Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

With its scenic English setting, writer/director Charlie Steeds’ Escape from Cannibal Farm might read as folk-horror, but with a focus on feuding families and isolated country-dwellers, it ultimately feels far more American in its sensibilities. Imagine The Texas Chain Saw Massacre but with the bleakness of British films like Eden Lake.

The story concerns the Harver family who embark on a trip to the middle of nowhere for a camping holiday. Family tensions run high as Jessica (Kate Marie Davies) introduces her mother and siblings to her boyfriend, Kurt (Joe Street), whilst everybody clashes with Wesley (Toby Wynn-Davies), the mother’s new overbearing and controlling pantomime-level villain of a partner.

During their first night in the country, they’re assaulted by an unknown entity who sets their tent on fire. This prompts them to seek help at a nearby farm where they’re attacked, caged and informed that they’ll be harvested for meat.

The film does an admirable job of handling an obviously low budget. It’s consistently professional with surprisingly nice and frequently inventive visuals. The only real giveaway as to the lack of funds is the quality of acting. The cast range from passable to awful.

The primary antagonist, Hunt Hansen, is portrayed by Barrington De La Roche who, to be fair, certainly looks the part. He gives a great performance in the film’s opening scene set to music and featuring no dialogue. Sadly, he doesn’t do so well once he opens his mouth to deliver not only speech, but a number of extended monologues. It’s a shame because a truly captivating performance in this role would have significantly elevated the film. Horror films tend to live and die on the quality of their villain, after all.

Peter Cosgrove portrays another of the bad guys and, in doing so, inexplicably adopts the voice of Papa Lazarou from The League of Gentlemen. Truly, vocal work is not this film’s forte, but thankfully the majority of the other villains are of the mute-man-with-a-chainsaw variety so it works.

The cast portraying the family are a lot better. They often struggle to sell the “witty banter” in the script, but they’re good enough that you’re able to empathise with them once they start getting killed, which is all a film like this really needs.

Some iffy dialogue aside, there are some nice moments of characterisation and gags dotted around and the whole piece is solidly structured and well thought-through. It also deserves a special shout-out for managing to remove the characters’ mobile phones from the equation in a way that feels completely organic.

For all of its flaws, the film is a legitimately engaging horror thriller with some genuine tension. You’ll certainly find yourself rooting for the characters to escape. Low-budget, derivative British horror movies are ten-a-penny but this one manages to stand above the crowd; largely thanks to its most striking element which is how much care and effort seems to have been put into making it.

ESCAPE FROM CANNIBAL FARM / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: CHARLIE STEEDS / STARRING: KATE DAVIES-SPEAK, BARRINGTON DE LA ROCHE, JOE STREET, TOBY WYNN-DAVIES, PETER COSGROVE / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 26TH

With Superman now dead following the conclusion of 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a new threat rises to threaten the very existence of the planet and reality itself. As the god-like Steppenwolf and his swarm of eerie Parademons desperately try to hunt down three magical motherboxes that can tear humanity apart, it’s down to some of DC’s most famed heroes to band together to fight the good fight and save the day. Will they get the job done, which heroes are up for the task at hand, and just how badly can you botch the CGI removal of a moustache?

First things first, the cover art and promotional material for this release all feature a certain Last Son of Krypton standing loud and proud with the rest of the Justice League, instantly making you aware that *shock horror* Superman’s death isn’t exactly a permanent arrangement. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at the other heroes who’ll be around for Supes’ grandstanding return. Firstly, there’s Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman. These two come up with the initial idea to form a team of superheroes to help protect the world, in turn recruiting Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, Ezra Miller’s Flash, and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg. With the group amassed, the fight is on as our heroes do their best to stop the uber-powerful Steppenwolf. Of course, this ‘big bad’ is no push over, meaning the ballsy call is made to resurrect the fallen Man of Steel to help in the Justice League’s fight.

To say the prelude to Justice League was a troubled path is an understatement. With Warner Brothers’ DC Extended Universe having struggled to hit anything remotely like a homerun with three of the ensemble’s four predecessors – Wonder Woman being the exception – the water was only further muddied by Joss Whedon being brought in to oversee extensive reshoots after Zack Snyder had to step back from the film due to the tragic passing of his daughter. On a general level, it’s clear to see Whedon’s influence at times, with some of the more light-hearted moments having the Buffy creator’s fingerprints all over them.

