Reviews

Right off the bat: I had a fun time watching this in a cinema filled with Rammstein fans. The song selection and the stage-show was all top notch really. From a filmmaking standpoint on the other hand there were many things that bugged me. Let's start with the camera-work. There is a wide range of coverage and a great selection of images. What I would've liked to see was the use of high shutter speeds to match the energy of the audio - but that is probably more of a personal preference. There also is some action-camera footage which for the most part is highly stylized. In my opinion this is the only way to include footage like this because let's face it the qualities absolutely sub par especially in such a difficult lighting situation. But unfortunately some non-stylized action-camera footage made it into the film which I always found to be really off-putting. Like suddenly switching to a fan-made YouTube video...Also there was some slow-motion coverage which was a welcome addition. In conclusion the camera-work was well executed wit some stylistic choices I found unfitting. The part that bothered me the most was the editing. All in all there were 3 editors working on the film and it seemed to me that there were some songs were they matched the dynamic of the audio fairly well with the visuals. But for the most part unfortunately it was just a chaotic mess with seemingly no motivation. Especially when it comes to music- & concert-videos an edit can do so much good but can also be so disastrous. I am sad to say that in this case it was mostly the latter. Every song was introduced with a unique typography of its title. Those were always hit and miss in my opinion. Some worked pretty well and seemed very thought through. But there were many others that seemed just amateurish. Whether it was the font choice or the animation or the pacing, sometimes all three! I am not usually a very typography fixated guy but here I could not help it. Another creative decision I just cannot wrap my head around is the use of cgi. And I am not talking about grading or light tweaking but actual 3D effects. There was this one scene where we get a close-up of Till's face and the gave him - and I am dead serious here - snake eyes and a snake tongue. And it doesn't even look sophisticated! It is so obviously computer generated and it did not tie into anything. Another scene was that during a keyboard solo they added lightning strikes to the hands of the keyboard player. Why?! Just why? The images were strong enough to stand on their own. These effects did not make them better, they ruined them! I am not sure about the sound editing. It could have very well been the cinema but it seemed to me that the music was entirely a stereo-mixdown. Which is okay for home entertainment but I can't help but feel like this is a wasted opportunity to give the sound more impact.

Another thing that amazed me were the credits. Never in my life have I seen credit roll going so fast! Which was why it wasn't too bothersome to sit there and wait for the obligatory after-credit-scene which is so popular nowadays.

Being a Kung Fu practitioner and cameraman I naturally watch a lot of old Kung Fu flicks. But until recently I've never even heard of "The 18 Bronzemen". I stumbled across it due to a reference in the game "Sleeping Dogs" and found the title and imagery very intriguing so I figured I'd give it a try. Unfortunately I could only get my hands on the cropped 4:3 release which really ruins the composition of every shot and makes the fight scenes nearly incomprehensible. Nevertheless the first half was just what I imagined and highly entertaining. Which is why I kept on watching despite the horrible cropping. Those bronze warriors are an amazing Idea and also pretty well executed. Combined with the mostly gray scenery this produces a very unique and aesthetic visual appeal. Sure, the costumes could've been more detailed but still, it works. The fights against Bronzemen are like the final exam for our protagonist and are intercut with training sequences. I was always looking forward for the next scene with the Bronzemen. I mean, this is basically the title of the whole movie so there have to be more scenes with them, right? Right?!

After what felt like 10mins. with the Bronzemen the protagonist leaves the temple behind and the whole ordeal is never mentioned again. What we get now is a standard revenge plot and sub par choreographies. This drags on for the rest of the film....

Why would you do that? Why would you throw away such a great idea that worked so well? They obviously knew the value of what they had - they named the movie after it!

Personally I would recut it. Focus on the training in the temple and the quest of beating the Bronzemen. And after the Protagonist and his friend have mastered this challenge the abbot sends them on their way to serve their country and the people. They wander off down the mountain while the credits roll. MUCH better movie just like that. Instead we get this....

