Mike Garcia

About Mike Garcia

Born in Spain and raised on countless meters of celluloid dreams, I have lived through cinematic memories while surviving the most putrid film swamps. Now, I’ve been granted the chance to write about my dream and nightmare ventures in front of movie screens, right here at Film Combat Syndicate."

Posts by Mike Garcia:

JAPAN CUTS Review: TORA SAN, OUR LOVABLE TRAMP – The beginning of the journey for the greatest hero of unrequited love

Mike Garcia

The character of Tora-san has surpased all the boundaries of cinema and has become an icon in Japanese popular culture, being one of their most beloved characters, starring a long series of 48 films between 1969 until 1995, in which is probably the longest movie series starred by a same actor in movie history. From 1969 to 1989, two films were released each year, one in summer and one for New Year Release. From 1990 to 1995, only one film was released by year, and the series came to an end with the death of its star, Kiyoshi Atsumi from lung cancer at the age of 68. Atsumi was so identified with the character, that fans moaned his death as the death of the beloved tramp, and although that there were plans to follow the series, the passing of Tora san himself, made that the idea lost all sense. For […]

BAAGHI Review: Tiger Shroff is here to stay!!

Mike Garcia

Martial arts, insane stunts, comedy, romance, music… All this put together is Baaghi. The mix of genres that distinguish Indian movies makes this production madly enjoyable. The movie is a continue homage to different martial arts vintage classics, that comes from “36th shaolin chamber”, “snake on the eagle shadow” to modern classics as “ong bak” or even “The Raid“. They even added final credits outtakes as Jackie Chan films used to do. Maybe that lack of originality will never allow this flick to become a classic of the genre but that doesn´t mean that this movie is not crazily badass. Tiger Shroff establishes himself as an ultimate action hero, displaying fantastic martial arts skills and doing many crazy stunts. Fortunately for people who loves good martial arts scenes, here they are shot perfectly, with good camera angles in which you can appreciate the action and without stupid camera shaking movements […]

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TERMINATOR ZEN KILLER Review: Ninjas from the past fighting Terminators from the future, in the most bizarre and erotic adventure you could ever imagine

Mike Garcia

A rip off of Terminator in which some evil villain from the future sends a killer cyborg to the year 2009 to kill a nerd who is supposed to be makind´s only hope, but some lady from an ancient past who can see the future, decides to send a ninja to the year 2009, to protect the nerd and save the world… And that ninja was no other than the gorgeous Asami, whom 11 years ago was at the top of her reign as queen of V-cinema, kicking butts and saving the day from evil Cyborgs and boredom. Directed by Jiro Ishikawa, The film is a really low budget product with cheap special effects and low production values, in which they managed to make a very good looking product (if you are not very demanding, of course). However, the action scenes are very well made, being one of the strongest […]

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COMMANDO NINJA Review: Bringing back all the joys that made us love cinema

Mike Garcia

This crazy movie is an audiovisual love letter to 80’s cinema and all its mythology. An insane homage to Cannon films, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Van Damme, Mad Max and much more with Deloreans included, and references to the infamous IFD and their colorful ninja productions, containing a Richard Harrison’s clone, and his unforgettable Garfield´s phone, with he could communicate with Thailand mobsters from the past. Commando Ninja revolves around John Hunter, a Vietnam Green Beret Veteran, Half Commando, Half Ninja, whose daugher has been kidnapped by a secret Ninja organization leaded by a ruthless Central-America dictator, who wishes to rule the world, and will attempt doing it, traveling through time!! Pure madness wrapped in a parodic and comic tone, accompanied by a fantastic musical score that brings back the joys of the unforgettable soundtracks of all those films that marked an era and is paying tribute, that even today many […]

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Wolf Warrior I & II REVIEW: Wu Jing fights for the motherland for the sake of entertainment

Mike Garcia

Back in the 80’s, this type of movies were made by Americans with Chuck Norris or Sylvester Stallone as action heroes, but now the world has changed and that kind of badass war action films, loaded with cheap cinematic patriotism to highlight all the virtues of the action hero are made in China. Some of them are even produced by the goverment with propaganda purposes. Some are big blockbusters as Wolf Warriors, but others are just low budget productios with zero interest that surfaces in the VOD niche. Wolf Warriors is a military action thriller directed by Wu Jing himself, in which he played a Chinese special force soldier that is confronted by a group of dangerous foreign mercenaries who are hired to assassinate him by a vicious drug lord. 90 fast paced minutes of action fest with Wu Jing as action hero, supported by Nan Yu (The Expendables 2) […]

CHEN ZHEN, THE TOKYO FIGHT Review: An action fest with a desperate romance defying two rival nations.

Mike Garcia

In the chinese movie universe, their most important martial arts historical figures have become in part of their cultural folklore, reimagining their stories countless of times, turning them into superheroes and fictional characters that trascends the passage of time and have overshadowed the real men behind their legend. Is difficult to summarize how many times the story of Chen Zhen (which his real name was Liu Zhensheng) has been adpated into the screen, however, is undeniable that his more iconic incarnations has been the ones performed by Bruce Lee in “Fist of Fury” (1972) and Jet Li in “Fist of Legend” (1994) This new adventure of the character, could perfectly work as prequel of “Fist of Legend”, telling the story of Chen Zhen, when his Master Huo Yuanjia, (another icon in martial arts cinema) sent him to Japan to study engineering in Tokyo´s university, to bring back tho his motherland […]

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SURVIVE THE NIGHT Review: Survive the film, that’s the biggest challenge.

Mike Garcia

We al know who Bruce Willis is, and we all love what he has done in the past, but nowadays is hard to recognize him and is sad to witness his decadence, accepting to participate in any kind of cinematic niches only to cash the check showing his face to rely on the legacy, not caring over the quality and putting the minimal effort on his performances. Is sad but is life, nothing last forever and everyone´s prime fades away with age. Is like when you love a band that is been around for over 30 or 40 years and when you get the tickets to finally see them live, none of those old grandpas in the stage are the kids you worshiped. Same happens with movie stars and Willis is not that young man anymore who saved the Nakatomi plaza 30 years ago. Survive the Night is an action […]

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JIAN BING MAN Review: A superhero meta-comedy with a pancake superhero, a full star cast and Jean Claude Van Damme as final enemy.

Mike Garcia

Da Peng is a popular Chinese comedian, who had a successful web series on the Chinese internet called “Diors Man”, who had his moment of glory when Conan O’Brien accused him of plagiarism on his show, and for a few months, the two were throwing fun gibes to each other from their respective shows. For this crazy meta-comedy, he became an orchestra man, being the screenwriter, the main actor, and debuted as a director in a major film, surrounding himself of the best of the chinese entertainment industry. The plot of the film revolves around his own persona, basically playing himself, a popular internet comedian, who in order to buy a ten million engagement ring of ten million for his fiancée, accepts the offer of a triad´s leader to shoot a movie, unfortunately, Da Peng gets involved in a scandal where in addition to losing his shame, he loses the […]

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DECO TRUCK GAL NAMI SAGA Review: Carrying The Legacy Of Trucker Yaro, In A Thrilling Journey With Redemption As Final Destination

Mike Garcia

Deco Truck gal Nami (Hideo Jojo), is a 4 movies series from 2008 to 2012, strongly influenced by Trucker Yaro (Noribumi Suzuki) a 10 film series that were produced by Toei from 1975 to 1979, and starred by the legendary Bunta Sugawara, in the role of Momojiro, a truck driver who in each movie falls in love with a different woman, while lives crazy adventures in the road and always ends with a broken heart. Trucker Yaro original poster (1975) Deco Truck Gal Nami carries the legacy of Noribumi Suzuki´s creation in essence and style, following a same patterns of truck chases, action and adventures on the road, including numerous homages and even fanservice for fans of the original movies, having in every installment a cameo of an actor that resembles to Bunta Sugawara playing Momojiro. However, the storylines between both sagas are completely different, introducing a female version […]

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RED SWORD (2012) Review: The Red Hood Tale That They’ve Never Told You

Mike Garcia

A long time ago, there was a tribe of werewolves that had no women. Throughout history, these desperate werewolves have attacked and raped human females as a way to continue their species, but werewolves have a terrible legend that every hundred years, on a night of the red moon, a girl will be born, destined to destroy the werewolf tribe. The red hood tale that you would never tell to your children, passed through the filter of the political incorrectness of Japanese V-cinema, in a twisted tale directed by Naoyuki Tomomatsu, that turns the lovely and innocent Red Hood into an avenger, slasher of rapist werewolves, that carries a katana instead of a basket. An explosive bizarre twisted cocktail of action, horror and erotism, in which Asami portrays the character as an angel of death and justice, that fights her way through, under the excellent action direction of Shigeki Hayase […]

FIST OF LEGEND (2019) Review: The Making Of A Hero

Mike Garcia

Prequel to the Chen Zhen played by Jet Li, in the essential 1994 classic that shares the same title in English with this production, that tells the story about the early adventures of Chen Zhen in Japan, during his days as student in the university of Tokyo, giving us an insight look of the beginning of his love relationship with the Japanese girl who gave him so many headaches in Jet Li’s “Fist of Legend” and making him, once again, the banner of the rights of the Chinese people against the evil Japanese empire, whom are again the villains in a plot loaded with that stale nationalism that looks so good in this type of movies and that positions the audience next to the hero. The little expressive, but brilliant martial artist, Tiger Xu, is in charge on this occasion of embodying the character, relying his performance on his terrific […]

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NEZHA CONQUERS THE DRAGON KING Review: Changing Destiny Fantasy Fable

Mike Garcia

Nezha kills a dragon to save a young lady, provoking the rage of the snake spirit, who vows to kill Nezha and avenge the dragon, setting the world on fire, forcing Nezha to make a big sacrifice in order to save the innocent ones, letting in the hands of the girl he saved from the dragon, the key to save the world, for which she would have to pay an ultimate price. A different and more mature approach of the story, that shows Nezha as a teenager instead of a child, like in previous versions. A fantasy martial arts tale, full of action and romance, in which our hero must deal with the responsibility of having been choosen to learn the path of immortality in a world of mortals. A story that explores the limits of love, and how far, people who has fall into that treacherous trap, are willing […]

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SAMURAI MARATHON Review: A Marathon To Defend A Nation, Turns Into A Race Of Survival Towards A New Era

Mike Garcia

With the threat of American ships off the coast of Japan, the leader of the Samurai clan Annaka, concerned about the invasion of the foreigners, decides to organize a marathon to prepare his men, who after many years of peace are out of shape. However, and due to lack of communication with one of his spies, the shogun believes that the race is about a coup d’état, and sends a group of assassins to finish off the runners. What was originally a race to defend the nation ends up turning into a bloody battle to survive. Based on a novel of the same name written by Akihiro Dobashi, that was inspired by a marathon held annually in Japan, the film explores a time of change in the history of Japan, through characters that hide different motivations to participate in the marathon, without even being aware that this race will be […]

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TO BE THE KILLER Review: Vengeance And Redemption Under A Bloody Rain Of Bullets

Mike Garcia

Good dose of ballistic action with some martial arts, to tell a story of revenge and bloody betrayals, that follows the story of a hitman who is hired by a gangster (played by an old TVB glory like Kent Tong ) who orders him to eliminate a female journalist who is about to expose to the public all his drty deeds. but things get complicated when the girl’s husband, a former bodyguard, who shares a tragic past linked to the hitman, appears to protect her. The conflict reopens wounds from the past that lead to a bloody and tragic outcome, which is resolved under a bloody rain of bullets. Very well shot, with good action sequences, that seek to emulate the epic of the masters of bloodshed, and a very well-constructed story that adds emotion to the most exciting moments in the plot, making the audience get involved in the […]

KNOCKOUT (1989) Review: Junji Sakamoto’s Directorial Debut That Became an Osaka’s Symbol

Mike Garcia

A boxing champion is forced to retire after suffering a brain injury in his last fight. After that, he tries to run a gym and become a coach, but he soon realizes that all he knows to do is box, and with that idea, he begins to prepare his return to the ring, against the opposition of everyone around him. Pugilistic drama starred by the boxer now turned into actor, Hidekazu Akai, a great puncher, who in the eighties began a brilliant career on the ring that was frustrated when he got a brain injury from which he managed to recover but forced him to retire. It was then when he debuted as an actor in this semi autobiographical film, and since then he has had a long career in both film and television. The truth is that his performance in this film was very convincing and perhaps, the fact […]

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WE DIE YOUNG Review: Van Damme… The Old Wasted, Hero Looking For Redemption

Mike Garcia

Following the same path that our beloved Jean Claude Van Damme, has taken in some of his most recent works, he returns to one of those roles of old tired wasted hero, that is caught in the middle of a crossfire, having no other choice than save the day one last time, achieving in the proccess, a personal redemption. A path that most action heroes need to follow when their glory days are long gone. “We Die Young“, tells the story of Lucas, a 14 year old boy involved in a gang, who tries to keep his little brother away from the gang world. When a mysterious Afghanistan war veteran, arrives to the neighborhood, Lucas finds an opportunity to leave the gang world behind, but it won´t be so easy and he will have to face the consequences of his treason. This is not a typical Van Damme movie, but […]

THE BOXING KING (混混拳王) Review: Kickboxing Subgenre Resurfaces In Chinese VOD

Mike Garcia

Kickboxing cinema, is a subgenre, that in the west, beyond Scott Adkins, or the horrendous remakes of Jean Claude Van damme´s Kickboxing, seems already dead and buried, but the vast and wide chinese VOD market, seems to have become a paradise for this type of productions. There are hundreds of them every month, and in most of them, local popular fighters have their appearance, getting their ass kicked but whoever the star of the flick is. In this film from 2017, we have a dimwit, Daniel Larusso style, who finds to his particular sensei Miyagi with tragic past, who finds in the kid an opportunity, to achieve his dreams of youth that never came true. Although this I am telling you, is more an assumption of mine because the development of characters is quite null. The truth is that, this is basically a story of honorable martial artists, who are […]

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NE ZHA: BIRTH OF THE DEMON CHILD Review: Get A Grip Of Destiny And Make It Yours!

Mike Garcia

This past year, this Chinese animated film became in one of the most successful animated films ever made, grossing worldwide more than $725 million. A total success for Chinese cinema and Chinese animation. But letting money aside, the film is a reimagined version of Nezha, a character from Chinese mythology that has appeared in countless different films, videogames and even novels, such as ‘Journey to the west’ where he is the villain of a really funny chapter. The story of this film was loosely based in the novel “Investiture of the Gods” by Xu Zhonglin . The plot revolves around the birth of a kid, Nezha. who has been cursed to born as a demon and die at the age of 3, however, his parents refuse to kill him, and tricked the evil kid making him believe that he is destined to use his powers to be a great demon […]

CLASH Review: Ngo and Nguyen, A ‘Clash’ Of Charismatic Badassery

Mike Garcia

Vietnamese action film from 2009 with all the flavour of the best Hong Kong action cinema, starred by Veronica Ngo and Johnny Nguyen, who also collaborated on the script. This film is an exciting ride, filled with heroic bloodshed and well filmed martial arts sequences, that follows the lead in style that Donnie Yen paved with “Flash Point” (2007) mixing traditional martial arts with grappling in the fight sequences, which makes the fights very original and creative. Years before that she fought all her way through to rescue her kidnapped daughter in 2009 film “Fury“, Veronica Ngo here played another desperate mother who is forced to fight in order to save her kidnapped daughter. Veronica plays a mob enforcer who must complete a series of organized crime jobs for her boss in order to win the release of her kidnapped daughter. She hires a bunch of mercenaries to help her, […]

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BLOODBATH AT PINKY HIGH Review: One Last Ride For The Sukebans

Mike Garcia

Film that recaptures the glory of Japanese film subgenre known as “Pinku violence” or “Pinku eiga“, that lived its heyday in the 70´s. “Bloodbath a Pinku High” is a story full of violence, erotism and evil Sukebans that fights against the corruption of a high school, where an evil director abuses of his authority taking advantage of the students. The talented and beautiful AV star Rika Hoshimi leads the cast, playing Midori, a Sukeban leader who is forced to sacrifice everything to save her friends, having as antagonist to Ranko, an evil and ruthless Sukeban who will stand in her way to embitter her existence, portrayed by an excellent Asami, who steals every scene and every shot with her unique charisma and infinite talent. With all the badassery that Pinku Violence used to offer, this small low-budget film works perfectly as a tribute to that unique and endearing cinema that […]