Review: The Grandmaster of Kung Fu

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2023
Images from the Internet, unless indicated

The Grandmaster of Kung Fu (aka The Grandmaster of Kungfu)
Directed by Cheng Si-Yu
Zhonglele Pictures; Well Go USA Entertainment; Hi-YAH!
75 minutes, 2019 / 2023
https://wellgousa.com/films/grandmaster-kung-fu
www.hiyahtv.com
@WellGoUSA; #TheGrandmasterOfKungFu

Many of the Chinese kung fu/martial arts films of late that date back to a dynasty period, even a later one, tend to be stylized to the point of art, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). This is a natural progression of the old Shaw Bros films of the 1970s-‘80s, but you may wonder whatever happened to the down and dirty fighting of those good old days?

In Mandarin and Japanese (with English subtitles) comes this little ditty that is relatively new to the canon, but has that old time feel, without being VHS blurry images that we all had to get used to when we rented them from the local video store. The period in which this takes place is the end of the Qing Dynasty, which was essentially during World War II, when Japan invaded China and decimated many of the people and cultural icons. It is also the focus of the story, as Japan tries to take over Tianjin, a city dedicated to the martial arts. If the city is wiped out, there are less warriors fighting for their home turf.

When Japan invaded China in 1931, it lasted until the fall of the Japanese Empire in 1945. Japan’s brutal reign over China was short-lived, but was replaced by so-called Communist China in 1949, and was modernized under a different brutal regime. This is also the time period of Ip Man (2008, also released by Well Go USA Entertainment). But enough with the contextual history lesson.

The protagonist of this story is Huo Yuanjia (former World Wushu Champion Du Yuhang (aka Dennis To). He is a lowly porter (with a large house, for some reason) with a wife (Mei Xue) and young child. Of course, he is a master at a specific kung fu, which is not recognized by the official wushu (an umbrella title for a form of kung fu; the other being kuoshu) association of Tianjin, and its new president, Zhao. His becoming the head of the group is the opening sequence of trial by fist and feet. Still, Huo manages to get a single disciple, Chen Zhen.

In comes the Japanese, led by trigger happy Commander Yoshida Masaichi and his Aikido sword wielding superior Colonel Takeda Kamesaburo, who takes over the association’s building to open a forbidden Japanese martial arts school. Of course, just minutes in, it is easy to tell that at some point it will be a fight between Yuanjia and either Masaichi or Kamesaburo in a match of Chinese kung fu vs. Japanese budō. Following the narration of nearly all these kinds of films This is a Chinese martial arts standard, and rightfully so.

Du Yuhang is very likeable, and his style is reminiscent of Donnie Yen (Ip Man). It should come as no surprise that he played the Ip Man character a year later in the prequel, The Legend is Born: Ip Man (2010). As far as the other actors, interestingly, the Japanese are played by Chinese actors, and the Japanese language is dubbed in. The film also stars Gao Xuemei, Yang Yongfeng, Li Ruoxi and Zhuang Han, but I do not know who played which role.

The film relies on a few cliches, such as the championship tournament, Japan’s overreach and malevolence, the final battle, and the one-against-many opponents (including Ninjas!). Because of this there are some formulaic narratives, but hell, we watch this stuff for the, well, Hi-YAH! quality. In this case, the action is both well-choreographed and shot/edited. There is a bunch of wirework, as is par for the course, but no ridiculous flying through the air or jumping from one roof to another. While obvious, it is done only within fights and not over-emphasized (e.g., no jumping from the ground to the top of a building).

My one complaint is that sometimes the subtitles roll by too fast for my aged eyes. But what the hell, it is the action sequences that are the backbone of any martial arts film, and this definitely delivers.

This is director Cheng Si-Yu’s first film and has since made the likes of Land Shark (2020). I am hoping he goes on to do a crime drama, or another martial arts release set in the Feudal period. Meanwhile, there is this gem.

