The Man with the Iron Fists

This is a movie produced, not directed by Quentin Tarantino, thus the heavy influence of Tarantino´s style in the many and endless action sequences. The story is set in the time of Imperial China. in the very fictional Jungle Village, home of several groups, clans that have adopted an animal as a a way to identify their combat styles, their clothes and they weapons they use. The story is told in first person by the town's blacksmith, an African american who came to China escaping slavery in the U.S. and was trained in a temple. The Emperor is to receive a gold shpment and this treasure is to be safguarded. The first protector of the shipment is the leader of the Lion clan called Gold Lion who is murdered by an assassin called Poison Dagger who is secretly working with Silver Lion, the second in command to take over the shipment. When he gets news of his father's death, Gold Lion's son, Zen-Yi, decides to return to the village he had left in the past to be his father's avenger. At the same time, a man called Jack Knife (Russell Crowe) arrives at Pink Blossom, a brothel in the village which is owned by the very deadly Madame Blossom (Lucy Liu). There is also the mercenary called Brass Body (Batista) who is virtually invulnerable because his body becomes metal when he is attacked plus the governor has chosen the Jackal clan to be his enforcers and sends them to the village with a gatling gun. They will all take a side and they will all perform fights the likes of which you have not seen since Kill Bill and in the end very few will survive and they will all have changed as a result of the conflict, especially the man who will get the Iron Fists which is one of the characters I already mentioned. But you have to see the movie to find out which one is that and how that happened to him.
Three stars out of five for this one.