Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Netflix Movie Reviews: The Final Master

I've been trying to watch more martial arts movies, hitting up Netflix's catalog (which is nice, but not huge). I want to do some brief amateur reviews.

The Final Master is set in 1930's mainland China. The main character... well, I don't want to give too much away. A Wing Chun master sets up a mildly elaborate plot to pay back a debt to his deceased master (mostly about gaining face for Wing Chun), trains an apprentice, people die, lots of fighting happens.

That synopsis makes this movie sound like nothing special, but it is special. The acting is phenomenal, and I don't mean "really good for a B movie acting," I mean, "really good for any movie acting." The fight scenes are fantastic - unarmed, armed, a wide variety of weapons, extremely varied (you don't see the same moves repetitively, and the way the characters fight seems responsive to their opponents' style).

Realism Level: Bruce Lee (skilled characters can fight off dozens of opponents simultaneously, but nobody can catch bullets with their teeth or shoot energy blasts or cast spells).

Scenery: B-. Good sets, but this isn't the film to go to if you want those majestic views of Chinese landscapes that suffuse other Chinese martial arts movies.

Cheesecake factor: Some shirtless guys, but they have realistic builds (lean, muscular, but not cover of a magazine built). Some very attractive ladies, who are mostly fully clothed. [Note: I include this category both for people who want cheesecake in their media and for those who want to avoid it. I myself am not a huge fan of cheesecake in action movies, but I understand those who have less neutral feelings about it.]

Training Montage: B+. Some good but not amazing training scenes.

Overall Rating: A-. I cannot recommend this highly enough. Really fantastic fight scenes - not a ton of non-combat action, not a lot of chase scenes or gun combat, just martial arts action.

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