I was impressed by the sheer amount of fresh ideas in the first movie. When the second one came around I was skeptical at first but surprisingly it was even better than its predecessor in every way (V/H/S 2 is about my favorite horror movie of all time) So naturally I had no doubts that the 3rd movie would be fantastic. The trailer sure looked so...

But unfortunately V/H/S Viral feels rushed. I mean some individual stories are actually quite captivating. "Parallel Monsters" for example had a very unsettling and yet realistic atmosphere to it. "Dante the Great" also had an awesome premise although I fell like it could've been more.

But the rest was just uninspired and loose. Especially "Vicous Circles" felt like it had no consistency at all. Generally I like it if a film does not explain everything but here there is no explanation for anything. It just has a constant stream of events that connect only vaguely. Often time the pacing of the segments was just off which made it hard to get involved in the story.

But it wasn't just the storytelling it was also the overall audiovisual quality of the whole movie. There were some good practical effects but a lot of bad cgi that really stuck out and really killed the mood. While the first two installments really incorporated the found footage presentation in their cinematography, we only see this rarely in V/H/S Viral.

All in all with some more time spend in pre- and post-production V/H/S Viral would've been a much better experience.

I have never been a fan of Florentine's work. But I do like Ninjas so I thought I'd give it a try. Although my expectations were not high seeing how it is a Florentine movie and a DTV release I was still underwhelmed.

Despite the many things I didn't like with this film the action never left me disappointed. The choreographies were varied but still seemed to have a underlying foundation and therefore fit really well together. The cinematography and editing during the fight scenes was also to my liking. Every strike was well executed and comprehensible.

Unfortunately that is about the only good thing this movie got going. I am not gonna nag about the thin plot - it's a DTV action flick what did I expect? Well, for starters I expected some darn Ninjas! But to be fair you get half a Ninja at the very end of the movie. When Adkins puts on a Ninja outfit, recites the 9 levels of power, does exactly 1 stealth kill and then starts blowing the whole place up....so much for that Ninja action promised in the title. Why not name it "Burma Knockout" or "Gaijin Revengeance" instead? You might as well...

Another thing that really bugged me was the cinematography and editing outside of the fight scenes. Often times there was soft focus or very uninspired shots mixed together with some oddly paced cuts sometimes resulting in unintentionally funny moments.

Though I won't critique the plot i will criticize the characters and their motives. I mean, I want to see Adkins beat up a bunch of Asian guys as much as everybody else but I find it a little unjustified to mow down a whole bar just because one a**hole made you spill your beer. Also the film had seemed to get this weird message across that revenge can get you happiness and inner peace...they never say it out loud but it is always kind of there.

Looking at the other reviews and the 6+ rating it makes me wonder if I maybe have watched a different movie. Of course the action is superb but nothing more - not the best. And besides that the movie has nothing more to offer. Not to mention that it barely even delivers what the title promises

Hence my rating: 3/10 3 stars entirely for the very well executed and very well captured action.

I watched this movie together with 2 friends and we had a really good time. We all liked the idea of replicants appearing at a party. The actors did a good job and there's a lot of humor during the entire movie. What really stunned me were all those moments where the replicants and the originals are in the same shot. These scenes were exceptionally well made. Just for that it's worth a watch.

One problem with this movie was the confusion about who is what and when. But you can make that out with a little thinking...in most cases. What really bugged me was the conflict-potential which, from my point of view, didn't really exist and therefore seemed kind of forced. Why does anybody automatically feel threatened by the replicants? If I would ever find myself in such a situation I would try to be cool with my replicant...just think of all the opportunities! Well, I do understand that not everybody sees the situation this way but I am also pretty sure that it is rather unlikely that only 2 people do not consider their replicants to be dangerous. Yea, so in conclusion I'd say that most of the time I found the way the characters acted incomprehensible. But maybe the movie is just trying to show us that we are our own enemy...something along the lines of "homini hominis lupus est"

All in all the whole scenario including the ending reminded me a lot of the replicant story from Stanislaw Lem's "The Star Diaries". Come to think of it it was pretty much the same deal. You can't always invent new stuff out of nowhere, so that's okay

Watch it.