In different parts of our vast country, as well as in others, spring either spares no one with almost summer sun, or still retains winds and colds indistinguishable from winter... And our humble editors continue to write analytics for each of the nominations of our project.
Today we will try to find out why the top three in the nomination "Disappointment 2021" became just that, and we will also turn our attention to non-indie production and tell you about the winners in the “independent” nomination.
Independent Action or Martial Arts Film 2021
This doesn't happen often, but this awards season, almost all the independent action films had some really positive qualities, adjusted for the budget. Therefore, all the films can be safely recommended for viewing, but our winners were three long-awaited long-term construction projects, which we have been following for many years.
Paper Tigers (dir. Quoc Bao Tran) (42%, 36 votes)
As it turned out, the film announced Already in 2017, it turned out to be very necessary for us - fans of combat cinema and martial arts in general, who for a long time can no longer be called “young” or even “young” people. We don't know how they received it "Paper Tigers" guys under 30 years old, but the unconditional victory clearly indicates that the film also reached a younger audience.
What is a long-term construction film from a director? Bao Trena? This is a kind of parable about those people for whom martial arts run like a red thread throughout their lives; this is a detective story about revenge for the murdered Sifu (played by Roger Yuan) crazy student; This is a comedy about three guys with their own problems, who must once again become the “Three Tigers” - who they were 25 years ago - in order to take revenge.
It seems to us that it is precisely such projects that should show off among the top three winners of the nomination "Best film with BI", where in first place is "Crossfire" with only two full hand-to-hand combat scenes. Because "Paper Tigers" - this is a little about all of us, about martial arts and attitude to life, about not sparing time, about a sense of duty and friendship that can be carried through decades.
True, there aren’t that many scenes of hand-to-hand combat here either. All of them are staged by talented by Ken Quitigua (who also played the main villain here), do not last long, but look quite bright and correspond to the characters’ characters, because our heroes, whose roles were played by Alain Huy (TV series "True Detective") Michael Shannon Jenkins ("Undisputed 2") and veteran stuntman Ron Yuan (“Mulan”) are not young guys, but “dads” who have not been practicing kung fu for a long time.
It’s worth mentioning separately about the famous blogger Master Ken (Matthew Page), who is in excellent shape and showed good fights against the main trio for his size. With humor and interest. Yes, in the film there is also youth opposed to the old school, played by the guys from the team MartialClub, and there you can see the tricking action that is already familiar to many.
To summarize, the film "Paper Tigers", which has been reaching its audience for so long, is not a one-time movie. There's an old-school soul to it all that makes us return to our favorite action films of the 80s and 90s from time to time. Of course, it will not become a classic, but the film has the right to stand in first place in this category without competition.
Made in Chinatown (dir. James Liu, Robert Samuels) (13%, 11 votes)
Here, perhaps, let's start with the fact that with all due respect to the stunt career and personal achievements James Lew, we are forced to admit the fact that he does not know how to make films. And, thank God, he rarely does this (as we remember "18 fingers of death!" 2006, let's shudder), focusing only on the staging of hand-to-hand action. In Liu's place, he first had to be Art Camacho, but he's from a project that announced At the beginning of 2018, he dropped out. And how good it is that James had a former member of Jackie Chan’s stunt team as his partner - Robert Samuels. This made this film watchable.
The story is about a young boy Vinnie (played by a martial arts practitioner and stuntman Jay Kwon), who, being Chinese and living in Chinatown, renounces everything native and dreams of working for the Italian mafia, hooking up with an Italian beauty and being more successful in life, filmed in the genre of outright comedy. It’s a pity that the script and directors were only enough to assemble previously released Italian actors known from gangster films, for an objectively uninteresting story and for a few scenes of hand-to-hand combat.
Yes, with all the stupidity of the plot, there are still few fights in the film, although it would seem... Young people are allowed to roam only at the very end, where the viewer is in for a big fight, and before that, almost all the fights are built according to a comical scheme, and from the point of view of the craft there is catching nothing.
