Furious on Film 07.05.06: Issue 47

Posted by Arnold Furious on 07.05.2006

Bruce Lee, Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyazaki; you can’t tell I’m going to the Far East next week can you?

The aim of this ongoing column was simple. I've been watching films for a long, long time but along the way I've somehow found myself watching some absolute crap on a regular basis. I've seen every episode of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween. Is there any real need for that? Should I have seen Green Street? Green Street? Green Street? I'm appalled at my own decisions. So I'm now on a crusade to try and be more adult about my film watching. It's time to spread my wings and watch a wider range of films. The biggest problem I've encountered when taking on this challenge is my choices of viewing material aren't always at the level I'd hope for. There are times when I abandon my high and mighty campaign and instead watch whatever my brain decides I need. This can happen at any time but I'll still try to keep up a turnover of films that are challenging in some way.

Warning – could well contain minor spoilers throughout. Films are rated on a ***** scale. This week we have…

Way of the Dragon, The Bad Sleep Well, Porco Rosso, (Musa) The Warrior, Cigarette Burns

Way of the Dragon (1972)

EXPECTATIONS – As with most Bruce Lee films I'm expecting a lot of roundhouse kicking and "wyyyyuh" noises. Also on show here are a few other professional fighters including Bob Wall and CHUCK NORRIS. Yeah, everyone's favourite list of violence guy. This is only his second film and the first one he gets a credit in. Fighting Bruce Lee gained him enough notoriety that he was able to transform this appearance into a lengthy and successful career in film and television. He had several hits during the 80's including Missing in Action, Delta Force and Lone Wolf McQuade. More recently he's won acclaim for his performances as Walker, Texas Ranger.

PLOT – Tang Lung (Lee) visits some relatives in Italy running a small Chinese restaurant in Rome. They've been threatened by gangsters and need help fending them off. Lung is so successful in his mission that the evil boss hires fighters to fuck him up. The premier of these being Colt (Chuck Norris).

OPINION – Martial arts films are inevitably only as good as the fight scenes and the talent on display. With Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris the producers of Way of the Dragon already had themselves a winner. Whatever they came up with was always going to be entertaining with both men at their psychical peaks throwing strikes with speed and accuracy. The choreography of their epic clash in the Coliseum, an appropriate setting for two modern gladiators to battle it out, is superb. Although most of the other fights are somewhat less thrilling having that one blockbuster showdown makes the film have a sense of grandeur that it would otherwise be lacking. Bruce Lee decided for Way of the Dragon to step behind the camera for the first time. The result of his decision to direct and indeed write Way of the Dragon is the creation of an entirely different Bruce Lee to the one that popular culture remembers. This Bruce Lee is very light hearted and Way of the Dragon is littered with gags, almost to the level that Jackie Chan does sometimes. Of course when Colt turns up the pressure to deliver something more dramatic over rides this and it's a more familiar Bruce Lee who finishes Way of the Dragon. Still the opening scenes where Tang struggles with English/Italian (odd how everyone in Rome speaks English as opposed to their actual language) and therefore ends up eating six bowls of soup for his first meal. He then spends every available opportunity over the following scenes to go and take a shit. His deadpan delivery kind of helped things but I couldn't help but feel that what I was watching wasn't in line with Lee's strengths. It's not so much that he's bad at the comedy but just that I felt somewhat uncomfortable watching it, which means that something must be wrong. When the action really kicked up a notch towards the films conclusion I was in a much happier place. The minor fight scenes that lead into the fight with Norris are just exhibitions. It's clear that none of these other fighters are a match for Bruce Lee. They don't possess his speed or his rippling muscles. Like with any good action film the bad guy needs to be built up to be on a par with that and they do that with Norris easily dismantling Ing-Sik Whang, a noted Japanese fighter at the time. Now Bruce Lee will get himself a challenge and that's when the film kicks into a higher gear both action-wise and plot-wise with all the important character development coming into play. Up to that point the film had come off as somewhat of a failure. The dart throwing scene aside Bruce hadn't really done much entertaining and the supporting cast were struggling because there was nothing to play off. They really could have used a more dramatic fight scene earlier in the film. Push Bruce closer to his boundaries in the early going. As it stands he coasts clean through the film regardless of how many men he's fighting.

BEST BIT – Bruce breaks out the double nunchucks to get rid of his inferior opponents.

RATING - ***1/2. The plot is a slight step up from the Big Boss and the action is more realistic. He keeps the comedy in the fights without resorting to it himself. The double nunchucks scene and the fight with Chuck Norris are well worth a look. The dubbing is still horrific and for some reason Bruce insisted on it. Why shoot without sound? Other minor gripes include the poor acting and lack of excitement but when Way of the Dragon hits a higher gear it is worth turning up for. IT IS!

