We waited for this for a long time and waited - Nevsky, Dyuzhev, Tagawa, Hughes, Van Dien, Dacascos, Carrere, Rothrock, Gruner and, you won't believe it! Don "Dragon" Wilson - in a super mega action movie - "Showdown in Manila"(baaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I recently found out that Nevsky will personally bring the film to our city and at the same time bring someone from the famous cast (we promised Hughes), hold a press conference and answer questions from fans - the program of the event in the cinema has been posted. Such a chance comes up extremely rarely, and I, having dropped everything, rushed halfway across the city in the evening to the premiere - at the same time, for our website, to grab either a short interview or a couple of shots with the actors.
The first bummer was when I had already bought a ticket - Nevsky cheated those who were waiting for him and arrived much earlier than promised, quickly held a conference and left 4 hours before the premiere, leaving only a video apology and 500 booklets signed by him. There were a lot of dissatisfied people, I was so angry. But I think, okay, since I’ve arrived, I should at least watch a movie.
There was a normal number of people, mostly young people, but there were also those who were older, they lively discussed the film, remembering the actors and their films. These discussions were interrupted by the start of the film, which, I repeat, was preceded by a video apology, where Nevsky, in a businesslike (not guilty) tone, tried to weakly justify himself. Then the movie started.
What can we say? Did the film live up to expectations? Is there hope for a new era of action films? Let's finally take a closer look. I warn you that there are spoilers - if you want to watch the movie, watch the movie and stop reading.
Chapter 1 - Action
There is not enough of it. It's criminally small - but it's there and cleverly scattered throughout the film. The main share of the action occurs in the final part, where the heroes gathered and went to storm the base of Glavgad. One of the main problems of the film is not the action itself - but the PRELUDES to it: before every action there is a prelude (the heroes are preparing to strike, sneaking, chasing the enemy, aiming at him, starting a tense conversation with the enemy, intense music plays) - and this prelude is LONG, and you sit and wait - when the fuck will he start shooting?! But he still doesn’t start - and it will be like this the whole film.
The fights are staged sanely, but sometimes the same one comes into play Installation of Dacascos (at the moment the blow is struck, the camera angle changes so that the moment the foot collides with the face is not visible) - especially in the scenes with Nevsky and Van Dien, who don’t really know how to fight (as far as I know). The fights themselves are very short, but almost everyone was given a fight, right down to Tia Carrere. The greatest amount of fighting is at the end, mainly Gruner, Rothrock and Wilson fighting. These scenes are watchable, but wildly, I repeat, short. There is only one boss battle - Van Dien and Nevsky against Hughes.
The rest of the action is shooting. It is uneven and dull in places:
- The heroes reload their weapons, they run out of ammo and they use grenades, knives and hand-to-hand combat with improvised objects (Kali sticks, clubs, bats, boards, tables, chairs), this is a plus. They get injured, sometimes even seriously, and some are killed. But this plus is outweighed by the minuses.
- And the disadvantages here are the same as in the old B and C-action films: magical dodging bullets, standing upright and firing at surrounding enemies (guess whose performance), the enchanting accuracy of one of the heroes (with realistic misses by the rest) - and again, guess which one!
- A lot of flickering. There come moments when it is unclear who is shooting at whom. For an action movie declared to be A-class (Blockbuster), this is unacceptable.
- There was an attempt to do teamwork - Nevsky sends one to do one thing and the other to do something else - as a result, half of the team happily “forgets” about the tasks - and does a lot of unnecessary things.
- Despite the budget, most of the explosions and blood were done on the computer, I’ll be honest - it’s pathetic.
- There are a lot of mock-ups for other films, and unsuccessful mock-ups. First comes "The Raid" (the beginning of the film), then "The Expendables" and "Skin Trade". But you won’t see any depth of scenes, bloody action or long fights from the listed films here.
The rest about the action is in the Actors chapter.
Chapter 2 - Plot
The story here is the most ordinary, B-action: two heroes - one Russian, the other American, private detectives on the topic of betrayal. The Russian is a former cop who worked in special forces - they were chasing some terrorist (Tagawa), but they fell into a trap and almost all of them died. Then the wife (Carrere) of a former FBI agent killed by the same terrorist approaches them and asks them to find him. The rest, of course, is clear.
