Released: April 2015

Director: Ekachai Uekrongtham

Run Time: 95 Minutes

Rated R for Strong Violence, Disturbing Sexual Content, Nudity, Drug Use and Language

Distributor: Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing

Cast:
Dolph Lundgren: Nick Cassidy
Tony Jaa: Tony Vitayakul
Michael Jai White: Reed
Ron Perlman: Viktor
Peter Weller: Costello
Celina Jade: Min

When Tony Jaa appeared on the international scene a little over a decade ago, he took the world by storm.  His first big break was in the film, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior.  He was hailed as the next Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan.  While I personally wouldn’t go that far in praising the man, there was no doubt in my mind that he had something to offer.  He was extraordinarily talented, being trained in Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Wushu and other styles of martial arts and being highly athletic.  When I first saw Ong-Bak, my mind was blown.  I haven’t seen anybody do these kinds of crazy-ass stunts since Jackie Chan, and even then, Tony Jaa was doing stuff that I had never seen before.  This is coming from someone who is a HUGE fan of martial arts films.  While you could say that Tony Jaa isn’t a particularly good actor, there is no questioning that he’s got some serious screen presence.  While Ong-Bak’s story and acting were highly dubious, the stunt-work and action sequences were second-to-none.  They were brutal, spectacular and done without wires.  Jaa’s follow-up film, Tom Yum Goong, or, The Protector, as it is known in the States, was even crazier, and featured a more brutal side to Muay Thai, than we had seen in Jaa’s previous effort.  Again, off-the-wall stunts and action made The Protector a very memorable film.  Sadly, with Ong-Bak 2, things started going downhill fast for Tony Jaa.  He apparently bit off more than he could chew with Ong-Bak 2 and 3, and had a break-down.  While Ong-Bak 2 was still decent in the action department, the third film was a complete disaster.  One of the things I really loved about Tony Jaa was that he didn’t need wires to pull off some really crazy stuff.  So, when The Protector 2 came out, I was highly disappointed that one of the most promising martial arts superstars was using wires in a movie that was actually even worse than Ong-Bak 3.  But it seems redemption was in Jaa’s future, when he was cast in Dolph Lundgren’s action film, Skin Trade.

Skin Trade opens as police detective Nick Cassidy is chasing down a criminal who is working for a notorious Serbian gangster, Viktor.  At the same time in Thailand, undercover cop Tony Vitayakul is preparing to offer some money to a gangster in exchange for a young girl who had been kidnapped and sold.  Both cops are on the trail for the same man, Viktor, who is suspected of being the leader in a major human trafficking organization in Southeast Asia.  After tracking Viktor to a nearby dock in New Jersey, one of Viktor’s children is killed in a gun battle with Nick, before Viktor is arrested.  In retaliation for his son’s death, Nick’s family is attacked and killed, leaving Nick near-death.  Seeking revenge, Nick travels to Thailand to hunt down and kill Viktor, but ends up crossing Tony at the same time.  The story of the film is set around human trafficking, which makes the whole situation all the more personal not just for the characters, but for Dolph Lundgren as well.  He had written and produced Skin Trade, because he had read about a case in which dozens of women were found dead in a cargo container.  So, Dolph is using the film not just as entertainment, but also as a way of helping to expose the insidious practice that is plaguing our world.  I mentioned this in my review of Taken:  Human trafficking is a very tricky subject to tackle in a wall-to-wall action film.  It’s a fairly simple story that has some twists and turns that while some would consider to be predictable, are fairly interesting.  There isn’t a whole lot of humor here, because of the subject matter.  Lundgren wanted to take this situation seriously, and it’s reflected in the story and action.  It’s a decent enough story, but it is one that I’ve seen before.

