Anyone who has listened to the music of the Wu-Tang Clan
knows they've been heavily influenced by the classic martial arts films of the
1970's. It was inevitable that they're de facto leader, the RZA, would
eventually craft a martial arts movie of his own. RZA serves as star and
director of The Man with the Iron Fists,
based on a script he co-wrote with Eli Roth.
The film is set during the late-1800's in the small Chinese
town of Jungle Village. RZA is the Blacksmith, a skilled craftsman who makes formidable
weapons for the village's warring factions. He tirelessly works night and day
to earn enough money to free his love, Lady Silk (Jamie Chung), from a brothel
owned by Madam Blossom (Lucy Liu). Meanwhile, Gold Lion (Chen Kuan-tai), the
honorable leader of the Lion Clan, is assassinated by his lieutenants Silver
Lion (Byron Mann) and Bronze Lion (Cung Le). Silver is after a shipment of the
governor's gold that is set to pass through Jungle Village and is collaborating
with the traitorous Poison Dagger (Daniel Wu), a hooded figure employing
mercury-tipped blow darts. To assist in eliminating their enemies, the bad guys
have hired Brass Body (WWE's David Bautista), a hulking brute with the ability
to turn his skin into solid brass. Caught in the middle of this conflict, the
Blacksmith finds unlikely allies in Zen-Yi (Rick Yune), the Gold Lion's son who
uses an armored suit with retractable blades, and Jack Knife (Russell Crowe),
an enigmatic Englishman with a fondness for booze, opium, and women.
Beginning with its grindhouse-style opening titles, Man with the Iron Fists is a loving throwback
to the grand era of Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers. Nods to those pictures
include the casting of Gordon Liu as a wise Shaolin monk and the use of Sally Yeh's
ballad from John Woo's The Killer. Enter the Dragon is evoked through a
climax involving a hall of mirrors. There are herky-jerky zoom-ins and stilted
line readings meant to evoke badly dubbed chop socky theater. While the fight
sequences (choreographed by Cory Yuen) won't rival the fights from classics
like Once Upon a Time in China or Drunken Master II, they are an exciting mix
of hard hitting kung fu and elaborate wire work with buckets of CGI blood. As
expected from Eli Roth, there's plenty of cartoonish violence, such as Jack
Knife eviscerating an overweight man. A scorecard might be needed to keep track
of all the players and rivalries. Thus, the story feels very overstuffed for a
fast-paced runtime of 95 minutes. RZA and Roth have created an entire world
with its own mythology and rich backstories that are only hinted at in the
final picture. At one point, RZA toyed with the idea of releasing a four hour
cut as two episodes ala Kill Bill.
RZA might have done well to concentrate on his
behind-the-camera duties. As the protagonist, he doesn't quite have the acting
chops or the presence to headline a movie. He's too laconic and his fight with
Brass Body isn't as entertaining as the others. The two best performances
belong to Byron Mann and Russell Crowe, both of whom are clearly having fun.
Mann is appropriately over-the-top while Crowe channels the boisterous spirit
of his late Gladiator co-star Oliver
Reed.
The Man with the Iron
Fists isn't an exceptional directorial debut for RZA, but it does show he
has plenty of potential.
Rating: *** (*****)