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

EXPECTATIONS – Time for some more Akira Kurosawa. I've already seen all of his best films, which is kind of annoying but there are still Kurosawa movies to explore. Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura are both on board for this. Timeline wise this slots in between Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo so it is at a time when Kurosawa was seriously producing the goods. In terms of popularity in the West, the Bad Sleep Well is way down the list. It's never really developed a following like the Samurai epics or even High and Low, which is the only other contemporary Kurosawa movie that springs to mind.

PLOT – Koichi Nishi (Mifune) uses his job with his father-in-law's company to investigate his father's death. His father-in-law Iwabuchi (Masayuki Mori) is an evil corporate head but he's also a family man who loves his lame daughter Keiko (Kyoko Kagawa). Nishi also has a good friend in his reckless playboy brother-in-law Tatsuo (Tatsuya Mihashi). Nishi seeks to explore a conspiracy involving several of the corporations higher figures including Admin guy Moriyama (Shimura) and contract officer Shirai (Ko Nishimura).

OPINION – The Bad Sleep Well is a dense and deliberate thriller that slowly extends itself out to the viewer over its 150 minute run time. Kurosawa feels the need to expand on a lot of the central characters and explain the reasoning behind their actions, which makes for a film with a lot of scope. The initial problem I had with Bad Sleep Well is the sheer density of it combined with the Japanese nature of the film. Some of Kurosawa's movies are far more accessible but this is one of those where an understanding of Japanese culture and honour is required. There are a few obvious links with a classic play, Shakespeare's Hamlet. The dead father, the marriage to an innocent, the conspiracy against the powerful relative etc. Kurosawa brings this plot forwards into post-war Japan where he used Hamlet to take shots at the way in which business is run in. It's clear he had a few gripes with major companies at the time and decided to make a film about it. Having the majority of the cast as corrupt makes it tricky to get behind anyone especially when Nishi is so driven by revenge that he is also hard to like. Even my favourite character Tatsuo, due to his tendency to tell the absolute truth regardless of who is listening or what the occasion is, has serious character flaws. He's spoilt and hasn't worked a day in his life. As for Nishi, the central character, Mifune plays him very low key for the vast majority of the film. Although he's doing this to cover his tracks Nishi rarely unloads with his furious vengeance. His more subtle approach to driving Shirai completely insane is a nice touch though. Picking up the scared Wada before he commits suicide allows him to use Wada as a weapon against those who believe him to be dead. Especially Shirai who felt particularly guilt ridden at Wada's death as it was his suggestion to Wada that he kill himself. The following "ghost" scenes work remarkably well and Ko Nishimura's acting or rather reacting is superb. Once you get over the Japanese business world, something I'll never understand, and the aspects of the plot that come from that then the Bad Sleep Well is an enjoyable experience. Try to look at it from the characters point of view rather than where the plot is going. Of all the Kurosawa movies I've seen to date this one seems the most focused at a Japanese rather than a world audience.

BEST BIT – The "ghost" of Wada disappearing into the darkness and a suitably freaked out Shirai running for his life.

RATING - ***1/4. Kurosawa at his least accessible. Certainly not a starting point but something worth checking out if you're into Japanese cinema. There are still Western influences (Shakespeare, Wagner) but the plot revolves around heavy Japanese concepts of honour, revenge and business. It makes the Bad Sleep Well tough to get into and just when you're really into the tense building to a conclusion he rushes the ending, which leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Porco Rosso (1992)

EXPECTATIONS – This is from director Hayao Miyazaki. You should know him as the man behind Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. He has a massive reputation for delivering quality if somewhat weird Japanese animation. Spirited Away is regarded by a great many people as being the best animated film ever made. I reviewed it myself in FoF #3 giving it ***3/4. I can't help but feel that was particularly harsh of me. I've seen it twice since then and it got better with each viewing. Probably half a star better with each viewing if I'm honest boosting it's rating up to ****3/4. Of course I'm still a huge fan of Princess Mononoke so with Spirited Away having grown on me I figured it was time to check out something else of Miyazaki's. With everyone and his uncle reviewing Howl's Moving Castle of late I figured I'd first step off in a different direction and got this recommendation from Mo, the very lovely man who occasionally writes about films for FuriousRage.com (as the Mysterious Avenger, not so mysterious now I've named him).

