Fantasia 2025: 'Blazing Fists' Movie Review

Blazing Fists is a much more manageable title for prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike’s new film, which is also known as Blue Fight: The Breaking Down of Young Blue Warriors. That’s a mouthful. Whatever you call it, this is a fairly straightforward action drama about young men using sports, mixed martial arts in this case, to rise above meager circumstances. But don’t worry, this is still Miike, so it also has biker gangs, violence, oddball flourishes, and a sardonic crime boss bored with the world in a casual, terrifying way.

'Diablo' (2025) Movie Review

A team up between star Marko Zaror and director Ernesto Diaz Espinoza already has my attention. The duo is responsible for Redeemer, Fist of the Condor, Mandrill, and more face-kicking excellence, and Zaror is, for my money, the most unsung martial arts movie badass working today. One way to up the ante is to add Scott Adkins into the mix, like they do in their latest, Diablo, and hot damn. This was on my most-anticipated list for good reason, and it delivers the goods.

'Striking Rescue' (2024) Movie Review

Tony Jaa. Muay Thai. Revenge. Bone-breaking action. Any one of those terms is likely enough to entice most of us to watch a movie. If we’re being honest, we’ve all watched movies for less. Combine all those elements, however, and you’re onto something. Which is exactly what Striking Rescue does. The latest from director Cheng Si-Yu (the woefully underseen Tai Chi Master, which you should also seek out if you haven’t), is 100% the movie it looks like, and though you’ve seen this many times before and won’t find any surprises lurking around the corner, it’s 100% the movie it looks like in the best possible way. 

'100 Yards' (2024) Movie Review

When a martial arts master dies, his son and his top apprentice vie for control of his wushu school in 1920s Tianjin. On this simple foundation director Xu Haofeng (The Hidden Sword, screenwriter The Grandmaster), with his brother/co-director Xu Junfeng, builds 100 Yards into an intricate exploration of rivalry, social change, the weight of tradition and expectation, and much more, all wrapped in absolute top-tier martial arts choreography. 

'578 Magnum' (2023) Movie Review

There’s nothing quite like watching a movie missing much of the connective tissue between scenes to make you appreciate that facet that so often goes unnoticed and underappreciated. You may not always recognize the work it does, but holy hell, do you miss it when it’s gone. And that is a big, big problem with Vietnamese writer/director Luong Dinh Dung’s 578 Magnum. The film is, however, Vietnam’s official Oscar entry for 2023, and though there are definite highpoints, there are also gargantuan problems to skirt.

'Mayhem!' (2023) Movie Review

When you have a checkered past, a new, idyllic life complete with a pregnant wife and newly minted hopes and dreams, and are a badass fighter, you know you’re utterly, absolutely screwed. Cinematically speaking of course. Such is the case for Samir (Nassim Lyes), the protagonist of Mayhem!, the latest violent offering from director Xavier Gens (The Divide, Gangs of London). Vicious and all kinds of mean, this offers up a dark, brutal slice of fantastic action for those so inclined.

'Nightshooters' (2021) Movie Review

A group of guerilla filmmakers set out to shoot a low-budget zombie movie in a condemned building. Unfortunately for them, a gang of vicious criminals also want to use the soon-to-be-demolished structure for their own nefarious ends. When the crew witnesses a brutal execution, they have to figure out a way to survive. Which more or less means sending their stuntman and master martial artist, Donnie (Jean-Paul Ly), to fight the bad guys.

'New York Ninja' (2021) Movie Review

On its own, New York Ninja is plenty crazy. A bonkers-ass 1980s action movie that’s cheap and campy and utterly absurd at every turn, it’s the type of artifact many people stumbled across on late night cable as kids and were like, “Hell yeah, this freakin’ rules.” And it’s does rule, and we’ll get back to that. But the story behind how this movie actually came to be released is even more unbelievable than the plot of the film. Well, maybe, New York Ninja itself often defies belief.

'Raging Fire' (2021) Movie Review

A cop haunted by the past, trying to right previous wrongs. Who’s a bit of a hotshot and plays by his own rules, though still operates by a strict code. With a pregnant wife. Yeah, we’ve seen this set up before. But when that cop is Donnie Yen, and we’re talking about Raging Fire, the final film from the great Benny Chan, the result is a top-tier action banger of epic proportions. This sprawling, Heat-inspired cops-and-robbers opus delivers in all the right ways and rules every ounce as hard as one might hope.

'Hydra' (2021) Movie Review

Hydra begins with every man’s worst nightmare, being killed at a urinal. Okay, maybe not, but it’s a definite concern and something to think about in the bathroom. It’s a hell of a way to kick off a movie, even if most of what follows fails to live up to the opening. Until the very end.

'Silat Warriors: Deed Of Death' (2021) Movie Review

Popularly, Muay Thai tends to get more love than Silat, another martial art native to Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, and the surrounding region. (As an example, there are like a dozen schools in the Seattle area that teach Muay Thai, but almost none with a curriculum that includes any Silat. Though Iko Uwais definitely holds it down, movie wise.) But the fighting style gets its due in Silat Warriors: Deed of Death (Geran), a low-to-no-budget actioner from director Areel Abu Bakar.

'The Paper Tigers' (2020) Movie Review

I’ve been tracking the progress of writer/director Bao Tran’s The Paper Tigers for a while now. There weirdly aren’t many indie Kung Fu movies produced in Seattle, so when one does happen, you’re damn right it has my attention. After a long journey, the film finally premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival over the weekend, and doesn’t disappoint when it comes to delivering humor, heart, and face-kicking.

'Shang-Chi And The Legend Of Ten Rings' Trailer: Meet Marvel's Newest Badass

Marvel had big plans for 2020, as usual, but COVID-19 derailed most of those. While fans made due with their episodic Disney+ output, now that theaters are starting to open back up, prepare for the damn to burst. (The fourth quarter of 2021 is an insane glut of every big movie the pandemic delayed; it’s a bit overwhelming.) Though the release has been reshuffled a few times, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings arrives in September, and there’s this new trailer and poster to prove it. 

'The Paper Tigers' Trailer Delivers Humor, Heart, And Face Kicking

A Seattle-produced martial arts movie? You have my attention. A Seattle-produced martial arts movie about dudes who are old and out of shape and not very good at martial arts anymore? Yeah, that’s the sweet spot right there. Such is the case of Tran Quoc Bao’s The Paper Tigers. After a festival run last year, Well Go USA is set to give the film a proper release and they released this new trailer to pump up the excitement.

This 'Mortal Kombat' Red Band Trailer Has Bloody Ice Daggers And Tons Of Violence

Video game movies have a bad rap, which, let’s be honest, is largely earned. As much as I enjoy the Resident Evil movies and a handful of others, there are some absolute dogs. Yet every time a new adaptation comes out, we collectively ask, “Is this the one that breaks the curse?” Who knows if it will, but the latest attempt to translate Mortal Kombat to the big screen has a lot going for it and this first trailer looks pretty damn rad.

'Jiu Jitsu' (2020) Movie Review

A movie starring Nicolas Cage, Alain Moussi, Tony Jaa, Frank Grillo, JuJu Chan, Marie Avgeropoulos, and Rick Yune, about a group of elite fighters who must use martial arts to defeat an alien invader, directed by one of the masterminds behind the recent Kickboxer films. That’s probably enough information for viewers to decide whether or not to see Jiu Jitsu, a film that delivers precisely what one might expect, waffling between awful and awesome.

'Blood Hunters' (2019) Movie Review

A funny thing happens when you make a movie about fighting and actually cast people who know how to fight, the fighting looks good. Such is the case for writer/director/star Vincent Soberano’s Blood Hunters, AKA Blood Hunters: Rise of the Hybrids. That’s the good news. The less good news is that’s basically all the film has going for it.

'The Divine Fury' (2019) Movie Review

If you haven’t been waiting for a South Korean MMA exorcism movie, Kim Joo-hwan’s The Divine Fury is here to inform you that you need to get your priorities in order. It deftly blends horror and action and is sure to call to mind the likes of Blade at times, while grappling with weighty themes of loss, faith, loss of faith, and evil.

Fantasia 2019: 'No Mercy' Movie Review

A modern incarnation of a muscle car, a silver mustang in this case, rumbles across the screen. A woman in a red dress and high heels, her legs noticeably scuffed and scraped and bloodied, emerges. In casual but deliberate fashion, she walks across an auto shop. She asks a question of the mechanic working beneath a car. When he pokes his head out to answer, she smashes him with a sledgehammer. So begins South Korean director Lim Kyoung-tack’s revenge thriller No Mercy.

'Wu Assassins' Trailer: Iko Uwais Battles Ancient Supernatural Evil, And His Dad

Hey, remember like an hour ago when we were discussing that badass clip from Netflix’s upcoming action series Wu Assassins? Remember when I mentioned a full trailer was on the way today? Well, it’s here. Enjoy.