Angelus2
A group of friends go to Bangkok and set up a gym, and come across a ruthless gang that works for the Yakuza.I genuinely had high hopes for this film as the producers of District 13 were behind this...But, I realised that it was the producers not the director. The film has awful fight scenes, worthless parkour chase scenes but one thing that really bugged me was the character development, Kenji, seemed to learn Muay Thai within an afternoon.The film was all over the place...at one moment, the characters are best of friends, then they talk about leaving and then they fight, then one character begins to see ghosts and has a vision of the future...not to mention the dress code of some of the baddies...with great big hoods.Tsu played by Elodie Yung, was probably the one thing that kept this movie watchable, she was beautiful and elegant in her fight scenes, sadly the other actors were not.
udar55
This is the second feature for the French stunt acrobat group Yamakasi. They are all very talented but director Julien Seri can't capitalize on this talent to save his life. Granted, this is a bit better than the eyeball killer YAMAKASI (2001) but not by much. The group finds themselves in Thailand and they end up feuding with a local Yakuza (!) gang. Each member is given more to do this time whether it be falling in love or re-connecting with one's long dead mystical father. There are quite a few action scenes but nothing really stands out. Director Seri has an unbelievable ability to shoot stuff in a way that it has so little impact. The only high point is a shot where three guys drop about 5 stories down a series of silos that is shot in one take. Given that Thailand produced their own badass actioner in ONG BAK the year before, it is sad to see these talented guys relying on lots of wirework. I pray that someone will utilize their parkour skills in something in the future that is a bit more engaging like BANLIEUE 13.
clabook
Being a fan of parkour I have to agree they did some pretty amazing stunts,but what it all added up to in the end was a kung-fu movie. I swear, this movie must have the worst plot in history.Everybody fighting everybody for no apparent reason,random action (they fight when they should run and run when they should fight) adding up to a lot of pointless action.It's all so drawn out I stopped watching by the last 20 minutes or so. Good if you're looking for some stunts out of the ordinary category of Hollywood crap,for rainy afternoons.Also be sure to watch the chick that doesn't change facial expressions the whole movie.Also there is no sex in this one, which is pretty amazing by action flick standards.
Bluenazarite
The plot is simple. A French youngsters who are into extreme sports go to China and get in trouble with the local triad mafia. Just because the training ground they use happen to be on their turf. Without really having anything to do with it they get into the gang warfare. And without choosing any sides they try to fight a way out.The story isn't very spectacular. But the fighting and acrobatics are. The actors are mostly the same as Luc Besson's Yamakasi. And if you have seen that film and those acrobatics and you combine them with martial arts. Then you will understand what makes this film so good. Those men "REALLY" Jump of buildings and "REALLY" climb them barehanded (of course they are protected with cables). But instead of the cable doing all the work it's them. If you want an evening of relaxing and giving your eye some original spectacle without having too much of a plot than this is the movie for you. Enjoy.
AD
