For reviews from critics intelligent and well-versed enough to understand this work, please look up: Calum Marsh's 3.5 out of 4 stars review for Slant Magazine, The New York Time's Critic Pick review, the Filmmaker's review, the Indiewire review, the SECOND Indiewire review, the Village Voice review, the New York Magazine review, the Criticwire review, the Tiny Mixed Tape review, the Tiny Mixed Tape 2012 Best Films review, or any other review from the dozens of countries in Europe and Asia (and Australia) where this has played, as opposed to this grossly inaccurate completely amateurish Danish "review." For starters, about 70% is re-enactment. I don't know what film this guy was watching. Sincerely, Z. Oberzan.
2 Reviews
Interesting, albeit somewhat amateurish look at family-life..
KnatLouie11 April 2014
So, this movie is about a home-movie project from director/actor Zachary Oberzan, where he and his brother (and sister) decided to remake Jean-Claude Van Damme's epic martial arts movie, "Kickboxer". The special thing about this remake however, is that they first made the film back in 1989, when they were teenagers, and then re-remade it again in 2009, when they were adults, and had 20 years of wear and tear on themselves. Zach's brother had apparently gone through a lot of drug-abuse, which was also chronicled a bit in the film.
The problem is mostly, that you don't really get a look at what went on between the two remakes, apart from a few small snippets here and there, which leaves you wanting more, when the film is done. Hopefully the Oberzans will make another chapter in the story in 2029, when another 20 years have passed.
Also, there were a few bits of re-enacting "Faces of Death" and "JCVD", so it's not all about "Kickboxer" - in fact, there's probably only a handful of scenes there were re-created, so it's not really that complete a remake at all. It's mostly just the story about the three kids, who have grown up to be troubled adults after 20 years. A decent semi-documentary, but still a bit too amateurish to be really entertaining for "outsiders".
The problem is mostly, that you don't really get a look at what went on between the two remakes, apart from a few small snippets here and there, which leaves you wanting more, when the film is done. Hopefully the Oberzans will make another chapter in the story in 2029, when another 20 years have passed.
Also, there were a few bits of re-enacting "Faces of Death" and "JCVD", so it's not all about "Kickboxer" - in fact, there's probably only a handful of scenes there were re-created, so it's not really that complete a remake at all. It's mostly just the story about the three kids, who have grown up to be troubled adults after 20 years. A decent semi-documentary, but still a bit too amateurish to be really entertaining for "outsiders".
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