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Review: COLD WAR 2 Still Heats Up The Old Hong Kong Magic

Cold War 2 [Blu-ray]Cold War 2 [Blu-ray] In 2012, the original Cold War served as a proclamation to the world that Hong Kong could still produce a rock solid thriller. It was a tense film that relied on plot and characters to drive the suspense and used action sparingly whenever the situation reached an impasse that only ballistic violence could solve. Cold War was easily one of the most entertaining thrillers of the decade, yet its resolution left a few narrative threads dangling. As it turns out, those threads weren’t an oversight; they would form the basis for the film’s even more thrilling sequel. The original film dealt with a Hong Kong Police emergency: several officers and a van full of valuable equipment are ambushed and taken hostage. What set the film apart from other police thrillers was that it focused not just on the conflict with the kidnappers but […]

Vin Diesel And The Curious Case Of The Action Star EGOT

This past weekend, we saw history being made. We watched in awe as Vin Diesel achieved the action-star equivalent of an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony). With the box office success of xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, Diesel is the first Hollywood action star to be the face of three action movie franchises simultaneously! In the past, action stars rarely got locked in to more than one action franchise at a time because they were franchises unto themselves. The closest that anyone has come would be Sylvester Stallone, who made Rocky Balboa, Rambo and The Expendables in the span of five years. Sadly, Rambo isn’t much of a franchise in the 21st century and Rocky movies just seem to happen organically these days (not exactly a bad thing). Van Damme, Seagal, Willis and Schwarzenegger all had about one franchise apiece while Statham couldn’t sustain more than two at a […]

SNIPER: SPECIAL OPS (2016) Is Just The Kind Of Action Movie for People Who Hate Themselves

Sniper: Special Ops is the the action roller-coaster that teams up Van Damme and Seagal for the first and only time! But it’s not Jean Claude Van Damme, it’s actually Rob Van Dam from the WWE. And it’s not the Seagal who snaps necks and throws guys through walls, it’s actually the Seagal who sits in chairs and mumbles his lines. And the roller-coaster is actually one of those baby coasters for kids too short to ride real roller-coasters. Sniper: Special Ops isn’t so much a bad movie as it’s an insult to action movie fans. RVD and Seagal play soldiers in Afghanistan who have been sent in to retrieve a high value hostage from vaguely Taliban-like bad guys. Seagal is sitting in a perch with his spotter while RVD is on the ground awkwardly handling his M4 rifle. Naturally, all hell breaks loose and the guys on the ground have […]

xXx: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE (2017): Same Zone, New Levels, All Xander

A good sequel is one that builds upon the established narrative of the original, taking it to surprising new places while developing its characters in new and interesting ways. This is a tall order, even when the first film practically lines up all the pieces FOR you. The original xXx (2002) couldn’t be bothered to create any narrative foundation to build on. It was purely bombast and fury, and so when it came time to resurrect the franchise, the filmmakers did the only logical thing: Develop the bombast in new and interesting ways and populate it with more cool characters than before. The result is probably the best sequel to a xXx movie we could ever ask for. When viewed today, the original xXx feels like a time capsule of the early 2000s. We got cameos by extreme sports stars like Tony Hawk (a.k.a. the coolest person in the world […]

BLACK ROSE (2016): Alexander Nevsky Charms With Bygone Action Hero Gravitas

The name Alexander Nevsky first pinged my radar in the mid 2000’s. I came across a DVD of Moscow Heat in a Hollywood Video (remember those?) and decided to take a chance on its unsubtle box art and eclectic cast (Michael York in a modern action movie, sign me up!). What I got was an 80s throwback actioner in the vein of early Schwarzenegger starring writer/producer/Russian Schwarzenegger, Alexander Nevsky. The film was a good pre-Isaac Florentine DTV actioner that wore its 80s influences on its sleeve. What really struck me about it was the infectious enthusiasm that Nevsky brought to the film; he was an action movie fanatic making movies for other action movie fanatics. A few years later I stumbled across Nevsky’s next opus, Treasure Raiders; a wild (if uneven) mix of National Treasure, the Fast and The Furious, the DaVinci Code with a heavy dose of 80s action. […]