PLOT – The titular Crimson Pig is an Italian seaplane pilot battling seaplane pirates after the First World War. The pirate's gang together and hire American ace Donald Curtis who sets about shooting down the Pig. Incidentally the Pig, Porco Rosso (Italian from Crimson Pig), really is a pig in man form after some sort of curse has been put on him. Although this really isn't fully explored there is more than a hint that the Pig is the father of the young mechanic Fio who fixes up the Pig's plane. With the plane fixed Porco Rosso and Curtis head for the inevitable showdown with the glamorous Gina looking on hoping for love.

OPINION – This is the only Miyazaki film I've seen so far that happens in a realistic time and place. Somewhere that actually existed. This would be sometime in the late 1920's around Italy and the various islands of the Mediterranean. The Pig fought in the First World War as an Italian fighter pilot battling against Austro-Hungarian forces. Some of the flashbacks show clear detail of the war. The best part of Porco Rosso is the great dogfight sequences. The first of which sees a pirate crew kidnap 15 schoolchildren and the Crimson Pig forces them to land. The changes in shots between the flying and the kids running around inside the pirate plane are just fantastic. There's so much detail I had to watch the scene twice to get the majority of it. Brilliant animation from Studio Ghibli, as always. It does seem like Miyazaki has a few things to learn by that though. The fact he doesn't dwell on shots long enough for all the details to sink in shows an inexperience that would be eradicated by the time of Princess Mononoke five years later. During the course of the film the aerial dogfight sequences get better and better to the point where the Pig and Curtis get their guns jammed and throw things at each other from their planes. The wrench shot at 5,000 feet was a real winner for me. The group of pirates are also a highlight. They're clearly not bright and according to several other characters they stink. Unlike the ace pilot Curtis they're only ever bumbling comedy side stories. Although they're good for the majority of the big laughs on display. Especially when they collectively fall in love with Fio because of her love of planes (somewhat like the episode of Firefly, Shindig, where all the rich gents flock around Kaylee because she's talking so passionately on the subject) and start falling over each other to get a photo taken with her. There is another story running at the side where both Porco and Curtis are in love with Gina. Although Curtis professes his love profusely Gina is waiting for Porco and somehow knows he'll never go to her because he feels he can't be the man she needs. It's an unusually tragic romance story considering Porco Rosso is primarily a fun action film. Miyazaki's ability to tell stories using animation is clear at this early point in his career and you know he's going to keep hitting those highs with his love of weird animalistic characters and larger than life situations.

BEST BIT – The pirates falling over themselves attempting to get a photo taken with Fio. The head pirate knocks them all flying creating a humorous still shot with bodies flying everywhere.

RATING - ****. The last shot of no one waiting in the garden gives a happy ending if you think about it. The action scenes are fantastic and the animation is, as always from Miyazaki, top drawer. Great stuff.

The Warrior (2001)

EXPECTATIONS – Known internationally as Musa but for some reason known in the UK as The Warrior. This is a film from relatively inexperienced Korean director Sung-su Kim. Musa is only his fifth film (although I hear differently elsewhere imdb.com only credits him with four prior to this) but he went to college to study cinematography so chances are it'll look pretty. Generally Eastern cultures strive hard to create good visuals. Musa took five years to make and is the most expensive Korean film, ever with a whopping budget of $60M. Part of which went on securing the services of internationally renowned star Zhang Ziyi (of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon fame not to mention Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Rush Hour 2 and pretty much everything else that comes out of Eastern cinema).

PLOT – A group of Koreans find themselves isolated in feudal China after their envoy is killed by the Ming Dynasty. The small group are hated by Ming soldiers as well as representatives of the old Yuan Empire. They find even fiercer enemies in the travelling Mongol hordes and decide to liberate the Ming princess (Zhang Ziyi) from their imprisonment and return her to her rightful place thus guaranteeing themselves freedom and a return to Korea. There are three general schools of thought as to how this goes down. The group are lead by a Korean General called Choi (Jin-Mo Ju). He's charismatic but also a traditionalist. So he sees their best fighter Yeosol (Woo-sung Yung) as the slave he used to be. In his eyes Yeosol will always be a slave. His most able soldier and the best bowman in the film Jin-lib (Sung-kee Ahn) sees differently and tries to keep the two sides balanced and prevent internal strife that could tear the group apart. There are an assortment of minor characters as well, all well constructed.

