When I first started doing The Best, I had no idea that I would start having a lot of ideas on what to do with this particular series. As I said when I first started The Best, I consider it a celebration of cinema and the things that movies have brought to the world. My first few posts were of what I felt where the best film composers in the world. For this next topic, I’m going to be discussing the best martial arts films in the world. Considering how many of these films are coming out of some very unusual places, I’ve decided that I’m going to do it by country. I will be getting to China, eventually, but considering their history with the martial arts and martial arts films, that country is going to take several posts. There’s a lot of really good movies over there. Right now I’m going to start with countries where the martial arts films aren’t exactly super famous. I’m going to start in South America with The Best Martial Arts Movies: Chile.
The reason I’m doing Chile first is primarily because of Marko Zaror. This guy basically came out of nowhere and took the martial arts movie world by storm. He’s not only a good actor, but he is an amazing martial artist and stuntman. For a guy that is 6’2″, he’s got some really crazy moves. He doesn’t need wires to do all those crazy acrobatics. He’s been seen in a number of action films from Chile, but he’s also landed himself in a number of US made films like Undisputed III and Machete Kills. It’s absolutely astonishing where some of these guys come from.
Kiltro
Kiltro was Marko Zaror’s first real lead role. While a lot of the movie was kind of slow, the fight scenes were incredibly choreographed and filmed. This alley fight is one of the two real highlights of the film. It’s absolutely bonkers. The fight with the main villain is also really good. This guy doesn’t need stunt doubles, he IS the stunt double. Kiltro is definitely worth checking out. While he did stunt-work in movies like The Rundown, it was the movies that he was allowed to star that really made him shine.
Mirageman
A year after Kiltro was released, Zaror starred in his own little “superhero” flick called Mirageman. Putting on a mask and jacket and kind of looking like a real ghetto-style Spider-Man, Zaror takes on the criminals and the corrupt, eventually running afoul of the local crime lord. A lot of these movies are basically showcases for what Marko Zaror can do, physically, and make no mistake about it, he’s a human special effect. Mirageman was a pretty goofy, but decent little way to pass the time. Honestly, I would really love for him to star in a real big-budget Marvel or DC movie.
Redeemer
This is one where I felt that Marko Zaror really pulled his weight, not just in the fight scenes, but dramatically as well. He stars as a man with a troubled past(is there any other kind?)who wanders from town to town in search of redemption. In order to redeem himself, he aids the people who can’t fight for themselves. And as one tends to do when doing something like that, he attracts the attention of not only the local drug lord, but another mysterious assassin to whom he has a personal connection. It’s a very wild movie that does have a sense of humor, but it’s definitely one of the more intense movies that Zaror has made. It’s certainly one of the most violent as the opening fight scene suggests. People get trashed. It’s absolutely one of my favorite martial arts movies out there, and I think it deserves a lot of attention.
Mr. Zaror has made other movies that I haven’t gotten around to seeing yet, but I will. I think the guy is an understated and very underrated martial arts actor. He’s great at playing bad guys too. Check out the aforementioned Undisputed III. He goes up against Scott Adkins and has an epic final battle. I know that all these movies star the same actor, but to be honest, there really weren’t a whole lot of action movies in Chile. So, Zaror’s a bit of a trail-blazer. Overall, the stuff that he’s done is pretty good.