andrewmakatsaria Reviews

The Division - PoC (2018)

Fast-paced, adrenaline-fuelled 24 minutes of awesome martial art filmmaking !

[10/10 · 12 November 2018]

As I'm writing this review of the latest and greatest, from the best of the best on the current international martial arts action scene, Jean-Paul Ly, there's two parts of me: One, the objective critic, spoiled by many years of consuming martial arts films like oxygen that have made me harsher on films in this genre, and Two, the biased fanboy of Mr. Ly, that instantly became one after a chance encounter with the guy, but also a deep love for his style of choreography and choreography. So imagine my happiness and excitement to say that The Division - PoC, satisfied both parts of my consciousness and delivered an incredibly entertaining piece of martial arts action filmmaking.

Having been made on a startlingly low, but immensely impressive as a result budget of 9k, the short delivers, a tense, high-stakes game of cat and mouse with a terrorist organisation at the center, plotting to blow the hell out of London, and an elite team of special ops operative duos known as "The Division" out to bring them down. Sound like awesome 80s schlock yet ? good, cause the short embraces that with all seriousness and manages to create quite a compelling and intriguing world of espionage, double-crossings and high-impact on-screen carnage of bullets, fists, kicks and spins that leave just enough room to get to know the character, relate to them and understand the villains' motivations. Assisting in this effort is the great chemistry between the two leads in Jean-Paul Ly and his long-standing partner and best friend(both on-screen and off) Laurent Plancel. Their character have just enough depth and complexity to make them interesting and worth rooting for, and their complicated senses of morality provides some nice bits of tension between the two and opens up opportunities for further exploration in the future. The best part of The Division from a narrative perspective is its pacing, it's fast and never boring, the action isn't the only thing keeping things rolling at a steady pace, and the fact that indie filmmakers managed to do this in a 24-minute format is quite impressive, some major credit to Jean-Paul Ly, who on top of(here we go !) choreographing, action directing, performing action and acting in the film, also wrote and directed it, with a lot of confidence and assured direction that you don't even see from major blockbusters these days.

The main draw of this short is obviously the action though and on that end, it delivers AND THEN SOME. The opening warehouse set-piece demonstrates some of the most elegant, intricate and brilliant gun-fu choreography I've seen since John Wick, as well as combining said gun-fu choreography with classic martial arts tricking, kicking and punching, creating a wholesome, exciting and compelling package that is sure to please fans of the genre and for people like me that think they've seen all this genre has to offer, something truly new and uniquely entertaining. What I mean by that is that Jean-Paul Ly unlike a lot of other martial artists out there, isn't afraid to experiment, explore and constantly update his style of choreography to encompass new and impressive techniques that put a smile on your face the instant you see them. There are some breathtaking tricking and kicking moves here that made me go "wow, didn't know that was possible" and goes a long way in making a martial artist's style have its own unique voice and signature, and in this day and age where Tony Jaas and Scott Adkinses of the world(love them to death before you think I'm trashing them) repeat their famous Guyver kicks or Muay Thai elbows barrages to an amount where it quickly becomes stale and boring, JP takes a step back and considers what has been done before, both throughout his filmography and of others, making careful adjustments and innovations afterwards. Highlights of the short include the aforementioned warehouse fight, with some stellar double-team whooping of many terrorist butts, with some creative and astonishing uses of hammers and wrenches(think Oldboy on crack) capping off with an amazing save of a friend in need. The dock/harbor fight towards the end of the short is a great way to end the film, with some amazing gun-fu action showcased once again before the finale one on one fights that seal the deal on JP being a versatile choreographer capable of doing everything from group fights, to one on one fights that are enthralling to behold. JP vs Hung Dante Dong(another spectacular martial artist) and Law Plancel vs Pheobe Robinson Galvin(superb female talent), both differ in fighting styles and are great examples of modern day tricking and kicking techniques contrasted with some crushing grappling and MMA style choreography.

