Let's Talk Movies!: The Man with the Iron Fists

I like this poster better, very minimalistic yet awesome.

*as always, spoiler free*

We all know how the Wu-Tang clan are so into martial arts that in one of their albums, it almost sounds like it was a martial arts film. From narration to the typical background music played during kung fu fight scenes.

It wasn't that much a surprise to me when I heard that RZA would be in a martial arts film since I was already surprised that he's playing Hard Master [martial arts master] in the coming Gi Joe sequel. 

The movie starts simple enough. In Jungle Village, RZA is their resident Blacksmith. Judging by how much orders he gets, it seems he is rather good at his job. Although it is shown that he dislikes making weapons for killing. But still he does it so he and his love, Lady Silk [played by Jamie Chung] would be able to leave and and have a life of their own. They were about to realize their dream however after a series of unfortunate events, both are dragged into a whole mess of trouble between the gov't., lions and ladies of reputation.

The story seems a bit of a mess at the start but it can be just simplified to a story of greed and power. The flow of the story was moving at a fast pace although the flashbacks of the Blacksmith [named Thaddeus] seemed a bit long and dragging. It was a bit weird how an african american from a plantation came to China even with an elaborate explanation on how he did but oh well, it's the movies.

They have a very strong and well known cast for this one. My biggest surprise was Dave Bautista whom we all know and love/hate as Batista from WWE. I seemed to have neglected seeing him in the main poster but I really loved his character [Brass Body] and his ...certain ability. It was really awesome to see. They also had Lucy Liu [as Madam Blossom] who was also magnificent. Any movie with Lucy Liu kicking ass in it is always a plus. It was nice to see Byron Mann again. He's much known as playing Ryu in the old Street Fighter movie. I must admit, he seemed to have been having fun in his role as the villain. I think Russel Crowe was something of a "meh" for me. His character [Jack Knife] was cool but I feel that they could've done better casting another actor...maybe, Woody Harrelson?

The fight scenes were completely awesome. It's pretty much action-packed with alot of actual martial arts since a few of the actors are actually masters or is really practicing martial arts in real life. Some were really fast [X-Blade's first fight scene] while some were totally out there [Brass Body Vs. X-Blade and the final fight of Brass Body Vs. the Blacksmith]. Still there were a few more elegant ones like Lucy Liu's fight scene and the Gemini's Vs. the Lions one. All were pretty much jaw dropping and a sight to behold. Although most people who've watched alot of martial arts movies might not see anything new, they didn't do anything that seems so out of this world.

If you're looking for an action movie filled with martial arts well, this won't disappoint. This movie pretty much has alot of it. If you're looking for a story, well...this movie has an okay storyline. It's not much but at least it still attempts to be linear and doesn't go overboard.