A Hi-YAH! original, the film is available on the Hi-YAH! martial arts streaming service (link above), as well on Blu-ray and DVD.

IMBD listing HERE

Review: Lazarus

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Lazarus
Directed by R.L. Scott
Wonder Studios; Overdog Entertainment;
Phoenix Rising Films; Samuel Goldwyn Films
105 minutes, 2021
www.facebook.com/WhoIsLazarus/

Comic book movies are not always based on the standard comic characters. It is a tone, a stylistic choice by the production, that make it a modern comic book film. Don’t get me wrong, there actually is a comic by the Lazarus name, but it is totally not connected to this release, but rather is a sci-fi action coming of age story about a woman.

For this film, the aptly named titular Ray Lazarus (Sean Riggs) is an African-American man who is killed, then comes back to life thanks to a mysterious being called Hellfire (Shane Brolly, who was Kraven in the Underworld franchise), whose powers include strength, the ability to absorb the life force and knowledge of those he whomps, and he cannot be killed; he wears a costume to weed the city of criminals. Wait a minute, didn’t I see that in the comic Spawn? I own the original comic run (first editions), but yeah, the film version (1997) was a bit over the top, while this has more of a The Punisher vibe.

Sean Riggs

The events take place in the sarcastically named Paradise City (I’m pretty sure I saw a low-angle shot of the Empire State Building, but why not?).

The main villain is violent drug kingpin Testament (Adamo Palladino) who had Lazarus killed in the first place. He is yet another one of a legion of Biblically referenced names such as Chapel and, as the Ying to Hellborn’s Yang, there is Epiphany. Why Hellborn is so – err – fired up on Lazarus taking Testament off the streets makes no sense to me, as I would think he would be in favor of “sin.” But there is more afoot as Epiphany (Lyndsey Lantz) is busy working on an equally powerful evil version of Lazarus, because opposites attack. Hey, every superhero film needs an equal match-up for its final act, right? This isn’t meant to be critical, just realistic to the genre. Just think Thanos or Hela (Ragnarok).

Somehow, Super-Lazarus manages to get a small army together (why, if he is that increasingly powerful and can’t die?) to take on mid-level distributor Poet (Damien T. Raven) and his superior, Testament. Meanwhile, a police detective, Benjamin Poge (Costas Mandylor, who played Mark Hoffman in a few Saw films), who drives a car no real city police officer, even of a higher rank, could ever afford, is inquiring into the high body count. Then there is an assassin from Testament, the amusingly named Endless (Kevin Lukata).

There are essentially five women in minor roles here: first is attractive Nina (Nicki Micheaux) as a drug distributor who is instantly the obvious possible love interest for Lazarus, depending on her questionable loyalties, Testament’s cancer-ridden sister, Priscilla (Christina Wren, that played Carrie Farris in the DC Universe), who is on her deathbed, a tarot card reader who works for Testament, Flora (a cameo by pop singer Mya) who is a psychic/Tarot card reader, the sister of one of Lazarus’s friends, Pogo (Linc Hand) named Winter (cute Kayla Vosburg), and the aforementioned Epiphany. There is more in the female part of the cast, but these are the ones that appear at the top level. Most of the other women are tertiary characters, such as a police officer or, especially, numerous mob groupies who lay around snorting powder in lingerie, lolling on couches. This was definitely (a) written by a man, and (b) written for a teen male audience.

Adamo Palladino, Damien T. Raven

The dialogue is stunningly cliché and clumsy in a comic book tone that over enunciates and spaces out words, and is often bland in a pseudo-philosophical way, even with a Noah’s Flood of F-bombs. One piece of monolog by a gang assassin states, “We are what we are. My path is set. Fate already chosen. You knew this was going to happen. Now they are going to die, and there is nothing to stop it.” There are also numerous plot holes that made me kind of antsy; for example, one person is done away with by the mob, yet they left all their information there for the police to find. And why so many short “P” names, such as Poet, Pogo, and Poge? Also, why would the mob crews in warehouses where drugs are being manufactured not have guns?

