‘Mayhem! Review: ‘The Raid Meets ‘Taken In Xavier Gens Modestly Enjoyable Kick To The Head
For the action film "Pogrom!" Cold Skin director Xavier Gens' latest genre project, produced by French production company WTfilms, starts out as a very modest work that doesn't quite live up to its title. A heartwarming and funny story about an ex-convict who gets stabbed for the first time as a second chance. Thailand's foray into Gareth Evans territory lasts more than 40 minutes before anything worthy of an exclamation point appears, and then it's all over: that slow, terrifying roar in The Raid, building until the final screams. Despite the prospect of total pandemonium.
Not necessarily a fatal blow. Inspired by his collaboration with Evans on Gangs of London, but realizing that his co-star lacks his violent side, People goes to great lengths to make simple revenge porn more than just a push towards ultra-violence. Who will you invite? That means we'll get to spend a lot of time with our silent hero, played by French-Algerian actor and kickboxer Nasim Laiz, and we'd love to see Sam abandon a life of crime and lead people to their deaths.
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Plus, the first act feels like a Prophet prison drama with a similar pacing to Twilight (with a mature prisoner who knows Sam's soul). Stimulates sensitivity and purifies the nose). Namely, Sam's apology for ending an old relationship in disgusting and completely unfashionable anger. An attack that naturally ends with our man hiding the attacker in self-defense and fleeing his native France.
This means that one of the world's greatest actors, Darden Brothers veteran Olivier Gourmet, will be cast as Narong, the man who lures Sam to the dark side and gets a good job opportunity when the two characters end up in Eastern Thailand. In about five years.
Since Sam proves particularly resistant to such villains, he tries to build a new life with his pregnant girlfriend Mia (Lauren Noone) and her seven-year-old stepdaughter, if only he could. But the escaped ex-con finds it difficult to keep his hands clean on Ban Chang - or his feet, for that matter - as Sam begins organizing clandestine kickboxing fights to help fund Mia's dream of building a new beach bar. . For Sam, this may be easier said than done, as Gens refuses to step into the ring like a hero in short and furious kickboxing matches like "Mayhem!" He does his best to avoid violence, which is intended to attract the public.
Don't worry: this will change.
As usual in these films, our excitement begins when the hero ends. In this case, Narong's work is ruined and the henchmen decide to remedy the situation by killing Mia and kidnapping Sam's stepson. Just because people genuinely care about the film's characters — and Sam's hope for a new beginning — slitting a pregnant woman's throat doesn't seem like such a terrible choice in a bad movie with more stakes than payoffs. debate and reduces all Thais to Western stereotypes of anarchic insults.
Although the bloodshed is rarely described as a full-scale riot, the result is a classic riot. Sam kills people with the point of a giant knife, which cuts off their legs (Liz is one of the few action stars convincing enough to do this). An accomplice shot him in the face with a rifle at close range. A handheld camera attached to the actors' hands follows each gruesome act of mutilation. Jaynes borrows both from Evans's resident martial arts choreographer, Judd Poyer, and his penchant for isolating each act of physical destruction as an act. Destructive disability. A small point in the overall mosaic.
Fans of the Raid series, despite Mayhem! It never approaches the operatic scale that makes the fight scenes in these films seem larger than life. The closest thing to humans is a fight in a Bangkok corridor, where Sam at one point sends an entire stunt team across town to find his sister-in-law, but the brutality of the violence makes sense in the film. A director more interested in flirting with a foreign genre than taking it to new heights.
Like the hero, Gens, who has more terrible tendencies, is looking for a new beginning, and like the hero, Gens cannot let go of his past. But at least he has the vision to pull it off, and until the end, his killer movie final moments retain the essence of the horror dramas that captured his attention. Then, “Madness!” It may seem like a small bite compared to Evans' bloody 10-course feasts, but it's entertaining enough to hold people over until Evans Havoc releases later this year, and gives a taste of its purity. street.
IFC Films free from terror! In theaters and on VOD Friday January 5th.
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