Overrated

As Good As It Gets

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I agree with the other reviewer who wrote that there's a good movie buried here, but with Al Adamson at the helm, it was never going to appear on screen. His incompetency as a filmmaker is astounding. How can you make so many mistakes? For example, you have a good set of kung-fu actors who know how to stage a fight, but you'd never know it watching East Meets Watts or Dynamite Brothers or whatever you want to call it. The fight scenes are horribly shot. Add to that a plot that makes absolutely no sense, ridiculous dialogue, stilted delivery, and a lack of any technical acumen, and you've got one very poor movie. I think one of my favorite bits in the movie might have been the character named Stud Brown - how awesome is that!One of the things that amazed me as I watched East Meets Watts was how in God's name did Adamson convince Aldo Ray and James Hong to be in this pile of dung? Both are very accomplished actors who deserved way better than this.

I'm giving this turkey a one out of 10. It's supposed to be a mix of kung fu action with blaxploitation and it utterly fails to be either. The kung fu scenes are totally lame (there is a Lee Van Cleef look alike who dies at least three times) and the black action is shot in near total darkness and really weak anyhow. Add on that there are ZERO hot chicks in this, the ones in it are average off the street women, big deal! This film has zero going for it, which is probably why the Cinematic Titanic crew picked it to riff. I watched it on Hulu and it's a live audience version. As a riffed film I'm going to give it a 6 or 7'sh. It's not the funniest thing I've seen from this talent but it's not the worst, I laughed several times. Something about Kung Fu films and them getting riffed so far has not been the greatest, although my memory may be lacking I can only think of the Castle Of Fu Manchu and this was better then that early MST3K episode, oh yeah they also riffed the Lee Van Cleef The Master TV show and that was one of the very few things I couldn't finish from MST3K, so I guess this is the best Kung Fu riffed material I've seen but thats not saying much. Since it was probably heavily edited for Cinematic Titanic there may have been some decent nudity and bloody action scenes so maybe I'm being too harsh on it, if it had ANY nudity in it (the mute black chick), I'd give it a 3, but as for the version I watched it's a 1 film on it's own, and a 6 Cinematic Titanic film. I am thinking it's one of the worst things ever made in Hollywood stuff. Epic Fail.

But sadly, we'll never get to see it. Adamson once again demonstrates that he doesn't know how to pace a dramatic scene, frame a fight scene (featuring some pretty good stunt men) or a shootout, get a rookie actor to deliver a decent line of dialog, write dialog, or even tell a story that makes sense. There's a lot of potential to this one (a kung fu flick AND a blaxploitation flick), but about 30 seconds into the opening credits you know it'll never come together.The kung fu guy really doesn't have any personality on camera to speak of (I blame a lot of this on his ESL skills and the lines he's given to work with). The black guy (tellingly named "Stud Brown", what a giveaway) is reasonably smooth and presentable, but his character is just a cardboard stand-in for the Jim Brown flavor of the month. The movie tries for a soul vibe (most obviously with the character of "Smiling Man") and a bohemian hipster vibe and several other changes of pace, but it's all just going through the motions. Watch for the scene where the kung fu guy leaps out through a 2nd story window when a henchman pulls a gun (actually a pretty good idea) shattering glass and wood, and then lands outside without a mark on him. Watch for the stunt scene where the two handcuffed protagonists jump off a supposedly moving truck and one of them rolls in the wrong direction as they land. Also look for the scene where the kung fu guy is tossed into a cave and a rattlesnake is tossed in after him, and the movie tries to ignore the fact that there is obviously plenty of room for the guy to get out of the cave without ever going near the snake. And that's just the stunts, mind you. The whole movie has that characteristic "I just point the cameras and let them roll" feel, and it doesn't look as if there were a whole lot of 2nd takes or unused footage. On the other hand, this is still way better than "Brain Of Blood" and actually has better performances (Aldo Ray is actually pretty decent in a thankless part), so from now on I will remember this director as an "incompetent hack" rather than "an idiot behind a camera".

Al Adamson was one of the first US directors to use a Hong Kong Stunt team in America. He was a trendsetter for once. The Dynamite Brothers is a real low budget film that has a sleazy feel to it. Alan Tang (former 70's Golden Harvest matinee kung-fu star) stars as a F.O.T.B. chinese looking for his long lost brother. But trouble awaits for him as he "leaps" off the boat. A group of martial Artist led by "MR. Vampire" Ching-Ying Lam attack him on the docks. After dispatching his opponents, Alan heads off to find his brother. He eventually crosses pathes with Stud Brown and the two become the Defiant Ones. What keeps this movie from being great is the bad directing by Al Adamson and his lousy cameraman. They obviously don't know how to film or correctally frame a fight scene. This is sad becuase the action scenes (directed by Ching-Ying Lam) are remarkable. A lot of familiar faces pop up uncredited such as future Sammo Hung Stunt team Members Peter Chan Lung, Philip Ko and Mars can be seen in the back ground. If there was a budget, Al Adamson must have spent it on flying these guys out to California. Besides the cheap feel to the movie, it's not that bad. I enjoyed very much. Alan Tang only got the lead becuase he's the only one that can speak english fluently, Ching-Ying Lam didn't know how to speak english and the others spoke very little. After watching Alan Tang in action, you'll be wanting to watch his older, H.K. work. He's one bad dude. Recommended for historical purposes. B+