“Slave trade” (“Skin trade”) - this is some attempt (conscious or not) to repeat the character scheme shown to us in "Showdown in Little Tokyo", plus back it up with a winning villain played by Ron Perlman and a modern fighting game played by Tony Jaa.
The picture came out somewhat uneven. Strongly tailored, but not original and a little formal.
The film's shortcomings lie primarily in the superficial script, which clearly lacks some poignancy and drama, despite the fact that the film's serious themes involve constantly pulling emotions out of the viewer. The reason for this formality is not only the empty text itself, but also the lack of high-quality acting, because only Tony tries to act. Lundgren, with the burn stuck on, resembles some kind of shriveled mask, Perlman walks around the entire film with the same blank expression on his face, and Peter Weller generally acts as an extra with very little screen time, in other words, his role is almost a cameo. It would seem that despite the fact that these are not stars of the first magnitude, the potential of this cast is still much greater than what was squeezed out of it. Perhaps it was necessary to take not Lundgren for the main role, but some more or less venerable actor, because Lundgren does not have enough acting, he is not particularly valuable in action, and therefore we will replace him. Yes, this is his project, his brainchild, but he could have remained only a co-author of the script and a producer - the film would not have lost anything from this.
But the picture also has its advantages, which relate mainly to the “craft” side. Among the definitely positive aspects, the most striking are the very mature and well-made opening credits, not only technically, but also dramaturgically, which act as a prologue and immediately immerse us in the essence and atmosphere of the film, which, alas, is then lost. We also have to pay tribute to the excellent picture, locations and work with light and color processing, thanks to which the film looks very expensive in places and sometimes it seems that you are not watching a B-shku at all, but some decent Hollywood project, but more on that a little later. But the camera work is ambiguous: there are professionally constructed medium and long shots, especially vertical shots from above, but at the same time, sometimes disgusting close-ups are annoying, with arms, legs and heads that occasionally do not fit into the frame.
Now let's talk about the action. I’ll keep silent about the numerous shootouts, because who would be surprised these days by the shots from a Kalashnikov and a shotgun and the painted explosions, however, I will note that in the film there are old-school shots and naturalistic holes and blood from bullets, and not graphics.
As for the fighting game, it makes sense to disassemble it in parts.
The fights definitely look better than in "Honor of the Dragon 2" ("Tom yum goong 2") and Jaa himself has become generally fresher, although his age cannot be hidden. The first long fight in the film is Jaa VS Lundgren, in which we see Tony recklessly jumping and jumping around Dolph, who, with a frantic face, waves his cast-iron fists and turns around like the turret of a tank. At some point, I caught myself thinking that Tony reminds me of an annoying sparrow who is trying to shit on the Lenin monument.
Both opponents are unkillable and extremely durable, but the dynamics of the battle often sags due to the slowness of Dolph (and his numerous stunt doubles), post-processing and re-tuning of Jaa's strikes. When filming a jump kick, there is always a danger of spoiling the impression of it if you try to film it several times from different angles, and then at the most important moment of the foot touching the enemy’s face, make a montage and apply some other visual effect so that we It became unclear what had happened. This is often what happens in The Slave Trade. Yes, it saves the actor's or stuntman's face from injury, but it defeats the purpose of creating a stunt or punch.
But it is not all that bad. Firstly, in some places there are good angles, powerful contact punches and clear work in the air, and secondly, the staging of light and locations. In general, the entire film is made up of 4 primary colors: gray in the beginning and city landscapes, blue and orange in fighting games and khaki in the final batch. The Jaa VS Lundgren fight is a grain barn and a lot of well-placed orange lighting through the plank walls. It all looks quite expensive, plus it refers us to many classic action films with similar locations.
The second fight is Jaa VS White, in which everything is much better and is the main fight of the film. White also cannot boast of ease of movement and variety in technique, besides, he has become completely beefy and huge, but the fight as a whole looks quite presentable. White's hand combinations look a little sloppy, but the kicks look very clear, impressive and, what is especially pleasing, contact. It is clear that MJ has powerful knives that simply demolish Tony. Yes, there is not enough speed, intensity, dynamics and pulsation, and even the soundtrack for the battle is too background and faded, but the overall impression of the battle remains good. And again, I will separately highlight the work with light and color. From the black and orange locations in the courtyard, opponents burst into a cold warehouse in blue with splashes of yellow and then fly out again into orange. I repeat, it all looks expensive, conceptual and high quality.
The final battle in the camp of the main villain consists of numerous genre clichés, helicopters, grenade launchers, soldiers and other “Commandos”. Well, of course, as a result of the events, the main character, in the best traditions of true-action films, having escaped from the police of different countries and leaving behind mountains of corpses, calmly gets on the bus and leaves to meet the sunset.
Generally, "Skin trade" - a work that is worth watching, but don’t have high hopes for it. It won’t reveal Jaa, Lundgren or White in a new way, it won’t show something that we haven’t seen yet, I don’t think it will add new fans to them, but against the backdrop of the recently released “Honor of the Dragon 2”, “Rise of the Falcon” "and numerous crafts with Lundgren - it looks quite decent and advantageous.
Author: Ravenside
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Tags: Skin Trade, Dolph Lundgren, Michael Jai White, Tony JAA
Tags: Skin Trade, Dolph Lundgren, Michael Jai White, Tony JAA
- interview with Jaa
OMG!)) What a “wonderful” accent he has. Judging by Tony's mood, the premiere was a success.))
I just looked. A C grade.
1) The fights are normal, but something is missing - either a choreographer or a director. Jah is great, but the potential is not revealed - in all the action scenes something similar comes to mind. Any old fighter for three kopecks with the same Dacascos is much better. The camera work was also a bit let down.
2) The rest of the action was also sluggish, the same "vehicle vs parkour" chase reminded me of a similar one from our "Bold Days", only ours lacked a shootout - and Bold Bottom would have outplayed this action movie.
There were boring skirmishes, teamwork was shown sluggishly and poorly.
In short, with such a cast they filmed it at the level of a modern Russian action movie - with a weak C grade. Obviously, it’s not just the actors, but also the writers, editors, directors, choreographers, and so on. I give it a weak C - and only for fights.
The taste and color are understandable, but if it comes down to it, you can only look for worse Russian action films in Bollywood; comparing “Slave Trade” with them is a little merciless. It still holds up to "4" :)
There is nothing to add.
The film itself is much better than Ong Bak's where-are-my-elephants. And for the eighties and even the nineties, this would have been a landmark movie. But in terms of a fighting game, everything turned out to be quite average, but in terms of the script, it was crazy.
By the way, for some reason I also remembered “Showdown in Little Tokyo”.
I surprisingly liked the fight between Lungren and Ja - it turned out to be quite truthful - a small monkey jumps around a gorilla and cannot just kill it, and a gorilla cannot just catch a macaque. And how tired and beaten they stand opposite each other - you can immediately believe they had a fight. Nothing revolutionary, nothing super cool, but damn authentic.
In general, I also more or less liked White vs Jha. Especially at the beginning, where Michael takes full advantage of his mass advantage. No, even though he has become heavier, he still fights technically and with a filigree sense of distance.
But I don’t plan to re-watch it much, unlike Ong Bak and The Raid.
A bunch of blunders like how a security guard distracted Lungren by pouring grain on him and evaporated. How at first they didn’t touch Lungren’s shot leg, they drove somewhere in a car, and then bandaged it over his jeans. Etc. The final batch is in vain. These little things create the impression of category “B”.
Well, the acting is not that unreliable, just inexpressive. None. Not a single image seemed bright, cool, or memorable to me. Anyone could be replaced with anyone.
Wave,
And not only the guard, the girl to whom Tony gives government police money and says - go home, without testimony. And his girlfriend is almost a prostitute-informant - this is generally a complete guard....
And you also forgot the special forces at the end and the mafia slave trader is definitely, if not from Russia, then from Eastern Europe. And Russia, by the way, was mentioned in vain.
But you must admit, everything could have been done much better. That's what's offensive. And the script should be patched up, the madness should be minimized, and the fights will be staged more intensely. There were opportunities, resources were available.
