Hollow Point, Co-Starring Juju Chan & Bill Duke

Nolan Cooray probably thinks crime in LA is out of control, but he should see the state of things here in New York. In 2020, shootings were up 97% and homicides were up 44%. Cops and prosecutors can’t even try to practice law, thanks to our revolving door “bail reform.” Ironically, a little of that could helped Cooray when he was arrested for trying to kill the murderer of his wife and daughter. Who wound up in prison? Cooray, of course. However, his new lawyer’s vigilante group might help him get a little justice in Daniel Zirilli’s Hollow Point, which releases this Friday on VOD.

Cooray’s wife and daughter took a wrong turn and just happened to witness the thuggish drug boss “Trigger” in the commission of a crime. Naturally, he just gunned them down without a second thought. There was a witness, but Trigger got to her too. Enraged and distraught, Cooray tried to take the law into his own hands. Unfortunately, he only wounded two of Trigger’s associates and earned an express ticket to prison.

Strangely, everyone seems out to get him there (the whole avenging his wife and little girl thing doesn’t seem to cut much ice). However, James, the Senior Guard takes a liking to him. So does high-powered criminal attorney and innocence activist Hank Carmac. More importantly, the former commando leaves him martial arts books. However, if Carmac gets released, he will recruit his client for his vigilante squad.

Frustratingly, Hollow Point’s most interesting cast-members, Juju Chan and Bill Duke, get comparatively little screen time. Of course, Duke is seriously steely and hardnosed as Sr. Guard James and Chan gets to show off her impressive marital arts chops. Frankly, Dilan Jay is surprisingly good as Cooray and Michael Pare is better as Damian Wakefield, the vigilante ex-cop, than he has been in his last half-dozen straight-to-VOD movies. The same goes for Luke Gross as Carmac. However, Jay Mohr is just a weird, highly questionable choice for Trigger.

Jiu Jitsu: Nic Cage, Tony Jaa, and Juju Chan Fight an Alien

You probably thought Jiu-jitsu originated in Japan, influenced, by Buddhist, Taoist, and Shinto teachings, later developing a Brazilian offshoot in the 1920s. Well, how wrong you were. Actually, an alien brought it to earth through a Stargate-like portal in Burma, where he taught it to humans, so he could fight a worthy champion when he returns every six years. If no champion presents himself, the alien just starts killing people until one presents themselves. Jake, a member of the chosen brotherhood used to know that secret history, until he was stricken with amnesia in Dmitri Logothetis’s Jiu Jitsu, which releases tomorrow on DVD.

Jake nearly died fleeing the alien, but an old fishing couple patched him up and dumped him at the American military outpost. Bet you didn’t know we had troops in Burma either. The local Army Intelligence officer is suspicious, but she can’t get anything out of him, because he truly lost his memory. Nevertheless, Kueng comes to break him out, Jake instinctively goes with him.

It is hard to enjoy the first forty minutes or so of Jiu Jitsu, because Jake and his comrades of the Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood spend most of their time fighting and possibly killing American servicemen. The Yanks aren’t even supposed to be the bad guys. It is just sloppy writing from Logothetis and James McGrath (who originally conceived the story as a graphic novel). Heck, the only officer aware of the extraterrestrial goings-on, Captain Sand played by Rick Yune, emerges as a sort of martyr figure, which just proves how confused the script gets.

Of course, it blatantly “borrows” elements from Predator, Mortal Kombat, and Beyond Skyline (which also co-starred Frank Grillo, but was much better in nearly every respect). However, Logothetis (who produced the Kickboxer reboots) fully stocks the film with talented marital arts performers. As a result, the final hour is pretty entertaining, because it gives just about everyone a chance to go toe-to-toe with “Brax,” the alien warrior.

Frankly, this a better showcase for Tony Jaa than he has had in a while. (Too often, he has just appeared as a guest star in a cool fight, only to get killed off or written out of the rest of the film, as in Paradox). At least, he figures prominently in the third act here. Likewise, Juju Chan gets a chance to show off her chops. Technically, she also provides a love interest for Jake, but that is not really developed until the third act either. Unfortunately, Grillo’s big solo fight is surprisingly short, but up-and-coming martial arts thesp Marrese Crump makes the most of his duel with Brax—it is impressive work, probably making him the biggest winner of the film (if not his ill-fated character, Forbes).

Savage Dog: No Bark, All Bite

Evidently, there is some truth to the historical urban legend about the fugitive National Socialist coming to Indochina as a member of the French Foreign Legion. However, he is not the only dodgy foreign national taking advantage of the power vacuum left after the French retreat. With the American military yet to arrive in force, a veritable United Nations of thugs and mercenaries will fight among themselves in Jesse V. Johnson’s Savage Dog (trailer here), which opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

Sure, there is a plot to Savage Dog, but there is no question the film’s real attraction is getting to see Scott Adkins square off against Cung Le and Marko Zaror. We will not have to wait long to see the wanted IRA hitman Martin Tillman display his skills. Steiner, an ex-German Foreign Legion officer turned warlord, quite profitably keeps him as his personal pit-fighter. Eventually, Tillman earns his freedom, but he voluntarily returns to Steiner’s employment, because it is really the best work available in the 1958 Indochinese jungle.

