The Quick and the Dead (1995) Movie Review

The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 action western movie directed by Sam Raimi and written by Simon Moore (with contributions by Joss Whedon). It stars Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Originally written by Moore in 1992 as a tribute to earlier spaghetti westerns but with a female protagonist, Sharon Stone decided Sam Raimi should be the director after watching his work on Army of Darkness (1992) and the film got a slightly more campy tone in a similar vein to Raimi's other films in the Evil Dead series. While production company Sony wanted a less serious tone and hired John Sayles to do rewrites, Moore came back and pretty much stuck closer to his original vision regardless. The film became a notable box-office bomb when it was released but it has since been reevaluated as a good post-modernist western and a homage to the films of Sergio Leone.

A mysterious female gunslinger named Ellen "The Lady" McKenzie arrives to an old west town named Redemption to seek revenge on John Herod, a dangerous and criminal leader who runs the place. She enters a fast-draw shooting tournament Herod has set in order to win the prize. Ellen meets an ex-gang member turned priest and a young gunslinger as she blasts her opponents in this ruthless town.

Turns out Raimi's eclectic and kinetic style of constant movement and weird angles perfectly fits the artificial and unique cinematic conception of the western by the likes of Sergio Leone and other spaghetti western directors. This film delivers awesome action by creating several highly fragmented segments of events, actions and reactions and joining them together through editing in order to achieve a certain effect or convey some meaning. The dutch angles and zooms are done in such a way that very few other westerns, especially American ones, can even come close to, it's totally unfamiliar in that aspect.

The story and characters are portrayed in a very two dimensional cartoonish manner, following tropes and archetypes but slowly charging them with some gravitas or charm due to the performances. Stone's character is a perfect example as she is, on paper, a very basic character: the mysterious, silent loner who arrives at a violent town and disturbs the social order (this element is more radical here because she is a woman) but by the end it is revealed that she is looking for revenge as the characters personal relationships are exposed and explored. However, Stone is such a good performer that her stoicism works and is believable, which gives her character more of a presence and layers.

A fancy split diopter shot.

It's not a well rounded film, it's sometimes too clunky in its storytelling and pacing, slowing down at points or focusing on the least interesting parts of its storyline, but it has some top notch production design and art direction as well as cinematography and camera work (something expected from Raimi), elements that certainly help at giving the film not only very distinctive look but also to become slightly lyrical and beautiful at moments, details like the way they shoot the rain falling down or the large skies decorated with clouds are always a joy to gaze at. 

Very recommended for western movie fans since it will not only give you some expected action but it gives the conventions an interesting twist, creating the needed element of variation and originality that good movies from a genre need.

Lady Dragon (1992) Movie Review

Let's continue our Cynthia Rothrock series with Lady Dragon, an action martial arts film from 1992 starring Rothrock, Richard Norton, Robert Ginty and Bella Esperance. Directed by David Worth and produced by Imperial Entertainment, the film was so successful that a sequel titled Lady Dragon 2 (1993) was released the following year.

Kathy (Cynthia Rothrock) is a tough martial artist who frequents an underground fight ring as she gets close to the mob boss (Richard Norton) that murdered her husband the day of their wedding for revenge. After a close encounter with death, she is found by a martial artist who teaches her new techniques so she can defeat the criminal boss.

Lady Dragon starts things up with a bang, with intense action right from the beginning. It's a very good idea to set everything up (setting, characterization, tone and style of action) in the first scene of the film, not only do you get a taste of our heroine's skill level and strength but you also get to see the way the underworld works and its rigid but savage way of functioning, which becomes integral by the end.

Rothrock's usual decent acting skills flourish here to good effect and her martial arts prowess is still notable (even if the film never takes full advantage of them). Her character is handled in a more intimate way than in the typical vehicle of hers, which gives a bit more of an emotional resonance to the storyline. I also like the side-characters and villains, the script delves more deeper into their personalities and motivations than in the average flick of its kind which makes it more effective overall. Norton and Ginty are also good in it but perhaps a bit wooden at point.

The cinematography is quite polished and the direction is also solid enough, with a great grasp of cinematic compositions while also making everything dynamic with its moderately rapid editing. The choreographies also shine because of it.

A real blast from the early nineties, Lady Dragon is definitely the B movie classic that will satisfy fans of the martial arts genre and casual moviegoers as well.

The Brave One (2007) Movie Review

The Brave One is a 2007 crime-thriller-action film directed by Neil Jordan and starring Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, Zoë Kravitz and Nicky Katt. It was written by Roderick Taylor, Bruce A. Taylor and Cynthia Mort. The film was a box office bomb (keep in mind, Foster got paid $15 million for this film) and reviews were mixed at the time. After all, it's an interesting depiction of post-traumatic stress disorder and of women who don't want to be victims and take action.

Erica Bain (Forster) is a New York radio host who lives an average life. One day, Erica and her husband are attacked by a group of muggers. She is badly wounded and her man is murdered in cold blood by the criminals. After her recovery, she spends most of her time as a vigilante, killing robbers and low lifes with her handgun (one she got from the black market after failing to buy a weapon). Meanwhile, detective Sean Mercer (Terence Howard) is going after the recent acts of vigilantism Erica committed.

This plot right here is essentially a very modernized version of the notorious and controversial seventies film Death Wish, it has pretty much the same structure and themes as a whole, the message of the movie about "justice" is also just as questionable. However, the film wasn't as polemic during its release and was seen as a rather tame entry in the revenge sub genre but one that delivers what it promises when it comes to cheap thrills.

That's certainly a good assessment because The Brave One is sort of a more violent and slightly more socially conscious film than average that manages to create a more gripping experience than the original, making the story be a bit more interiorized and ending up being more emotionally effective and captivating than the other film.

Jodie Foster is great as the vigilante lady, she manages to make you care about such a normal trope of a character with her conviction and acting skills. The supporting actors do their job competently but most of them never actually stick into your mind and some of them are annoying, like the officer who is onto the protagonist's antics. The direction and technical aspects are honestly pretty impressive and well done, always stimulating and dynamic with its editing and camera work.

I could recommend The Brave One if you are up for a decently done action crime film from its era, it doesn't overstay its welcome and has some nice acting moments from Foster but it's nothing particularly special and has several flaws in its logic and its derivative nature is surely tiresome.

24 Hours to Midnight (1985) The worst Cynthia Rothrock film? - Review

 

We are dealing with an early Cynthia Rothrock vehicle that really kind of isn't. You see, Rothrock shot the film as her American film debut in 1985 but due to a heated discussion she and her boyfriend had with the producer of the picture the female action star decided to bail out of the project, leaving director Leo Fong (Fight to Win, Showdown) with an unfinished movie. The veteran martial artist and actor then finished the film without Rothrock, her role was filled in by actress De'Ann Power in a ninja costume. 

According to an IMDB review, the work-print for the movie was resurrected in 1991, so most of the footage was shot 7 years after Cynthia Rothrock left the project. Because of this, the movie feels like three different films stitched together, not to the level of a Joseph Lai production, but it's a notable discordance.  

Since action movies with female leads were taking off in the American market at this point in time there needed to be a proper implementation of the heroines into the typical models for such films. The best answer was to simply swap roles and maintain the overall structure. A very natural solution. In this case we see a revenge plot that instead of featuring a murdered wife features a murdered husband and the wife´s path to avenge her dead spouse. The premise is as old as the western movie days but it's all very modernized and brought to a grounded setting. 

Harry Grady (Juan Chapa) is a witness that could take down a big crime organization led by White Powder Chan (Stack Pierce) but before he can talk he is shot down by Chan´s goons. Harry´s wife, Devon Grady (Cynthia Rothrock), was trained in martial arts by her husband and after fighting her attackers she flees, get´s into her black ninja suit and plans her revenge, embarking on a quest to murder all of the men involved in Harry´s killing. 

This is one hell of a trashy joint, it's right out of the gate excessively melodramatic and one note. The first minutes present a weak introduction to our heroine, no real attempt at trying to properly introduce her personality or normal life before the inciting incident actually happens, the husband takes up a few of the opening minutes. There's also a lot of blunt exposition that's too direct and makes you realize this is gonna be one of those talky films that fill narrative gaps with lines of dialogue. Also, you can see boom mics and the shadow of the camera every now and then, adding to the ultra cheap trash aesthetic.

There´s no real narrative flow or cohesion and it's structured very haphazardly, it feels like scenes were thrown in at random places within the narrative. This is understandable due to the backstory behind the messy production, but even aside from the Rothrock sequences the film has a very disjointed feeling to it as it constantly changes location, characters and subplots rather abruptly and for no real reason other than you need the info the characters talk about to get what's going on. There are also some very reiterative flashbacks to things we saw less than 10 minutes ago just to hammer in the protagonist's motivation but it's quite unnecessary. Harry´s murder is also shown several times but each time with a new close up of the criminal Devon is going after next. 

Having said that, the protagonist's quest to avenge her dead man is amusing at the very least. I love certain sequences like when she strangles a man with a cable, when she drops from the sky to stab a man with a sword, or when she forces a helicopter pilot at gunpoint to fly over a boat and proceeds to drop dynamite on it to blow it up. That's the kind of insanity we are dealing with.  

Once the main character puts on the black ninja outfit then that's how you know the second actress came in, but luckily for us her scenes are not boring, the murders she commits add to the sleazy nature of the movie and, while out of place, they feel rather necessary for this type of movie. Some of these scenes don't even show the character herself! The heroine is sometimes off-screen while the victims of her wrath are shown getting shot at. 

The fact that the movie constantly reuses the old Cynthia Rothrock scenes not only makes you think that they are there for padding but also to give the impression that Cynthia is in this movie far more than she actually is, considering that you can only see the character´s face at the beginning and at the very end. Cynthia only has two fights at the beginning and then she bails. There's also filler of all kinds, not only dull dialogue but also with singing. 

We also have two cops who simply spout nonsensical dialogue, their scenes are considerably worse acted than the rest of the picture, they are not the weaker part of the film, that credit goes to a gang of youngsters wasting time in the streets. The performances, particularly Rothrock´s, are also hurt because of the distractingly obvious ADR. 

The storyline is confusing and convoluted but without any impact, there´s zero emotional connection and the actual direction is bland and strictly functional, not visually arresting or interesting at any level. Even the fight scenes are kind of dry, you see very direct and monotone shootouts and static and tired fight sequences.  

One can enjoy this one simply for its exploitation content, I can't say that the scenes involving Rothrock/Power aren't entertaining but you are gonna have to put up with some boring stretches to get there. Only for Rothrock hardcore fans and for those who want a really strange action flick. Because of all of this, 24 Hours to Midnight is the lowest rated and most disliked film Cynthia Rothrock starred in, not counting her non-action movies and her supporting roles. 

Is it really the worst one? I can't say for sure, there's some I haven't seen yet but it is definitely the worst one in terms of pure quality that I have seen up to this point. A lot of its nonsensical attributes are accidental and you kind of have to give them credit for trying to come up with an interesting picture despite their production issues.  

The film had no sequels and is not considered to be a mandatory Rothrock outing but it lived a healthy life in DVD and VHS. It's also somewhat infamous because it's one of Leo Fong's directorial credits, who also gained a certain cult following among trash action movie fans.