The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

Just what I expected

A lot of fun.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I enjoyed this film and recommend to those of you that watch anime as it has that feel about it. There are some great chatacters and fight sequences that are fun to watch. The script is not the best and the plot is not exactly deep or complex but it's not what this film about. Appreciate the film for what it is and just enjoy it.

I would recommend watching this if you want to see a vanity project by someone who has no idea of character development or storyline but thinks that aping b-movie kung fu plots will get them off the hook. It is truly truly dire. Lucy liu and crowe mail in enough to pick up their cheques but otherwise a cartoon imitation of direction and plot. It's laughable that IMDb requires 10 lines of text for a review, as this movie only needs 4 to describe how fundamentally awful it is. Occasionally Lucy Liu has an expression on her face that shrieks 'OMG, who wrote that line' , shortly before the film jumps to some artsy visual effect and some scene with maybe some bare female flesh, backed up with some wu tang crap. Amateur.

Seeing and hearing about this film gave me the impression it could be awesome and different then other fighting films and with stars as Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu I was hoping for something great, but it doesn't really reach that high on the scale.It does have a lot of good things, there are some great fighting scenes off course those are some of the most important scenes of the film. It have some great, strange and odd characters, but they really fit into the universe. It is filled with action and adventure and the story is an okay one, but it takes itself a bit too serious.I was entertained and had a good time watching it, but I feel it could have been something more and could have been better in many ways.

This was not a flawless movie by any means but I surprised that it got so much hate from the viewers. What did they expect from a movie like this? They complained about the action how it was too over the top, too unrealistic. Wouldn't that include almost every kung fu movie ever made? Yes the acting was not the best, but the storyline was at least a new interesting concept that entertained. I felt like the makers of this movie could never figure out what style they were going for. They had an ancient Chinese setting, gangs of martial artists with big 1980's hair, slaves on a plantation, cowboys, rapping and hip-hop background music, foreign speakers with subtitles but 98% of their Chinese characters spoke English with no accent whatsoever. I liked the use of children in the movie, there was something I liked about how there were always innocent happy children running around having fun amidst the chaos and violence that they didn't understand. The opening credits were very cool with the freeze frames in the middle of the action. You could definitely tell that Eli Roth and Quintin Tarantino had a part in this film. It almost echoed Kill Bill in action, theme, and outrageous gore and the nonstop explosive spraying of blood. I was very surprised to see Russell Crowe play a role like this, but it was something different and made sure he won't be put in a type-casted mold. The worst part about the film was the extra scene at the end of the credits giving reason for a sequel. It was awful and after the response of the movie there is a very slim chance of that happening (though there are rumors for 2015). In conclusion it was not great but a descent effort by RZA for his directing debut.