NINJA MOVIE OF THE MONTH FEB'13

THE REBEL (2007)

So as we know (well as I hope you know, as you damn well freaking should know) we happen to be an authority on a few genres. One of those would be Boot 2 Face flicks. Now this could be old skool, Nu school, Kung Fu, Wire-Fu, Bruce Lee, whatever, and once a month we highlight something from the genre worth checking out... and The Rebel folks, is that flick... well at least until Mar... :)

The story is a usual theme with chop-sockey flicks of any kind: Guy on one side, goes undercover on another side, and then has a change of heart - and becomes a (wait for it...) rebel. I really don't need to give you much more than that.

So you might be at home, semi bag deep in nachos going... "But Boony, that don't sound like nothing so spectacular, whats it doing as the NMOTH?" - and yes I short formed that because I so very much wanna be TEXT cool - moving on... Well, first the fighting is so freaking awesome that I am tempted to recommend it on that front alone. This film showcases a form of Vietnamese martial arts rarely seen, or so the case promised, and boy freaking howdy, they were right. Spinning back flip foots to faces. Flip block punch 360 knees... this film has it all. And every one, I mean every one put their time in. I know the main female lead (and a darn attractive one at that) is some ling of pop star, and I never doubted her moves for a minute. Starting to sound a little more worthy right?

and the man in black never read again.

What is one of the most important factors in any fight flick? More than the awesome moves, plot, stunts...
The direction! The direction is exactly what fight film direction should be. A still camera, minimum cuts, and a whole lot of awesome moves caught perfectly so that they may drop jaws, be rewound and drop jaws in slow motion. 

Friend : What was that a backflip, block punch, low kick switch to reverse roundhouse?
Boony : I don't know let us watch it 7-8 more times to fully appreciate. 

Most of the fights scenes take place out side, so plenty of space to really showcase the skills. This is a beautiful martial art. Think of it as ONG BAK, meets spinny-flips, and you have it. The fights that take place in an enclosed area are just as good and make good use of the reduced space adding a ton of counters and counter-counters, and somehow the camera manages to slide along out of the way. Take notes recent Hong Kong flicks! Less cuts! How much does it suck to be trying to enjoy a showdown while the scene keeps cutting to Boot/face/stumbleback/recover/dustcloud/face/fist... well if you know, then you know...

But there more dear Booniacs and Buckleheads... the story and acting... actually pretty van-damme good. Good villain (yes, of course every bad Asian has a white sidekick to hate lol), good leads all around. They play tough well. The directing, aside from capturing the fights well, is good. Some nice scenery, and well designed scene management... I was impressed all around.

The verdict... this is hands down one of my favorite Nu Skool entries in the Fight film genre. And to all you folks... the first every TOP TEN from B&B is on the way... TOP 10 : Boot 2 Face flicks - Nu Skool... and I have a feeling this will be finding its way onto that there list...

Stay tuned in and turned on...
Boom.

movie scale 3 out of five stars
Ninja Movie scale 4 out of 5 stars... only because of a slightly less than kick filled 20 minutes in the last act... booooo. Only complaint.

-Charles Bartholomew Boonsweet @tallwhitefox
and as one half of the Dynamic Duo, @boonsbuckles
annnnnnd don't forget to keep up with my blogger and fellow kungfu-er @kenbucklesworth and his new Blog @necromacabre where he is going to be focusing on his first, and true love... horror...