I didn’t notice any strong arthouse excesses (Salamander’s Key, Flint-2, Swordbearer), but I didn’t notice any bells and whistles, twists, etc. either: the story itself is a semi-finished product without any highlights, obviously pulled from the “Textbook of Ready-Made Scripts” . Everything is spoiled by prolonged moments and long pauses that take away screen time from the action.
There are attempts to be humorous - and all the humor is on Van Dien. I tried to humor Dyuzhev on the topics "Russians vs Americans“, it looked pathetic and shitty - not because of the theme itself, but because of the execution. The audience laughed in places, I did too a couple of times - but the humor was mostly “Petrosyan”, the jokes were weak - again, from the “Textbook of ready-made scripts” - copy They copied it, but they couldn’t deepen it and bring it under the joke. I give a minus for humor, and I send a three-letter letter to the one who called the action movie comedic.
The climax is weak - there is no final boss, or rather there is one, but he is trying to kill the heroes and the viewer with pretentious piss, not fights. Tagawa is getting old, getting old. However, the unexpected plus was the scene with Carrere at the end. It depends on you, but I liked her move, she acted like a human being.
A number of moments are not completed - for example, I did not see Nevsky’s date with his wife in the theater.
In short, the plot is a C (out of five) - bland, but without unnecessary shit.
Chapter 3 - Technical Side and Fanservice
The music and sounds were good. The soundtrack chosen was action-packed, with a slight twist on Brian Tyler. I liked it, but it mostly played in the prelude to action scenes. Sounds are a plus - shots are loud, falling objects and impacts are clearly audible.
The camera is also not bad, but in a number of action scenes there was too much close-up. However, I didn’t notice much of a jerky camera - and this is a big plus. Also in the film there are very beautiful views of the area, but there will be no emphasis on them.
By fanservice: Boobs will be shown occasionally. The rest of the time, gerontophiles (just kidding) are invited to see the shaking huge boobs of Tia Carrere (alas, only in the cutout) and Cynthia Rothrock - at least thank you for that. On the villainous side, Natalya Gubina was relatively good, but her “themes” were not revealed.
However, a good technical side does not save the film from its shortcomings.
Chapter 4 - Actors
I have reviewed most of them on this site more than once. Here I will go over their playing and presence in more detail.
- Alexander "Nevsky" Kuritsyn. He acted with a bad and oaky face, voiced the character insipidly - you don’t believe the actor in any scene, except for a few fights. It would be better if they gave him more fights than dialogues. Obviously, this is an attempt to imitate the young Schwartz - and the choice is unsuccessful. In hand-to-hand combat, he looked convincing - he broke bats, hit faces, threw villains back and forth - but all the fights were very short. In the shooting scenes, he looked ugly, standing stupidly at full height, like a tall target - especially in contrast with other characters who tried to hide and dodge bullets - this caused laughter in the audience. However, I am not directing my complaints regarding the game to him, but to Dacascos, which could have retouched his performance and given him more fight scenes.
- Casper van Dien. He played better than anyone, both with his face and in general. It was clear that he did not enjoy the moronic jokes written for him by the scriptwriters. As I already said, he was given several fights and, as a comical character, he mostly got on the scoreboard. Dien is a big plus for the film, he tried and “pulled.”
- Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa. The final boss, whose role is to talk pretentiously and sit with chicks in a sun lounger. No, it didn’t turn out to be a Tarantino villain, and the combat is stupid - I held the Kalash in my hand and that’s it.
- Matthias Hughes. Well, the role is similar - sitting with chicks in a sun lounger, in a bar, etc. Then a small chase and a short fight. That's it, Hughes is finished. Did you think there would be more?
- Tia Carrere. Dramatic role - shout "NOOOOOOOOOOO!", shake her big breasts and fight once. She acted well (for such a film), I liked the scene at the end with the villains.
- Robert Madrid - it’s pathetic to insult the cops and get shot. That's it, Madrid, goodbye.
- Olivier Gruner - looked good both in hand-to-hand combat and shooting. But there was little time. If only there were more of it...
- Cynthia Rothrock - most of the hand-to-hand combat in the movie was on her: Kali chopped with sticks and with her feet, not forgetting to shoot. I tried to joke, I didn’t laugh, and neither did the audience.