This is a kind of an ensemble movie.  You’ve got some serious fire-power as far action stars go.  You’ve got Dolph Lundgren, who is a martial artist himself.  You’ve got Tony Jaa from Ong-Bak, Peter Weller from Robocop,  Ron Perlman from Hellboy, and Michael Jai White from Spawn.  Ron Perlman plays the villainous Viktor.  Perlman has always been flexible in the acting and can play both good and bad guys.  Hellboy is probably one of his best known roles, because he inhabits every role that he takes on.  While he’s not a martial artist, his presence lends a certain degree of credibility to the film.  He’s so much fun to watch.  Peter Weller always brings his A-game to whatever he does.  After Robocop, he’s become a bit of a B-Movie star.  He’s got this really deep voice that kind of gives him a kind of a hard edge.  He plays Costello, Nick’s boss, and like Nick, hates human trafficking with a burning passion.  Sadly, Weller is under-used and just disappears after Nick escapes from the hospital.  Michael Jai White plays Agent Reed of the FBI.  White is a phenomenal martial artist and a pretty decent actor, which is a rare combination for a martial arts actor.  Dolph Lundgren is Nick Cassidy, a family man who is out for revenge after his family is attacked.  If there’s one thing that I can really say about Lundgren, is that he’s got screen presence.  At 6’5, Lundgren is an incredibly imposing figure.  Making his debut as Drago in Rocky IV, Dolph Lundgren is a force to be reckoned with.  While he’s not the greatest actor in the world, he’s absolute blast to watch, especially when he’s beating the crap out of people.  His performance in Skin Trade is actually pretty believable, as Lundgren has two daughters himself, so he uses that to give Nick Cassidy a solid emotional core.

Tony Jaa makes his English language debut in Skin Trade.  While English is clearly not Jaa’s first language, he doesn’t actually do too bad here, as far as speaking the language.  There are some inconsistencies that hinder his performance.  Because his command of the English language isn’t very strong, it makes his more dramatic scenes with his girlfriend a lot less believable.  That being said, I consider Skin Trade to be a much better comeback film for Tony Jaa than his previous film.  The action in Skin Trade is pretty damn good.  There’s a lot of gun-fire in the first half, but we also get to see Michael Jai White use some of his skills which are formidable.  Jaa’s opening action sequence involves him using his belt, which is very reminiscent of Jet Li in Fist of Legend.  It’s actually pretty cool.  Thankfully, Jaa doesn’t use wires.  He does a couple of flips, but overall the fights in this film are more grounded and have a lot less flair.  The two fights that are the highlights of Skin Trade happen to involve Jaa in both fights.  He goes up against Dolph Lundgren in the first one.  This is very much a David-versus-Goliath kind of fight.  Lundgren towers over Jaa.  Lundgren is definitely more of a slugger and slower than Jaa, but his power makes up for it, and he throws in a few good kicks.  It’s a pretty intense fight.  The second one involves Tony Jaa going up against Michael Jai White.  This one is definitely fun to watch, because White is pretty nimble and puts up a good fight.  The rest of the action is pretty much your standard run and gun deal, with explosions, chases and helicopters.

While Skin Trade definitely shows a little bit of what goes on in human trafficking, some of it doesn’t particularly strike me as realistic, with the exception of the opening scene.  To be sure, it is a serious topic that needs to be dealt with, and while I think Skin Trade could have been a little darker in terms of showing what happens, there is a balance that must be kept between entertaining the audience and opening their eyes to a very real problem.  I feel that the film does a pretty decent job at both.  The subject of human trafficking is something that’s near and dear to Dolph Lundgren’s heart.  In fact, on September 26, he’s doing a TED talk about human trafficking.  Skin Trade was a personal project for Lundgren and the effort that went in to making this movie really shows.  While the film isn’t perfect, and no film ever is, it definitely delivers on what is a very solid action-thriller with a message.  If you’re a fan of Dolph Lundgren or Tony Jaa, this is one that is definitely worth watching.  9/10 is what I give it.