Good thing is that this can definitely be classified as an action film. Despite the occasional gun play, most of the fighting is hand-to-hand, be it boxing style or mixed martial arts. It is well choreographed and fun to watch as numerous necks are snapped.

I actually like alternative universe comic stories (i.e., other than MCU or DCU), and while this obviously has a decent budget, it is not a multi-million-dollar extravaganza, and that is good. Despite its issues, and it definitely has some, it holds up. It is also nice to see such a large Black cast, which even Spawn did not employ. Furthermore, having the whole “balance” theme is a nice touch.

The film definitely sets up for a sequel, as promises that are made are indicated at the end (I will not divulge). Personally, I was thinking of a couple of really good, unexpected Yangs to Lazarus’s Ying, as I said, but despite that they chose the obvious route, and I am okay with that. I am looking forward to the next installment, whenever that will be, and I hope they give the female characters a bit more to chew on, story-wise.

Kevin Lukata

For the visuals, the film is well-shot and edited, with cool “swipes” between scenes in an appropriately comic book sort of look. However, as is an issue in too many films, especially independents, Lazarus expresses “darkness” or night through a dark, blue lens. Okay, this is a nice way to make it moody, but it also makes it harder to see what the hell is going on. This is a pet peeve of mine. Not all of us have HD 30” screens, y’know. Despite that (rather than because of it), it’s a pretty enjoyable story, even with the “comic book” reigns on the acting styles, also to purposely give it a mood to fit the dialogue.

While this film is available on DVD and Blu-ray, it can also be seen for free on TubiTv.com; however, note that because it is an exclusive release, they need to pay for it considering the platform is free, so when I viewed it, there were 5 commercials at about 9 minutes, 3 at 31 minutes, 4 at 51 minutes, 4 at 63 minutes, 3 at 76 minutes, and 3 at 90 minutes (and all had right-wing/NRA-sponsoring Coors). That’s 22 ads at about 20 seconds each, or 7.5 minutes. Phew.

 

Review: Kiss Kiss

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2019

Images from the Internet

Kiss Kiss

Directed by Dallas King

Red Rabbit Pictures / Cleopatra Entertainment / MVD Entertainment

99 minutes, 2019

www.cleopatra-entertainment.com

www.mvdb2b.com

Oh, Jeez.

I have oft touted that when a film takes a group of different tropes or clichés and mixes them all together, something new and interesting can be sired. But other times, if it doesn’t go deep enough, it becomes plebeian and ho-hum. That being said, it also depends on what the tropes are and of what interests they include whether it is on the side of interesting or blasé.

Take this film for example. You have a military conspiracy to create a better soldier through chemistry. This is hardly anything new, going back as far off the top of my head to Captain America. Another here is women-on-women violence and love/sex, from lesbianism to Mixed Martial Arts. In bikinis of course. In the real world, there’s the women’s football league where they play the game in underwear; this is a similar idea and I am willing to bet influenced this story. Now, MMA is after my time. I used to love boxing and wrestling (I’m old enough to say I was a huge Bruno Sammartino [d. 2018] and Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini fan), and I’ve seen a few MMA matches on the telly, but I’ve kinda grown out of it.

Natasha Hopkins

In the first act of the film (i.e., the beginning 20 minutes) we meet four friends who are exotic dancers… excuse me, “ladies” (as one character insists), since we see sensual movements, but no nudity. They get an invite to a wine tasting, which turns into wine drinking (have the writers never been to a wine tasting, where you sniff and sip but don’t swallow?), which turns into a cocaine frenzy, and to no one’s surprise, a drug-fueled kidnapping by the military.

Y’see, the US military is trying to make stronger and controllable soldiers, so of course they use barely dressed women dancers as their sample group. Say what? Under the control of this drug, they fight other women and, to no surprise, each other, to the death.