OPINION – I wasn't expecting much going into Musa but I was pleasantly surprised. I've always been quite the fan of the Dynasty Warriors games and at times Musa felt like one of those. Only with actual characters instead of mindless killing. The slow build on the main characters was terrific with Choi being really open about what he perceived as his cowardice combined with his desire to die an honourable death and lead his people to the promised land, or rather just back home. Jin-lib is far more even and sees things more clearly than the passionate leadership of Choi. Then there's Yeosol who's very quiet to begin with but after exploding into action he got positively chatty about his rights as a free man. The plot is quite complex and at the same time easy to follow. The direction is smooth and loaded with action scenes to keep you entertained. There's more than a few beheadings, spear fights, eyes poked out and arrows through the neck in this. What really impressed me was how the film retained a cracking upbeat pace while at the same time having a chance to develop character. It's true there are a few clichés littered around. Like the guy who just got married and hasn't yet seen his son, born while he was away on this very expedition. Dead, thought I. It's always the way. Sometimes a lot of the characterisation was held together with cries of ‘honour' and so on but there were still people, flawed people, crying the words out. That impressed me. The battle weary approach has been done before usually in World War II movies but here it has a nice touch to it in that the group are barely soldiers. They're on a diplomatic mission and get caught up in the middle of a war. The cinematography in Musa is a joy. An absolute joy. It's Kyung-hu Kim who could well be a name to watch out for. His intense battle scenes are majestic in their violence. Once I realised how intense the battle scenes were going to be it became hard to look away at all when a fight started up. I think this stems from one particular scene where Yeosol has dragged his former masters corpse into a camp and a few Mongol soldiers take exception to the body being there. The one guy spits on it and Yeosol calmly picks up the nearest spear and chops his head clean off in one fluid motion. He isn't going to mess about and neither is this film.

BEST BIT – The showdown at the Clay Fortress where all the character development comes good. Probably the best part of it being when Choi tells the princess that he's a coward but does so in a language she can't understand. I was somewhat confused watching it at the time but after getting filled in on that snippet it makes perfect sense. Then everyone dies.

RATING - ****. Musa is a great action film with solid character work to back up the tasty fight scenes. The best part of Musa for me is the way that everyone has a motivation for what they're doing. Even the Mongol hordes have character and personality and reasoning for what they're doing. Yeah, they're set up as the bad guys but when you think about it the Koreans attack them first and they're only after vengeance. Thumbs up.

Cigarette Burns (2005)

EXPECTATIONS – Technically Cigarette Burns was merely an episode in the run of Masters of Horror TV shows. It aired in December of 2005 and was the first thing John Carpenter did after the horrific failure of Ghosts of Mars in 2001. Recently I've berated the skills of Carpenter claiming he's washed up and got nothing left. But I hear very positive things about Cigarette Burns so I felt I had to give the man one more chance. After all with his next feature film scheduled to "Psychopath", a very generic sounding serial killer flick this might be the last great work of a once great director. I still feel he's done nothing worthwhile since 1988's They Live. That's quite the extended dry streak for a guy who used to churn out quality low budget flicks for fun. This perhaps benefits from not coming from the pen of Carpenter. The writers here are Drew McWeeny who made his name on the Ain't It Cool News TV show. He's now been set up to write the remake of Race With The Devil (which will suck), Mortal Kombat's latest big screen effort and Invasion. Well, co-write anyway with his writing colleague Scott Swan. The duo made their names writing this film so it must have something to it to get Hollywood jumping for joy.

PLOT – A young cinema owner with a murky past, Kirby Sweetman (Norman Reedus), has a knack for finding rare film prints. His latest Indiana Jones style mission is given to him by kooky collector Mr Ballinger (Udo Kier) who wants him to find "La Fin Absolue Du Monde". A film so horrifying that every time it's been shown everyone that watches it either kills themselves or gets incredibly violent. Kirby tracks the film to France but will it be as devastating as myth would have it, or is it just hyperbole?