Released: June 2015(USA)

Director: Sheng Ding

Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment

Run Time: 110 Minutes

Not Rated

Cast:
Jackie Chan: Zhong Wen
Ye Liu: Wu Jiang
Tian Jing: Miao Miao

When it comes to martial arts actors, there is one that is just as famous as Bruce Lee, if not more so:  Jackie Chan.  Even if you haven’t seen a martial arts film in your life, or an action movie, you know who Jackie Chan is.  With over 100 movies to his name as an actor, Jackie Chan is one of the most prominent actors in Asian cinema.  Chan is extraordinarily talented, not just in front of the camera, but behind it as well.  He’s directed many of my favorite martial arts films including the original Police Story and Who Am I?.  He’s got his hands into everything, including music, camera-work, lighting, cinematography, and editing just to name a few.  There are not a whole lot of actors with his kind of filmography.  While he is known for his over-the-top stunts and crazy action sequences which are done for comedic effect, we’ve seen Chan branch into more serious roles like in Crime Story, The Shinjuku Incident, and most recently Police Story Lockdown.

The film opens as police officer Zhong Wen is on his way to a club to meet up with his estranged daughter, Miao Miao.  Hoping to reconcile their differences, Wen is told to go to a specific room to meet his little girl.  After talking to her, and meeting her boyfriend, Wu Jiang, who owns the club, the entire building is put on lockdown and Wen is knocked unconscious.  Waking up, he finds himself face to face with Wu Jiang, who orchestrated the whole thing and lured him to the building for an unknown purpose.  With his daughter and other hostages in danger, Wen must find out what Jiang wants and why he took certain people hostages.  The Police Story films aren’t really known for their complex story-telling, mostly just focusing on the action.  That would be a typical Jackie Chan movie.  But when you think about it, when has Jackie Chan done anything that was “typical?”  The story in Lockdown is actually very compelling and has some very interesting twists and turns.  The more you watch the film, the more things start really making sense.  You begin to see why certain characters are there as hostages.

This is not your average Jackie Chan film, because everything is played seriously.  It’s a much darker film than what we are used to seeing from Chan.  It’s more methodical and deliberately paced.  Yes, there are action sequences and fight scenes, but they really aren’t the main focus of the film.  The action is quick and brutal, with Chan’s character getting pummeled quite a bit.  We’re not used to seeing a Jackie Chan character take that kind of abuse before, but it also lends itself to a more emotional aspect of the film.  Chan is definitely on his A-game.  While he’s not doing his usual high-flying stunts, he is allowed to flex his acting muscles.  As a result, we get to see a very different side to the actor, and I find that to be absolutely refreshing.  The performances in the film are phenomenal.  Everybody brings their best effort to their roles.  For those expecting a high-octane, stunt-filled action film, you’re not going to get it here.  This is more of a dramatic piece, than a straight-up brawler.  It definitely has action and explosions, but the bombastic nature of the previous films is gone.  This is a very gritty and down-to-earth crime film where nothing is as it seems.  I think the film would have gotten a better reception if it had dropped the Police Story title altogether.  Why?  Outside of the fact that the main character is a cop and the name of the film, it has nothing to do with the other films, whatsoever.  Because it has that title, a lot of people are going to feel misled about what kind of movie this is.

As far as villains go, Wu Jiang is by far one of the most complex I’ve seen in an action film.  This guy comes across as a 3 dimensional human being with his own history and flaws.  His motivations for what he does don’t become clear until about the half-way mark, and then you start to understand where he’s coming from.  He’s not inherently evil, but the events of his life have led him to the situation he is in now, and Ye Liu does a phenomenal job, not just in the acting department, but also the physical as well.  We see the character is an expert an Muay Thai boxing, but an injury in an earlier fight from his past has left him with a limp.  He can still hold his ground though.  The other bad guys are pretty much cookie-cutter.  The fight scenes are very much inspired by MMA and Ultimate Fighting.  Instead of high-flying kicks and fancy footwork, it’s very close-quarters and brutal.  Jackie Chan can still hold his own.  Police Story Lockdown is a different kind of action movie, but that’s also because Jackie Chan can no longer do the crazy stunts he’s known for.  The man is 61 years old, so his movies have had to change to reflect that.  That’s not really a bad thing, as Chan wants to reinvent himself as a serious actor.  Because of that, Police Story Lockdown is much slower than his previous work, and that might turn off quite a few people.  There’s a lot of exposition here.