Here is a reason why I found this annoying: there is no antagonist for nearly any of the actual fights. The women are just punching up each other. If there were an enemy, such as Russians, Chinese, Koreans, Syrians, whatever, it would be easy to take sides and the fighting might be fun and give you someone to boo or cheer for; here, it’s just our four friends and a few random women with no backstory – not that there’s much of that for anyone other than two of our heroines who are lovers; not inclusive to either each other or gender, as this fantasy was written by men (same issue I had with 1997’s Chasing Amy).

The writing is quite basic with no great lines or witty plot lines; even the double-crosses can be seen coming due to lazy scripting. The filmmaking tries to be arty but looks more like a Cinemax softcore porn shoot (told ya I was old) thanks to the lighting and the editing, and the acting basically consists of anger – even before the drugs are administered – and growling. Also, all the fighting and the sex scenes are filmed the same way, with colorful lights and slo-mo. Many shots of the action and the onlookers looks like it could have been lifted directly out of the hardcore sex film Café Flesh (1982).

Tamra Dae

All the women have silly names, like Kiss (star of the film, Natasha Hopkins), Treasure, Kurious, Fortune, Dream and Promise aka Tia (Aunt?). Yeah, the bad guy/head of the army program is mostly just called Gibson (Robert Wagner playing a stereotype), but at least he is given real dialogue, relatively speaking, other than, “No! Please!” and “Grrrrrrrr” (note that a lion’s growl is added over the sound of the participant’s scream).

With a mild spoiler alert here, to give you an example of the attitude of the film which is obviously geared towards teen boys and incels, we are presented a male character who has no trouble or punishment for abusing these women by making them fight to the death, but it is only until he is responsible for the death of another male does he get some comeuppance. Ugh.

Lots of extras come with this DVD. The first up is “The Origin Story: An Homage to ‘Alice in Wonderland’” (13:05): At the beginning, director King explains how he equates the characters and events comparing it to “Alice,” and it somewhat makes sense in a very loose way, but then he says, “The theme of this film is about women’s independence.” What?!?! By having them literally shackled and forced to fight to the death? Where is this, Alabama? Anyway, most of the rest of this featurette is about how the film came about and the envisioning of each character, and is somewhat interesting, even if its ideology is kind of twisted around.

Robert Wagner

Next, “The Kiss Style: Lights, Make-up and More,” is just about that, though mostly about make-up, which is understandable considering each woman wears her own style of war paint

(appropriation? I won’t go there now). At least this is short (5:48). More interesting considering the nature of the film as it makes sense, “It’s Fight Night: Choreography in Action,” is a bit longer than the others (18:36). This is quite satisfying in that way in that the director and choreographer describe how each fighter is different. Again, no problem with the fights per se, it’s the motivation behind it that irked me. Then there is “Confessions of a Director: Director’s Chair Perspective” (8:11). This is kind of a Making Of, except the whole focus – even the interviews with the crew – is about the director. Whatever, it comes across as a mass ego piece.

The seven brief Deleted Scenes were right to be excised. They are mostly under a minute and don’t really add anything to the story. The Dossier and Stills choicer gives the contact info for the cast and crew, and 3:05 of stills of the cast and film, over music. We are also given the trailer and a bunch of other cool Cleopatra coming attractions.

Of course, the centerpiece is the commentaries. The first one is with the Director King and actor/Producer Wagner. They discuss each scene in some detail as they turn up and yet manage not to get too deep about what they meant by the particular shot, and other anecdotes (“That horse barn was really there, we didn’t build it”). There is a second commentary by King and the Director of Photography, but I’m just burned out by this and my interest is on my next review. That tells you something about this film.

I came away from the film feeling annoyed more than being filled with ennui (it’s certainly not boring) but maybe I’m too old for its market subject. And I happen to like both a good story and to think – even with a cheesy film – while the action is going on.