Review: ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016) Brings Ample Balance To An Awakened Force

I have to credit a large part of my nerdiness to my Dad. I remember my sister and I going over on weekends and he’d have comic books all around the house and a movie collection that could rival no other. Of course he gave us a proper education by having us watch the cult action favorites, new releases, and gems from his ever-growing collection of flicks. I was in elementary school during the time when word had started to circulate that the Star Wars movies were going to get a digital remastering. Mom (the other half of my nerd genes) wanted to make a big event out of it, we were going to go to the Uptown down in Northwest DC to go see it. Dad, upon hearing about this, sat my sister and I down, pulled out the VHS Box set of Episodes 4-6, and we marathoned the […]

Review: KILL RATIO (2016) Is A Bygone Actioner With A Promising New Star

It’s easy to take for granted the golden age of DTV action we live in with filmmakers like Isaac Florentine and John Hyams bringing genuine inspiration to their films. Kill Ratio is a throwback to an earlier era; a time that most of us would like to forget… The DTV dark age of the early 2000s. British actor Tom Hopper (Doctor Who) plays James Henderson, an ex-CIA bad-ass who now works for a telecommunications company. His boss, Gabrielle (Amy Huberman), is trying to secure a major contract in a vaguely Eastern European nation (we’ll call it Movieslovakia) making its first steps toward democracy. This boils down to entertaining local dignitaries in a hotel and shoving brochures in their faces. Things take a turn for the Die Hard when a coup breaks out and their hotel is overtaken by militants, and now Henderson has to use his kick-ass skillset to keep people […]

Review: Derek Yee’s SWORD MASTER (2016) Revisits A Classic With An Open Door Forward

So, not sure about the rest of the crew here at Film Combat Syndicate, but I am a big fan of weapon work in fight scenes so I was excited to review Derek Yee’s latest, Sword Master, as it’s marketed to be an epic sword fantasy revisiting the Shaw Bros classic, Death Duel…and I got more than I bargained for. Right from the very start we are treated with a very pretty fight scene full of CGI, which we should expect for the rest of the action pieces. When I saw the first scene, it made sense. This is a modern day way of showing wuxia films of old. Mostly everything is done in a green screen studio to give obviously unrealistic but gorgeous backdrops that give the lore and land a mythical vibe that feels real and familiar. We see this as Swordsman Yen, played by Peter Ho, travels […]

DVD Review: THE LOST BLADESMAN Wields A Dull Cinematic Gamble

The Lost Bladesman. You know, I really wanted to like this movie. I’m a secret Three Kingdoms fanatic and we’re talking about Guan Yu here; the all-revered, OG badass of the East. Not only that, Donnie Yen was to play this kung fu deity; it really seemed like this was a film to really look forward to. But just like the title, it felt a bit….well, lost. For those that might not be versed in the Three Kingdoms history, Guan Yu served under Liu Bei until he was captured by Wei General, Cao Cao. By using Guan Yu’s strict adherence to his own personal ideals of righteousness, Cao Cao was able to have him slay Yan Liang at the Battle of Boma. Despite knowing that Guan Yu plans to leave his service to return to Liu Bei, Cao Cao admires him because of his strong sense of honor. Though he […]

KILL ‘EM ALL Set Photos Show A Battle Of The ‘Bloodsport’ Stars

The last decade has not been kind to the action genre. Once the backbone of Hollywood, now it is struggling to stay relevant among the deluge of super hero movies while being strangled to death by excessive CGI. Promising stars like Scott Adkins, a man who should be standing at the top of the mountain, are forced to watch the ground crumble beneath them. The genre is barely represented theatrically and the DTV scene is being gutted by rampant piracy. Action stars new and old have had to join forces to keep fighting the good fight. In this desperation, we action fans have been treated to some truly great action star team-ups (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning), some not so great team-ups (Maximum Conviction), and some that are unexpected if not a little weird (One In The Chamber). Adding to the list of refreshingly unexpected is the battle of the Bloodsport […]

Blu-Ray Review: John Stockwell’s KICKBOXER: VENGEANCE Is A Snooze Without The Lose