As a Jackie Chan film, Police Story Lockdown is one of his more interesting and compelling movies.  It’s different enough from his other films to kind of stand on its own.  As a Police Story movie, however, it fails on multiple levels.  I think the film would have been better if it didn’t have Police Story as the title.  It feels….deceptive, almost as if they were trying to get people to see it.  I would have thought that Jackie Chan’s name would have been enough to get people into theaters.  That being said, I really enjoyed the film.  It gives Jackie Chan a chance to flex his acting muscles, and it’s grounded in reality.  Personally, I would recommend Lockdown to anybody who is a fan of Jackie Chan.  You need to see it at least once.  It’s pretty good, despite its obvious flaws.  Solid 8/10.

Be warned, I’m going to spoiling the hell out of these movies, so if you haven’t seen them yet, turn back now.

Still here?  Good.  Every story ever told, written or put on film has three distinct parts to it.  Each part is extremely important in telling a story.  If you miss one, the rest of the story will be negatively affected.  The first part is the setup.  This part introduces the audience to the world of the story as well as the characters that live within.  The second part is the conflict.  In certain stories, the main characters go up against a foe of some sort, an antagonist if you will.  It’s something that’s not resolved right from the get-go, but the situation ends up escalating.  Everything is usually resolved in the final part of the story:  The resolution.  This is arguably the most important of a story, because this is where all the subplots and character development converge.  For movies and video games, the conclusion to the story is absolutely crucial.  It will determine whether or not you will decide to return to the story or cast it aside.  It is also important for an ending to try and keep the same tone as the rest of the movie.  For movies that have a dark tone to them, having a happy ending where everybody lives happily ever after is extremely inappropriate.  Likewise, if the film has a very upbeat tone, but the ending is a downer, that ruins the experience.  There is a level of consistency that must be maintained throughout the story.  What I’m going to do with this post is go over some of the best and worst endings in a film.  It’s not going to be limited to any genre, because each genre has its fair share movies that have great and terrible endings.  What I’m going to do here is follow up a great ending with a bad one.  So, let’s get this party started with a bang!

Great ending:  The Dark Knight

This is one of my favorite endings, because Batman was forced to kill Harvey Dent, who was disfigured in an explosion.  He was holding Gordon’s family hostage, and Batman had to do something to save that family.  Taking the blame for Dent’s murderous rampage, Batman chose to become the bad guy because he believed that Gotham needed it’s true hero, Harvey Dent.  Dent had managed to put away most of Gotham’s criminals in one fell swoop, so the city needed to believe in that version of Harvey Dent.  This ending sent shivers down my spine, because of the emotional speech by Commissioner Gordon detailing why he had to chase Batman.  Combine that with Hans Zimmer’s amazing score, and you have an ending that really nails why Batman was needed.  It’s not a happy ending, but it is one that leaves with a sense of hope that things are going to turn around in a city that is rife with corruption.

Bad Ending: The Matrix Revolutions

Oh, god, where do I start with this?  We had two movies where things were really building up to some kind of final confrontation with The Machines, and this is what we got?  This is a prime example of bad writing.  It makes absolutely no freaking sense.  Okay, Neo has to go the Machine City to do….something.  Okay, he’s not coming back from that.  What happens, is that he makes a deal with the machines, that if he defeats Smith, they will leave Zion alone and free people who are still trapped in The Matrix.  Okay, the rest of the movie was amazing.  It was essentially a war movie, with great visual effects and action.  The final fight between Smith and Neo was nothing short of amazing.  But, and it’s not shown in the video I posted, but Neo eventually stops fighting and allows Smith to take him over.  If any of you are scratching your head at that, don’t worry, I am too.  The whole ending to this movie and trilogy was horrendously anti-climactic.  It boils down to Neo being Jesus and sacrificing himself for the rest of humanity.  That’s what I got out of it.  Watch the whole trilogy from beginning to end, and you’ll be banging your head against the wall, asking yourself, “What the hell was that?”

