The Man with the Iron Fists 2

I enjoyed the first one... OK, it's nothing new, and it's was nothing outstanding, but still, it was very entertaining...the cast had some world class names, from Russel Crowe to Lucy Liu and Dave Bautista as well...

I was awkward to see this second one... I've read the reviews, and I found myself thinking: "The first one was entertaining... the second one, as any sequel, will be mediocre, at best..."...and so, last night, I give a try.. Glad that I did... first, the cast here, is more "B-level". They are well known from Asian movies or action B-films... Dustin Nguyen, Carl Ng, Sahajal Boonthanakit and the most famous of all, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.

This second movie, doesn't evolve around Thaddeus (Rza), but over Li King (Dustin), as the leader of an enslaved mining village. MAster Ho, and his henchmen, abuse physically and mentally of every villager, and those who do not submit to his will, are tortured and killed. The arrival of Thaddeus to the village, is the sign the villagers were waiting for, to fight back, against tyranny.

So, this second movie is more about martial arts, itself. Nguyen is awesome, as always, and the old kungfu moves, are very good. Even though it has it's flaws, the movie is good... from my personal point of view, I prefer this one to the first one...

But still, I recommend you to see it, and make your own conclusion. Remember, it's not class A material... but is still, a good movie.

When THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS was first released, I think I was one of the few critics in the nation who gave it a favorable nod. While it was a glitzy martial arts affair, it did boast a few rather impressive fight scenes and a bevy of heavyweight stars including Dave Bautista; Russell Crowe; Rick Yune and Lucy Liu.

THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2 lacks all of that. The stars have bolted, with RZA the only hold over from the first. The fight scenes are good, but not spectacular, and the story is culled from the plot lines of many of the original martial arts films that inundated the Silver Screen in the 1970's.

Thaddeus Henry Smith (RZA), after the events of the first film, decides his soul is uneasy as a vigilante warrior. He begins a journey to return to his beloved temple, strengthen his chi (inner strength) and unite his mind and body. Along the way, he is beset by old enemies who refuse to buy his assertion that he is now a man of peace. While Thaddeus thwarts his attackers, he is rendered unconscious and sent adrift in a river. He lands in a small mining village, ruled by the evil Beetle Clan; a gang of cutthroat bullies led by Master Ho, played by Carl Ng and Lord Pi, played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who allows those who disagree with him the opportunity to fight in what appears to be the original octagon of the UFC. The people of the village are mere cannon fodder for the Beetle Clan, but one family, Li Kung, played by Dustin Nguyen and his wife Ah Ni, played by Eugenia Yuan, are secretly members of the Praying Mantis Clan. Why they are in hiding, or why the Praying Mantis fighters are reluctant to reveal themselves to the Beetle Clan is never really explained. I guess if there are too many Beetles and Praying Mantises, the members of the Orkin Clan will appear. Thaddeus doesn't want to become involved in the village's conflict, but obviously, circumstances will dictate that he takes a side and fights for honor and friends.

RZA desperately wants to promote himself as a martial arts star, but frankly he was the weak link in the first film and his sole fighting expertise is pummeling thugs with his iron fists, complete with a multitude of spraying blood packets. The fight scenes in THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2 are okay, but there is nothing stellar, and certainly nothing that compares with what Jason Statham and Tony Jaa are doing in FURIOUS 7.

Despite enticing cinematography by Roel Reine and several scenic shots from the Thailand locations, THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS 2 is an average view. It seems RZA is planning more films to highlight Thaddeus' journey back to the temple. Until he reaches his destination, he'll walk the Earth, helping people, like Caine in Kung-Fu. Let's hope his next adventure has better fight choreography and a handful of grade A list stars to help the endeavor.

I'm only writing this review because some of the other reviews are far too harsh. Yes, this is a bad movie, but it's not any worse than most other low budget chop socky I've watched, if anything it suffers from a lack of fighting. My biggest complaint would be that the asians in this flick all speak english to well and detracts from that asian market grindhouse martial arts feel. Anyway if you've watched more than five none hollywood kung fu movies you'll see it's Ok.

Really bad movie, the first version of "the Man with the iron fists" is interesting; photo, music, plot, cast. But this second version is bad from start to end; aerial shots are really poor (drone shakes once in a while as well as the color quality), acting of the secondary characters is poor as well, not even overacted is just bad acting (90% of the cast is secondary or not decently known actors). The plot, visual effects, make up and fight choreography is also poor. After 10 min is really hard to keep on watching, you really have to try hard to kind of enjoy it. The music is kind of OK, but not compared to the first movie, which in my opinion was the most interesting part of a Kungfu kind of movie with the RZA music taste.

Unfortunately a really, but really bad sequel.

If you like B type of movies, like the 80's delta force or American ninja, you might like this one, I say might.

If you're OK with watching B-grade type movies with weird plot holes and fight scenes where you can often spot a completely missed hit, then this movie is OK.

But if you're expecting a great Kung-Fu thriller, this isn't it.

There are a lot of roll-your-eyes moments, where you could see it coming a mile away and the cheese factor is high. The script seems to have been written by the black dude starring in it, at least it feels that way.

It's about as good/bad as the first movie.

Then there's the cheesy soundtrack. It's crap. It reminds me of Kanye's stuff. It's crap too. (I just looked up the sound track and he is actually on it, so now it makes sense).

I did have fun watching it though, it's not awful if you can get past the obvious stuff and I think overall it deserves the rating it has right now.

5/10