The Man with Iron Fists

This is one highly anticipated movie!  Kung Fu movie fan and rap musician RZA (of Wu Tang Clan) came up with the story behind this film – The Man with Iron Fists.

It’s the story of a Black Smith of African descent (played by RZA) working and living in China.  It ultimately tells the tale of how he went from a humble worker to a ‘Man with Iron Fists’ (yeah I’ll stop repeating myself soon).

Creating deadly weapons is the core of Black Smith’s business, and things get busy for him when the head of a clan is killed.  This clan, known as the Lion Clan, has their leader Gold killed by his generals Silver (Byron Mann) and Bronze (the awesome Cung Le).  Silver then takes control of the Lion clan and tries to start a war.

Gold’s son Zen Yi (Rick Yune) then ventures out to avenge his father’s death.

As other clans prepare for war, Zen Yi goes after Silver, and is met with resistance by the gigantic Brass Body (played by David Bautista).   After being nearly beaten to death, Black Smith takes in Zen Yi and helps him recover.  ASs Blacksmith made the weapons that killed his father, he feels it is good karma to help Zen Yi.

From there Brass Body eventually finds Black Smith and cuts off his hands.  He is then helped by Jack knife (Russell Crowe) to recover, and has Iron Fists made that he attaches to his shorted arms to give him an edge in his fight against the Lions.

He joins up with Jack Knife and Zen Yi and all hell breaks lose!

A Colorful Cast of Characters

So you’ve got the Lion Clan – With the top guys known as Gold, Silver and Bronze, hiring a man named Brass Body to do some killing.  You’ve got a man with Iron Fists siding with Zen Yi who has blades of metal attached to his armour.  There’s a theme starting to form there!

It’s a pretty cool movie in that the characters are very visually outstanding.

The Lion Clan all have wild hair like a Lion, while Brass Body has the ability to turn to Brass and deflect almost any attack.  Zen Yi has an awesome suit of Armour that makes him look pretty bad ass.  Of course there is man named Poison Dagger who has white hair and very long eyebrows – reminiscent of many classic kung fu characters.  A colorful mix of characters that are so visually different fromm one another makes this movie a pleasure to see, but is it that interesting in terms of plot?

The story itself isn’t too bad but without the colorful characters I think it would have been pretty standard.  

Ultimately this movie seems to be primarily about the visual, but there are some cool themes in it.  One thing that stood out to  me was the team of ‘good guys’ in the movie – they’re racially diverse.  You’ve got Black Smith, who is of African origin, you’ve also got Zen Yi who is Chinese and of course Jack Knife is Caucasian.  But nothing really seems to be mentioned of it – apart from the back story of Blacksmith when he was in America.

I think the racial diversity was another visual tool used to communicate a message without actually mentioning it – something I really appreciate in these movies.  This movie seems to serve as more of a vehicle for a martial arts / kung fu ‘looking’ film, with more emphasis on the fighting as well as the visual style.

Also when the movies starts – straight away you see the Shaw Brothers Logo!

The Action & Martial Arts.

First off – you’ve got a pretty awesome cast that are perfect for this kind of movie.

The biggest name in my opinion – Cung Le.  The MMA / UFC fighter and martial arts actor is pretty under utilised despite being one of the best martial arts actors in the movie (in my opinion).

RZA – not known as a martial artist but a definite martial arts and kung fu fanatic.  He has a massive passion for kung fu movies and am surprised he hasn’t made a film sooner.  So you’ve got a guy who breathes these movies as a fan but not necessarily an actor – but he does well.

Rick Yune isn’t known for his Martial Arts, but he is a former Golden Gloves boxer and martial artist – so he has every bit of real fighting skill to bring to the screen.

Lucy Liu was in Kill Bill and the Charlies Angels movies – so she gets a tiny piece of Martial Arts cred.  She also studies Eskrima/Silat – so she has some martial arts background also.

Byron Mann is a man of Wushu, Batista is a former WWE wrestler, and Russell Crowe is known for various Pub Fights around Australia.

So you’ve got a massive array of fighters and martial artists stepping up to this film, yet the action was only ok.

While I was entertained, I didn’t feel the action was made as important as the ‘colorfulness’ of the movie. Some scene showcase great movies that are fast and impressive – but they just don’t have that ferocity that you find in the list toppers.  But in saying that, they’re not bad either.

The Verdict?

A decent movie, with a decent plot and decent action.  It could have been so much more, but it’s still ‘OK’.  Check it out for the visuals and to kill some time.