The obvious highlight of the film was the 69-year-old Luo Meng, who was once part of a legendary group of acrobats and fighters from Taiwan who were given the name in Hong Kong "Five Poisonous". Lo has been living in the USA for a long time, but actively acts not only in Chinese films, such as franchises "Ip Man", but also in independent films. It’s nice that grandpa looks cheerful and even fights, showing good shape. Unfortunately, his role is that of a typical leader of a local triad, who is relegated only to stupid grins, Chinese speech and villainous laughter. By the way, James Lew, playing the henchman of a Chinese boss, seems to be in slightly worse form, despite the fact that they Luo Meng - peers.
It seems to us that there were projects on the voting list that were more worthy of second place, but the ways of fans are inscrutable - silver in this category!
In Sight (dir. Levi Zheng, Ken Zheng) (11%, 9 votes)
The third place on our pedestal is occupied by a serious (by the standards of the previous two) fantastic action movie about a guy who is trying to investigate the murder of his brother, being endowed with the gift of foresight.
Insight It was announced back in 2016, it was filmed in 2017 and all this time it was shelved. Sometimes miracles happen, and the film by the Indonesian brother and sister Zheng has finally become available to the masses. "In sight", like their first project "Dangerous Brush" (2014) was filmed in America with local actors. For example, here you can see a very aged Tony Todd (Candyman franchise) or a 36-year-old beauty Madeleine Zimuwho was once the shining star of a drama series "Californication" starring David Duchovny. By the way, Winter, who here plays a police detective and the partner of the main character played by a Chinese kickboxing champion Ken Zheng, constantly gets in the way of the main character not only in terms of plot, but also simply underfoot. No matter how they tried to fashion a tough fighter out of Winter, these scenes looked, to put it mildly, sad.
Zheng himself, in addition to the extras, has to fight with a brown belt in jiu-jitsu and an actor Sean Patrick Flannery, which this year broke into the top three in the nomination "Comeback of the Year". In the film, Sean plays the main villain, who is skilled in martial arts and has two full-fledged hand-to-hand combat scenes. It's a pity they are short, because Flanery is already 56 years old and he clearly can't keep up with the lively Ken. Plus, for some reason, the choreographer “prescribed” for Sean to use his legs, and we would have seen throws and grabs from a master of his craft.
In general, it seems to us that if the local action and fight choreography were managed by the master of silat and the star of “Raids” - Yayan Ruhian, like this previously assumed, "In sight" It could have turned out to be a slightly different film. Well, at least there are a lot of action scenes in the action movie, even if they are very sterile in our strict opinion.
Disappointment 2021
Without further ado, the huge fan community, divided into three titles, expected a lot from the top three in this anti-nomination... But they received practically nothing. But first things first.
The Matrix: Resurrection (dir. Lana Wachowski) (26%, 42 votes)
Oh "Matrix"... Either a remake, or a restart... Now we know that Lana Wachowski made the film for two reasons: due to studio pressure and for personal reasons - her mother died, and it was in the new "Resurrection" ex Larry was looking for an outlet.
Let's ignore the fact that the continuation of the trilogy is a completely unnecessary film, and let's focus on something good. Namely, on self-irony, which shines and shines in the new "Matrix", like a bag of gold won in a bet from an unlucky Leprechaun. There's also a great actor in his place Neil Patrick Harris, playing more than just a psychologist. That's probably all good stuff.
At the center of the plot are characters who have aged both in the script and physically Keanu Reeves и Carrie-Anne Moss, as well as the heroine Jessica Hanwick - stars of the series "Iron Fist", which discovers Neo and starts the cycle of events all over again.
Let's leave the discussion of the details of the plot, laws and rules of the world built back in 1999 to high-brow critics or nimble bloggers on Youtube. We're interested in action! Is everything okay with him here?
