Falcon Rising / Favela / Codename FalconFalcon Rising‘ or ‘Favela‘ is the first in a new franchise of movies called ‘Codename: Falcon‘ starring Michael Jai White.

All I gotta say is get ready for a franchise that could take Michael White further than before!

Michael Jai White is a guy nicknamed ‘Falcon’, it’s his old codename from a vaguely touched on military career from years before the events of this film. But his ordinary ‘people name’ is John Chapman.

Screw it, let’s call him Falcon.

Falcon is suffering from some kind of post traumatic stress and seems to love hanging around sleeping on his sister’s couch playing a form of Russian roulette to pass his time.

Obviously unhappy, Falcon’s sister Cindy arrives home from overseas and the two conveniently explain their past and current situation through an argument (ahh the art of filmmaking!). They catch up, poke a bit of fun at each other over their lives and show a certain level of sibling appreciation before Cindy heads back to Brazil to pursue her passion of helping people.
Falcon and his SisterBut Cindy winds up almost dead form an attack and Falcon heads over to see what happened.

After the obvious conclusion that she was the victim of attempted murder, Falcon starts asking questions and working with the police (and eventually on his own) to find the killer. Naturally he finds out his enemy is rather powerful and dangerous – so naturally things start blowing up and we see bullets fly, kicks thrown and lots of wrists and arms broken. Go Falcon!

This movie definitely belongs in Michael Jai White’s ‘Top Hits’ List!

The quality of this film is high.  The unfolding, the script and general approach of the film is very ‘B Grade style’ but is delivered in an ‘A Grade’ manner.  This movie feels a lot more natural than you’d think considering the script.

It runs on a pretty typical action setup, with the ‘main character going after those who hurt his family‘ scenario but it’s played out in a very balanced way.  The don’t just throw random fights into the mix to keep the action junkies happy. They instead go for the build up, showing smaller action scenes as things unravel and tensions escalate.

We see Michael Jai White’s attitude become more and more present in Falcon and his movements become more and more animated as he gets closer to the finding his enemies and you can’t help but feel excited for things to come.

How was the action?

The first hint I got that things were going to get vicious – the appearance of Lateef Crowder.

If you’re not familiar, Lateef is the King of Capoeira in film these days.  He’s had fight scenes with Tony Jaa, Scott Adkins,and Jon Foo.  Now – Michael Jai White.  This guy is very recognisable and hardly ever appears and a bland fight scene.

Hell, Lateef Crowder deserves his own movie franchise – there I said it.  What the fuck is up movie industry?

Sword Wielding Yakuza anyone?

Back on track. Lateef shows off just enough skill to get the audience excited early in the film and gives off that ‘bad guy’ smell in the slightest fashion.  As we meet a few more interesting villains like a sword wielding Yakuza and his gang we see the group of enemies grow more diverse, promising more action.

There’s a nice blend between martial arts movements and gun work in certain scenes, as Falcon often uses his close range martial arts movements to disarm and his gun to finish things off.  It’s a terrific mix and something the Hollywood blockbusters just can’t match.

So things start to develop and build – but the final showdown is not what you expect!  It’s better, but I’m not going to spoil it. Overall this movie has a fantastic balance of action and is built up extremely well and naturally. Well worth the watch – especially for the martial arts fight finale!

Awesome Martial Arts action

What’s even better?

Once again, no spoilers as this movie wraps up nicely…

..but leaves you knowing there’ll be more!

Ultimately this film creates the character of Falcon.  It’s like an origins film of a character who hasn’t become popular yet.  If things keep the same pace or get a little better (as good sequels have the potential to do), then Codename Falcon will become the next popular franchise in Martial Arts action.

Imagine somne of the future names he could face in the franchise – Scott Adkins again? Tony Jaa? These guys would fit just nicely 🙂

I’m excited, hopefully I’m right about this film and I’m sure you’ll appreciate it.  It’s not among the very best out there, but it has the potential to climb to that status if built upon properly.  Fingers crossed!

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