The Business: The best thing about kick-ass fight scenes is they never get old—unless they do, of course. But hey, this is Kickboxer, the movie that defined the kick-ass, no holds barred ass-kicking. Lots of fight scenes. More than a lot. And then even more than that. By my estimate the film is 55% fight scene, 25% training montage, and (a meek) 20% story. I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Kickboxer: Vengeance is a reboot of the wildly successful 1989 Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick, Kickboxer. The L.A. Times called it “egregiously dull,” joining with every other major publication in vilifying the movie. Well, despite this, it went on to gross over $14.5 million on a $2.5 million budget. I do not believe Van Damme went on to say, “C’est la vie” – I imagine more of a string of French expletives followed by some equally French laughter. Point being, in […]

DVD Review: REIGN OF ASSASSINS Romances With Timeless Wuxia Enrichment

Oh man, I really loved this movie when I first saw this and thanks to Anchor Bay Entertainment for this review copy of this awesome film! So let’s see what they have here in their promotional papers: “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” relocate to ancient China in the dazzling martial-arts epic, Reign of Assassins” – The Hollywood Reporter What the heck? That’s not really accurate. You don’t even know the guy can fight until…you know what, let’s just jump into the review, yeah? The story starts out as Drizzle, who is played by Kelly Lin in the beginning of the movie, is sent out by the Dark Stone gang to assassinate a prime minister and his son and retrieve the remains of a holy corpse that is said that possesses special powers. After she kills them, she meets a monk that asks her to change her ways. She wasn’t listening so […]

NERD DOWN PART I: The Dark Ages

The biggest divide among comic fans is the age old “DC Vs Marvel” debate. This feud – I never quite understood it. If you like comics, then why does the publisher matter? Sports fans and comic geeks aren’t so different as they fight over which “team” is better. I am going to break down this long lived feud from my perspective using something I know about, film! It’s impossible to avoid comic book movies these days with several coming out a year; that being said, I’m going to split this up into several posts. Let’s call this first one the BB Age or Before Blade. Yes, that’s right; I credit Blade as kicking it off, and not X-Men. Ignoring the serials and TV pilots, the first real comic book film was made by DC. Superman I, II, & III – 1978, 1980, and 1983 My Opinion – I: Good for […]

Cam’s Eye Review: PHANTOM OF THE THEATRE (2016)

“Making a film is like being in a dream. I never want to stop dreaming,” says director Gu WeiBang (Tony Yang), a young man fresh from being in Paris studying filmmaking, coming back to Shanghai in the 1930s to work on his new script, a ghost/love story. He tries to enlist a newly crowned Queen of the Cinema to star in his film and she refuses but then comes across the co-winner of the award, the mysterious Meng SiFan (Ruby Lin) and she is cast in the role. The young man also decides to film in an allegedly haunted old theatre where 13 people from a performance troupe were brutally murdered in a fire and supposedly haunts the building. When a thief accidentally runs inside to escape police, the police balk at going in to pursue. But when he winds up dead, burned from the inside out, that puzzle falls […]

WELCOME TO THE CLUB: An Interview With KICKBOXER: VENGEANCE Star Alain Moussi

Imagine that you were called upon to remake one of the most formative works of your youth. Something that ultimately changed the trajectory of your entire life. Now imagine you were tasked with fighting the good fight to rejuvenate the dormant genre that gave birth to it. That was the position that actor/stunt performer Alain Moussi found himself in when he was cast in John Stockwell’s reboot of the Mark DiSalle/David Worth-directed action classic, Kickboxer. Moussi speaks of the experience with boundless energy and enthusiasm. From making the transition into leading man status to going toe-to-toe on screen with the man who inspired him to take up martial arts, Moussi is living some kind of dream… And loving every minute of it. James Couche: Could you talk about making the transition from stunt performer to leading actor? Alain Moussi: It’s definitely a challenge. I’ve doubled multiple leads. I’ve doubled Henry […]

REVIEW: ‘Kickboxer’ Returns With A ‘VENGEANCE’

