The Man with the Iron Fists - Extended Version - Blu-Ray

Content: The governor of Jungle Village sends a large shipment of gold to the imperial palace. The leader of the Lion Clan, Gold Lion (Chen Kuan-tai) is supposed to protect the gold as it travels across the country. But Gold Lion is brutally murdered by his two subordinates Silver Lion and Bronze Lion. The two want to claim the gold for themselves. Zen Yi (Rick Yune), Gold Lion's son, vows revenge and sets out for Jungle Village to kill his father's killers. But he fails against the seemingly invincible Brass Body (Dave Bautista), who fights on the side of the Lion Clan and wants to help them take possession of the gold. Meanwhile, Zen Yi allies himself with the blacksmith Thaddeus (RZA), but he soon has to pay dearly for his help. For he is kidnapped by the Lions and brutally mutilated by Brass Body. After both of his arms are cut off and he is left for dead, mysterious Brit Jack Knife (Russel Crowe) manages to rescue the blacksmith and forge him new arms out of iron. And so The Man with the Iron Fists becomes the most important weapon in the fight against the Lions, which is inexorably heading towards its bloody climax...

Robert Diggs, better known as RZA, has made a name for himself in recent years not only as a rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan, but has also increasingly appeared as an actor. For example in the series Californication or in the action film Repo Man. With The Man with the Iron Fists, produced by Eli Roth (Hostel), RZA made his directorial debut, in which he also took on one of the leading roles, wrote the screenplay and composed the soundtrack. RZA shot his homage to the great martial arts films of the legendary Shawn Brothers not in Hollywood but in China and also hired some professionals like stunt coordinator Corey Yuen to make his film look as authentic as possible. A truly opulent set and some very well choreographed fight sequences then also leave a very positive impression.

However, the feeling remains that RZA has overdone himself a bit on this project. Especially on his function as an actor he would have perhaps better renounced, because he seems just next to the extremely good-humored Russel Crowe and the punchy Rick Yune arg wooden. Also, the use of hip-hop sounds as a soundtrack doesn't really want to work. It's true that Quentin Tarantino, who presents this film, also uses music again and again, which at first glance doesn't really want to fit in with the actual action. But at a closer look it turns out that Tarantino has thought of something special for each piece, which makes it fit after all. With RZA, on the other hand, the whole thing just seems too concerned with coolness to really work.

The same goes for the script. It's clear that RZA loves the genre, and that he wants to bow down to it in a similar way that Tarantino did with grindhouse cinema. But as much as the visuals are accomplished, the dialogue lacks cleverness. Also the drawing of the characters turns out rather superficial, which unfortunately also applies to the dramaturgy. This might sound as if The Man with the Iron Fists is one big disappointment. But that's not the case. Because despite its clear shortcomings, the martial arts flick has quite a high fun factor, which is maximized quite especially by Russel Crowe, but also by the completely exaggerated brutality and some very beautiful images.

Who wants to watch The Man with the Iron Fists, but should definitely grab the Blu-Ray, because only here, in addition to the theatrical version, you can also see the almost 12 minutes longer cut of the film, which not only has some additional action moments to offer, but also dramaturgically gives a more rounded overall picture. The bottom line is that, despite all the weaknesses, still enough for a: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: If there is something with which the film can really convince, then it is its image quality. The high level of detail, the powerfully mixed colours and the good picture depth, which is noticeable even in the 2D version of this film, which was designed for 3D, allow the great costumes and the detailed décor to stand out very well. When it comes to the sound, on the other hand, it's noticeable that the music has been mixed a little too dominantly in some scenes, making other effects and even the dialogue seem a little too weak. Otherwise, especially the surround effects can convince, which are very well mixed especially in the fight sequences.

Extras: In addition to the extended film version, the Blu-Ray has a few more additional features to offer. The most interesting of these are the 24 minutes of unreleased scenes, which have about a much longer opening sequence to offer. The featurettes that look behind the scenes, on the other hand, are too short to really offer any information worth watching about the making of the film. Both Insights: The Man with the Iron Fists (approx. 2 min.), A Path to the East (approx. 2 min.) nor the multi-part On Set with RZA (approx. 5 min.) rise above the level of brief promo clips.

Conclusion: The Man with the Iron Fists has its moments. But as much as RZA tries to present his homage to the martial arts films of the legendary Shawn Brother Studios on a coolness level worthy of Quentin Tarantino, his bloody epic just doesn't come close to the quality of a Django Unchained or Kill Bill. But a wonderful Russel Crowe, the great equipment and some really spectacular fight choreography make the work despite its weaknesses then still well worth seeing - especially in the somewhat more mature Extendet version. This is exclusively on the Blu-Ray, which also knows how to convince technically. Who wants to acquire the film, should therefore definitely reach for this variant!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp