The sun is shining warmer, the snow is melting, and spring is inexorably knocking on the windows. And we all continue to sum up the results of action films for 2017. Today we have two nominations in line: "Disappointment of the Year" и "The most anticipated films of 2018".
Disappointment of the year
Well... And it seems to be quite an interesting nomination, in which visitors to our site proposed the most candidates, and again “our dear editors” are slightly taken aback by the gold medalist, who was selected during the voting. It’s funny that the first place in the “Disappointment of the Year” category was not a failure "Assassin's Creed", not patchwork to the point of abomination "xXx: World Domination", not frankly weak "Raid: Bullet in the Head" and not even funny crafts Scott Adkins ("Wild Dog") and JCVD ("Finish them all") Well... apparently from domestic ones "Defenders" and indeed someone expected something, but did not receive it.
Defenders (dir. Sarik Adreasyan, 2017) 16%
Meanwhile, it is completely unclear whether it was worth expecting that very notorious miracle that Runet movie bloggers love to talk about. No, and in this case it did not happen. "Defenders" Sarik Adreasyan is a frankly bad movie with elements of bad taste, excessive pathos and classic stupidity. The film not only plays poorly, but it absolutely cannot put on a good face, since the creators approached the material anyhow and decided to show Kuzka’s mother to the West with their comic book movie, without caring about their own product. Of course, when the goal is not to make a good, albeit entertaining, movie, it is not made.
Yes, our people have learned how to film action scenes, our stuntmen work great, but this is treacherously not enough for the average moviegoer, and even more so fans of action films, to begin to enjoy the film.
Miss! Past! Wrong playing field, wrong people, wrong goals. Therefore for us "Defenders" We weren't disappointed - we didn't expect anything from this Russian blockbuster. But the 19 people who voted for Adreasyan's film were apparently intrigued by the trailers. We absolutely cannot wrap our heads around other versions.
The Kickboxer Returns (dir. Dimitri Logothetis, 2017) 14%
A new franchise that launched with a remake "Kickboxer" in 2016, for the second year in a row, it took a prize in this category. And what’s more, he “grows” above himself. If last time "Kickboxer" took third place in nomination "Disappointment of the Year", then its sequel moved to second. And we think we understand why.
The new Kickboxer was a weak and noticeably cheap project, in which no one really believed. But after the release of the film, laudatory reviews began to appear. No, not about the movie. ABOUT Jean-Claude Van Damme, who played Master Duran. Suddenly, grandfather ZhKVD seemed fresh, rested and ready for the feats that everyone had long expected from him, both in acting and in combat. And that was good.
The established credibility, which the creators of the second film reinforced with a bloated cast with famous names, quickly dissipated to the wind when fans of action films received a tedious, boring and poorly made film. Don't get me wrong: "The Kickboxer Returns" (in original: "Kickboxer: Retribution"), may have potential, but is still a completely unnecessary remake with the main character played by Alena Mussi, which frankly “doesn’t drag.” The second film absorbed almost all the negatives from the first, without worrying about keeping the viewer's attention at the screen. And yes, Master Durand Van Damme was no longer so impressive.
As a result, we can safely say that expectations were not met - the sequel simply turned out to be dependent. Hence 14% of the votes and a silver podium!
Power Rangers (dir. Dean Israelite, 2017) 11%
What we absolutely agree with is the “prize place” "Power Rangers" in this category, although we repeat, this film could easily end up in first place. A serious blockbuster, designed to revive the once popular franchise about the confrontation of ordinary schoolchildren in super-suits with universal evil, it failed at the box office and did not really go over well with fans of the old series. Let's try to figure out why?
Firstly, the creators of the new “Rangers” still haven’t decided what exactly they are filming and why? Although, with the second question, things are simpler: it was originally planned a whole franchise from several films, the first of which was traditionally Origin. But a cross between an ordinary teenage movie and a science fiction genre about an invasion of Earth by alien forces, wrapped in the tokusatsu genre, which is far from very popular in the West, ended up looking cloudy, drawn out and not fully understandable. Secondly, the hand-to-hand action that the original was famous for is presented in an overly pretentious and poorly modern way in the remake. In addition, there is treacherously little of it for a film with the title "Power Rangers". Thirdly, the characters whose personalities remained unrevealed. In the end, the overtly serial format of the story turned out to be very difficult to adapt to a feature-length film.
