Friday Night Flicks

The Legend is Alive not your normal “kick everyone’s ass” Kung Fu movie. This movie is less a Kung Fu movie and more of a love story, not the typical boy meets girl love story, but a story of unconditional love. The kind of unconditional love shared between mothers and sons. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of this movie.

Our story centers around Ly Tieu Long (Justin Nguyen) a mentally challenged man, fresh off the bus with a final destination of America. Funny thing is Long asks bus drivers, cab drivers and almost everyone how to get to America. It takes no time to see that Long is out of his element. Not long after he steps off the bus, Long runs into trouble with two thugs who try to con him out of his cash. At this point we begin unwrapping the onion that is Long’s life. Though suffering from developmental disabilities, Long is a kung Fu master practiced in numerous arts: Jeet Ku Do (created by Bruce Lee) Muay Thai, and Tae Kwan Do. This mastery of Kung Fu comes from his mother’s teachings.

The first half tells Long’s life story. We see Long beginning Kung Fu training, being bullied by students at school and in general trying to make it in the world. During this time we see a mother’s love for her challenged child blossom. She takes extra care to train Long in the disciplines of while instilling in him prime directives of Kung Fu, “Use Kung fu for defense not offense”. Long really lives this, getting his ass kicked and later offering forgiveness to his attackers.

One item I appreciated with this movie was how it reinforced Longs current predicaments with exposition from his past. It’s nice to see the fullness of a character develop in this way.

After leaving home, we find Long searching for America ultimately befriending a 17 year old girl headed off to meet her new boyfriend she met online. The conversations between Long and this girl are highly entertaining. The young lady tries explaining computers, online chat and cell phones to someone who probably has never seen a television. Let’s just say the conversation is cute. The story moves from the country into the city of Da Nang. It’s in Da Nang we find Long helping the young girl with trouble she find herself in.

The cinematography of this film is facinating. I find myself loving the movies coming out of Asia more and more. Especially the ones coming out of China, Hong Kong and now I’ll add Vietnam. The cinematography of these films is remarkable, The Legend is Alive is no exception. We have sweeping landscapes, gritty city scenes and remarkably 40 years later burned out remains of the Vietnam War. I wish American film makers would spend some time watching these films.

If you are looking for a unique Kung Fu love story check out the Legend is Alive.

Mystical, bloody, sweaty, smoky, scary, gritty, damp, snow covered, and intense. These are the words that bring back memories of either Seattle, WA or the kick ass film I watched last night:  Solomon Kane

Solomon Kane is writer/director Michael J. Bassett’s story depicting the origins of  Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane (James Purefoy). The film introduces our lead as a rouge marauder full of questionable morals. Kane and his band of thugs lay siege to a castle in hopes of gaining riches from the inhabitants. What they find is a castle full of malevolence. At this point we realize that Kane is a cursed man, owing the devil his soul. Kane battles a lich and then we cut away to a future time where Kane has sworn off evil deeds for a life of peace.

Forced from his home we find Kane at the hands of thieves who take advantage of his new lease on life, almost costing him his. By the graces Kane finds himself in the caring hands of the William Crowthorn (played by (Pete Postlethwaite) family. Kane travels the countryside with the Crowthorns when trouble find Kane and the Crowthorns. A battle ensues and Kane makes realizes he can no longer sit idle while evil triumphs. We can all imagine what happens from here.

This movie works well on a number of levels. Michael Bassett did a great job of providing the back story for Solomon Kane. If you know nothing of Solomon Kane (like your author) you will walk away with a total appreciation of the character wanting more.

One thing I am excited about is the potential for this character. Robert E. Howard wrote a number of different stories describing the adventures of Solomon Kane. I hope to one day more of these stories make it to the screen.

Accompanying  a well crated story, the visuals in this movie are exceptional. The creators of this film did a great job of immersing you into the world of Solomon Kane. The whole movie gives you a sense of the harsh climate that these people lived in. The landscape of this film remind me of a smoldering campfire after a late night camping. The smoke clings to every molecule of your existence, cold creeps under your wool clothes and the elements (copious amounts of rain and snow) add to your misery. These storytellers made you feel like you were there. The only thing missing was the actual smell of rotting flesh.

Complimenting the visuals, the battle scenes were top notch. One of my favorite scenes in “sword movies” is the battle scene at the beginning of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. The brutal depiction of the battle between the Romans and the Germanic Barbarians was a brilliant piece of film making. This movie takes that experience to 11. This movie has numerous battle scenes ranging from epic to up close and personal. You could almost feel the swoosh of the blades and the dripping of sweat on your being.

This movie works well on so many levels. I hope you find yourself in a dark theatre watching this great piece of work.

Thanks,

Rodman