Warrior: From the Pen and Sword of Bruce Lee

From 1849 through 1851, San Francisco was a real tinder box that almost burnt to the ground seven times. Building methods were somewhat safer by 1878, but rival tong gangs still might just incinerate the city with their open warfare. Frankly, the city’s various white political factions would be only too happy to let them, because it would serve their secret agendas. A newcomer named Ah Sahm will walk headlong into this dangerous environment. If that name sounds familiar than you probably really know your Bruce Lee. The iconic martial arts star’s concept for an American Asian action television series finally hits small screens over forty-five years after his death when the first season of Warrior premieres on Cinemax.

Lee pitched the network a show about the title character, a hard-fighting recent immigrant navigating San Francisco’s rough-and-tumble Chinatown neighborhood. They passed, but soon thereafter, they greenlit the white-washed Kung Fu series, starring David Carradine. It was not a great moment in American media, so it is rather satisfying to see it finally get corrected.

Ah Sahm is still one cool customer. He has come to San Francisco in search of his sister Mai Ling. Unfortunately, he will find her quite easily, because she is the lover of the leader of a rival tong outfit. Thanks to her influence, the two major factions are poised on the brink of a major gang war. Initially, Mai Ling wants nothing to do with Ah Sahm, but they will furtively come to each other’ aid, even though their respective tongs are mortal enemies.

As the freshly-minted and less-than-thrilled leader of the department’s new Chinatown squad, it is Sgt Bill O’Hara’s’ job to keep the peace. He is not doing it well, but in his defense, he is somewhat distracted by his compulsive gambling. However, there are a few progressive San Fransciscans who might even become allies of Ah Sahm at some point down the line, including O’Hara’s Savannah-born junior officer, Richard Henry Lee and Penny Blake, the wife of the city’s corrupt Mayor (is the any other kind?).

As you would dearly hope from a series based on a Bruce Lee concept, Warrior features some absolutely terrific fight scenes. Stunt coordinator-fight choreographer Brett Chan does some first-class work in each episode. At one point, director Lin Oeding teases us with the promise of a big street battle at the end of episode seven, but he duly delivers it at the start of episode eight. Regardless, fans should not be disappointed by the level of action Warrior delivers. Plus, the main theme composed by Reza Safinia and H. Scott Salinas is seriously funky, but its definitely a man’s world in 1870s Frisco and a male-focused show, even though Olivia Cheng has some moments as the resourceful, morally complex Madam, Ah Toy.

Most fans will also appreciate the performance of Andrew Koji as the English-speaking Ah Sahm. Although he never tries to slavishly channel Bruce Lee, he plays the tong fighter with similar levels of cockiness and brooding intensity. Jason Tobin nicely offsets him as the roguishly hedonistic and recklessly energetic Young Jun, the heir apparent to Ah Sahm’s tong. Kieran Bew and Tom Weston-Jones (from Copper) play off each other well as the mutually distrustful O’Hara and Lee. Frankly, Joe Taslim (of The Raid) is mostly under-employed as Mai Ling’s lover and champion, but his promised big showdown with Ah Sahm has us looking forward to episode nine (one through eight were provided to media).

Indeed, the combination of original Bruce Lee material (an eight-page treatment and some sketches) combined with the presence of executive producers Shannon Lee (Lee’s daughter) and Justin Lin (from the Fast and Furious franchise and Finishing the Game) and Taslim from The Raid should have many fans giddy with anticipation. So far, it definitely delivers some strong fight scenes and plenty of hip attitude. Recommended for martial arts fans and connoisseurs of meathead TV shows, Warrior premieres tonight (4/5) on Cinemax.

Banshee: Amish Country Noir

Bufurd T. Pusser would appreciate the new get-tough sheriff of Banshee, PA, were he not an ex-con, living under an assumed identity.  It sounds like a clever Cornell Woolrich set-up, but Alan (True Blood) Ball’s new Cinemax series, created by Jonathan Tropper & David Schickler, is more about action than suspense.  Whatever works.  As it happens, the first two episodes of Banshee work pretty well.  There will be plenty of mayhem for relatively grown-up audiences when Banshee premieres this Friday on Cinemax (promo here).

His name is not really Lucas Hood.  That was the name of the honest loner who had accepted the position of Banshee’s sheriff sight unseen.  The recently released thief on the run from a shadowy Ukrainian gangster happened to be on-hand when Hood met his untimely end.  He even threw his lot in with the lawman.  It was not sufficient to save the real Hood, but it means there will be no witnesses, aside from Banshee’s sympathetic barkeep and former Cruiser weight champion Sugar Bates.

The man now masquerading as Sheriff Hood came to Banshee to confront his former lover and accomplice, now known as Carrie Hopewell, the wife of the crusading district attorney.  Perhaps he will stay to take down Kai Proctor, the local slaughterhouse owner and vice kingpin, who happens to be the blacksheep son of an Amish patriarch.  Meanwhile, the ominous Rabbit’s henchmen are hot on the trail of the ostensive Hood and his reluctant transvestite hacker accomplice, Job.  (Who knew Harry Angstrom was a super-villain?)  Potentially, Hood could find himself juggling two nemesis figures, while ambiguously pursuing his ex-lover and bedding all of Banshee’s willing party girls.