And again - no. Reeves, 57, without being able to use his gun-fu from the John Wick films, simply doesn't look good in any scene. The writers gave him one super-punch (who said hodooken?), which he used, despite the statement that he “still remembers kung fu.” It’s more interesting to watch Hanwick, for whom martial arts is not an empty phrase. But her heroine is not really needed by the plot, and except with the extras, she has no battles with anyone else. And what did they do with Agent Smith and Morpheus...! Both of them do not resemble themselves as characters, even if they are played by other actors. Their motivation is sometimes unclear, sometimes vague. Why do this movie need them? As an integral part of the franchise? Oh mom... Civil words are not enough.
And where, please tell me, Daniel Bernhard as Agent Johnson??? Of course, we were glad to see the cameo Chad Stahelski, but they also wanted Bernhard! If anyone noticed the 90s action star in "The Matrix: Resurrection", write about it in the comments! We give primacy to this film among all disappointments!
Mortal Kombat (dir. Simon McQuoid) (18%, 29 votes)
Oh "Mortal Kombat"... Either a remake or a restart... Since a couple of years ago, the news that the project had finally begun to be filmed and prepared for release delighted all fans of the game franchise. It made me happy and alarmed... Will the film be as good as the 1995 original? What characters will be shown? And most importantly, how high-quality fights will they face?
Well... Today we can say with confidence that with the new "Mortal Kombat" The “battle” did not happen. It turned out that the film is not about the tournament at all, but about direct violations outside the title tournament. It turned out that the franchise will now have a new main character played by Lewis Tan. But by the end of the fantastic action movie, it still doesn’t become clear why this character was needed in the first place.
The writers came up with a bunch of extra “crutches”, such as lassoes that are transmitted after a murder, which activate super-powers, so a lot of precious time is spent on this part of the plot, which could have been spent on high-quality scenes of hand-to-hand combat with canonical fatalities.
Speaking of the quality of such scenes... Apart from the two clashes between Sub-Zero and Scorpion at the beginning and end of the film, the rest of the fights look nothing. And here, I must say, everything is quite simple. Joe Taslim and even 60 year old Hiroyuki Sanadawho played the sworn enemies have been practicing martial arts all their lives and gave their all in their scenes. But the rest, if you don’t concern the actors who played Liu Kang and Kung Lao, are not fighters at all. Yes, for the same ones Lindena Ashby (Johnny Cage) and Bridget Wilson (Sonya Blade) basically everything was done by stunt doubles. But their opponents were fighters of the highest class of their time, so the 1995 film still looks decent in terms of dynamics, concept and execution of battle scenes. In the film of 2021, when the world has already seen "Ong Bak", "Raids" и "John Wick", staging and performing 80% of the fight scenes is boring and inexpressive - a crime!
Oh... And what did the writers do with Lord Raiden... From the kind, ironic defender of the earthly kingdom, who in the original independently selected fighters with bright souls from all over the planet to confront the Outer World, in "Mortal Kombat" the god of thunder was molded into a lazy and aggressive hysteric, which the plot does not need at all. It's a shame he's played by a good actor Tadanobu Asano, who is no stranger to the practice of hand-to-hand combat. But the director Simon McQuoid and the writers completely kill this important character. The same thing happened to Shang Tsung. Actor Chin Han looks good as a dark sorcerer from the Outer World, but he has nothing to play other than menacing faces and “magazine” phrases.
Why such famous and important for the further narrative of the franchise, Prince Goro and Vampirella Nitara, were introduced into the film is unclear. There was almost zero screen time, and both were lost in ridiculous fights. One word - let's remember.
Is there anything good about the new MK? As mentioned above, this is Joe Taslim и Hiroyuki Sanada, Kung Lao performed by the stuntman turned out to be very canonical Max Huang, sharp-tongued and quite charismatic came out local Kano, performed by Josh Lawson. And that is all?
Yes, perhaps, indeed, that’s all. In a little more detail, our editors reveal their claims to "Mortal Kombat" in recent podcast. If you haven't watched it, now is the time. For now, we leave the unsuccessful remake in second place among disappointments, and move on to third place.