Great Ending: The Mist

This one is a bit controversial.  Having read the original story by Stephen King, the ending to this movie is a major shocker.  See, the original story had some of the main characters escape store and drive off into the mist.  It was very ambiguous, and you had no idea whether or not any of them survived.  For the movie, Frank Darabont went for a more brutal and tragic ending.  Again, survivors driving off into the mist, but they run out of gas.  So, the adults agree to be shot instead of being killed by the monsters that live in the mist.  So, Thomas Jane’s character, shoots all of them, including his own son, because he didn’t want him to be savagely brutalized by a monster.  He doesn’t have a bullet for himself, so he leaves the vehicle hoping that he will be killed by one of the creatures.  Out of the mist comes a military convoy escorting survivors from the fog.  This is all the more tragic, because if the character had waited a few more minutes, he and his son would have been rescued.  This is a sucker punch of an ending, and I’m glad that the filmmakers had the balls to go with this ending instead of the book.  Stephen King himself prefers this ending.  I can certainly see why people didn’t like it, but I think it was very appropriate for a story like this.  To be truthful with you, most of the endings to Stephen Kings books are generally not happy endings.

Bad Ending: Star Trek: Nemesis

There’s no video for this one, so I’ll just tell you.  Towards the end of the movie, both the Enterprise and Shinzon’s ship are severely damaged, because Picard rammed his ship into the Scimitar.  Since the self-destruct is somehow broken, Picard transports over to the enemy ship to destroy it.  After confronting and eventually killing Shinzon, Data shows up, transports Picard back the Enterprise, and then destroys the Scimitar with him still on it.  That is definitely a way to send off a character like Data.  Unfortunately,  because of an earlier subplot involving the discovery of an earlier android model, B-4, the whole sacrifice angle is kind of pointless.  Why?  Because Data had copied all his memories and abilities over to B-4 so B-4 could, in theory, be more like Data.  So, when Data gets blown up, B-4 starts showing signs that Data’s memory transfer starts working.  While the film itself wasn’t terrible, I’m just glad they rebooted the series before any further damage could have been done.

Best Ending: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Terminator 2 is widely considered to be one of the greatest science fiction sequels to date, and it’s really hard to argue with that assessment.  It’s got a great story, with interesting characters and amazing visual effects.  As far as sequels go, this was about as good you could get.  The film certainly had a great number of memorable moments, with great action and fantastic drama.  The ending to the film is one that still tugs at my heart strings today.  After spending most of the movie connecting with these characters, it’s heartbreaking to see the Terminator make the decision to be destroyed in the end.  But that’s because from the time he spent with John Connor, he knew that it had to be done.  After the Terminator sacrifices himself, the film cuts to a road with Sarah Connor speaking:  “The future rolls towards us.  I face it for the first time with a sense of hope, because if a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of human life, maybe we can too.”  It’s a pretty powerful ending and it’s one that really resonates with me.

Not a whole lot, is it?  These are the ones that are most memorable to me.  Sure, there are plenty of movies out there with horrible and great endings.  But these are the ones that really stood out the most for me.  For certain movies like Lord of the Rings, the ending to each film is leading directly into the next, and I’m absolutely fine with that.  But sometimes, movies have endings that setup for a sequel that never happens and THAT I’m not okay with.  If you’re going to piss people off with an ending, you want to do it in a way that’s truly memorable for the RIGHT reasons, like The Mist.  That was a phenomenal movie with a controversial ending.  There’s a difference between pissing people off with an ending and alienating people.  The ending to The Matrix Revolutions alienated a lot of people.  It was a pretty big faux pas.  If any one has any doubts or any suggestions of their own, feel free to leave a comment or question.