Review: Elite

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2017

Images from the Internet

Elite

Directed by Mark Cantu      
Live Wire Films / Lost Empire Films / MVD Visual
90 minutes, 2017
www.lostempirefilms.com
www.mvdvisual.com

It’s not often I get to review a straight-out action film with no horror involved, so I was glad to get the opportunity with this military crime drama focusing on drug dealing gangs, and specifically the take-down of a drug lord from down South of the Border. Yes, this is a potential Trump wet dream where the bad guy is from Meh-hee-ko (a bad hombre), and it’s the special forces of the United States that is out to take him down.

Allison Gregory

Most action films of this type follow an almost regimented formula (at least until the reveal), and this one is no exception. After a prolog about a mission gone bad where the good guys lose, we pick up the story two years later with a new Naval Covert Ops Command Special Agent and “registered Republican,” Abbey Vaughn (the square-jawed Allison Gregory, rocking a Frances McDormand-meets-Erin R. Ryan look), who is brings retired Bourne-level super-agent Sam Harrigan (Jason Scarborough) out of retirement. He’s grumpy, he’s drunk, he’s sequestered himself in some far off locale in rural Texas, and he has a beard. Of course, he doesn’t want to come back, but events get him to shave his head and he’s back on point to take down the drug lord and his minions. This is a trope that has been overused a bit much, but it gets you to the point of action. And, being an action film, that’s the point, right?

Right off the bat, Vaughn shows herself to be a bit of an amateur (she’s no Clarice Starling), such as entering a bad-guy bar solo, without back-up. Whenever I see this done on a TV show, where the lone cop/good guy runs into a situation where they should just wait until back-up arrives, I think, “This character is an ass, and deserves to die.” But they don’t. Vaughn seems to get roughed up or threatened somewhat regularly early on (and it’s not hard to predict her family will be probably be put in danger at some point...I write this 17 minutes into the film, so I don’t know for certain yet). She’s gonna need big strong man Harrigan to rescue her, or at least be a mentor. You can tell this was written by dudes (Cantu and Scarborough) right off. I’m waiting for the mansplaining (it comes in at 50 minutes, FYI, but it’s acknowledged and tempered in a somewhat positive light, or possibly even mocked).

Also, just because Harrigan is the star (and co-writer), even though Vaughn’s name come first in the credits, it seems pretty ridiculous that for most of the film he’s the only one who can take care of himself. I mean, there is Vaughn and another (African-American male…from Brooklyn yet) agent (Shawn Brooks) who cower under a table while Harrigan takes care of a bunch of knife and gun-tottin’ thugs himself. This is a bit too Seagal / Van Damme / Rambo egocentric without the star power to back it up, in my opinion. More on this later.

What I also fine disconcerting is the weaponry and its use. Everyone has a gun, that’s no surprise, being law enforcement vs. drug gang (never mind that it’s Texas), but nearly all the firepower is hand guns, especially in the first two-thirds of the film. Drug cartels and enforcers would most likely have high powered assault rifles that fire multiple rounds per second, not bam…bam…bam. On top of that, nobody seems to hit very much (people or, say speeding away cars), so there is very little collateral damage, even from a couple of feet away. This is a bit of a throwback to the Schwarzenegger days where he would stand in the middle of a room with dozens of people firing at him, and he would kill with every shot while none hit him. Here, even Harrigan’s (and Vaughn’s) guns tend to miss, despite multiple rounds. And yet he tries to tell Vaughn how to shoot though she’s supposedly a marksperson. The feminist side of me is getting grumpy.

Jason Scarborough

I was trying to figure out the political stance of the film. While it’s quite heteronormative, at the same time there are some swipes at conservative politicians, but also seems to fall in line with the present administration’s attitudes about “bad” people coming from Mexico and the belief that they bring crime with them (or the desire to do so). Perhaps it’s my own prejudice that sees that, being suspicious as this is from (and filmed in) San Antonio, Texas. I’m not sure, but I can easily see both sides of the liberal/conservative spectrum either questioning some parts of this, or agreeing with others.

