There’re gonna be a few minor spoilers so you have been warned.
I imagine no one really remembers the first Undisputed movie. Despite having a terrific cast headed by Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames ably supported by the late Peter Falk, this film (released straight to video in the UK) told the story of the undefeated World Heavyweight Boxing Champion George ‘Iceman’ Chambers (Rhames) being sent to prison on a rape charge and finding that the Prison have their own undefeated champ in the form of Monroe Hutchen (Snipes) and the ground is laid for a boxing match between the two men. It’s been shown on tv late at night a couple of times and is actually a pretty decent sporting/prison drama and is well worth a watch.
Coming a few years later and featuring none of the original cast was Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, which reinvented the story with martial arts. Still featuring the Chambers character now played by Michael Jai White, this had the boxer being sent to a Russian prison on trumped up drug charges and finding himself on another showdown with the prison’s MMA fighter Yuri Boyka, played by Scott Adkins. This film shifted the focus of the original from the drama to the fight scenes and produced an entertaining action picture but still retained some decent dramatic scenes to raise this above the usual straight to video fare.
Continuing the trend from the second film whereby the ‘villain’ of the previous film becomes the ‘hero’ of the next Undisputed III: Redemption follows Boyka in the aftermath of the previous film where Chambers broke his leg, he is now a more humble man, having moved to the bottom of the food chain in the prison, he is reduced to mopping the floors. When he hears of an international tournament to find the Ultimate Prison Fighter he trains himself with a vengeance to win.
Not quite as dramatically entertaining as the second film, Undisputed III is still a superior piece of martial arts entertainment featuring some pretty fantastic fight scenes with Scott Adkins showing off his considerable prowess and laying down a marker for his status as a terrific martial arts actor. The final fight against Marko Zaror is pretty intense as is a terrific bout with the superb Lateef Crowder. The choreography by Larnell Stovall and direction by Isaac Florentine is fantastic and really shows off the actors in the best light. It’s not surprising that this film won the best director and best fight choreography awards at ActionFest 2010. Stovall has recently choreographed the fight scenes for Universal Soldier 4 which has a certain Mr Adkins as the lead along with Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme so on the evidence here we can expect very good things from that film.
There’s not much more to say about this film really. If you liked the second film you’ll pretty much love this. Although the story is not quite as engaging the fight scenes more than make up for it, these are some of the best I’ve seen in American made martial arts films for ages. If you don’t like fighty films then give it a wide berth. The only niggle I’ve got with this film is it is not currently released in the UK. Seeing as the lead actor is English and you can buy this on DVD in most of Europe (I got mine from Germany) it is an absolute disgrace that UK fans can’t go down to their local HMV (gotta support the High Street) and pick up a copy. Hopefully as interest in Adkins’ films increases, probably even more so with Assassination Games and the forthcoming Universal Soldier 4 this situation may well change. It better bloomin’ well had is all I can say. That being said the German edition is very nice, there’s quite a few extra features as long as you go for the FSK 18 uncut edition you’ll be very happy.
Undisputed IV anyone?
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Monday 4 July 2011
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON - film review
It’s hard to imagine that when the first film in this series came out I’d just got married. Where have those 4 years gone? Anyway enough of that, on with the review. The second film in this franchise got some terrible reviews and rightly so in some cases. Having re-read my original review after watching this film on dvd last week I have to say my opinion has changed somewhat. My original review was pretty positive, I liked a lot of things that now I find quite dull. The story and human characters are still pretty ropey but the big action scenes are still amazing and knock spot off what was in the first film in pretty much every instance. A lot of people were hoping that any flaws that were in that movie would have been addressed and ironed out of this film. Sadly that hasn’t really happened.
This film is way too long, nearly 2 hours forty minutes long which is just ridiculous, there’s also far too much lame comedy with John Malkovitch who is embarrassing and that Chinese fellow from The Hangover who is the most unfunny person since Tom Green. Shia LaBeouf’s character has gone from likeable geek to annoying twat, his parents are still here and just as annoying as before (I liked them originally) although thankfully they are not in the film much, as blessing. The military characters are still here although still relegated to just turning up for the action scenes.
One of the worst things is the totally lazy way of writing out Megan Fox’s character since she was fired after likening working with Michael Bay to Hitler, not the best thing to do when the executive producer is Spielberg. Her character, who played such a large part of the first two movies, is written out “She dumped me”. That’s it. Lazy. Surely they could have written that her character was killed by a decepticon couldn’t they? That would have been nice and dark and also given Shia’s character more of a story arc, coming to terms with her death and finding love again in the arms of Mrs The Stath. Yes, Megan’s replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is Jason Statham’s missus. She’s pretty but not in The Fox’s league but sadly her acting talent makes The Fox look like Judi Dench. She’s a total block of wood and has all the charisma to boot. As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan.