Tillman unleashes his inner demons in the pit, but the beautiful Isabelle appeals to the better angels of his nature. She is the illegitimate daughter of Steiner and a local woman, whom the Nazi Bond villain has never acknowledged. Tillman starts to fall in love with her while temporarily working as a bouncer at the tiny tiki bar owned by Valentine, an American expat. Inevitably, Steiner and his Spanish enforcer Rastignac will rudely interrupt their brief respite with a violent power play. They will leave Tillman for dead, but he won’t be dead enough.

There is no question Adkins is currently one of the best in the martial arts cinema business. Throughout Dog, Johnson has the good sense to step out of the way and showcase the chops of his cast. The fight between Adkins’ Tillman and Cung Le playing a corrupt cop in Steiner’s employ is pretty impressive, but the climatic face-off against Rastignac (portrayed by Zaror with gleefully sinister flare) is a no-holds-barred barn-burner. While the ending of the Cung Le fight might slightly disappoint purists, the Zaror battle builds to a deliriously over-the-top got-to-see-it climax.

Arguably, Adkins has the sort of quiet brooding charisma of the great 1980s action stars. He also develops some rather touching romantic chemistry with Juju Chan’s Isabelle. However, it is somewhat frustrating Savage Dogs fails to capitalize on Chan’s real-life talents as a martial artist, merely casting her as a damsel in distress, much like the Roger Corman-produced Fist of the Dragon. On the plus side, Keith David (narrator of Ken Burns’ Jazz) comes to play as the flamboyant-in-a-cynical-world-weary-kind-of-way Valentine.

Basically, the purpose of Johnson’s narrative is to get Tillman from one fight to another. It works well enough and the period setting adds an intriguing dimension. Of course, all that really matters is the degree to which Adkins, Zaror, and Cung Le tear it up. Highly recommended for action fans, Savage Dog opens tomorrow (8/4) at the Arena CineLounge Sunset in LA and releases the following Tuesday (8/8) on iTunes.

AOF ’16: Fist of the Dragon

For former MMA champion Damon Chamberlin, internet dating will be more dangerous than steel cage smack-downs. He has come to China to meet his match, Meili. She is lovely, but the restaurant they pick is totally bad news. Thanks to the villainous management, they are in for one heck of a first date. The bad guys are ruthless, the cops are stupid, but fortunately one look at Meili gives Chamberlin a heck of a lot of motivation in Antony Szeto’s Fist of the Dragon (trailer here), produced by the legendary Roger Corman, which screens during the 2016 Action on Film Festival.

Chamberlin wants to retire from fighting, so naturally he comes to China. Right, good luck with that. Shy Meili is exactly the kind of woman he could settle down with. Unfortunately, it is hard for her to break away from the compulsively workaholic tech start-up, where she runs the marketing. Cutting their first face-to-face short, she tells Chamberlin to come by her office with a box of moon cakes. As fate would dictate, the syndicate owning the restaurant plans to smuggle a set of nuclear detonators to the Russia mob in a box of said pastries—and there’s your Macguffin right there.

Before long, the evil mastermind Thorn kidnaps Meili demanding his moon cakes as her ransom. Chamberlin can fight, but he is not the sharpest samurai sword in the armory, but fortunately Meili’s expat friend Cassie can guide him around town. Naturally, the dumb cops assume he is a serial killer leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake, including some of Thorn’s trusted lieutenants.

Fist is so gritty and down-market it will hold sentimental appeal for old school, unreconstructed martial arts fans, who still remember getting their fixes from dodgy Chinatown VHS tapes. It is safe to say Prof. Corman has not turned over an extravagant new leaf with his Chinese productions. Still, there is no denying the action is completely legit, even though high profile martial artist and fitness expert Juju Chan has a non-fighting role as Meili. Presumably, she is okay with this, since she co-produced. Regardless, she and lunk-headed Joshua J. (The Punk) Thompson forge some strangely sweet and chaste romantic chemistry together.

Thompson has the moves and he is paired up against some terrific foes, including Vietnamese-Australian superstar-in-the-making Maria Tran, crafty veteran Kong Kwong-keung (as the cleaver-hurling chef), and the massively skilled and intense Xin Sarith Wuku. As Thorn, Daniel Whyte holds up the tradition of the white devil villain, chewing through scenery like Pacman. However, Ellary Porterfield also upholds the tradition of the awkward Westerner best pal.

Fist is just old school all the way. Happily, that includes Trung Ly’s stylistically eclectic, down-and-dirty fight choreography. Fortunes were made from films like this, as Roger Corman well knows. Recommended for nostalgic martial arts fans, Fist of the Dragon screens this Friday (9/9) as part of this year’s Action on Film Festival in Monrovia, CA.