NOTE: You will need Quicktime to view these gems.

Kung Fu Fighting seems to have everything going for it. An attractive female lead, an evil yet hunky bad guy, and some swift martial arts moves that would put Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to shame. Still, I worry that the obvious (READ: visible) presence of the wire on Jillian takes away from that mystical ninja effect. Also, the accentuating gong really doesn't heighten the tension between Patrick and Jillian as much as, I don't know, good acting would. Patrick's lame ninja seems to be as adroit as Frankenstein's monster as Jillian does little more than step out of the way of his charge, sending him flailing off the roof top. Seriously, whoever hired this ninja has got to get his money back. Based on the effective costume work, I imagine this film took place during a Karate class gone wrong. I would have liked to have seen more of that. I'll give this one a 3 out of 5.

Wow. This is a remarkable piece of cinema - nay, art. Drug Deal Gone Bad has the visceral impact of a young Scorcese or perhaps Ed Wood. Derrick hones his inner hoodlum to thuggish perfection while Angela, the former Jehova's Witness, really stretches her acting chops with her convincing turn as a Latina drug runner who won't be wronged by any man that dares attack her with a breakaway 2 x 4. When Angela says "Hola", we can really feel that inner Chicana yearning to unleash generations of frustration at the white overclass. Her people didn't migrate to this country to be drug runners, but here is Angela, dutifully fulfilling her role so she can get ahead in life - maybe go to night school, earn a decent living. "It's exactly what you asked for" she says in her second line. A novice critic might confuse her monotone for poor acting skills, but a wizened eye sees that years of track suit and skull cap wearing has worn down Angela's character to the point where emotion itself seems unable to escape her lips. It's as if speaking has become so laborious that it sounds like recited dialogue.

Of course, the emotional climax of the scene occurs when Derrick smashes the aforementioned plank into Angela, causing her to turn around and run through glass. It's as if she were trying to reach the glass ceiling, but instead broke the glass wall, which leads me to believe the filmmakers are perhaps saying "Those who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw Angela". The surprise twist though is that Angela has a gun. Who would have thought? Clearly not Derrick. Since he merely stood and watched her slowly reach for her glock. A normal drug dealer would have come with his own firearms, but Derrick represents the old order - the type of criminal who regulated with a piece of wood and some elbow grease. Adios, say Angela's bullets. Adios, indeed. 5 out of 5.

« I Can Tell That You're Jealous Just By the Look in Your Eye | Main | Where The Center Square Lives »

Posted in Road Rules by B-Side at 4:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Last Comment: Genevieve on Sep 15, 2004 10:54 AM.