For day 5, we have a film marketed as something it isn't.
I really, really love those.
Lee wants to quit his job and start anew somewhere else with his lovely girlfriend Sarah . Lee's boss John, being a local mobster and not used to negative feedback, is not happy about this and hires goons to kill his reluctant employee.
The goons fail to kill Lee but do manage to kill Sarah, which pisses Lee off something chronic and he begins working his way through John's employee roster in violent fashion.
Can police wonderboy Craig get to Lee before Lee gets to John?
You know, if I was ever a mob boss I'd have written in large letters behind my desk "Treat your workforce well." This would definitely apply to any martial-arts killing machines I had on the payroll. "Oh, you don't want to do this anymore? Fine. Here's a bus ticket to anywhere you like. Here's a bonus to keep your mouth shut. Go be happy"
I definitely wouldn't try to kill them, their families or their pet budgies. That always ends badly.
The thing is, though, "Fist Of the Warrior" isn't the martial arts rampage you'd expect from the cover and the back cover blurb. That would involve more fights and probably a lot more of supposed hero Lee.
A bit of research revealed that this film was originally known as "Lesser Of Three Evils" which is a bit silly - but does explain a lot. This film isn't really about Lee.
"Fist Of the Warrior" splits the focus between Lee hitting people and having flashbacks about Sarah, Craig juggling police work, his *ahem* other line of work and his wreck of a home life, and John dealing with the fallout of one of his dumber ideas.
Given that the film centres on Craig more than the other two, I have to wonder if he was originally supposed to be the protagonist, before the movie was rebranded and re-editted.
I'm always a bit pissed off when a film is sold to me as one thing and I get another, so that did ruin my enjoyment somewhat. Instead of the martial-arts action I was expecting, I got a so-so crime drama where every now and again somebody has a fight.
Other gripes: Lee's flashbacks are cute to start off with but after a while just trip things up. I genuinely wonder what Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn were doing in this film, besides picking up some pocket money for the 1 scene each is in. And the supposed climax is ...
No getting around it, the final showdown between Lee and John is utterly pathetic. It's not even a fight.
Oh, and the fight scenes are nothing special.
How much did I pay for this: £1.50
Was it worth it: I was rather disappointed. The cast isn't bad and the director was trying to make us care about Lee and Sarah. Unforunately, the end result is nothing special. Sorry.
No comments:
Post a Comment