EvilPhoEniX

Action martial arts historical romp! I have been waiting for this film for over a year and finally got a proper blue ray version, and it is an amazing martial arts ride as expected. It is quite close to Rurouni Kenshin and the Korean The Swordsman, although the story here serves only as a sauce for the fights, which doesn't matter at all because I always appreciate honest craftsmanship and proper choreography. The protagonist is a blind swordsman and bounty hunter who is collecting money for his eye operation and decides to bring justice to a city that has suffered a tragedy. A groom has been brutally murdered and the bride brutally attacked. Revenge in this case means a pile of dead bodies and a lot of broken bones. Right from the opening fight in the rain, where the protagonist brutally mows down a gang of bastards, but in such a way that it hurt even me and it literally shot me off the couch, which hasn't happened in a long time. The film has beautiful visuals, and considering the low-budget film, they took my breath away in some places. Most of the fractures are even in slow motion, so you really get to enjoy every move and hit, and thanks to the highly developed choreography, believe me, there is something to watch. The protagonist uses about three different fighting styles, and although he is blind, he is the ultimate killing machine with no competition. He also has two strong opponents, a woman and a jumping lunatic with hooks, and the fights with them are worth it. The film is only 75 minutes long, so it doesn't have time to captivate with the plot, and you mostly just waits for the fight sequences, but it's still fantastic. If you like martial arts stuff, don't hesitate! It's a shame that the film was not two hours long and did not deliver more. 8/10.

I enjoyed the first episode more unfortunately. It's very nicely shot (the cinematography is breathtaking), the actors play perfectly, and there is less action, but when it comes to it is again very good. However, since I didn't remember the first part much, I got lost in the plot, it seemed to me too convoluted and because of that, I couldn't fully immerse myself in the film. Maybe I'll give it a second chance when it comes out online, but I just don't feel like giving it 4 stars, even it meets the parameters of a 4-star film. 6/10.

An excellent historical drama that grabs you by the balls. Mads Mikkelsen should ditch Hollywood, because there it's one misstep after another for him, but once he's in his native Denmark, it's usually a decent blast, and Bastard excels right out of the gate. The story focuses on Ludvig Kahlen, a man who has worked his way up from gardener to captain, and his dream is to build a colony in the inhospitable surroundings of the moors, with the coveted title of nobility as a reward when he achieves his goal. But he soon makes enemies. Nearby lives Frederik de Schinkel, a ruthless, arrogant lord who believes that this land belongs to him and not to the king, and gives Ludvig a hard time on more than one occasion. The first half is a bit of a getting-to-know-you kind of movie, but thanks to an attractive premise and great actors, the film holds your attention very well. Once the film switches to the second half, some very interesting things start to happen. The atmosphere, cruelty and barbarism of the time is captured very believably. Mikkelsen has to make a lot of tough decisions and overcome a lot of difficult obstacles to achieve his goal. There's one scene reminiscent of Sophie's Choice that decently manages to mine the emotions out of the viewer, and then there's one surprise after another, and a delightful little stealth action sequence. The film is so good that it gets by without battles and that's saying something, especially for for me. 85%

Michael Mann returns after a long time with the stiffing biopic Ferrari, and it's fine, although more was expected. It seems to me that all the big directors, except for Nolan, have disappointed and failed to fully realize their potential this year. Those who expect another Ford vs Ferrari, Rush, or Gran Turismo from Ferrari will be slightly disappointed because the you won't get to enjoy many races. Even the final race lacks drive, tension, and atmosphere. Mainly, I didn't understand the rules, so it doesn't give you proper satisfaction, and the fact that the racers themselves are uninteresting and the rivalry with Maserati could and should have been tangible and impactful is also to blame, but when I consider that Michael Mann mainly wanted to shoot a film about Enzo Ferrari and his personal life and problems, and the race itself is just there, so to speak, I'm fine with it. Because when it comes to acting, it's top-notch quality. Adam Driver is excellent, I liked the dialogues and his performance, he's just an interesting personality. Penelope Cruz also skillfully supports him, portraying a pissed-off woman perfectly. These interactions between them are nicely intense. The retro visuals and the atmosphere of post-war Italy are also well done. Surprisingly, Mann manages to keep the viewer's attention and I wasn't bored, which is rare for these kinds of films. In conclusion, I have to highlight one shocking scene that shook every viewer in the audience! There is one uncompromising and brutal scene that even includes gore! Severed limbs, intestines, split bodies, I really didn't expect that in such a film, so a big PLUS! If Mann had captivated me with the final race and there had been a business meeting with Fiat, which seemed attractive (too bad there wasn't enough time for it), maybe I would consider giving it a full rating, but like this, it has to settle for a pleasant four out of five. 75%

I was looking forward to a proper catastrophe blockbuster with Souoth Korea’s biggest star Lee Byung-hun, but I got an uninteresting and dull utopian drama that made me suffer from boredom. The earthquake disaster itself takes up less than five minutes in the film, the rest of it focuses on a group of survivors in an apartment complex dealing with uninteresting stuff. If anything, I was hoping it would veer into dark survival mode, but not even that. For me the worst South Korean film of the year. 3/10.