The Division is one of the best action shorts I've seen in my life, a perfect package with just enough action and plot to provide an engaging, entertaining and awe-inspiring entertainment from start to finish, proving once again that Jean-Paul Ly is a rising talent to watch out for, and if 24 minutes of this for 9k is what he can offer in such a short time, in a country where action film is as popular as American beer, says a lot and excites even more for what's to come from his future endeavours. Definitely check this short out and keep an eye on JLP productions !

P.S. still not biased....................... still.

Re:Born (2016)

Yuji Shimomura's Re: Born is an evolution of modern action film

[10/10 · 13 March 2018]

Re: Born is a new Japanese martial arts action thriller film by Yuji Shimomura, probably one of the greatest action coordinators, stuntmen and directors in the small, but entertaining action scene of Japan, re-uniting with Tak Sakaguchi of "Versus" fame and Shimomura's previous and only other feature "Death Trance", the legendary martial artist and the underrated filmmaker have made not only their second and best film to date, but also one of the best action films of the year, whichever year you saw it in, because of its screenings in numerous film festivals starting from 2016.

The story centers on Toshiro Kuroda(played by Tak) who runs a small convenience store in a quiet town in Japan and looking after his adopted daughter, Sachi, but when his blood-soaked, military past catches up to him however, it brings back an old comrade (played by Akio Otsuka, the voice of Solid Snake from MGS series)seeking revenge, with an army of brainwashed soldiers behind him, including a former buddy of Toshiro, known only by his codename, Abyss Walker(played by film's fight choreographer Yoshitaka Inagawa), Toshiro, the reborn ghost, springs back into action with violent vigor. The plot would seem cliche, rope and stereotypically dull to a naked eye, but imagine my surprise when it introduced elements, characters and a tone rarely seen in action movies of this caliber or premise. There's a sense of mystery surrounding Toshiro throughout the film, with the mystery behind him viewed as the stuff of legends, told only as fairy tales, but alas Toshiro comes back to show that those were mere understatements. Some of the best characters in the film are the guys Toshiro knows from his life on the battlefield, the battle scarred and disabled Kenji is one, his backstory is quite tragic and at the same time fairly original in the way his relationship works with Toshiro after his reception of the immobilizing wounds and life in the care home. Akio Otsuka's Phantom was also quite brilliant, the man is just a great actor, capable of portraying menace through subtlety, control through conversation and anger through action. The aforementioned Abyss Walker played by Inagawa, is more of a physical antagonist, delivering a more than worthy adversary to Toshiro, and the buildup to their inevitable showdown, is interesting and exciting. Also impressive was Tak Sakaguchi's daughter, Makoto Sakaguchi, who plays probably the quirkiest character in the film, whose innocence is starkly contrasted and countered by her skills in combat. Overall the familiar premise is saved by characters with enough depth and originality that is missing from a lot of the films in this genre.

What is not missing and would be quite hard to miss is all the glorious throat-slitting, artery-dicing, bladed weapon-oriented action of which there is so much, that at times you wonder whether or not the fight crew is able to keep things fresh and entertaining, and again surprisingly, they do. It's all down to 3 reasons: The brutal, slick, incredibly efficient action choreography by real-life combat instructor and adviser Yoshitaka Inagawa, Sakaguchi's skill in martial arts and will to learn something new and master it and finally Yuji Shimomura's lean, mean and compelling direction, assisted by cinematographer Tetsuya Kudo's fantastic camerawork, that has so much kinetic energy and flair, that the moves, as deadly as they were already, start seeming even more powerful. The action is dynamic as well, with a lot of creativity, where you can tell that the filmmakers wanted to use their newly invented combat system "Zero Range Combat" in every possible environment and scenario, as such we get fights in convenience stores, large city courtyards with crowds of civilians, gigantic rural rain-forests(my personal favorite, the damn thing goes on for nearly 43 breathtaking minutes, yes it was so awesome I counted) as well as a very interesting and claustrophobic fight in a minuscule phone booth. The abundance of weaponry is also impressive, featuring karambits and other knives of so many different shapes and sizes it easily makes Re: Born, the most knife-oriented action film of possibly all time. In addition to Dual Kamas, chopsticks and screwdrivers, a very cute shovel that right after its introduction turns not so cute and an assortment of firearms, and you've got yourself an action film that is locked, loaded and ready for the fight. The soundtrack by Kenji Kawai(composer of Ghost in the Shell, Resident Evil: Vendetta), while not being the best among his work, is adequately tense and operatic.

