Blu-ray Review: Kill 'Em All - Page 2

I guess you could say this is a movie for people who like bad movies. The acting is bad, the dialogue laughable, the fights simplistic, and it looks cheap; however, the editing is pretty good; it could not have been easy cutting this together. There is also something to be said about the energy; it is pretty high and just a little infectious. The movie's energy helped to carry me and keep me involved

Among the performances, there are a couple that I liked. The lead is Som, played by Ammara Siripong (Chocolate); it is clear she knows more than she is letting on, and she is quite enjoyable to watch fight her way through the movie. I also thought Tim Man as The Kid was pretty good as a stoic martial arts badass; I would like to see what he could do in a quality martial arts movie. The male lead Gabriel, played by Johnny Messner (Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid), is downright terrible with awful dialogue delivery and zero charisma.

Although the cast is comprised mostly of unknowns, there are a couple of names that should catch the eye of old school martial arts and B-action fans. The first is the late Joe Lewis, playing aging killer Carpenter. Lewis is known to exploitation fans as Jaguar from the 1979 film Jaguar Lives! and 1981's Force: Five (just look up those trailers). The other is Gordon Liu, star of films such as The 36th Chamber Shaolin and Heroes of the East. He plays Snakehead, the man whose voice we hear directing our assassins. Liu is a legend and he is clearly having some fun here; just listen to his voice work. It also helps that he has the best fight scene of the movie.

Audio/Video. The movie is presented in a ratio of 1.78:1 and appears to have been shot digitally. It is not a very pretty film. Early scenes of Bangkok look pretty good with bright colors and nice detail, but once the movie gets going inside the Killing Chamber it changes its tune. Gone are the bright colors and solid detail, and in it's place we get a lot of greys and browns, and detail that gets lost on the shadows or just smooth and textureless. The movie just looks flat.

Article Author: Chris Beaumont

Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about music and movies when he isn't indulging in them. He is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Follow: Twitter and Tumblr. Visit: Critical Outcast. …

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