To be honest, the film is not so bad and has several noticeable advantages, the main one being Elizabeth Banks as the main villain. It’s just that fans of the good old “Rangers” still couldn’t figure out the question: what should they expect from the remake? An expensive blockbuster today can't possibly be anything like the stupid old tokusatsu teen series, but it can't be as dark and down-to-earth as the 2015 short that was so lauded by that fan base. Obviously, the director of the film did not understand this either. Dean Israelite, as well as the screenwriters. Well... We have what we have. That's why it took third place in our voting.
2018's most anticipated film of the year
Having approached the analysis of this nomination, we realized that it was time to ask forgiveness from our readers for the fact that this time it took so long to sum up the results of the action film. But alas, only two people are working on the project, and there is sorely not enough time. Therefore, let's imagine that the films we will talk about below have not yet been released. Yes, yes, we understand that we have already become available and "Accident"and "Chasing Dragons"and "Hungt for Man", "Death Wish" и "Rebirth", but let's pretend they don't exist yet. And you will write in the comments whether your expectations coincided with the films that you have already watched.
Of the twelve proposed nominees in the category "The most anticipated film of 2018" There are enough expected, unexpected, and downright strange options. And despite the fact that the third place of honor had to be shared by as many as three, everything was immediately clear with the leader of the vote.
Triple Threat (dir. Jesse V. Johnson) 34%
45 votes and an unconditional victory for the upcoming action movie with a whole army of well-known movie fighters. In principle, this one line is enough for the average action movie buff to check the proverbial box in front of this title. And the name doesn’t bother anyone Jesse W. Johnson as a director, nor very controversial from the point of view of acting and male charisma Tiger Hu Chen in the central role, nor the director of fight scenes Tim Man, which is openly mired in self-repetition.
Well, of course, when the main lure "Triple Threat" - this is a confrontation between the “good” squad Tony JAA, Iko Uwaisa и Tiger Chen to the squad of “bad” people who are represented Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Michael Bisping и Gija Yanin.
If you look at this film as a hodgepodge a la "Unstoppable from the World of Martial Arts", then yes, the project is extremely interesting. We can only hope that Johnson will delight us with a variety of hand-to-hand action, taking into account the characteristics of each of the presented movie fighters. Fingers crossed, as they say, gentlemen of the jury, as the ice has finally broken...
Accident (dir. Jesse V. Johnson) 11%
Far behind the “golden” leader, another film of the same film is rushing after “The Menace” Jesse W. Johnson... Interestingly, "Accident" visitors to our site expect for much the same reason as "Triple game". Yes, yes, we are talking about a cast that is intense for the trained eye of an action movie buff: Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Ray Park и Amy Johnston. And again Tim Man at the drum..., in the sense, he is responsible for the choreography.
Well, okay, let's not lie. The film is expected not only because of the cast. "Accident" is a very personal project for Adkins, who is one of the producers and scriptwriters of the action film. In addition, it was Adkins who was the ideological inspirer of this project. It is likely that the famous Boyka will finally give his all, and we are not just talking about the battle scenes. Adkins has long been lost in the “three pines”, choosing images for himself from film to film. They all mixed up, leaving only Comrade Yuri standing on the sidelines. A comic book character, which is Adkins' hero from Casualty, can actually take a step away from Scott's identical roles. Well, we'll wait and see. In the meantime, a silver medal in our voting.
Battle Angel (dir. Robert Rodriguez) / Chasing Dragons (dir. Kam Ka-Fai) / Rebirth (dir. Yuji Shimomura) 8%
Three films at once received 8% of the vote and, accordingly, share the bronze pedestal, trying not to knock each other off it. And it’s unlikely that anything in common can be discerned between these three films: a major Hollywood blockbuster, an expensive crime drama from China, the long-awaited comeback of a Japanese actor whom almost everyone has forgotten.
But still, "Battle Angel" Robert Rodriguez's film is not just a cyberpunk blockbuster. This is a film adaptation of a popular Japanese comic book, the rights to which Hollywood has held for more than 10 years. This film has simply been awaited for a long time, and it seems that it has arrived. It’s surprising that users of our site voted for this film, because “Battle Angel” is not a specialized film. However, our brother should be interested in participating in the project Marco Zarora, who played one of the negative roles in the film.