- Don Dragon Wilson - he was the least of all. With an angry face, he mined something and also got into a little fight. He looked good for his age and moved too.
- Dmitry Dyuzhev - tried to make funny jokes (worse than Comedy Club) and played as a sniper on the team. There is one INTENSIVE scene associated with him (a plus for the film) and a couple of good hits. That's all Dyuzhev.
- And finally MARK DACASCOS!!!!! The much-awaited hero of “Drive” and “The Crying Killer” returns to Russian screens! To die in a VERY short scene immediately after appearing. Well, at least I managed to fight a little. In general, one of the main scams of this film is connected with Mark - along with the heroes, he poses on the poster with a machine gun. The viewer thinks: "Yeah, so Mark after the short fight in the trailer. where it is not in the jungle, it will still be there!“There won’t be a bald horseradish. His “death” was the first serious signal that the film would not work.
Chapter 5 - Summary.
The film is replete with too many script stupidities - delaying moments, stupid jokes, very short fights, casting of actors and negative cliches. It seemed that Nevsky and his team had watched the reviews of their main hater Badcomedian, but only remembered the joke about “walking” - the rest of the cliches of films with Alexander were in place (even exaggerating them) and Bazhenov had enough work.
The film also loses in comparison with other trash films - “The Salamander Key” has Fedor Emelianenko, the actors’ attempts to play and extensive action scenes; “Gentlemen Officers Save the Emperor” is also much more detailed in the combat and a number of actors (Bukharov, for example) even manage to act out something. However, "The Lion's Share" is equal to the plot's "Showdown" with a knockout. The film is not even close to the cut-down version of "The Hungt for Piranha" and "Satisfaction" (TV series).
However, it sucks"Showdown in Manila" would be a misnomer - sane camera, editing and music, as well as a slight feeling of nostalgia at the end for the actors who are fading into the past.
The film is a D plus, I wouldn’t watch it in the cinema (if I knew in advance), but at home with a beer (if you are already 18 and haven’t quit by this point) it’s just the thing - just once. From this moment on, I no longer believe in Nevsky, although the fault is not entirely his, but the screenwriters and Mark Dacascos.
I know that Nevsky can read this article, so I have a few questions for him as a producer and participant in the creation:
- Why couldn’t the fight of Hughes against Van Dien and Nevsky be made more developed, like, for example, the fight of Badyuk against Okhlobystin and Stychkin in “The Nightingale the Robber”?
- Why couldn't Gruner and Wilson have had long fights? It is clear that they still “can”.
- Where is Cynthia with the machine gun? The film promised this.
- Why is the villainous cast so weak: only two characters (well, three, with Gubina, who could have been given a fight with Rothrock)?
- Why isn't there a long boss fight?
After the film, I, disappointed with Nevsky’s action (that he left), listened to what the audience was saying about the film and at the same time asked several of them for their opinion.
The girls found the film boring, one of them praised the performance of Casper Van Dien. Her companion just shook his head.
Young males rated the film negatively. In particular, one of the guys I interviewed said:
If I had the opportunity to go back 3 hours, I would stand at the entrance and tell everyone - "Don't go to this movie!"
Another added:
- Boring. Not interesting at all.
Bad Comedian was mentioned repeatedly, no need to explain the reasons. Older audiences were slightly more favorable to the film.
- "Well, at least they didn’t kill anyone, that’s good"- a 40-year-old man smiled sadly
- "How nostalgia will come once", answered another, a little older.
- "One time, no more", added a third.
After everything, I understand why Nevsky left so early. He understands perfectly well that people would prefer to go see “Deadpool,” so he announced his personal presence with one of the actors - and even look at the hero of Bazhenov’s reviews, and even take a photo with him! The people fell for it, as did I - but Nevsky ran away in order to pull off this trick in other cities as quickly as possible. The trick was a success, I don’t argue - someone came. I hope it doesn't work again after this review.
I wish you success and good films in your film projector. See you again!
