The Man with the Iron Fists

**
Release Date: December 7th 2012

On the hunt for a fabled treasure of gold, a band of warriors, assassins, and a rogue British soldier descend upon a village in feudal China, where a humble blacksmith looks to defend himself and his fellow villagers.

Director: RZA

Starring: Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, RZA, Dave Bautista, Rick Yune

Quentin Tarantino presents: The Man with the Iron Fists. He's either had a lot of input into this film, or RZA and producer Eli Roth have mimicked his work, and Tarantino approves. Either way, this cinematic copycat cannot pull off what Tarantino has done so well for many years; create strong, original screenplays.

And try as they might, RZA and Roth's screenplay should be a simple one from paper to screen, but ends up being a mess. A small town surrounded by a dense jungle plays host to several gangs. Word gets out that there's a shipment of the emperor's gold passing through within the next couple of days. The Geminis and the Lions set out to obtain it, and destroy the other in the process.

Stuck in the middle this is the Blacksmith (RZA). Both gangs ask (or rather force) him to make weapons. He abides, and in doing so, causes the chaos that follows. Other weird and not so wonderful characters include sex maniac Jack Knife (Crowe), brothel owner Madam Blossom (Liu), Brass Body (literally as it comes, played by well known WWE star Dave Bautista) and brother of the Lions Zen Yi, The X-Blade (Yune). All of them have a feud with one of the others, and apart the booty the other thing on their minds is vengeance.

Where TMWTIF goes wrong? It's supposed to be a humble abode to martial arts classics, but all that's on display is cheesy, dull choreography. The storyline isn't gripping. Too many names and faces spoil the brothel. The soundtrack heightens the fact that all is not real. Whoever knew rap existed in ancient China? In fantasy, anything and everything is logical.

Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu have very small parts. To me it's wasted talent. Money could have been saved making this a better film.

Overview: Big credit to RZA for trying. There's moments that recall House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but TMWTIF never reaches new heights or stands out from the crowd.