There are however two welcome additions for this film. One is Patrick Dempsey playing a nice slimy millionaire and the other is Leonard Nimoy. Yes Spock is on hand to add some extra awesomeness as Sentinel Prime, the leader of the Autobots prior to Optimus. His majestic vocals raise any scene he’s in, and the scenes with him and Peter Cullen’s Optimus are brilliant.
The storyline although still the weak point is far more engaging than in the second film. The opening scenes of the 1969 moon landing are wonderfully atmospheric and intrigue the viewer and although later parts do get slightly confused there’s still some fun to be had as we discover that there are plans behind what at first seems a straightforward plot.
It’s still way too long though and sadly there is a big lack of action in the early parts of the film, which doesn’t help matters.
That said however the action, when it comes, is stunning, especially in the extended 45 minute plus climax when everything gets thrown at the screen for a huge ending to the franchise. As ever this is where these films are made and this doesn’t disappoint. I saw a 2D screening of this but I can imagine a 3D screening, come the climax, must be pretty jaw dropping. For all of Michael Bay’s faults as a director you have to give him his due, the guy knows how to direct big f**k off enormous action scenes. This is easily the best in the franchise and thus renders any other faults in the movie null and void.
Bay has said this is the final film for him, as has LaBeouf, but I am sure this will not be the final Transformers movie. In fact it would be welcome for someone else to take up the reigns and produce a TF movie that doesn’t have as much slow mo, that doesn’t have a real boner for military vehicles and weaponry. Now that would make a nice change.
This film is way too long, nearly 2 hours forty minutes long which is just ridiculous, there’s also far too much lame comedy with John Malkovitch who is embarrassing and that Chinese fellow from The Hangover who is the most unfunny person since Tom Green. Shia LaBeouf’s character has gone from likeable geek to annoying twat, his parents are still here and just as annoying as before (I liked them originally) although thankfully they are not in the film much, as blessing. The military characters are still here although still relegated to just turning up for the action scenes.
One of the worst things is the totally lazy way of writing out Megan Fox’s character since she was fired after likening working with Michael Bay to Hitler, not the best thing to do when the executive producer is Spielberg. Her character, who played such a large part of the first two movies, is written out “She dumped me”. That’s it. Lazy. Surely they could have written that her character was killed by a decepticon couldn’t they? That would have been nice and dark and also given Shia’s character more of a story arc, coming to terms with her death and finding love again in the arms of Mrs The Stath. Yes, Megan’s replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is Jason Statham’s missus. She’s pretty but not in The Fox’s league but sadly her acting talent makes The Fox look like Judi Dench. She’s a total block of wood and has all the charisma to boot. As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan.
There are however two welcome additions for this film. One is Patrick Dempsey playing a nice slimy millionaire and the other is Leonard Nimoy. Yes Spock is on hand to add some extra awesomeness as Sentinel Prime, the leader of the Autobots prior to Optimus. His majestic vocals raise any scene he’s in, and the scenes with him and Peter Cullen’s Optimus are brilliant.
The storyline although still the weak point is far more engaging than in the second film. The opening scenes of the 1969 moon landing are wonderfully atmospheric and intrigue the viewer and although later parts do get slightly confused there’s still some fun to be had as we discover that there are plans behind what at first seems a straightforward plot.
It’s still way too long though and sadly there is a big lack of action in the early parts of the film, which doesn’t help matters.
That said however the action, when it comes, is stunning, especially in the extended 45 minute plus climax when everything gets thrown at the screen for a huge ending to the franchise. As ever this is where these films are made and this doesn’t disappoint. I saw a 2D screening of this but I can imagine a 3D screening, come the climax, must be pretty jaw dropping. For all of Michael Bay’s faults as a director you have to give him his due, the guy knows how to direct big f**k off enormous action scenes. This is easily the best in the franchise and thus renders any other faults in the movie null and void.
Bay has said this is the final film for him, as has LaBeouf, but I am sure this will not be the final Transformers movie. In fact it would be welcome for someone else to take up the reigns and produce a TF movie that doesn’t have as much slow mo, that doesn’t have a real boner for military vehicles and weaponry. Now that would make a nice change.
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