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Tags: Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Don Wilson, Kasper Van Din, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mark Dacascos, Matthias Hughes, Olivier Gruner, Showdown in Manila, Cynthia Rothrock, Tia Carrere
Tags: Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Don Wilson, Kasper Van Din, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mark Dacascos, Matthias Hughes, Olivier Gruner, Showdown in Manila, Cynthia Rothrock, Tia Carrere
I haven't seen the film! this is a complete paragraph....and slow-witted Nevsky...))) a film for stupid dill
The cub begged to watch a movie with him...
It’s not that I was very stubborn, but after looking at the cast, I still agreed. The film directed by Mark Dacascos (!) "Showdown in Manila" starred: Casper Van Dien, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mark Dacascos, Matthias Hughes, Cynthia Rothrock, Don "Dragon" Wilson, Olivier Gruner... All of them are action heroes 80 's and 90s, and all are masters of hand-to-hand combat. Well, some of them are savate, some are wrestling, some have been doing karate all their lives. Dacascos, there, anyway - if you want capoeira, you want karate with a street fight - please... Now there’s also a director, therefore... It’s not clear how Dmitry Dyuzhev got into this company (apparently he decided that it would be continuation of “The Brigade”))), and.. I really didn’t expect it at all, Alexander Nevsky... I have a completely ambiguous attitude towards Nevsky, his reputation is too smelly, and he himself is somehow... not textured, or something .... In a word, I heeded the child’s requests and sat down to watch the film. Need I say that a film chock-full of martial artists must also be chock-full (forgive the tautology)))) of action scenes??? But it was not there. The entire film, the well-aged knights of the ring and tatami fire endless cartridges at the enemy, forgetting in the excitement of the shootout that they can stop bullets with their palms and teeth. I was looking forward to the battle scenes, remembering the tricks these beauties (except Dyuzhev and Nevsky, of course)) are capable of. But no... Except for Nevsky, who flashed on the screen, who decided that with the departure of Iron Arnie from the screen, the Terminator laurels should now go to him, and who watered the enemy with almost bursts from a Beretta, standing at his full heroic height, without bending down and not hiding in plain sight of an entire army of drug dealers, there was nothing to see... In the depths of the jungle flashed Cynthia Rothrock, with her hair dyed the brightest lilac, which made her completely invisible in the jungle against the backdrop of green foliage ))))), shouted wounded Dyuzhev, Dragon and Salad were hiding somewhere, forgive Olivier. But now, the cartridges have run out... This sometimes happens with heroes, and according to the director’s idea, this usually means that now the hero is self-realizing as a hand-to-hand fighter... And taking into account the fact that both the director is a fighter and the Brigade (ugh, this BRIGADE was given to me)))) also not with a finger... I tensed up, put a mouthguard in my teeth, just in case, and prepared to see what new thing they had invented on the hand-to-hand front...
Guys.. This is some kind of thing.. I don’t even know what to say - it’s a shame, or something.. No, of course the heroes made a couple of blows to nowhere, but.. that’s all... It seems to me that they are so old, that he is no longer able to even move normally, I will say nothing about the spectacular, but in real life, “Hollywood jumps” that are worthless in real life, but then why was it necessary to invite them to the film? Nevsky, of course, rescued everyone, who shot the bad guys, and then the fairy tale ended, but the remaining sediment still does not leave me... Don't watch this sad shit, guys, just waste your time!!!
Igor Timoshenko,
Well, it would be a miracle if the film was great. And as you know, miracles are created by the same people.
But can you really expect a miracle from someone who doesn’t even understand what cinema is, how to make it, and why in general.
A failed person can mess up a lot of things in life! This is what happens with Nevsky. That's it Whoa!
Nevsky came to my city together with Matthias Hughes and Robert Madrid. I really liked how he answered the question that he doesn’t like to watch remakes, but if he does, then he definitely watches the original. Someone in the crowd then quietly said: “It’s normal that he’s trying to copy Arnold.” I didn’t go to see the film, because what kind of film would it be, but I came to get an autograph from Matthias Hughes and he signed the videotape “Free Hungter” for me. The worst news for me was when Nevsky answered with a smile that he and some producers were going to film “Angel of Darkness-2.”
Lone Wolf,
What a score. He also brought us Hughes. And he took me away 3 hours before the premiere.
Well, no one expected anything else from Manila. Maybe with the exception of Nevsky itself.
Ravenside,
I'm waiting for a review from the luminary Raven. Just don't go to the movies)
uranium,
I take your word for your review))
Ravenside,
Thank you, but I would also like your detailed review, as there haven’t been any for a long time)
Everything is logical. Everything is as it should have been, as expected, as seen from the information and the trailer.
Dacascos is not a director, and Nevsky is not an actor. Sasha is an enthusiast and a typical “men with money”, and this is good and bad at the same time. He gathered a cohort of useless actors together. As it turns out, you don't have to be Stallone to do this. But in order to make a film worthy of attention, you need to have certain professional “abilities”.
Judging by the cast, the film has two and a half actors: Van Dien, Tia Carere and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. The latter can really act, including drama, but not when he is put in the most typical role of his track record, the main villain, giving orders. Rothrock, Gruner, Wilson, Hughes certainly play their usual archetypes. I still don’t understand what the good actor Dyuzhev forgot here. Maybe he and Nevsky are friends...? In any case, he has nothing to play here.
Dacascos, having no experience, filmed something with the money of Nevsky and Bartkowiak. I’m sure the second one didn’t really care about the result, but the first one controlled the production of the film to the fullest. But they all need experience to make it something more than an average parody of a typical action B-movie from the 90s, but for Russian money.
I haven't watched it, but I'm looking forward to it. If there's a movie in my city, I'll go. Because such projects still need to be supported with rubles. What if truly talented people end up in the chain? If not, I'll wait for pirated copies. But I’ll look at the opus of Nevsky and Dacascos, who once said that he didn’t really want to play, he was interested in the production process. But his name was needed not only with the prefix director, the film’s PR people played on his name, which, of course, is a little mean.
DIV,
There were a lot of things that could have been fixed. Just lengthen the combat time by three times and make non-stop action with long fights.
I wouldn’t spend money - isn’t it clear from the thousands of reviews both here and on the Internet that Russian action cinema won’t get better just because of money? After Manila, I lost faith in Nevsky too.
They need to read more the opinions and advice of viewers than purchased critics (of which there are plenty on Kinopoisk)
I was surprised by Nevsky’s action. As it is, not many people are interested in old-school action movies. And since Dacascos won’t be dragged to a certain city for the premiere, Nevsky could behave better and come.
I understand the desire of old actors to play. But they forget that the film directors were different in the old school. And there’s nothing to talk about the battles (the same Corey Yun). Even Dacascos, with all due respect, won’t do it this way.
The result - shook up the good actors who really made their mark in the films. The same Van Dien at Verhoeven pulled and fried. But A. Kuritsyn, unfortunately, is not Paul Verhoeven. That says it all.
Yuri Skromny,
Actually, he came - but many hours earlier and not for long, and he took Hughes with him. Yes, it was very disappointing that he held the conference quickly and early, the cinema will also get a flap from me for this.
He shook up the actors, but there was no sense and there never will be. Well, only if they don’t film in Russia like Pavel Delong and Depardieu. There will be no sense because this film is not the first. And nothing has changed.
Excellent review article!!!...about review! From the side of NEVSKY. I’m sure that Dacascos was simply an announced actor, and then during a beer party they blamed him for “sort of directing.” He once said that if he ever becomes a director, he wants to direct films like John Woo’s. However, what happened in the end can be seen even in the trailer. And there are no miracles.
Born to crawl, will never fly. I don’t justify him, but I understand that a clear part of the directing belonged to Nevsky. How to give a drink.
And Nevsky is neither a failed bodybuilder, nor a properly declared actor, nor a fighter, nor a stuntman. And hoping that something good will come out from under his wing is simply UTOPIA.
Miracles don't happen, friends... they don't happen. Because they are made by people who master their professional skills. What the one who stood at the helm of this entire ship clearly lacked. It's simple.
Positive to you friends! And personally, I'm waiting for the BODYGUARD with Sammo. Well, a little bit of IP MAN 3. At least this is a much more definitely worthy spectacle.
jaidev,
Something might work out for Nevsky - provided that he gets to a smart director and screenwriters and devotes himself completely to them (without amateur performances) - it will turn out well, in the fights in "Manila" he looked... Well, adequately, and it would be better that way was.
Shadrin is right about Dacascos, most likely it was so.