For many, the very future of the DCEU was hanging on the success of Justice League, meaning this was a huge, huge movie for Warners. The logic was, if this bombed then question marks would be placed over the huge amount of DC-driven pictures already in development at the WB. Maybe it was because of the negative buzz that surrounded the film way before it even hit the silver screen, maybe it was a lowering of expectations due to Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Suicide Squad, but regardless your humble scribe didn’t find Justice League to be all that bad at all. Was it great? No, not a chance, but it wasn’t as awful as some may have you believe.

In terms of positives, each of the core cast of heroes wear their roles like a second skin; Affleck is a brutal, unrelenting and intense Caped Crusader, even if there is maybe a little too much humour thrown Batman’s way; Gadot continues the hugely impressive work of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman in making her Diana truly feel like an epic figure for the ages; Momoa swaggers and broods majestically as a grittier version of Aquaman than many Golden and Silver Age comic book fans will be familiar with; Miller’s Scarlet Speedster often threatens to steal the show as the awkward, bumbling Barry Allen who is still finding his feet in the hero game; and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg is actually quite the compelling character for the most part, even if we still can’t take Vic Stone as anything more than a Teen Titan, dammit! Then there’s Henry Cavill’s Kal-El.

At the third attempt, Cavill’s Superman actually feels like Superman. While Cavill himself has always been a good fit for the role, Man of Steel and Batman v Superman seemed to forget some of the very fundamentals that make this iconic pop culture figure tick and mark him out as a true symbol of hope. Here, despite being absent for the majority of the film, the Big Blue Boy Scout steals the show when he inevitably rises like the proverbial Phoenix.

So, if all of those boxes are ticked off, why isn’t Justice League the outright hit that longtime comic books fans were hoping for? For starters, Steppenwolf is a dire villain, looking like he’s been pulled straight out of one of those ropey CGI-heavy movies of the 2000s. Ciaran Hinds is tasked with voicing the character and providing mo-cap for the rogue, but no matter how good a performance Hinds put in, his hands were ultimately tied. Sure, Steppenwolf is more-or-less a foot-in-the-door for Darkseid to make his presence known in a future film, but that’s no excuse for making him such an awful, lame villain here. And even then, there are moments when he is positioned as a hugely powerful force of nature. Yet when it comes down to it, he sucks. Absolutely sucks. As in,  ‘Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘ sucks. As in ‘Whiplash in Iron Man 2’ sucks. As in ‘Abomination in The Incredible Hulk’ sucks. You get the idea. The Parademons, though? They’re actually quite sinister and impressive upon initially showing up, although they soon become merely generic fodder for our band of merry men (and ‘wonder’ woman) to swat their way through.

In terms of the narrative of the film, too, that feels awfully paint-by-numbers. Yes, many highly acclaimed Marvel efforts of recent years similarly follow a predictable formula, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe makes the most of what’s at their disposal to add depth and intrigue to their stories. Even if you ultimately know what’s going to happen, they do enough to plant the seeds that have you still questioning how things are going to play out. With Justice League, it’s formulaic, sluggish, and bogged down by a subpar villain for the most part.

As touched upon earlier, however, it’s not the total dud that many have labelled it. There are enough positives to take away from the film to mean it’s not a complete stinker – most notably the characterisation of its core heroes and for finally giving audiences a Superman that feels far more in tune with what the Boy Scout should be – and Justice League just about ranks above the majority of its predecessors in the DCEU. That’s not exactly saying much, of course, with Wonder Woman the only film able to hold its head up high where the greater DCEU is concerned.

In terms of extras, the ample featurettes give a nice glimpse at what went on behind closed doors for Justice League, and the deleted scenes give us a look at the famed black Superman suit that was rumoured to appear in the film.

All in all, Justice League is still not the smash hit that Warner Brothers were hoping for from their DC Extended Universe, yet it is a movie that does have some impressive moving parts to it if you’re able to go in with an open mind and modest expectations. Really, we should be expecting a lot, lot more from the cinematic coming together of such staples of comic book lore, but given what’s gone before it, the fact that Justice League isn’t a total stinker is strangely seen as some sort of victory.

Special Features: Ten featurettes / Deleted scenes

JUSTICE LEAGUE / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: ZACK SNYDER / SCREENPLAY: CHRIS TERRIO, JOSS WHEDON, ZACK SNYDER / STARRING: BEN AFFLECK, GAL GADOT, JASON MOMOA, EZRA MILLER, RAY FISHER, CIARAN HINDS, HENRY CAVILL / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 26TH

Nearly a century on from their prime in both vaudeville theatre and the big-screen, comedy legends The Marx Brothers remain among the most loved and influential of  comic teams. Alongside Laurel & Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and The Three Stooges, pretty much all contemporary fun has had their roots from there.

 

Arrow have now put together a three-disc Blu-Ray Special Edition release consisting of the quintet of films they did through Paramount at the outset of the talkies, The Cocoanuts (1929), Animal Crackers (1930), Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932) and Duck Soup (1933).

 

If you are getting your first taste of their work, we would suggest starting with Duck Soup working back chronologically. Most of the older generation like this writer discovered them on early screenings on Channel 4 and via late-night tapings on BBC2 in the early 1980s and Duck Soup is the best place to start.

 

Effectively the films were cinematic extensions of their stage shows (indeed, their classic MGM film A Night At The Opera was road-showed on stage and the best of the gags found their way into the final product, notably this example’s stateroom scene) and the height of the humour reached it’s peak in this collection in the final two films, which eliminated much of the musical numbers in favour of the pure comedy for which the brothers were known for.

 

Viewed today, some of the gags might go over your head, particularly in the first three films, but even from The Cocoanuts, it is clear that the films truly come to life when Groucho, Harpo and Chico are on screen, The fourth brother, Zeppo, seemed to play second fiddle and was portrayed as the romantic interest in the likes of Horse Feathers. The first three films do represent a chemistry in progress as they made a transition from stage to screen.

 

Duck Soup remains the most consistently funny of the films, as topical as ever with it’s satirical analysis of a new Government in the fictional country of Freedonia, with society widow Mrs Teasdale (straight and unfazed Margaret Dumont, who allegedly never could be made to laugh during the Marx mayhem) financing a crisis hit Cabinet, a backdrop to the various physical comedy moments.

 

Combining Groucho’s mixture of daft and deft puns, with Chico and Harpo’s overlapping interaction, it is also the most cinematic of their accomplishments over the four-year period, with one of the all-time physical comedy classic moments in the mirror scene.

 

On reflection, the comedy might feel a little jaded and stale today at times, given the context of the stories and films which are very much from the early twentieth century. However that does not diminish their overall contribution to film history. As watchable as always.

 

THE 4 MARX BROTHERS AT PARAMOUNT 1929 – 1933 / CERT: PG / DIRECTORS: ROBERT FLOREY, JOSEPH SAINTLEY, VICTOR HEERMAN, NORMAN Z. MCLEOD, LEO MCCAREY / SCREENPLAY: MORRIE RYSKIND, BERT KALMER, HARRY RUBY, GEORGE S. KAUFMAN, S. J. PERELMAN, WILL B. JOHNSTONE, ARTHUR SHEEKMAN, NAT PERRIN / STARRING: GROUCHO MARX, HARPO MARX, CHICO MARX, ZEPPO MARX / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The horror genre has been fairly up and down on TV, but that didn’t stop the BBC from trying with their latest supernatural horror series, Requiem. For a corporation that specialises in crime dramas/murder mysteries, soap operas and Doctor Who, Requiem is something of a bold, new direction, having six episodes with an hour granted for each, which allows more opportunities for character development and building up atmospheric horror throughout. However, while there is some chilling horror for most of the first episode, the rest of the series ignores all of that and becomes a generic murder mystery with the rare occasional supernatural or chilly moment here and there. Despite being advertised as a paranormal thriller, there’s very little horror here, and the mystery itself surrounding Matilda and her true heritage isn’t entirely original, is done more effectively in better mystery dramas, and is cliché-riddled.

Requiem revolves around cello star Matilda Gray, whose mother commits suicide right in front of her, and is wondering whether or not it’s all connected to the disappearance of a young girl named Carys who was abducted from her Welsh village years ago. The first episode contains some grisly moments and creepy foreboding to the whirlwind of supposed spirits that are haunting the Welsh mansion that is featured heavily throughout the series. But then we are revealed the truth by the end of the first episode, and from that point on, all momentum is lost as we learn more about what happened to Carys, the Welsh town and the community that inhabits it. While the mystery itself is passable on its own, it’s not enough to carry a six-hour runtime and the horror is lacking – which is a shame considering the pre-publicity was bragging about this being the scariest BBC production ever.