Re: Born is masterful, the plot is simple in execution, detailed in characterization and in terms of action design, coordination and performance, the film is an example piece of hardcore, beautifully shot, edited and directed action filmmaking. Shimomura has finally become an action director to look out for and even aspire to, while Tak Sakaguchi proves that not only can you teach an old dog new tricks, but in turn he can teach you something back.

24 Hours to Live (2017)

Surprise action film of the year, will go down as an overlooked gem

[8/10 · 22 November 2017]

The story's nothing to write home about, think Crank crossed with any globe-trotting spy flick, crossed with John Wick-like action set-pieces. Ethan Hawke does well as a man running low on-time, literally, as he races to find the people responsible for putting him in a state that he is as well as protecting the target he was meant to assassinate as well as her key witness. There's the mystery behind the dead family subplot, there's an older, war vet step- father figure subplot, an old-friendship gone astray yet still bound by brotherly loyalty or some something, I don't know I'm just ticking the boxes of action movie clichés right now, just hold on a bit longer. Despite all the clichés however, the story does manage to pull you in on itself, due to Hawke's sheer screen presence honestly, at least enough to see all it's glorious action sequences and thanks to its brisk pace, once things pickup and Hawke starts running on the clock, again quite literally, it's an adrenaline-fueled non-stop thrill ride.

Some of the best action sequences include: an assault on a safe house with high-caliber sniper rifles that literally send bodies flying after being hit by what would seem like mini-rockets, gushing blood over walls and flinging bodies across the room as if a ghost from paranormal activity film got a hold of them. That assault escalates into a car chase, with some really slick cinematography and a level of ballistic destruction applied to cars and whatever the two cross-firing cars manage to hit between each other, is quite amazing to behold, it's as if the director, Brian Smrz looked at the car chase from "Army of Two The Devil's Cartel" and was like:" Yeah I like that ! do that in a movie". The few hand to hand combat sequences are handled equally well with long-takes and clearly presented fight choreography that seems like a more toned down version of John Wick's fight ordeal, but still entertaining to watch, the finale action showdown plays out like a sort of mini- The Raid film.

All in all, this is a smooth hour and a half package that is great to watch on a plane or a train, with a strong lead, passably average plot, fast pace and some good set-pieces 24 Hours to Live is a short, fun, occasionally flawed, but consistently watchable and at times thrilling good time. 80s action films and figures would be proud.

Jailbreak (2017)

Cambodia's answer to Indonesia's The Raid, is bold, ambitious and just as successful

[10/10 · 8 October 2017]

In the age of rising Asian countries in the genre of martial arts action that they were previously never known to be mass-producers of but quickly became extremely successful by, we've had awesome action films such as The Raid from Indonesia, Ong Bak from Thailand, and now it's time for Cambodia to boldly step into the spotlight and break a few bones and deliver non-stop, thrilling entertainment and entertain it surely does. The premise of Jailbreak is simple, just as simple as The Raid's, maybe even more so, a Team of cops led by a French GIGN member played by the new rising action star Jean-Paul Ly as well as a handful of local Cambodian officers are tasked with protecting a high value target in a rioting Prison from an orchestrated attack by a group of female killer gang known as The Butterfly Gang led by the sword-wielding Madame Butterfly(Celine Tran). The plot never goes into convoluted territory from here on but the performances keep the tale engaging and human, these are characters we care for much in the same way we cared for the SWAT team in The Raid, because of the situation they're in, but here I can say that since there's only 4-5 of these officers, they all have lots of screen time and develop their personalities and camaraderie rather believably, Jean-Paul Ly shines as the ultimate bad ass here, who exudes charisma and intimidation either from his wickedly cool haircut or his cool and suave composure, maybe both, becoming audience's instant favorite, while his bickering rivalry with co- star Dara Our feels like something out of a classy B-movie action heroes flick, which very much so suits the tone of Jailbreak, as it is a lot lighter and humorous than the Poker-faced Raid, most of the humor works very well too, some visual gags, some of which would fit right in a Takashi Miike film or some of the gorror exploitation flicks, left the audience gasping for air in ways they didn't expect, well at least I didn't. Celine Tran does admirably with little screen time she's given and her fight with Tharoth Sam, a Cambodian MMA champion is terrific, all in all a well-rounded, colorful cast elevates the basic, yet beautifully simple premise above it's generic roots.

The other way the audience was left gasping for air was the fast, furious and brutal fight choreography by Jean-Paul and Dara Our, bringing viscerally exciting combat that is never boring, varied and beyond bad ass, there are legitimate moves and punches and kicks here as well as the incredible use of machetes that I've never seen before, and this is coming from a guy who watches martial arts films as much as the cereals he eats everyday. Shot with just a single camera and with not extra backup from other countries such as Thailand due to budget strains, this is one hell of an impressive feat, one that even The Raid would look at and be like:"GODDAMN !". DP Godefroy Ryckewaert's camera-work here is exceptional, the inspiration of DOP Matt Flannery and Director Gareth Evans from The Raid films is obvious here, as the camera literally puts you in the middle of the action and isn't afraid to move around to showcase and highlight all of the brilliant moves that the skilled cast performs, it moves in a ferociously kinetic and energetic way, adding weight and punch to every hit, making them that much more painful, it's all clear and square tho, never is it too close, neither is it too far from the action and the obvious use of the steady wheel is noticeable as the image was constantly stabilized and blur-less as it swung from one person to the next and following their coordinated movements like the best glue in store, the use of a prisoner's point of view in probably the best fight scene in the entire film(the first entire team vs a whole lot of inmates fight) was truly spectacular and unexpected to say the least, other times a prisoner got tossed over a camera, with camera then reverting from from it's toppled state and getting right back into the action, but almost always the camera was engaged in combat just as much as the actors were, it is some WICKED STUFF ! The one on one boss fights were equally as good though perhaps not as exciting as the group fights, but fans of Law Plancel and Jean-Paul's short "Dead End" need not worry as their fight lives up to the expectations.

Jailbreak is the start of a country's film industry poised to deliver swift, no nonsense entertainment, writer/director Jimmy Henderson delivers his third and best film from Cambodia yet and enters it in a steadily increasing list of underrated Asian countries producing awesome martial arts action cinema, with a simple plot, charming humor, captivating performances and thrilling action, as a Martial Arts/Action movie fan, you owe it to yourself to see this.

Alpha (I) (2016)

A slick, intense, efficiently told tale of Super-soldiers going mad

[10/10 · 20 August 2017]

ALPHA is an action short by writer/director Ryan Monolopolous, of whose previous work I was not familiar with but after seeing this, I immediately want to get acquainted with, as here he not only shows great talent in telling a story that has been done before with so much style and confidence behind it you feel like you're watching something wholly original, and it's those skills that are required for making old into gold. With some exceptional martial arts talents in front of and behind the camera with energetic and clear camera-work by Jeremy Cournyea and Liam Day depicting the combat choreographed by writer/director Ryan Monolopolous and Jake Guinn , who respectively star in the film as Subjects Echo and Beta as well as Josh Flaugher who stars as Subject Delta, the team ensures they've got enough going for martial arts enthusiasts as they do for Sci-fi fans, but it is the combination of both that truly elevates this material to the level of John Hyams' recent Universal Soldier flicks.

ALPHA plays out in a coherent and engrossing non-linear fashion, as the film details the works of a mad scientist played wonderfully devilishly but also relatably humanly by David Scissons, who leads the Genesis project that is basically a free-for-all death match between the 3 subjects, the goal of whom are to find a briefcase that I'm not going to reveal contains what. The story is well told and the frequent cut-backs to the lab experiments done on the subjects and the fight sequences breaking out in a desolate, abandoned former lab are very well told and edited together, as they show both the pain the subjects endured to become what they are and the newly found strength each of them came to possess. The narrative and the black and white color palette, gives the film a dark and dreary tone without being too edgy for its own good or too pretentious for no one's good.

