The Man With The Iron Fists

I had a teacher in film school (not that it makes he or I experts on the subject) that said you should never star in your directorial debut. Ben Affleck didn't. Robert Redford didn't. Ben Stiller didn't.The list goes on. And there is a good reason for that. Directing takes so much focus that you shouldn't let anything else distract you until you get into the flow of things. Granted, there are a few film gods that are able to handle it, such as  Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin and Mel Gibson (Say what you want about his racism and sexism and other -isms, but that man can make a great movie). But mere mortal's usually can't handle it. RZA, of Wu-Tang Clan fame, is no exception to the rule.

The Quentin Tarantino backed movie, The Man With The Iron Fists tells the story of a crime riddled village in China, called Jungle Village. Therein resides a a blacksmith. A freed slave who fled to China and became a buddhist. He does not partake in the crimes of the several surrounding gangs. He does, however, create weapons for them, in order to save enough money to get him and his girlfriend out of Jungle Village. Soon, a gang war wages over the Emperors gold, causing a very Battle Royale-esque situation (Or so I'm told. I have yet to see Battle Royale).

While this movie has everything that I expected it to (sex, violence and bad acting), I still thought that perhaps it would be more. Honestly, this is one of the few situations where if they just said "to hell with it!" and tossed any form of story out the window, it would have been better. But because they tried to make it into something it shouldn't have been, it felt... empty, for lack of a better word.

What it should have been was an hour and a half of nothing but violence. And lot's of it, with some laughs in between. But they tried to add meaning where there wasn't any. There were these two characters in it, called the Gemini's. They were a kung-fu fighting couple. And they had some awesome fights. But they kept throwing in the yin-yang symbol, but the characters did not fit yin and yang. Other than their wardrobe, there was no difference. (For those who don't know, yin-yang is the idea that polar opposites interconnected. Without one, the other cannot exist) Their personalities were the same (at least within the short time they were on screen speaking).

Also, the writing was awkward and felt forced. Some scenes didn't seem to fit and back stories felt forced. And for the exception of Russell Crowe, Byron Mann and one scene with RZA, the acting was terrible. Even Lucy Liu, unfortunately.

Had this movie just been a hip-hop kung-fu movie with extreme violence and some humor, I feel this movie could have been a lot better. Or at least a lot more enjoyable. But, once again, a movie trying to be something it's not (or at least seeming like it) has failed at being anything but a  sub par movie.

As always, form your own opinions. Everyone has different taste in movies. Neither I, nor Ben Mankiewicz know better than you.

My Grade: C-