One of the enforcers for the cartel is played by WWE-wrestler Mike Dell, who is also known as Dr. Corbett. He handily kills people with his bare hands. You know at some point, as this is the paradigm they are following, he is going to cross fists with Harrigan. Even before it happens, I’m going to guess that Harrigan starts by losing, and then wins. Won’t say if it’s true or not, you’ll have to watch for yourself.

Towards the end of the film, Vaughn becomes stronger after a personal loss, and ends up mostly being able to handle herself. However, there is one other core character I would like to talk about at this point, a cyber babe named Jazz (Ione Europa Rousseau) who is sort of a more punk version of the Abby Sciuto character from NCIS. At first they have her playing the doofy Joe Pesci role from Lethal Weapon 2 (etc.), even giving her the “Do I get a badge/gun?” lines, but she is my favorite here, and proves that she can kick frickin’ ass. I want to see a film of just the background story of her character. Jazz is arguably by far the most interesting and nuanced one here. Other standouts are Jason Lee Boyson as capo Guapo; his being a stand-up comic certainly helps with his line delivery, and James C. Leary as Benedict (who was a semi-regular on the later-seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer under tons of make-up).

Generally, the acting is decent, and when actually connecting, the kills look pretty good. Most of the hand fights are pretty good (the villains are usually MMA fighters in their non-film lives), especially Mills, who comes across as quiet and intense, stealing the camera’s view whenever he’s onscreen.

One of the things I appreciate is that while a lot of the film’s story is formulaic, the expected double crosses actually worked really well (that they happen, not who they are), and even though I wondered about it at some point, it still managed to take me a bit by surprise because I was expecting it to be one of two people, and it was neither.

Other than three enjoyable trailers from LWF, the only extra is a full-length commentary with Cantu, Scarborough, and Gregory that while not brilliant, is chock full of information about the creation of the story, certain scenes, and fun anecdotes. It’s the bad jokes and the occasional talking-over that puts a slight damper on it. Still, I would recommend the listen if you enjoy the film.

Despite it all, this is actually a decent watch for this genre, either in spite of or because of it being formulaic. The story may have holes, but the basic premise works due to it following so close to the rules. Hell, it actually makes more sense than most of anything with Seagal or Van Damme, which are just ego pieces. This can’t rely on that, so it needs to be a bit stronger, and it is that. For a straight-out action film, the skin is more important than the bones, meaning that the action/what you see, trumps out the basic story/structure. This fits the menu quite well for a nice fast paced, fast food film.

 

Review: The Horde

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2017

Images from the Internet

The Horde                             

Directed by Jared Cohn

313 Films / Razors Edge Productions / Traplight Pictures

Gravitas Ventures / MVD Visual

87 minutes, 2012 / 2016

www.MVDVisual.com

When I first heard the name of the film, I thought, “I wonder if it’s a zombie horde or a vampire horde? Perhaps a demon horde?” From the cover it is pretty obvious that at the very least this is a horror action film. You may ask yourself, “Isn’t most horror usually filled with action (if it’s good)?” You may ask yourself, “This is not my beautiful…” oh, sorry, I guess my mind wandered back to the 1980s…

Josh Logan has many shirtless moments

For the action part, we meet handsome ex-Navy SEAL John Crenshaw (real-life bio-chemist and stuntman/martial artist Josh Logan, who also wrote the film) and his beautiful girlfriend, Selina (Tiffany Brouwer). She’s a teacher taking five of her (high school?) beautiful students on a camping trip to take photographs of nature for school credit, including two couples and an angry and spoiled rich gay brat, Riley (Thomas Ochoa, who has specialized in LGBTQ-etc. roles).

Unfortunately, the woods are full of, oh yes, the Horde. It is a large, inbred family, which they call mutants, as they are just genetics mixed with radiation poisoning, in a similar vein to that kind of group in films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and especially The Hills Have Eyes (1977… I don’t feel a need to acknowledge the remake). They refer to the females they capture as “breeders” and the males as “meat.” Well, that explains a lot towards motivation, doesn’t it? Love it when stimulus is clean and simple. Then add the ingredient of escaped criminals and mad scientists who are out to make some meth to bring in some cash to the congenital mix, and you have a nice formula for said mutations to run amok.