While there is the occasional scary moment in each of the six episodes (especially during one scene taking place within a shower), these scenes are infrequent and are so sporadically placed, any effective shock value is lost. Even the scares that come later on feel like cheap tactics as means of making these later episodes more intense and interesting since all intrigue and dreading atmosphere goes by the end of the first episode. The local villagers that inhabit this Welsh town are clearly annoyed by Matilda’s appearance and they all wish her ill, and it isn’t hard to see why; she becomes increasingly annoying, pestering the mother of the lost child constantly, as well as a little boy in his school playground. Sure, you could make some defence for her actions given the circumstances, but her obsessive nature clearly shows how cuckoo for coco-puffs she is that you almost want to see her get some help of any kind.

In the end, Requiem is something of a disappointment; it has solid production values, has fine performances, and is a competent series on its own, but the mystery gets in the way of the horror, and this creates a lot of padding so you do get the sense that it’s all incredibly drawn out to a point. The best way anyone can enjoy this series is how it probably should’ve been marketed as: a murder/kidnap mystery with a tad hint of the supernatural here and there. This isn’t a great series, nor is it particularly scary, but it’s not badly made and there are some things within it that can pique a person’s interest, even if the overall ride isn’t quite as gripping as it should’ve been.

REQUIEM / CERT: 15 / CREATOR: KRIS MRKSA / SCREENPLAY: BLAKE AYSHFORD, KRIS MRKSA / STARRING: LYDIA WILSON, JOEL FRY / JAMES FRECHEVILLE, SIAN REESE-WILLIAMS, BRENDAN COYLE / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 19TH

An archaeologist chasing fortune and glory, the owner of a failing Wild West Show and her cowboy crew, a band of gypsies with a mysterious secret discover a Forbidden Valley populated with dinosaurs. Chaos ensues when the cowboy’s capture an allosaurus and when they return to civilisation the creature escapes and does what creatures tend to do in such situations. It eats a dwarf and goes on the rampage!

The Valley of the Gwangi is a curious beast of a film. Released in 1969, it was a box office bomb and in some respects, it’s easy to see why. On paper, it has all the hallmarks of a box office bonanza, cowboys vs dinosaurs! Now that sounds awesome, right? The problem, however, is that the first half of the film is essentially a ploddingly dull, uninvolving B-movie western, the type that was rife during the Western’s heyday of the ‘50s. By the late ‘60s, westerns had become gritty, violent, bullet-bloody horse opera’s courtesy of directors such as Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, so the western elements of Gwangi were already antediluvian. Even Oscar-winning Jerome Morris’ score as good as it is, and he was the go-to composer for Western’s, sounds somewhat dated. The performances from practically all of the cast is perfunctory at best. And if it isn’t perfunctory then there’s an excess of scenery chewing, except that is from James Franciscus, whom would later journey to Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and who manages to bring some gravitas to the proceedings.

It’s not until halfway through the film that we enter the eponymous valley and the pace finally breaks into a gallop. It’s at this point that we also see Ray Harryhausen’s genius at work. It’s displayed briefly during the first half of the film in the shape of a pre-historic miniature horse, but let’s face it, it’s the dinosaurs we want to see. And the dinosaurs are a joy to behold, even if they do appear in oddly various hues. Younger audiences brought up on CGI extravaganzas may baulk at the quaintly jerky stop-motion puppetry, but there’s a warmth and charm that only these type of effects can bring.

The transfer is pristine but the optical process that Harryhausen had to employ to combine his stop-motion with the live action footage is starkly evident. However, even though you can see how it’s being done, it’s done so well as not to matter. The 2.1 channel audio is crystal clear, from Morris’ stirring score to the ear-splitting roar of the dinosaurs.

The extras are sparse to say the least. Return to the Valley is a scant eight-minute interview with Harryhausen, there’s a minute-long Harryhausen anecdote about his daughter’s involvement in the film and a trailer. The package does come with four art cards, a DVD disc and a digital download, but more in-depth documentaries and making-offs would have been preferable.

THE VALLEY OF THE GWANGI (1969) / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: JIM O’CONNOLLY / SCREENPLAY: WILLIAM BAST / STARRING: JAMES FRANCISCUS, GILA GOLAN, RICHARD CARLSON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (HMV EXCLUSIVE)

Whether it is a film you have discovered due to a love of Ray Harryhausen, or you have made a place for it at home every Christmas time, or you came about it via the much-maligned 2010 remake with Sam Worthington, Clash of The Titans (1981) is one of the most celebrated fantasy films of all time. And, of course, like all classic films, it deserves the Blu-ray treatment, but does it stand up?

Clash of the Titans sees Perseus (Harry Hamlin) living an impoverished life when he finds his destiny amongst the Gods, led by his father Zeus (Laurence Olivier); he is to marry Princess Andromeda, the heir to the city of Joppa, who is always promised to the villain Calibos (made hideous by Zeus due to him killing all of the flying horses except Pegasus). And so the quest begins, challenged by witches, gorgons and the Kraken (to name but a few classic Harryhausen creations!) and aided by Pegasus, gentle poet Ammon (Burgess Meredith) and the mechanical owl Bubo, we follow Perseus to his final confrontation with Calibos and the fulfilment of his true destiny.

Clash of the Titans is and always will be a thoroughly entertaining film and has been cleaned up well for the Blu-Ray edition. It is a time capsule for a generation of actors such as Laurence Olivier, Ursula Andress, Burgess Meredith, Pat Roach, Claire Bloom and Maggie Smith and illustrates a pivotal time in filmmaking (films such as Star Wars, Tron and Alien had broken new ground in the way films were made; Clash of the Titans was the last hurrah for old-school film-making and was Ray Harryhausen’s final film prior to retirement). Of course, expectations and tastes in films have changed and whilst some of the plot of Clash of the Titans is purely a vehicle for Harryhausen’s wonderful stop-motion creations, it shows the lack of heart that a lot of the big summer blockbusters of today have.

Accompanying this Blu-Ray release are a gallery of the Monsters included in the film and a conversation with Ray Harryhausen himself. Overall, a superb addition to any Blu-Ray collection and a film which deserves to be remembered.

CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981)  / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: DESMOND DAVIS / SCREENPLAY: BEVERLEY CROSS / STARRING: LAURENCE OLIVIER, HARRY HAMLIN, CLAIRE BLOOM, MAGGIE SMITH, URSULA ANDRESS, JUDI BOWKER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (HMV EXCLUSIVE)

Tak Sakaguchi was a former streetfighter who made his acting debut in Ryuhei Kitamura’s gangsters v. zombies actioner Versus. Five years ago, he apparently retired from performing in front of the cameras to concentrate on directing and choreographing – but then Re:Born came along. It’s a film with a USP to stir martial arts’ fans’ loins; here is a brand new form of combat developed especially by Tak (as he prefers now to be known) and director Yûji Shimomura, and whatever the merits or otherwise of the film, enthusiasts will no doubt want to see what ‘Zero Range Combat’ is all about.

The merits of the film are somewhat relative. The first 45 minutes are a rather static introduction, lots of lingering long-shots and sudden close-ups of our protagonist and the young girl he looks after sitting and occasionally walking around, punctuated by infrequent fight sequences, for which not much explanation is offered.

Then Tak gets a couple of sidekicks and the whole thing is laid out; it transpires he’s retired from active special forces duty and his old boss is sending operatives to kill him. The young girl is kidnapped and the scene is set for a face-off. We then get a full 45 minutes’ worth of ‘Zero Range Combat’ as Tak and his two accomplices make their way through the woods to the abandoned building where the little girl is being held hostage, with Tak eventually confronting first his old partner and then his old boss.

During the course of the film, and mostly concentrated in its second half, there are probably in the region of 200 deaths by close combat, and fans of the genre will be entirely satisfied by its conclusion; the story beats in the second half follow exactly the order you’d want and expect, so while there might not be any surprises there is at least viewer fulfilment. Lots of viewer fulfilment in fact, of the throat-slitting neck-crunching variety. Tak himself still looks pretty nimble even at the age of forty, although the sequences where he flexes ready for battle are overdubbed with a sound effect that makes his muscles sound like a bag of marbles being rocked in slow motion, as they prepare for a quick tango in front of the Strictly judges.

The fighting itself is effective and bloody if somewhat obscured by being in such close quarters, but it certainly makes a change from the usual kickboxing or other more traditional techniques, and there’s a staccato kineticism to it that will undoubtedly impress. Altogether anybody who enjoys a bit of screen martial arts won’t be disappointed by a film that’s probably destined to become something of a minor classic of the genre.

Extras: Filmmakers’ introduction, trailer

RE:BORN / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: YÛJI SHIMOMURA / SCREENPLAY: BENIO SAEKI, TAK SAKAGUCHI / STARRING: TAK SAKAGUCHI, AKIO ÔTSUKA / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 12TH

Naruto Shippuden Box 31 contains episodes 388-401 of Naruto Shippuden. While some of these episodes depict Naruto & Co fighting against Madara, most of them focus on an extended flashback to the Chunin Exams. By the end of the last episode present the first round two rounds of the exams have been completed, and another round is well underway.