Remakes are a dime a dozen in 2016. Oftentimes, a studio will grave-rob a long dorment franchise and forcibly modernize it so that they can sell the name recognition while also trying to appeal to modern audiences. Oftentimes, this means reducing the goofy/dated charm of the original and injecting an unhealthy dose of gritty realism to make it feel more “modern”; results may vary. Somehow, John Stockwell’s Kickboxer: Vengeance dodges this pitfall and spin kicks it in its cynical face. It somehow manages to be the 2016 equivalent of the 1991 original. Its level of grittiness is comparable to Kickboxer’s early-90s “grittiness” while maintaining the lighter tone that helped make the original so entertaining. The film opens in unfamiliar territory, with Kurt Sloan (Alain Moussi) seeking to learn Muay Thai from the dangerously stoic Tong Po (Dave Bautista). It hits the ground running when Sloan is forced to fight for his […]

Reflections on STAR TREK

It was 50 years ago around this time in 1966 that Star Trek appeared on our television screens for the very first time. That’s amazing to think about, isn’t it? Especially if you’ve been there since the beginning. We can still get some of our best tastes of what the early years were like in books like A Star Trek Catalog by Gerry Turnbull, or The Star Trek Compendium by Allan Asherman, or Inside Star Trek: The Real Story by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman. What’s even more amazing than that is that the Star Trek franchise is still around, even though many of today’s fans had not yet been born when The Original Series (TOS) was first on the air. I’ve only been a Trekkie for 31 out of those 50 years myself, and if you’re like me, you grew up completely with reruns—until the arrivals of […]

Review: THE MARTIAL ARTS KID (2016) Brings Its Message To The Forefront Of Style

In the last eight years, we’ve been treated to not one but THREE different reimaginings of The Karate Kid: the official one (Karate Kid), the gritty one (Never Back Down), and now we have the family film. Who’d have ever guessed that The Karate Kid would become such a cultural staple? The Martial Arts Kid follows the story of Robbie Oakes (Jansen Panetierre), a juvenile delinquent who is forced to move in with his aunt and uncle in Florida after a run in with the cops. Fortunately for him, his aunt and uncle are portrayed by total badasses in the form of Cynthia Rothrock and Don “The Dragon” Wilson. At first, Robbie couldn’t be any less engaged with his new family situation and has almost no luck fitting in at school. What’s worse, within the first 24 hours he meets the girl of his dreams (Kathryn Newtown) and promptly gets […]

Review: Sammo Hung’s THE BODYGUARD (2016) Hits Hard And Fast, But Not Often

Ah geez… I really, really wanted to like this movie. Sammo Hung has been one of my greatest inspiration to pursue a career into action filmmaking. Prodigal Son, Shanghai Express, even his Martial Law series are some of the staple action movies and shows of my childhood; but sadly, The Bodyguard (a.k.a. My Beloved Bodyguard) falls in between a love and hate relationship for me. As I’ve said before, I wanted to like this movie. Right from the start, I was ready to have my heartstrings plucked with the idea of Ding (Sammo Hung) being an old soldier that lost his granddaughter, but it just sets up these forced, cutesy scenes with Cherry (Jacquelin Chan), the young daughter of his neighbor, Li (Andy Lau). When Li tries to erase the debt he has with the local gang, Ding has to protect Cherry, who becomes his atonement for not saving his own granddaughter, […]

Screener Review: TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016)

Director: Yeon Sang Ho Lead cast: Gong Yoo, Ma Dong Seok, Jung Yu Mi, Kim Soo An Seok Woo and his daughter take a high speed train to Busan. Just as the doors are about to close, a passenger infected with a mysterious virus dashes aboard and soon feeds on one of the attendants, causing a chain reaction, and quickly transforming the potential father-daughter journey time into a zombie fest on wheels. You can run to the nearby car, but how far can you really run on a moving bullet train? When assessing Train To Busan, it’s important to keep in mind that this is a zombie movie; it’s meant to deliver entertainment value, not intellectual or emotional enlightenment. Once I came to that agreement with myself, I found that I actually enjoyed it a lot. Though I must admit there were a couple scenes that tugged at my feelings, […]