OPINION – First mistake they made when preparing to make Cigarette Burns was casting Norman Reedus as the central character. His acting skills barely make the radar as he totally fails to convey any emotion. Unless he's supposed to be feeling indifference at everything and behaving like someone's teenage son, moping around like a tosser because his girlfriend died. At least they cast a pretty Zara Taylor to be the subject of his attentions but even she isn't up to much. I know this was made for TV but there are some good actors out there who are prepared to do TV. Reedus is one of these guys, increasingly, where I see his name attached to a film it's a guarantee the film won't be any good. Blade II, 8MM etc. The only thing I like Reedus in is Boondock Saints and that's because all he has to do is convey pissed off and shooting people. Not really intense emotional states. Although the first thing I did was after this was rewatch Boondock and the first thing I noticed was how bad his accent was and generally how his performance was weaker than those around him. In Cigarette Burns far more is required. He needs to get across how he feels about losing someone close to him. And being scared. And being freaked out. And lusting after blood. He doesn't even come close to getting any of this across. It's a truly brutal acting display and one that I'm sure even Carpenter himself cringed at. As for Carpenter this isn't bad considering his recent track record. He can't do much about the acting and probably was daydreaming of working with Kurt Russell again. The pacing is fine and the various bits of gore and horror are good enough. The de-winging of the angel wasn't quite as creepy as it probably should have been but the early reveal of both the wings and the angel itself in Ballinger's collection kind of take away from the shock of it. The only time I was really made to think about jumping was the first time Carpenter used the "cigarette burn" effect to shock and surprise. The following dream sequence was a little corny but the point had been made. Whenever you're drifting away he's going to haul you back with a big BAM in the middle of the screen. Then he really didn't do much with the concept in the rest of the film. The elevator scene aside, which isn't much cop, the rest of the dreamlike states are reserved for the actual showing of La Fin Absolue Du Monde (which translates to the ‘end of the world'). That's where the gore starts coming in thick and fast with viscera everywhere and eyes being gouged out. The character stepping out of the screen, along with the ‘cigarette burn' effect, are somewhat lifted from Ringu. The concern for me over this scene is that Reedus is just sitting there looking as bored as he has for the previous 60 minutes. There's no look of shock horror on his face. Nothing. Much the same as when he's shown a real life wingless angel in one of the opening scenes. Meh. So what. Carpenter could have thrown the greatest visuals in the world out in this film and if Reedus continued to react in the same way it'd all mean nothing. In the end it's not so much that Carpenter fails, although he does by delivering La Fin Absolue Du Monde, which isn't very good, it's more the failure of his leading man. Reedus takes an interesting concept and doesn't react to any part of it. His dialogue gets to be painful. Sure, it's not very well written but at least try to empathise with the character you're playing. "I thought you were my friend" he says in some sort of non distinct mood. Is he angry? He doesn't sound angry. Is he upset? Who knows?

BEST BIT – Warning, here be spoilers. Udo Kier's creepy assertion that having seen La Fin Absolue Du Monde he was now ready to make his own film before feeding his entrails into his projector and screening his innards for a private viewing.

RATING - **3/4. Not bad for TV but nothing more. To say that "Carpenter is back" as many have done after witnessing this effort is a stretch though. Yes, it's probably the best thing he's attached his name to in 17 years but there isn't much competition for that honour. Worth a look especially if horror is your thing. But then if it is you probably watch Masters of Horror anyway. Good for you.

Hey, nothing sucked this week. Good stuff. Next week I'll be sat on my ass in a bar in Tokyo. So no column. The week after that I'll be in Kuala Lumpur. So, no column again. Sorry Leonard! I'll be regular as clockwork when I get back honest. Although the week after I get home the day before my column is due. I'll give it a shot but chances are I'll be jetlagged to hell and it'll suck. Or won't happen at all. So the next column will most probably be on August 2nd. Apologies for that and to anyone who was expecting me to jump in on joint columns in the interim.

ELSEWHERE –

Roundtable Movie Zone for July. Something else I didn't have time to do this week. Apologies to Mr Craggs also. As per usual it's a fine read. Even if I'm not in it.

Cris Murphy has the Warped News for last week. Be sure and read him again tomorrow. There will very probably be boobies. You read my column, you deserve them now.

Leonard Hayhurst has Ask 411 Movies. Find out about common misquoting from films and TV. It's educational around heres.

Request for my 411 colleagues – someone review Firefly on DVD. It blatantly needs doing and I love it too much to give it a coherent review. Anyone?

Top 5 Worst TV Characters. Another week, another top 5 I failed to make the deadline in. It makes me wonder what I was doing all week but I guess the answer is drinking. I got as far as two, one of which was Scrappy Doo. To be fair I don't watch bad TV shows. What's the point? I'm sure there are thousands of crappy TV characters out there. Oh, and the other one was Screech. Not even for the original Saved by the Bell but for "the new class" when he was hanging around the school still, presumably because no one else would hire him, and cranked his level of irritating up about a million.

Say look here, I actually reviewed a wrestling tape. Yanno, the job I was hired for here at 411? It's Clash of the Champions 26. I have several that will appear over the coming weeks. In fact the archive is so far behind that stuff I've already posted in the video reviews section won't arrive on the site until AFTER I get back. We have scary amounts of video reviews. I've already done Superbrawl 4, Forever Hardcore, Hardcore Homecoming and the last 3CW show I went to. Going to see a show in Japan will be a nice switch because I'll be able to watch something without the pressure of reviewing it.

Oh and read Csonka. Every time you don't read Larry's columns a baby bird falls to its death. That's YOUR fault. Sort it.

NEXT – I have no idea whatsoever but what it will be is in August. Hope everyone has a nice July and I'll try and bring you back an interesting story or two.