Xavier Gens (Frontier(s), The Divide, Gangs of London) directs an action flick in the vein of Gareth Evans and Tim Tjahjant, and I can say that it's a pretty good sibling to The Raid and The Night Comes for Us, and although it doesn't reach their qualities, it's a superior work by European standards. The protagonist is an Arab model who has been released from prison, only to be immediately followed by the wrong people and left with no choice but to go as far away as possible – to Thailand. He wants to live peacefully, start a family and find a nice job, but soon he gets involved with Thai drug dealers and has to dust off his fists and kicks. The story is nothing groundbreaking, but nobody hopes for that either, what's important is that the main character is a likeable guy you can root for, the pacing is awesome, and there is an uncomfortable atmosphere in the air from the opening. The film grabbed me by the balls immediately and entertained me even during the non-action passages, which is pretty damn important. The action is good, the cinematography is fine, the fights are properly rough and uncompromising, properly R-rated (they use knives and machetes and I always have a soft spot for that). There's a sense of toughness and physicality, so I enjoyed it like old times. What is a bit of a minus is that there is no proper fighter among the villains to match the main character. All of them are more like pawns to be defeated than regular opponents, so we are deprived of a final fight with the main rival, as usual in similar movies, which is a bit of a pity. Apart from that, I don't see any significant issues, it's a fine flick that will please fans of brutal action. 8/10.

Jung Woo-sung is one of my favorites, so I was curious about his debut. He probably wanted to emulate his colleague Lee Jung-jae, who debuted with Hunt, where they faced each other, but his colleague won. It's not a bad film, there are some good moments, but the it has no real zest and the action is not one of the highlights. The protagonist is released after from prison after ten years, learns that he has a daughter and doesn't want to go back to his previous life as a gangster, he wants to live peacefully, but a jealous henchman from his former boss hires a pair of hit-men to take him out. I didn't like one of the assassins very much, he's a loudmouth dork who has some skill but his behaviour is too over-the-top, and I'm a bit disappointed that the whole film is mainly just about the duel between the main character and those two, it would be much more interesting if the protagonist went up against the whole criminal organisation, there were some interesting cronies. There is one decent fight in the finale and a good car chase in a tunnel, even so I can't shake the feeling that the potential was much higher. 6/10.

A fun guilty pleasure where Zack Snyder bit off more than he could chew, but I have no problem with it. We didn't get a proper sci-fi flick this year. Creator was a dull bore and this, though ripping off a lot of other movies, was more likeable than the whole Star Wars thing, which I hate. Part of it may be the fact that I have a soft spot for movies where a team is being put together (The Magnificent Seven vibes!), I've loved Sofia Boutella since Kingsman, and Charlie Hunnam is a good too. The ruthless bad guy Ed Skrein of Nazi ilk kept me entertained and the rest of the characters are pretty okay. Too bad the character development and interaction between them is nil (it’s definitely missing some banter), but I can forgive that. The atmosphere and visuals have a "Warhammer" feel to them, which I applaud, and the action isn't bad. The barn fight is very good (I can imagine some decent gore if the film had been R-rated). Too bad Snyder didn't release an R-rated version immediately, the final impression could have been better. The finale is a bit meh, even though there is one minor twist, it doesn't quite pull it off. All in all I have no problem with the movie, I wasn't bored , the world was interesting, but I'd rather see an Army of the Dead sequel than this. Too bad they didn't add more monster-spiders here, it was excellent. 6/10.

Ocean’s Eleven at sea and South Korea! Director Ryoo Seung-wan is one of Korea's elite; Veteran, The Berlin File and The Battleship Island are all very popular and well-loved films, so every new work of his is always highly anticipated. Smugglers is such a nice light-hearted heist flick that explores smuggling from a different angle. The story follows a group of women who are excellent divers and make a living collecting shells, but their work is becoming scarce due to the increasing number of factories, and so they take to the path of crime – smuggling, catching crates of gold from the sea and things like that. The women are likeable, there are some nice underwater shots, the film has a fun pace and it has that feel-good vibe. The craftsmanship, of course, is excellent. Things speed up in the last forty and my enthusiasm started to increase. The amazing action sequence in the hallway with axes and knives is a real treat. Great cinematography and choreography, properly uncompromising action, well I felt the vibe of the gritty action thrillers made a few years back. There were some nice twists and turns and then a breathtaking finale with divers, knives and sharks! I really enjoyed that, as I had never seen such a chase underwater, where the ladies intelligently disposed of the scum and there were some nicely made sharks. Definitely one of the more interesting films from South Korea this year. 75%

A fun and suspenseful Korean thriller set in the Middle East from the director of Kingdom, A Hard Day and Tunnel. A Korean diplomat is kidnapped somewhere in Lebanon and another diplomat is tasked to go there and deliver a package of money for ransom, but the problem is that other people, from the police to local rebels, are after the suitcase of money and the journey is definitely not going to be easy. The craftsmanship very good – the Koreans simply don't make cheap B-movies – technically and in terms of acting everything is fine, plus the director already has experience and mostly with thrillers, so he manages to create tension here as well. Surprisingly, the film moves forward very quickly, there is always something going on and the main character is constantly on his toes as someone is always on his tail. It's not outright action, but rather suspenseful and entertaining, there are shootouts too, but rather one-sided. There are a few twists and turns, and those who like the Muslim-terrorist setting will enjoy the atmosphere of a hostile Lebanon, decimated by war and dominated by local gangs. Speaking for myself, I have to say I enjoyed it. A little different than what we're used to from South Korea. 7/10.