These episodes are far from bad. Plenty of them serves as decent character pieces for the characters they serve to highlight. Neji gets multiple opportunities to show off his style of leadership, Gaara reflects on his friendship with Naruto, and Rock Lee proves his resolve. All of these characters, and more get the time needed to properly explore key aspects of their personalities. Some of their internal reflections may not be anything new for long-time fans, but they are a good way for the character to take stock of previous character development and where they are in their personal arcs.

However, there is no escaping the fact that this is filler. As with previous filler in the series, it comes at a time when it looked like the series was about to receive a substantial pay off on a number of story threads, such pay-off is quickly all but forgotten. Any viewers who are put off by the thought of this much filler might not be missing a great deal if they chose to give this collection a miss. There are few (if any) key scenes that necessitate hanging on to these episodes in particular, especially when considering how easy it would be to find them on a streaming service.

The box’s two discs don’t have much to speak of in terms of extra features, but there is some present. The second of the two discs features a small selection of storyboards for viewers to scroll through and some production art as well (alongside the more typical inclusion of some trailers). These extras offer a decent insight into the transition that the art for the show goes through before the animation is completed, though the storyboard section, in particular, could have been improved with the inclusion of a couple more examples.

What viewers get from Naruto Shippuden Box 31 will ultimately be dependent on what they want from it. Fans of the show who are looking to see the main plot advance will have very little luck with this release. On the other hand, fans who find something to enjoy in the filler despite its function as show padding face the prospect of solid character moments and some engaging fights. Debates regarding filler aside, the Chunin exam episodes are good. The real question to ask before buying this is whether or not that is enough.

Extras: Storyboards/ Production Gallery/ Trailers

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN BOX 31 / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: MAILE FLANAGAN, YURI LOWENTHAL, KATIE HIGGINS, DAVE WITTENBERG, BRIAN DONOVAN, STEVE STALEY, STEPHANIE SHEH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Kickboxer: Retaliation is the sequel to the remake of the late-eighties action movie that wasn’t ever really needed to begin with, but nevertheless, we are still saddled with it. The first film, Kickboxer: Vengeance was an egregiously dull movie with constant action sequences that are connected by the thinnest of movie plots, the acting was varied, and the romantic subplot is very rushed and nonexistent. This sequel is a little bit better, but that’s really not saying much.

On the plus side, being a martial arts movie it’s crammed with many fight scenes and, to a certain extent, it kind of delivers on that front. It’s solidly choreographed, and the scenes are diverse, so not all of them feel repetitive of one another. It’s clear that the makers of this movie were trying to give each sequence its own uniqueness, like the finale where our main protagonist takes on the Mountain from Game of Thrones and you see this contrast with the martial artist against the gigantic muscle-bound monstrosity. That’s one style/type of fight, and yet there’s also two different long fight scenes that look as though they were done in a single take, so this movie does offer some variety. The actors involved aren’t the best actors in the world, but they are passable enough with Christopher Lambert hamming it up as a criminal mastermind.

Those elements do help add some flavour to spice things up, but even those elements aren’t enough to make this movie any more than just average. There’s way too much speeding up and slowing down during the fight sequences (this movie must’ve been Snydered!), there’s some pretty bad green screen effects scattered throughout, and the story is so cliché-riddled with so many tropes included that have been done to death a bajillion times, and those tired tropes and hokey dialogue got in the way of bonding with the characters so you just don’t end up caring about any of them despite the characters going through some tough scenarios during this movie. The romantic subplot still feels underdeveloped, and despite the obviously gorgeous Sara Malakul Lane trying her hardest, her character gets lost in the grand scheme of things just like in the first film. Oh, and the very beginning of this movie involves our couple suddenly dancing a tango on a train before a fight scene breaks out. Boy, that was weird.

In the end, Kickboxer: Retaliation is a slightly better movie than the first one in that it’s more consistent, but even then this film feels like watching a series of fight sequences that are loosely connected by a wafer thin plot. If you are a martial arts fan then you might get some enjoyment value out of it, but as a movie-viewing experience this is still lacking in that department. Best advice: just rent it.

KICKBOXER: RETALIATION / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DIMITRI LOGOTHETIS / SCREENPLAY: DIMITRI LOGOTHETIS, JIM MCGRATH / STARRING: ALAIN MOUSSI, CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT, JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME, MIKE TYSON, SARA MALAKUL LANE, HAFÞÓR JÚLÍUS BJÖRNSSON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW