Movie Review: The Man With The Iron Fists

Hey all, for this posting I'm going to do a review on a film I saw and enjoyed.
I'm a fan of kung fu movies and lately  I  had a problem finding anything new that was fun to watch of that genre. Then I found "The man with the iron fists". I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie.

Directed and written by RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, you could tell that it was made by a fan of the genre for the fans of the genre. Unfortunately, It starred a fan with not much acting ability. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good movie. Thankfully the co-stars carry much of the weight of the film.

RZA as "The Blacksmith"

The plot of this film has RZA's character, the blacksmith create weapons for all the eccentric clans in a village back in the 19th century. One day, The Lion Clan stole the emperor's gold and assassinated the former leader of the Lion clan. The dead Lion clan's son seeks revenge on the traitors but is outnumbered. He eventually joins forces with the Blacksmith and they have a showdown with the members of Lion clan and their allies.

Silver Lion and the Lion Clan

The strengths of this film is the fight choreography , which is fun, graceful, gory and over the top stunts that keeps things lively and beautiful to see. The story itself is easy to follow and heavy into the fantasy side.  Some characters has superhuman like powers and most were simple characters that were clearly god or evil. The rest of cast were very good. Russell Crowe steals the show as Jack Knife. His character was a sex-driven british soldier who is investigating the stolen gold. He shares the weight of the film with Byron Mann. He is the Silver Lion and the clear bad guy of the film. I really enjoyed his character as he is played extremely conniving, evil and funny. The rest of the cast includes the lovely Lucy Liu, the gorgeous Jamie Chung and David Bautista.

David Bautista as "Brass Body"

Bautista's character is the "Brass Body" a character that is similar to the X-Man, Colossus in that he has super strength and can turn his skin to metal. Even his acting was much better and more interesting than the lead. The final plus of his movie is the sound track. The music is vibrant and adds a lot to the story with a mix of rap, rock and traditional asian music.

Now for the weakness of the film and that is mostly on the performance of the RZA. His performance as the Narrator, Blacksmith and even his fight scenes were stiff and lifeless. For someone who is such a big fan of the genre and had the passion to create this film, you would think it would show in his performance. Thankfully he was able to cast a strong ensemble to carry the film. Also, the writing at times could be a bit lame, especially the romantic scenes between

Jamie Chung as "Lady Silk"

Blacksmith and his love "Lady Silk", played by Jamie Chung.

But I can't bash RZA too much. He shows that he is a very capable director. The film itself is still very entertaining and he was able to direct the rest of the cast very well. I just wished he replaced himself with another actor.

To wrap up, I'd like to recommend "The man with the Iron Fists" if you're a fan of Kung Fu movies. It's hip, has a great sound track and is a lot of fun to watch. You can catch this film on Amazon Prime. I watched it here first and enjoyed it so much that I brought the Blu Ray.