The enforcer of the horde in question is a huge more-brawn-than-brain escaped con with anger issues named Stone (ex-Football player Michael Willig). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize at some point Crenshaw and the much taller Stone are going to go mano-a-mano. But that doesn’t mean Crenshaw isn’t going to have a few licks in beforehand, actually even before his class group even get to the campground (but no details about that, so no worries).

Tiffany Brouwer's Streets of Fire moment

However, the leader of the horde is fellow escapee Cylus (Australian actor Costas Mandylor, known for playing Lt. Hoffman in the Saw series), and Earl, the literal butcher, who makes fresh tongue sandwiches (on white bread) is none other than fellow Aussie Vernon Wells (arguably best known as Wes, the mohawk’d villain in the only Mel Gibson film I can still watch without wanting to puke, 1981’s Road Warrior/Mad Max 2); he has a great nearly-whispered monolog just past the halfway point. You can see that there are some heavy duty heavies in this film. Plus, Bill Moseley (Otis in House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects) and Don “The Dragon” Wilson have a bit of cameos, as well.

There are no huge surprises along the way, as Logan stealthily makes his way through the horde camp, killing without a second thought from his training background; “I’ve done a lot of things for my country I’m proud of, and some I’m not proud of,” he tells Riley at some point early on, an exposition to show he’s a trained military assassin (though I wonder what he does for a living since retiring from service). Actually, it’s easy to cheer for each kill, and it’s nice to root for the good hunter rather than the bad ones (e.g., Freddy, Jason and Michael). While abound in clichés and genre tropes, such as rising out of the water similarly to Rambo, this is still a fun watch. Truthfully, I’m not that much into pure action films with a hero rescuing his lady (in a tied-up situation reminiscent of 1984’s excellent Streets of Fire) by killing and beating everyone up, but this falls big on the plus side because the body count is high, the film looks good, and the action is definitely enjoyable. Logan makes for a formidable and likeable hero (who, of course, is shirtless as much as possible – including the scene that introduces his character – to show off his pack).

One of the mutants

The gore here is impressive, extensive and beautifully handled by a top-notch SFX team. Limbs are often separated, heads are smashed or snapped, and yes, an arm is broken a la Steven Seagal style. Also, the cinematography by Laura Beth Love is worth noting; there is lots of fog lighting giving us Logan in crouching silhouette, ready for the next move.

There are some double crosses along the way that you’re bound to see coming from a mile away, but again, so what. All things considered, part of what makes this film, along with the action of punching, chopping and hacking, is the direction. Jared Cohn is known for some heavy duty B-films, such as Hold Your Breath (2012), 12/12/12 (2012) and a bunch of the Sharknado sequels, so he knows how to frame the film into a positive mode for a genre fan. The lighting may be cliché at times (e.g., the smoky back lighting), but it’s never too dark to see what’s happening (for which I’m always grateful), the sound is solid, and the acting in commendable if sometimes a tad overdone (Riley’s pissy moments, for example).

The extras are kind of short, but shweeet. First up is a 2:28 b-roll (over music) of some of the CK VFX work done in the digital world, most of which look pretty good. That being said, there are a couple of fire tricks that are a bit weak as they look more like fire overlays than whatever it is aflame. Some of the splatter is obviously digi, but that is true for most films these days. Overall, the rest is pretty good. I enjoyed seeing how the effects were built.

Along with the trailer and chapter breaks, next up is the 16:36 “Making Of” (listed as “The EPK” – E-Press Kit – on the Extras page). Including on-set interviews with much of the cast and crew, this was one of the fun behind-the-scenes featurettes I’ve seen in a while. There’s no areas where it lags, but rather it keeps the viewers’ (well, this one, anyway) interest straight through. Somewhere in there Willig says, “It’s a fun ride.” And he’s right.