Welcome to Jungle Village – where the rules of cinematic convention don`t apply. The local blacksmith (hip-hop singer RZA) disapproves of violence but mints weapons in his forge so he can buy a life with his paramour Lady Silk (Jamie Chung) of the Pink Blossom brothel. He becomes unwittingly entangled in the tussle for power within the Lion Clan, spearheaded by the treacherous Silver Lion`s (Mann) cold-blooded murder of Zen-Yi`s (Yune) father. Amidst all the chaos of vengeance and violence, the callously brutal Jack Knife (Crowe) strides into town… just as everyone from Silver Lion to the brothel`s Madam Blossom (Liu) train their greedy sights on a shipment of royal gold as it passes through Jungle Village.
There is, clearly, a lot going on in this film – not all of it good. In fact, some of it is – objectively – pretty bad. The script is peppered with clunky dialogue, the plot makes little sense and secondary villain Poison Dagger (Wu) is so rarely on-screen that he doesn`t make much of an impact on the film until his blood-soaked final scene. Yune and Chung are the worst offenders where wooden acting is concerned, drifting through their scenes in a kind of earnest daze, apparently completely unaware of what kind of movie they`re in.
Here`s the thing though: The Man With The Iron Fists is a movie that takes enormous, cheerful delight in how cheesy and off-kilter it is. RZA knocks the audience off their feet the moment his character appears in the film – a blacksmith in every sense of the word – and keeps them guessing throughout, mixing and matching barmy ideas with gleeful abandon. The film at once pays homage to and sends up old-school kungfu films with so much love and crazy enthusiasm that it`s hard not to be won over by its boundless energy.
With expectations dialled down to zero, there really is a lot of fun to be had here. Almost everything about the film feels fresh and bonkers – in a good way – as the characters snipe, sneer and snarl their way through Jungle Village. The action scenes are wonderfully choreographed: zippy and balletic, with artful showers of blood and gore thrown in for good measure. The film rests on a trio of great performances: Mann is outrageously, fabulously over-the-top as main antagonist Silver Lion; Liu brings a kind of regal grace to Madam Blossom that takes nothing away from her character`s ability to kick major butt; and Crowe swaggers through the film, stealing every scene with a potent (and funny) combination of rage, lust and machismo.
The Man With The Iron Fists really isn`t a great movie. It might not even be a particularly good one. But it`s silly, ridiculous and doesn`t take itself too seriously – as a result, it`s incredibly fun to watch. Throw judgement to the wind, and this totally bonkers mash-up of kungfu and hip-hop just might hit the spot.
Summary: Not quite a knock-out but these iron fists pack a pretty fun punch.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Shawne Wang