The fight sequences are brilliantly choreographed but the choreography too never reaches the point of excess, it is varied and punchy but never unrealistic and never outstays its welcome, when the subjects should go down, they go down, and the subjects themselves are so radically different in behavior and personality it directly impacts their style of fighting with Jake Guinn as Subject Beta having an erratic personality and a tendency for fast, nimble maneuvers, his fight with Ryan Monolopolous as Subject Echo is the standout of the film, while the fight with Josh Flaugher, the heavy brute Delta feels appropriately slower but more powerful as he can deliver devastating blows and would probably be able to turn most human heads into easily squashable watermelons.

ALPHA is a tremendously exciting and riveting piece of work that should be shown to as many film fests as possible where fantastic martial arts prowess meet equally charming and engrossing storytelling techniques to create a compelling and easily reliable world for future sequels, spin-offs or who knows, maybe even a TV show.

Extraordinary Mission (2017)

The Heroic Bloodshed genre is still alive and kicking

[10/10 · 21 May 2017]

Extraordinary Mission centers on an Undercover cop who attempts to bring down a major crime syndicate operating within the Golden Triangle(basically a narcotics ring between China and Thailand), as he is tested again and again due to the gang's suspicions of him being a cop, he becomes a drug addict himself and has to battle the addiction while also staying true to the badge. To say this is all the film is about would be criminal, no pun intended, as the narrative is filled with a lot of great arcs for nearly all of its characters that are interestingly and logically connected to one another, you feel like there's a reason why characters are the way they are, and the script by Felix Chong allows for some witty dialogue, and clever twists and turns that make sense and never come off forced. The story has a lot in common with Infernal Affairs, having basically the same plot but a grander scale as that masterpiece, but so are most Chinese/Hong Kong action crime dramas. There's plenty of effective drama here too, the lead actor Huan Xuang who plays Lin Kai, does a superb job portraying a police officer, slowly losing his grip on his sanity, as he navigates a dark and treacherous path of drug trafficking, but you can see him also trying desperately to hold on to his better side and remember the side he's on, it's this mixture of internal and external conflict that is not nearly as explored in films of this premise that adds a greater layer to an otherwise redundant plot that is also skillfully executed here. The supporting cast lends the film a lot of background and credibility too, from Kai's captain who first assigned the mission to this poor fella, to Eagle, the leader of the crime syndicate. The bonds formed between the characters are engaging and quite full of depth, as you discover that the Captain and Kai are more alike than their professions suggest and that there's an even greater connection between the three of them and another late-introduced character that really gives the plot and the relationships a great boost of both emotional and narrative resonance, rest assured, the Chong delivers a fascinating little examination of the classic Heroic Bloodshed plot line.

Now the other trait of the Heroic Bloodshed genre, is the extremely ballistic gunfights, meticulously choreographed fight sequences, car chases and beautiful cinematography, that as so popularized by HK legends: John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark back in the day. Here Director Alan Mak and his favorite Director of Photography Anthony Pun, deliver a blistering action picture, with numerous set-pieces involving all of the above-mentioned goodies. From daring escapes featuring cool tricks with hiding under police cars, to some really unique ways pistols are gripped, twisted and shot, to the more obvious gunfights where concrete, vegetable carts, cars and literally everything in the environment is destroyed as easily and gorgeously as a child scoring his first Pinata strike. There's this really muscular and coherent way that the film's editor combined the long-takes and shots by Anthony Pun, that is a cross between sleek, wide and kinetic takes of the classic HK action era, to the more tightly-knit combinations of angles and frames, that gives the film a sense of urgency and speed rarely seen nowadays in Militaristic action films. Extraordinary Mission also has one of THE BEST motorcycle chase sequences and possibly one of the coolest "Hanging on top of a moving car" scenes in film, I also really enjoyed the theme rock song that perfectly describes through its lyrics what Kai is going through and here his mind and heart lie, the soundtrack by Kwong Wing Chan and Taq Sakakibara is energetic and fitting, especially during the last 20 minutes where all hell breaks loose. Fortunately though all that hell breaks loose for a reason, a good reason at that too, as the filmmakers ensure that the only way the characters are resolving their grudges held against one-another for over 10 years, is a massive Michael Bay-esque ever-escalating shootout that delivers what fans of the genre expect.