Good review. I agree with many things) Although I liked the fight with Lundgren more than the fight with White. If everything that was possible was squeezed out of Lundgren (and the backups), then White, in my opinion, could show a more interesting fighting game. Tony is good. Everything looks more honest than in his last films, with cables and special effects. I’m sure that if not the whole film, then I’ll definitely watch the fights from it more than once)
cyclonus,
Yes, I agree that something more varied could have been done with White. But, I repeat, IMHO he has been fighting rather sparingly on screen for a long time. But White was at least a better match for Jaa as a partner and opponent. Therefore, it is logical to consider this fight central. And Dolph, with all due respect, is like a bull in a china shop.
Ravenside,
Dolph has always been an elephant) This is not surprising) But the fact that White has turned into almost the same elephant is somehow disappointing) Although I agree that he has not been trying for a long time on screen. His last interesting fights (IMHO) were in Never Give Up 2, and then only a little. And there are 3 bullets in the short film. When you look at him young, you understand that before there was speed and smoothness and excellent stretch) But now there is only mass) And Dolph is always Dolph) in other words, it is clear that Dolph tried, but Michael Jai White did not.
cyclonus,
Here again... it’s clear that this is Dolph’s project and it’s clear that you can play in a contrasting scheme - a healthy white cop and a small oriental one, but why not take the same Dacascos in the main role along with Tony? To have fewer weak links.
Ravenside,
Agree. It would be cool. Maybe then there would be at least one hero in this film with whom I would like to empathize. And all the way there was a feeling that Tony ended up here by accident)
Just watched it yesterday. I completely agree with the review. In terms of light and correction it is generally very powerful. The editor killed everything with his inability to choose the right shots for the film. I'm sure they filmed a lot. I see. By the way, I noticed a “reference” to American action films of the 90s. Precisely American. Why? There is no rhythm to the fights. There is one in Hong Kong. If the choreographer got it wrong somewhere, the editor finishes it off. And it all worked perfectly. It was correctly said above - sometimes it is not clear what is happening. It was the same feeling.
In general, I was pleased with Jaa, who is trying to play... and fight, at least somehow staying afloat. But Dolph could present himself in all his glory and try. But... alas...
I liked Boy Ja and White more. But it seemed long to me with many unnecessary shots. Remount it and there will be amazing dynamics!
And the main point is an EXCELLENT PREREQUISITE for erotic scenes (Dolph with his wife, Jaa with his girlfriend) BUT... either they don’t know how, or they don’t know, or they don’t want to. Well then, don’t show any hint of such a topic at all. Meaning?
As a result, I won’t review it and I won’t recommend it either. But the time was not wasted. They are trying to break out of the category of B films based on the picture... they are trying. And this is commendable.
Jaidev,
I also thought about the erotic scene, but I thought even more about the fact that his family, wife and daughter are shown in passing, superficially, in passing. And they were killed immediately. How are we supposed to empathize with the hero if the family is shown as extras, it’s unclear what kind of relationship they have, what kind of people they are, and even Lundgren hasn’t played a damn thing? No immersion in the character.
And yes, I agree that some of the scenes in the Jaa-White fight could be cut out.
The first full review, and on time. Thank you, it was interesting to read!
I was somehow slightly puzzled by the idea that age was already taking its toll on Jaa... for some reason, I didn’t even think about how old he was, he seemed to be just starting out... and yet, he’s already 39. :(
barsug,
Unfortunately, it affects everyone. Time cannot be stopped.
Ravenside,
I wouldn’t say that about White, not so long ago he swung his legs very cheerfully in “Rise of the Falcon”... maybe his office attire had an effect here?)
jack krauser,
More about pants and office suit)
Pants No. 1
[img]http://savepic.su/5626765.jpg[/img]
[img]http://savepic.su/5624717.jpg[/img]
and pants No. 2:
[img]http://savepic.su/5614477.jpg[/img]
jack krauser,
Well, I think he's always been heavy-handed. There's just so much more now. Not the same speed, less mobility, a minimum of difficult shots, jump shots. And by the way, his office outfit didn’t bother him much, because he fought there in two different pants. Please note - throughout the film he walked around in pants that fit right next to him, but he fought in pants that were a size or two too big. And even during the fight itself, if I saw correctly, his pants changed 2 times.