The 2012 year of action on Dan's Movie Report comes to a crashing close with an action blast called Kill 'em All. Starring Chia Hui Liu the fantastic martial artist (Gordon Liu) the late kickboxing legend Joe Lewis and the sultry Chocolate star Ammara Siripong
Before beginning this review, I will warn all potential viewers, this is an martial arts action film, ALL the way through, there is very little set up backstory etc... That fact aside Kill 'em All thanks to the mind blowing fight choreographer Tim Man, who also stars in the film as "The Kid"
The film opens with all eight combatants being drugged, kidnapped, and taken into a Saw style torture chamber known as The Killing Chamber. These 8 were hand selected by Scorpion as they are the top killers in the world. One will survive.
The contestants are initially given metal balls with numbers, the lowest two numbers are to fight first. The fights are to the death, though in some cases, the strikes did not appear to be deadly. The winner of the first match was allowed into a special weapons chamber to choose one weapon. Non compliance by the contestants was cause for knockout gas to be released.
With minimal set up, sparse set dressing, the fights take center stage. More often than not, true action flicks seem to get lost in background accoutrements. I wanted to like The Man With The Iron Fists, but sadly, could not, had flash but no grit. Kill 'em All was no flash all grit. The fights were amazing, long and for the most part well planned out. The camera knew were to be and Tim Man and Ammara Siripong were on point with the action.
This is a film only for action purists, non-Hollywood polish. There is very little dialogue, as the fighting takes center stage. My only small complaint is that some final fight finishing moves were a bit on the calm side compared to the actual fight. That fact aside, it is obvious, that the fight choreography was well planned out, and that the actors themselves had some input to accentuate their individual fighting style.
Discussing the acting, sadly, Kill 'em All is Joe Lewis's final film, but he goes out with a bang as his character The Carpenter is snarly and aggressive. By the end of Kill Em All, the few characters that are left have some depth as more story is added. Yeah, I am sure with more cash, everything would have a more polished look, and maybe more exotic local. I am waiting for Tim Man to do fight choreography work on the new Scott Adkins film, Ninja 2.
Gordon Liu plays the bad guy Snakehead with a maniacal calm, the final fight he has is very long and a well worthy Christmas treat, haha. His calm demeanor work well as a silent, enemy.
Although it has been years since Chocolate, Ammara Siripong has a second breakout role in Kill 'em All. The film showcases her talent as an action actress and her willingness to work hard to sell the fighting is impressive. Ammara has to mix it up with the boys, and she has no problem, being the most dangerous one in the room haha. She has vivacity, and enough mystery in her character to keep the audience guessing as to her full potential. Hopefully directors will watch Kill Em All and allow Ammara to work in more feature films.
Director Raimund Huber keeps the action flowing in Kill 'Em All as the body count piles up. I rate Kill 'em All a Metallica, (title of their first LP) worthy blast of insanity, an 8 out of 10. Bring on the negative anonymous comments, go on, I dare you hahahaha Happy Holidays.
Watch for more exclusives in 2013 from Kill 'em All on Dan's Movie Report! Amazon has this for only 13.99 on Blu-Ray! Buy it!
For more info on Gordon Liu go to his Facebook Fan page, has a huge collection of info @ https://www.facebook.com/GordonLiuFanPage