G.I. Joe. Rise of Cobra: Snake Eyes (dir. Robert Schwentke) (16%, 27 votes)
Oh "Snake Eyes"... Either a remake, or... Ah! Everything seems to be clear here. Movie Roberta Schwentke is long-term construction spin-off franchise "Throw of the Cobra" (2009, 2013), which was supposed to reboot the main series, attracting the attention of fans of the toy line and animated series in the universe G.I. Joe. But something went wrong.
Before us is the story of the formation of two iconic characters for the franchise - the “good” ninja Snake Eyes and the “evil” ninja Storm Shadow. How did the scriptwriters cope with revealing this, no joke, curious origin? We had a clear feeling that there was no way! Why the initially vile traitor Snake Eyes fell in love with and trusted his new “ninja family” and why the initially noble fighter of honor Tommy suddenly turns away from his family and takes the path of Storm Shadow is absolutely not clear. The motivation of these two jumps like a kangaroo, and the events happening around them do not really change them. It all comes down to a banal scheme: here they are together and friends, here they are apart and enemies, but here they are united again, and then again enemies to the grave.
Henry Golding, who plays the main role, by all accounts, is not an action hero at all. He lacks charisma for the genre, and in action scenes the Briton looks simply ridiculous until he is replaced by doubles. On the other hand, extremely charismatic Andrew Koji, who doesn’t need doubles in action scenes, but who has absolutely nothing to play, because he becomes a “bad ninja” 5 minutes before the final credits. There is also Iko Uwais, which has one and a half fights on screen for the entire duration and very “complicated cabbage soup” outside these scenes. Why did they call the master of silat and the star into the cast? "Raids", you ask?
The film is graced by beautiful actresses Ursula Corbero, Haruka Abe и Samara Weaving. The girls also still fight, but somehow without any fire. The action scenes here are a total nightmare. And this despite the fact that masters such as veteran Kenji Tanigaki and young but creative Brian Sloyer, whose short films are many times more interesting to watch than the fights in the film "Snake Aes".
All this is topped off by a shaky camera, as if we were watching another movie from "The Bornians", and the torn editing does not allow you to fully enjoy the picture. How did this happen is the question. Well, somewhere, but in terms of action, a restart G.I. Joe should have fired a cool projectile. But no, it’s not here or anywhere near it.
As a result, the film, with a budget of 88 million dollars worldwide, collected a ridiculous 40, automatically cutting off all any sequels and spin-offs, unlike the more successful "Mortal Kombat". Let's add bronze here in this category and leave the picture alone.
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Tags: Insight, Made in Chinatown, Mortal Kombat, Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins, The Matrix Resurrections, The Paper Tigers, Alain Huy, Bao Tran, Brian Sloyer, Henry Golding, Jay Kwon, James Lew, Jessica Henwick, Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais, results of action cinema 2021, Ken Quitugua, Ken Zheng, Keanu Reeves, Kenji Tanigaki, Lana Wachowski, Livy Zheng, Lewis Tan, Michael Shannon Jenkins, Meng Luo, Summing up the fight cinema, Robert Samuels, Robert Schwentke, Ron Yuan, Simon McQuoid, Hiroyuki Sanada, Sean Patrick Flanery, Andrew Koji
Tags: Insight, Made in Chinatown, Mortal Kombat, Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins, The Matrix Resurrections, The Paper Tigers, Alain Huy, Bao Tran, Brian Sloyer, Henry Golding, Jay Kwon, James Lew, Jessica Henwick, Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais, results of action cinema 2021, Ken Quitugua, Ken Zheng, Keanu Reeves, Kenji Tanigaki, Lana Wachowski, Livy Zheng, Lewis Tan, Michael Shannon Jenkins, Meng Luo, Summing up the fight cinema, Robert Samuels, Robert Schwentke, Ron Yuan, Simon McQuoid, Hiroyuki Sanada, Sean Patrick Flanery, Andrew Koji
Correction - Kung Lao was played by Max Huang, not Ludi Lin, Ludi Lin played Liu Kang.
Esmodar,
Thank you. Corrected.