Extraordinary Mission is a return to form for Alan Mak and Felix Chong after a somewhat lackluster Overheard Trilogy and The Silent War, delivering a fast-paced, intriguing and character-rich action thriller that acts both as a tribute to the police's efforts to combat drugs and criminals, and just as an overall entertaining blockbuster with exemplary finale.

Eliminators (2016)

A slick, well made action thriller sure to hold over Scott Adkins' fans till his next Boyka film.

[9/10 · 2 December 2016]

Eliminators is about A former US Federal Agent who must abandon the witness protection program and come out of hiding when his London home is invaded in error due to a wrong address. When the event ends with multiple homicides, the news triggers those hunting him to send Europe's most dangerous assassin to kill him. Now on the run with his daughters life in jeopardy, a determined father must get her to safety before the people he's been hiding from tracks him down. Now a plot like this has been done bazillion times since Taken in 2008, tough guy father has to find and defend his daughter from bad, bad people, but what really surprised me about Eliminators was just how much thought was put into the writing to make all characters interconnected in some way, to set stakes and relationships that are never thoroughly discussed between the characters but is always felt. Scott Adkins has evolved not just as a martial artist and stuntman getting to an almost legendary level already due to his passion to make action films that don't feature CGI, shaky cam that obstructs the action, or overly edited fight sequences that do a poor job of matching coherency and/or speed of the action( something that plagued Scott Adkins' bigger film this year "Doctor Strange"). Wade Barrett of the WWE fame, gets a role as probably one of the most unrelenting and bulky assassins I've seen in a long time out for McKenzie's blood, known only as Bishop, Barrett's equally as good with his role, portraying a rather cheeky jerk of a killer, that will use personal information of someone to get the better of them as well as his powerful, crushing physique and fists. The rest of the cast is fine as well, in fact everyone does a serviceable job here, from McKenzie's partner coming to his rescue to their commander back in Washington to finally the big baddie grandpa of McKenzie's daughter, they all contribute much needed emotion to the plot, not much but just enough to justify all the action and make it more grounded, overall the characters and the actors here are definitely superior to that of Adkins' lesser but nonetheless entertaining films like last year's Close Range. Ah yes and of course what about the action, well it's actually very different in structure to Adkins' other films, the fights don't come back-to-back or Fight A after B, but rather they occur when the plot demands it, being a part chase thriller as well, there are numerous on-foot chase sequences that LEAD into fight scenes, and even then they're not with characters or people you may expect McKenzie to be fighting, clever moments such as a car-chase escalating into a foot- chase, where are hero barely manages to get away from the deadly assassin in a gondola riding sky-high, only for the villain to shout to the passengers on the gondola at the last minute:" HEY, 10 grand if you knock him out for me" leads to the shortest, yet coolest fight scene in the entire movie at least in my opinion, cause there we had tension, we had adequate and smart behavior from the characters that LED up to a great fight scene , beautifully shot by director James Nunn( who also made Green Street Hooligans 3 with Adkins conveniently), Nunn slowly rotates the camera around a Gondola in a set-piece that's both beautiful because of its setting and it's brutal fighting. Surprisingly this whole movie looks gorgeous, most of it is set at night and if you know me, you'd know that I love nothing more than action films revolving around a single day at night. The first fight with Barrett is fantastic, Adkins uses his high- flying signature Boyka kicks here and there, and while the second fight could've used a bit more work, the limitations of the location in which it was set in may have played a big part in it, a number of shootouts also punctuate the film and they all possess suitable kinetic energy and punch to them especially one set in McKenzie's partner's safe house that doesn't have a lot of cover but has a lot of narrow hallways, overall the action on display is great and is entertaining throughout giving the film this relentless pace that for a number of reasons: the writing and the direction, manages to not let up. It's also short clocking in at almost precise 90 minutes, with an ending that's not too melodramatic but one that has a worthy climax both emotional and physical. 9/10.