"Chasing Dragons", which technically still dates back to 2017, is also not a simple film. Of course, no one expects another "Ip Man" or "Hot spot", but fans Donnie Yen they are eager to see their favorite in the unusual role of the criminal authority of Hong Kong in the middle of the last century.
"Rebirth" - this is the same return of the prodigal son from Japanese combat cinema Taka Sakaguchi, as last year. Yes Yes, Re:Born I also took it at the last summation third place among the expected films of 2017. But alas, we were “knocked down” again and we have to wait for the film in 2018. We hope we can wait.
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Tags: accident man, Alita: Battle Angel, Chasing the Dragon, Kickboxer: Retaliation, Power Rangers, Re:Born, Triple Threat, Alain Moussi, Jesse W. Johnson, Gija Yanin, Dimitri Logothetis, Dean Israelite, Donnie Yen, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Защитники, Iko Uwais, results of action cinema 2017, Kam Ka-Wai, Michael Bisping, Michael Jai White, Marko Zaror, Robert Rodriguez, Ray Park, Sarik Adreasyan, Scott Adkins, Tiger Chen, So Sakaguchi, Tim Man, Tony JAA, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Johnston, Yuji Shimomura
Tags: accident man, Alita: Battle Angel, Chasing the Dragon, Kickboxer: Retaliation, Power Rangers, Re:Born, Triple Threat, Alain Moussi, Jesse W. Johnson, Gija Yanin, Dimitri Logothetis, Dean Israelite, Donnie Yen, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Защитники, Iko Uwais, results of action cinema 2017, Kam Ka-Wai, Michael Bisping, Michael Jai White, Marko Zaror, Robert Rodriguez, Ray Park, Sarik Adreasyan, Scott Adkins, Tiger Chen, So Sakaguchi, Tim Man, Tony JAA, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Johnston, Yuji Shimomura
I wasn’t really looking forward to “Accident”; moreover, in terms of combat, the film is absolutely flat and rather boring, not outstanding in either a good or bad way. Not a single fight caught my attention at all, except maybe with Tim Man - for a chuckle. But in cinematic terms, this is a step forward for Adkins, as I already commented in a post dedicated to the film.
Thanks for the news about “Re:born”, it really will appear in the next month. True, I can’t wait anymore - I’m burned out.
And so, I’m waiting for “Battle Angel” as a blockbuster from Rodriguez and I’m waiting for “Triple Threat” as “The Expendables” from the world of martial arts. I wish “Templar” with Michel Quach would come out, but alas, there is no hope there. Well, “Brutal”, “Jaya”, “Zámbó Dende” (Belle, Saror, Shahlavi).
The second “Kickboxer”, by the way, did not disappoint because I was not expecting it. Allen Mussi, it seems to me, has begun to look a little more brutal, no longer looking like someone just out of adolescence. Van Damme raised eyebrows. The script caused confusion, but perhaps the amateur translation is also to blame. The operator was perplexed: what kind of French shame is this? I didn’t expect anything outstanding from the battles; I didn’t get anything outstanding.
I stumbled upon the continuation of "The Karate Kid", with William Zabka and Ralph Macchio beaming. There is only a teaser on IMDB so far and it is not clear what it is about. "Cobra Kai" So that's an interesting idea. Sasha Mitchell also appeared in the third episode of the original. Obviously, he didn’t get into the vote. I would have voted for him.
Thank you very much, we are waiting!
A thousand apologies, I agree about Human Hungting that it’s available, I’ve already looked at it. And about Rebirth, where does the information about availability come from? To be honest, I couldn’t find it even in the pirate store, maybe someone can tell me?
Dmitry Padalko,
The film was definitely released on March 12th. We think it will appear on the Internet very soon.
I watched Re:Born. I think this is a worthy candidate for “disappointment of 2018.” No, he's not that bad, but he's pretty bad. Boring and inexpressive battles. It is too obvious that the opponents attack in turns. Too deliberate and artificial, an extra feature with these wave-like movements of the shoulders, which was presented as a feature.
Something like that.