02-01-2008, 03:31 PM
Chile's first martial arts flick is being distributed by Magnolia, purveyor of more and more interesting foreign films lately. Marko Zaror is the lead, only known as a stunt double for the Rock in The Rundown. Zaror is a huge dude, like Schwarzenegger huge, but he gets remarkable big air for some one of that size. He can do a split kick to straight kick in air and all sorts of wacky flippy barrel roll aerial stuff. He's nowhere near as agile as Jet, Jackie or Jaa, but he's about the size of the three of them combined. He wears baggy sweats all the time because there's no pants that could contain those massive thighs and that big tight ass. We'll come back to that because I know you're curious.
The film has some gorgeous cinematography showcasing Chile's desert landscapes, stunning sunsets, urban graffiti and generally unusual color schemes. The whole look of the film is quite different for a martial arts flick, but it never really rises above the genre. There's a hilarious villain who looks like he walked straight out of a telenovela, all in crisp black suits and wielding a wicked cane sword with a lethal talon for a knob. There's a weird cult of martial artist who paint their faces with lipstick and burnt cork - the good guys, believe it or not. There's a lot of flashbacks - what is it about us martial artists and our flashbacks? There's a drunken stoned master who's best line is "it's only a trip" There's some psychedelic vision quests, but we never get to see the inside hallucination, just Zaror showing off his thickly-muscled ass while nekkid in the desert (it's a lot like that Schwarzenegger scene in the first Terminator - maybe chicks dig it - I'm just intimidated by it). There's the meat hook torture sequence stolen from Ichi the Killer, but nowhere near as visceral as Miike (how could anyone be?) Speaking of stealing scenes, there's a lot taken from Empire Strikes Back, both with Yoda and Darth story arcs. There's a lot of close ups of faces as they ruminate about the destructive power of love and love betrayed, all in that very Latin lover style. There's way too much mood setting, too much time between fight scenes.
The fight scenes are ok. They claim no wires but you can't kick a guy across the room without wires, so who knows wtf they are talking about. There's a lot of CGI blood, which I cannot stand. Give me real blood splashing, the kind that make the actors flinch. We've been through this with that abysmal Zatoichi remake. Actually, this isn't even CGI blood. I think someone just drew it in post-production with a red sharpie. Anyway, there's a few decent fights, but nothing over the top. It does culminate in a climactic finale fight, a basic construct of any good martial arts flick which the Chinese seem to overlook a lot lately.
Some are hailing Kiltro as a new vision for martial arts films and it certainly is unique. The cinematographic style makes it almost marketable for the art house/foreign film set, but the basic premise is a tired tale of revenge and it never really achieves take off. I liked it, but I wouldn't watch it again and wouldn't recommend it as a DOOMflik (unless one of you have a closet fetish for Chilean film).
Oh and there's a dwarf. He's in the first scene and at that point things are looking promising. He comes back later as a Yoda impersonator and at that point, it been there, done that. Even with the dwarf, this is not a DOOMflik.
The film has some gorgeous cinematography showcasing Chile's desert landscapes, stunning sunsets, urban graffiti and generally unusual color schemes. The whole look of the film is quite different for a martial arts flick, but it never really rises above the genre. There's a hilarious villain who looks like he walked straight out of a telenovela, all in crisp black suits and wielding a wicked cane sword with a lethal talon for a knob. There's a weird cult of martial artist who paint their faces with lipstick and burnt cork - the good guys, believe it or not. There's a lot of flashbacks - what is it about us martial artists and our flashbacks? There's a drunken stoned master who's best line is "it's only a trip" There's some psychedelic vision quests, but we never get to see the inside hallucination, just Zaror showing off his thickly-muscled ass while nekkid in the desert (it's a lot like that Schwarzenegger scene in the first Terminator - maybe chicks dig it - I'm just intimidated by it). There's the meat hook torture sequence stolen from Ichi the Killer, but nowhere near as visceral as Miike (how could anyone be?) Speaking of stealing scenes, there's a lot taken from Empire Strikes Back, both with Yoda and Darth story arcs. There's a lot of close ups of faces as they ruminate about the destructive power of love and love betrayed, all in that very Latin lover style. There's way too much mood setting, too much time between fight scenes.
The fight scenes are ok. They claim no wires but you can't kick a guy across the room without wires, so who knows wtf they are talking about. There's a lot of CGI blood, which I cannot stand. Give me real blood splashing, the kind that make the actors flinch. We've been through this with that abysmal Zatoichi remake. Actually, this isn't even CGI blood. I think someone just drew it in post-production with a red sharpie. Anyway, there's a few decent fights, but nothing over the top. It does culminate in a climactic finale fight, a basic construct of any good martial arts flick which the Chinese seem to overlook a lot lately.
Some are hailing Kiltro as a new vision for martial arts films and it certainly is unique. The cinematographic style makes it almost marketable for the art house/foreign film set, but the basic premise is a tired tale of revenge and it never really achieves take off. I liked it, but I wouldn't watch it again and wouldn't recommend it as a DOOMflik (unless one of you have a closet fetish for Chilean film).
Oh and there's a dwarf. He's in the first scene and at that point things are looking promising. He comes back later as a Yoda impersonator and at that point, it been there, done that. Even with the dwarf, this is not a DOOMflik.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse