The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

If you are a fan of hip hop (and probably also if you haven’t) you must have heard of the Wu Tang Clan, who burst onto the scene at the beginning of the nineties. Their name, just like their music, was heavily inspired by old kung fu movies and Hong Kong cinema (think movies like “The Killer”). They used a lot of samples out of those movies and one of the musical masterminds behind the beats was RZA. In the past he has been involved in creating the music for various movies, like Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai, Afro Samurai and Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol.1. and with the love he has for the kung fu genre it’s only natural that he would make a movie eventually.

He has written the screenplay together with Eli Roth, composed the music and directs The Man with the Iron Fists. Does the movie make as much impact as the Wu Tang Clan did?

Storywise this is your typical kung fu movie as it’s about two things: A son who wants to avenge his father and various groups (the lion and wolves clans and other groups) trying to get their hands on a big amount of gold. This all comes together in a small village, in which RZA’s character is a blacksmith, who provides all the various groups with weaponry. He’s planning to leave the town and free Lady Silk, a girl working in the local brothel, which is run by Madam Blossom (Lucy Liu). Of course he can’t help to get caught up into the rivalries.

The reason you watch a kung fu movie is because you want to see some fights and this movie offers plenty of them. They are bloody (although it is CG blood) and use a lot of wirework, so they might not be something everyone will appreciate. There are a couple of them which stood out, but they didn’t excite me as much as The Raid managed to do earlier this year. The movie does have some very interesting weaponry (like the gunknife Russel Crowe’s character, Jack Knife is using) and concepts, but I never got fully invested into the proceedings.

Now I didn’t have an issue with all the silly names, but I was really hoping for a bit more depth to the characters, just a bit more background to get attached to the characters. The movie never follows one specific character as it’s telling various stories meaning there wasn’t enough focus for me to start caring. Some of the acting wasn’t very convincing either. The characters which stood out the most were Jack Knife, who made a convincing entrance and Brass Body (which isn’t only a name), played by WWF wrestler Dave Bautista, who seems invincible.

The Man with the Iron Fists is a movie which is an alright movie for fans of action, but one which I suggest you watch at home instead of the cinema.