Director: Toa Fraser
Writer: Glenn Standring
Starring: James Rolleston(BOY, The Dark Horse), Lawrence Makoare(LOTR trilogy),Te Kohe Tuhaka
"...Death is not noble. Nor is life."
This came under my radar a few months ago when I seen some blog post with James Cameron & Peter Jackson praising it(or something like that), so I didn't even bother watching a trailer or even reading the post in it's entirety. I just put it on the watchlist. Not that I'm a Cameron or Jackson stan or anything, though Cameron has made some great films I admire. It's just that when I hear high praises for films that sound up my alley, I like going into them without knowing as much as possible.
This film starts out like a horror. A man, obviously scared as hell, is running for his life through the forest and is caught and promptly killed in the most brutal manner by another man who looks as if he's possessed. Then it cuts to a scene with two rival tribes convening to make peace. The old chieftain explains to the visiting tribe that they haven't hunted in the lands they last fought them in since the battle ended long ago and by doing so they've honored the visiting tribe's dead. They allow the standing leader of that tribe, a young man named Wirepa(Tuhaka), to go forth and give their dead a proper burial. The son of the chieftain & our lead, Hongi(Rolleston), follows Wirepa out of curiosity. He trails him to a cave in the forest where the remains of Wirepa's ancestor's out in the open. Wirepa picks up one of the skulls and speaks to it for a moment and then he put it down, turns and takes a dump on it. He literally takes a dump ontop of the skull and then licks it. Not even joking. There's a character in this film who only eats other people's flesh and this guy, to me, is crazier than him. Hongi sees this act and throws a rock at him. Wirepa chases Hongi down then takes him to his father and lies saying that Hongi defiled the remains of his ancestors. The chief offers to kill his son to make it right. Hongi denies having done wrong, but accepts his fate. Wirepa, glory hungry, says there's no remedy for what has happened and that there will be war and then they go their separate ways. Wirepa and his men come back in the night and massacre Hongi's village and take the chief's head.
After that Hongi sets out for the titular Dead Lands in seek of a flesh eating "monster" to help him reap revenge on Wirepa and his men. This is where the film really starts. Hongi finds the "monster"(Makoare), the man from(and only a man), from the beginning of the film and he agrees to help. What follows could easily be a western, in fact, the whole movie could easily be a good revenge western. Rolleston is good here, he plays the young innocent, but rising warrior well. But Makoare absolutely steals the show. He brings depth to a seemingly savage character displaying a deep vulnerability and wide range of other emotions at the drop of a dime. He & Rolleston play off each other very well and would not mind seeing them in a western together. Tuhaka is great as the villain, reminds of a young Dwayne Johnson looks wise with the charisma Johnson has now.
The script is good. Nothing complicated, but it does offer a refreshing take on this type of story with the demythologizing of the warrior's code/honor. I like how it offers good and bad examples of going against that way of thinking. You hear/see the words "gritty" & "dark" a lot today when it comes to action movies, comic book adaptations particularly, but this film genuinely merits those terms with true grit... see what I did there? No? Okay, I'll be moving on. I don't have anything at all against today's CGI-heavy action movies. I actually love a lot of them, but I can say those CGI spectacles can get tiresome. I can't speak for everyone, but as an action junkie sometimes you just wanna see two people hit each other and actually see blood. The fight scenes aren't extensive like The Raid or anything like that, but they're still pretty gory and the choreography is good. I'm not sure it was intentional, but some of the visual language is right out of a classic Kung Fu movie and it's absolutely awesome so if you're into old Wuxias, that's another reason for you to watch. The only problems I had with is the pacing at times, but that's me just wanting to get back into the chase more than anything. And the logic in how some of the fight scenes are staged is questionable, sometimes I'd be sitting wondering "why don't they all just attack at once?" But that's nothing untypical for any action movie that involves a lot of fighting. All in all, this is one of the most visceral action movie's I've seen in a while and it while it may not land it's punch with everyone, I'd recommend it to hardcore action junkies like myself that are looking for an alternative to the sanitized PG-13 action movies that are the norm now.
This film starts out like a horror. A man, obviously scared as hell, is running for his life through the forest and is caught and promptly killed in the most brutal manner by another man who looks as if he's possessed. Then it cuts to a scene with two rival tribes convening to make peace. The old chieftain explains to the visiting tribe that they haven't hunted in the lands they last fought them in since the battle ended long ago and by doing so they've honored the visiting tribe's dead. They allow the standing leader of that tribe, a young man named Wirepa(Tuhaka), to go forth and give their dead a proper burial. The son of the chieftain & our lead, Hongi(Rolleston), follows Wirepa out of curiosity. He trails him to a cave in the forest where the remains of Wirepa's ancestor's out in the open. Wirepa picks up one of the skulls and speaks to it for a moment and then he put it down, turns and takes a dump on it. He literally takes a dump ontop of the skull and then licks it. Not even joking. There's a character in this film who only eats other people's flesh and this guy, to me, is crazier than him. Hongi sees this act and throws a rock at him. Wirepa chases Hongi down then takes him to his father and lies saying that Hongi defiled the remains of his ancestors. The chief offers to kill his son to make it right. Hongi denies having done wrong, but accepts his fate. Wirepa, glory hungry, says there's no remedy for what has happened and that there will be war and then they go their separate ways. Wirepa and his men come back in the night and massacre Hongi's village and take the chief's head.
After that Hongi sets out for the titular Dead Lands in seek of a flesh eating "monster" to help him reap revenge on Wirepa and his men. This is where the film really starts. Hongi finds the "monster"(Makoare), the man from(and only a man), from the beginning of the film and he agrees to help. What follows could easily be a western, in fact, the whole movie could easily be a good revenge western. Rolleston is good here, he plays the young innocent, but rising warrior well. But Makoare absolutely steals the show. He brings depth to a seemingly savage character displaying a deep vulnerability and wide range of other emotions at the drop of a dime. He & Rolleston play off each other very well and would not mind seeing them in a western together. Tuhaka is great as the villain, reminds of a young Dwayne Johnson looks wise with the charisma Johnson has now.
The script is good. Nothing complicated, but it does offer a refreshing take on this type of story with the demythologizing of the warrior's code/honor. I like how it offers good and bad examples of going against that way of thinking. You hear/see the words "gritty" & "dark" a lot today when it comes to action movies, comic book adaptations particularly, but this film genuinely merits those terms with true grit... see what I did there? No? Okay, I'll be moving on. I don't have anything at all against today's CGI-heavy action movies. I actually love a lot of them, but I can say those CGI spectacles can get tiresome. I can't speak for everyone, but as an action junkie sometimes you just wanna see two people hit each other and actually see blood. The fight scenes aren't extensive like The Raid or anything like that, but they're still pretty gory and the choreography is good. I'm not sure it was intentional, but some of the visual language is right out of a classic Kung Fu movie and it's absolutely awesome so if you're into old Wuxias, that's another reason for you to watch. The only problems I had with is the pacing at times, but that's me just wanting to get back into the chase more than anything. And the logic in how some of the fight scenes are staged is questionable, sometimes I'd be sitting wondering "why don't they all just attack at once?" But that's nothing untypical for any action movie that involves a lot of fighting. All in all, this is one of the most visceral action movie's I've seen in a while and it while it may not land it's punch with everyone, I'd recommend it to hardcore action junkies like myself that are looking for an alternative to the sanitized PG-13 action movies that are the norm now.
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