Raging Fire (2021)

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Raging Fire (2021)

Benny Chan’s final film before his death from cancer at the age of 58 is not only one of his best, it’s also one of the best Hong Kong action films for decades. Hong Kong has always been the perfect setting for an edgy, neo-noir cop thriller, and although there is much to commend this marvellous film, Edmond Fung’s cinematography certainly deserves special praise. He captures a tone which turns the urban metropolis into a menacing, neon-lit cipher for Gotham City – bolstered by Nicolas Errèra’s foreboding score – complete with masked gangs, embittered police, kidnappings and violence. The premise is brave, …

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Nobody (2021)

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Nobody (2021)

Hutch (Bob Odenkirk) is a middle-aged, self-proclaimed “nobody” working a monotonous job as a pen-pusher at a factory, who finds himself in a sexless marriage and growing increasingly irrelevant. When inept, desperate burglars break into the family home, he lets them go, drawing scorn from his own family and a feeling of emasculation from his neighbours and even the police. When he learns that the crooks have made off with his daughter’s ‘kitty cat bracelet’, Hutch finally snaps. He finds out where the thieves live, breaks in, holds a gun to their heads and yells, “give me the goddamn kitty …

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Special Female Force (2016)

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Special Female Force (2016)

A remake of 1988’s The Inspector Wears Skirts which absolutely nobody was asking for, this version recycles the same central theme of turning amateurs into mercenaries with Jade Leung in the Sibelle Hu role as the tough boot camp leader. The original looks positively progressive in light of the retrograde chauvinism on display here; a ‘girls with guns’ homage that fails to deliver convincingly edgy action (where’s Cynthia Rothrock when you need her?) or a fully rounded performance, with the film veering off into either overblown emotional histrionics or very broad humour. The ensemble of mostly useless coppers trying to make …

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Jolt (2021)

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Jolt (2021)

Kate Beckinsale makes a welcome return to trashy action movies – and for Millennium Films, no less, master purveyors of B-grade, Bulgaria-based gut-punchers. With her glitzy look, shock of blonde hair and sardonic British bullishness, she cuts a distinctly different figure to that of Selene from her gothic Underworld movies. She plays Lindy, a highly volatile and dangerous orphan who quells her rage by being constantly strapped to a bodysuit which transmits an electric shock every time she feels the impulse to crack open some skulls. Her rage has really put an dampener on her social life, and following the …

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The Last Mercenary (2021)

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The Last Mercenary (2021)

Another curious twist in the fascinating latter stages of Van Damme‘s film career – a zany, self-aware French action comedy for Netflix. As the legendary mercenary, Richard Brumère – a high-kicking master of disguise known as ‘The Mist’, famous for his disappearing acts and killing a rhino with his bare hands – the role is both a send-up and an homage to his action man persona (there’s even a fourth-wall-breaking moment in which Brumère smirks at a poster of Bloodsport, remarking “that’s a real man”, essentially in reference to his younger self). The film stops short of actually making Brumère …

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Profile: Brad Martin

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Profile: Brad Martin

Date of birth: 14 January 1970 (Sun Valley, Idaho)

Occupation: Stunt coordinator, second unit director, action director, stunt performer, actor.

Style: Taekwondo

Biography: Brad Martin is a stunt coordinator and stunt performer who helped to create Smashcut Action Design alongside Chad Stahelski, David Leitch and J.J. Perry, before the creation of 87eleven Action Design.

Brad Martin grew up in Sun Valley, Idaho. His early passions were alpine skiing and martial arts. He has a black belt in taekwondo and also competed. He watched the American reality show, That’s Incredible!, as a child and dreamed of becoming a stunt performer. He struck a deal with …

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KFMG Podcast S06 Episode 74: Brad Martin

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KFMG Podcast S06 Episode 74: Brad Martin

“If you don’t have a strong story driving it, then action is just action. You can watch great action all day and not be very excited if there is no story to draw you in.”

Brad Martin is one of Hollywood’s top stunt coordinators with a string of blockbusters to his name, including the Underworld series, Live Free or Die Hard, Tropic Thunder, Gemini Man, plus the Emmy-nominated 2021 Marvel series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, to name but a few. He has recently been in Northern Ireland shooting second unit and stunt coordinating on a big-screen adaptation of the long-running …

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Ninja Scroll (1993)

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Ninja Scroll (1993)

Energetic, visually arresting anime that really took off when it was released on video in America. This is the most hell-bent 90 minutes of your life: highly visceral, influential, and extreme – even by Japanese adult anime standards – Ninja Scroll is a completely thrilling experience. Japan, Edo period: Jubei is a cash-for-kill ninja with super-slashing capabilities, suckered in by a wise old man to carry out the most formidable of tasks. The old master poisons Jubei and refuses to give him the antidote until he finds and destroys the ‘Shogun of the Dark’, a pure-evil, money-hoarding rebel alliance with …

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Ninja in the Dragon’s Den (1982)

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Ninja in the Dragon’s Den (1982)

This is a cult classic loved by kung fu fans around the world; a fabulous amalgamation of Chinese and Japanese filmmaking which adapts the chambara film to match the pacing of Hong Kong action cinema. It is also quite a bold and well-crafted directorial debut from Corey Yuen – a fight coordinator of considerable merit and experience even by this stage in his career, responsible for shaping the distinct look and feel for action at Seasonal Films. His sense of ambition leaps off the screen – a complicated duel on stilts and an imaginative kick-fest in a Japanese apartment best …

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KFMG Podcast S06 Episode 73: Max Huang

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KFMG Podcast S06 Episode 73: Max Huang

“I want to bring back the spirit of martial arts on the big screen, and I want to remind people of what real martial arts movies are about… it is about the art.”

Max Huang‘s turn as Kung Lao – the deadly, hat-throwing, Shaolin-trained kung fu cousin of Liu Kang – in the 2021 reboot of Mortal Kombat was a delightful surprise; a scene-stealing performance complete with comedy, drama, action, and an almighty ‘fatality’ which just about steals the movie. But the notion of Max being something of an ‘overnight success’ could not be further from the truth. The German wushu …

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