let it be quantity.
About «Manila» We’ll talk separately later, but if we ignore the cranberry syrup, Gruner was a breath of fresh air in her. Cold-blooded, skillful, with well-honed movements of a specialist, and not just another master of non-contact combat and winner of the Lieutenant Schmidt Prize. It’s a pity that he got little screen time, and the fights were, to put it mildly, not creme brulee, but even in these conditions Gruner was a great guy and could easily be a member of the original "The Expendables". The only one who really looked like a glove in a special forces uniform, and not like custom “police officers” at cooperatives. Serving in an elite special forces unit is no joke.
Jija Yanin (Never Back Down 3, Hard Target 2)
It’s hard to call this a full-fledged comeback, more like multitasking.
Jija is gradually changing the vector from Thai projects towards American ones, albeit low-budget ones. Still, this is progress, even if not much. We hope that the quality of projects with her participation will only increase.
What the f*ck of the year
Places in this category were distributed as follows:
- Showdown in Manila (dir. Mark Dacascos)
- All Steven Seagal films for 2016
- Super Bodyguard (dir. Yoo Song)
- Kickboxer (dir. John Stockwell) (only one vote away from third place).
Showdown in Manila (dir. Mark Dacascos)
As they say: “this has never happened before, and here it is again.” The fact that "Showdown in Manila” headed this voting bloc, certainly does not surprise anyone. It's surprising that for Nevsky We didn’t make a separate nomination at all. Of course, we must give him his due: Sashka is a hyper-energetic and purposeful pepper. Still, the first person on the street who comes across will not be able to find money, organize film production, or persuade Dacascos and do at least some distribution of your crafts. Nevsky is still not a mediocrity among mediocrities, it’s just that his talents are very far from cinema, therefore the result of his acting, directing or producing activities does not improve from these managerial talents.
It's just a pity Dacascos, Gruner, Tagawa, Hughes and the rest of the brothers and sisters who agreed to participate in this adventure. Of course, things are not going well for most of the participants, and their former glory is long gone, however, this is not a reason to commit rash acts. It won’t be any worse for Nevsky, but the authority of the legends of action films of the 80s and 90s can easily be, if not destroyed, then smeared with one such “Manila”. You need to be more careful.
All Steven Seagal films for 2016
If you create votes over decades, then there will be an unbearably prolific Seagal would have entered with a royal tread. No one belittles his past achievements, no one denigrates his skill. But in filmmaking it was clearly necessary to take a break a long time ago and not rivet low-budget, insipid films that are similar to each other like two halves of one butt, in which the never invincible Seagal breaks the arms, legs and protruding parts (it’s good if he himself, and not an understudy) of traders people and other scum from Eastern Europe, clearly working on the set for food. If earlier we looked at the stately Seagal with admiration and interest, now the figure of Seagal (literally and figuratively) has become a household name in the action genre and is increasingly used in a negative sense.
Super Bodyguard (dir. Yoo Song)
The pretentious trailer turned out to be a trick. The film was not a failure, but still did not live up to expectations. The plot does not match the aesthetics, the main character looks comical and clumsy, and in some places is simply stupid, the drama and empathy are not 100% effective. The notorious cables, the presence of blood, but the paradoxical absence of screen rigidity, moments seen in "The Return of Chen Zhen", merged once again Colin Chow, inappropriate family twists and turns and the next “secrets of secret kung fu.”
A strange film with potential, but outdated (in a bad way) and a one-time watch.
Kickboxer (dir. John Stockwell)
The idea of making remakes of legendary films that do not need remakes is, more often than not, an agonizing thought. Hollywood has been exploiting its past for decades now, without daring to step firmly into the future with new stories. Yes, the form has gone far ahead, but the content turned out to be slow.
The attempt to pull out cash on a well-known brand has also reached DTV films. This time - "kickboxer».
And it was mission impossible. AND Stockwell didn't fulfill it. Yes, Van Damme good and batista textured, but in total it was not worth it. Although Van Damme clearly showed that the young fresh shoot, no matter what tricks she showed off, did not reach his left heel.
Alain Moussy – not the real Kurt Sloan, and certainly not JKVD in his heyday. And Batista, despite his noticeable appearance, is never Michelle Kissi. Why compare them, you ask? Why was there a remake, I answer?
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Tags: Hard Target 2, Kickboxer: Vengeance, My beloved bodyguard, Super Bodyguard, Alexander Nevsky, Alain Moussi, Gija Yanin, Dave Batista, Jean-Claude Van Damme, results of action cinema 2016, Mark Dacascos, Olivier Gruner, Showdown in Manila, Sammo Hung, Steven Seagal, Yue Song
Tags: Hard Target 2, Kickboxer: Vengeance, My beloved bodyguard, Super Bodyguard, Alexander Nevsky, Alain Moussi, Gija Yanin, Dave Batista, Jean-Claude Van Damme, results of action cinema 2016, Mark Dacascos, Olivier Gruner, Showdown in Manila, Sammo Hung, Steven Seagal, Yue Song
Oddly enough, Van Damme pleased with his appearance in the remake of Kickboxer. Even though the idea of a remake was initially doomed to failure, as an actor he did everything he could. "Manila" is more of an entertaining film, which, in principle, could not become anything more than just a parody of an action movie, a film in the spirit of "Scary Movie". "The Old Bodyguard" with Sammo... is mostly a children's film. And I never really liked Seagal (although it’s still worth noting “Under Siege” and “Under Siege 2” with his participation). This actor is somehow stingy with emotions, it seems to me. It's a monument to itself.
It so happens that Seagal is, of course, not a favorite on this site. He is partly to blame for this himself, but still, among the number of “crafts from labor lessons” for 2016, “salazar” stands out (I recommend it to everyone)
Dmitriy,
Seagal is a stupid and overweight pig. It’s been a long time since we’ve been talking about films or creativity. Whores, getting drunk and showing off - that's his thing.
Dmitriy,
If only he was not a favorite on this site, it would be nothing.....