As set-ups go, Banshee’s looks solid enough to sustain at least a full season.  The first episode origin-smackdown is particularly well executed, although it might represent some rather unfortunate product placement for A1 steak sauce.  To judge by the first two installments, there should be plenty of Walking Tall style action.  Cinemax’s horny teenager demographic will also appreciate Ivana Milicevic’s nude scenes as the presumed Hopewell.

Certainly looking the part, Milicevic does a nice job in the early going serving as both femme fatale and soccer mom.  In the lead, Anthony Starr is surprisingly manly and hardnosed, especially by Hollywood’s standards.  He could become a go to guy for an industry suffering from a masculinity deficit.  Although Ulrich Thomsen has played plenty of heavies in his American outings, he seems to enjoy Proctor more.  The Amish angle probably helps.  Ben Cross is certainly on familiar territory as the malevolent Rabbit, but Hoon Lee’s shticky Job trades on some tired stereotypes.

Banshee clearly has enough violence and mature stuff to keep it going for a while, but the underlying premise also shows considerable promise.  It certainly has the right tone to appeal to fans of Cinemax’s breakout hit, Strike Back!  Effectively cast and nicely paced by directors Greg Yaitanes (episode 1) and S.J. Clarkson (episode 2) Banshee is worth taking a shot on.  It premieres this Friday night (1/11) on Cinemax.

Blackest Ops: Strike Back

As far as Section 20 is concerned, the only good terrorist is a terrorist getting renditioned to within an inch of their lives. Well, God bless them for that. As a result, disgraced former U.S. Delta Force soldier Damien Scott finds he fits in rather well in the double-secret British counter-terrorism unit in Strike Back (promo here), which has its series debut on Cinemax this Friday.

Like 24 in its Surnow heyday, viewers should not get too attached to reoccurring characters, including John Porter (a lead protagonist from Strike Back’s pre-Cinemax first season on British Sky TV). Captured while investigating a large scale operation code-named Project Dawn, Porter has been captured by terrorists loyal to the Islamist mastermind, “Latif.” Aside from Porter, only his former American counterpart from the early days of Iraq can identify the mysterious Latif. That of course would be Scott, whom Section 20’s Sgt. Stonebridge finds drinking, whoring, and pit-fighting his way through a Southeast Asia redlight district.

Naturally, there is major friction between the Yank and the Brit, but they are all business when the bullets start flying. If the first four installments are representative of the entire season, Strike Back’s wider overarching storyline will be advanced by a succession of two episode mini-arcs. On the micro-level, the show is a breath of fresh air, featuring terrorists who are not simply misguided, but horrifically evil. For instance, Scott spends the balance of episode two protecting an innocent young girl from Islamic terrorists (who are explicitly identified as such), only taking occasional breaks to bed the beautiful women of the hotel taken hostage by the terrorist thugs. Seriously, that’s an apt description.

However, on the macro level, Strike Back’s shadowy meta-conspiracy threatens to be a real buzz kill. Supposedly, Scott was unceremoniously mustered out of service because he caught wind of a plan to plant the WMD stockpiles that would “justify” Operation Iraqi Freedom. Those infamous weapons are now at loose ends, doggedly pursued by Latif for his nefarious purposes. This sort of potential demonization of the American military and intelligence services is exactly what we do not need any more of on television.

It would be a shame if Strike Back’s macro themes continue in this direction, because they could spoil some genuinely rip-rousing television entertainment. As Scott, Sullivan Stapleton is an undeniably likable and engaging hard-nosed bad-attitude protagonist. Though the relatively by-the-book Stonebridge is probably not as fun to play, Philip Winchester displays plenty of square jawed action cred. There are also plenty of James Bond worthy women, like the gorgeous Karen David (sort of geek-famous for Scorpion King 2) as the barmaid Scott protects when the terrorists break up their hook-up. Likewise, the villains are truly villainous, such as the workaholic Liam Cunningham, chewing the scenery with relish as IRA enforcer turned mercenary Daniel Connolly.

At least in episodes one through four, the Indian and South African settings are quite cinematic, while the stunt work and effects are all first class. Scott and Stonebridge deliver quite a bit of vicarious satisfaction, administering on the spot justice to Islamist fanatics and their craven accomplices that should be well worth returning for throughout the show’s run. Yet, if it loses sight of who the real bad guys are, sliding into the sort of moral equivalency frequently peddled by Hollywood, it will alienate its core viewership, while those sharing such a hostile view of American and British military and intelligence personnel will be put off by the Jack Bauer tactics gleefully indulged in throughout each episode.

Strike Back could be flat-out awesome, so let’s hope it minimizes the clichéd conspiracy themes and plays to its strengths. This week, the totally entertaining first episode is definitely recommended when it debuts this Friday (8/12) on Cinemax.