Good concept, poorly executed.
... View MoreA Brilliant Conflict
... View MoreAt first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
... View MoreGreat example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
... View MoreBLIND WARRIOR isn't an easy movie to comment on, knowing, going in, that it was made around the time of the slaughter(s) documented in THE ACT OF KILLING. I had an uneasy feeling not unlike the feeling I experienced when I sat through CAPTAIN America: THE WINTER SOLDIER (in which a major character sported the logo of a slave-labor operation where 1,129 hapless workers were crushed by a collapsing sweat shop). Still, I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt and comment on its relative merits (or lack of same). While it's essentially an Indonesian version (i.e.; rip-off) of John Carpenter's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, it DOES have its moments (few and far between though they may be): the giant statue, with its "glowing" eyes that the local villains worship; the cheesy but acceptable no-budget effects (better than in, say, 99% of the El Santo or Paul Naschy movies... for what THAT'S worth...); a hero worthy of the title, who boasts magical powers like the power of flight and who is capable of fighting his way out of one of the Pits of Hell... but who, for reasons never made clear, literally ABANDONS the villagers he's come to "protect" the moment the villains mount an assault on the little village (at which point, we're treated to more decapitations per square foot than at a CIA-backed Guatemalan death squad crime scene...). THESE scenes are the most uncomfortable to watch, especially in view of what we've seen in the aforementioned documentary, THE ACT OF KILLING.
... View MoreI cannot even begin to tell you what the plot of this film is and I don't think it matters. It's from the Philippines and that's probably all you need to know.It's very cheaply made. There are natives and idols and sacrifices. Not sure if it was supposed to be set in the past. Anyways the "plot" sort of is catching a blind man -- warrior. But they ca't cuz he's too good. And getting some girl.It's a weird and wacky movie. The blind warrior seems to have powers to fly like superman. And he's kind of like Jesus to the people.So the film plods on and then....toward the end....it goes berserk. Fights galore. Blood. Be-headings. Impaling. guns, arrows. It's never ending with sound effects like a stooges movie. t's crazy
... View MoreRuthless Raden Panna (which always sounds like characters are saying 'Rotten Panna') has enslaved a village and taken over their goldmine. To amuse himself, he has young ladies offers as sacrifices to his God, when he is actually just taking them to bed. Enter Barta, blind warrior, who can't stand to see...er, hear these injustices going on.Another wacky Indonesian flick from the director of THE DEVIL'S SWORD. The first hour is pretty normal, but then the last half hour just pours on the insane. I say pours because there is tons of blood flowing thanks to spearings, beheadings, slashings, and exploding bodies. I swear, something like 50 or so of Panna's henchmen are killed. What is really funny is that the filmmakers have basically remade BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA from the previous year. That end confrontation - a small group bands together to stop a wedding, complete with an identical huge statue - is just like Carpenter's film. Hilarious! My favorite thing about the film is when the villagers do the cliché bit and ask Barta to stay and help. He basically says, "No, I've got things to do" and splits. Then they are all slaughtered! Even in the end, he only disposes of the big guy. Everyone else has to do the ground work. Classic!
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