Kill 'em All

"You are taken to the killing chamber. One will be allowed to leave here...after all the others have been killed." - Snakehead

release year: 2012
genre: martial arts action
viewing setting: home Bluray 12/28/14

synopsis: Eight top assassins are captured, locked up, and made to fight each other to the death.

impressions: This was insane, in a good way: almost constant action, with all forms of fighting (weaponless, swords, staves, spears, guns.) It started off feeling like "Saw" but with martial arts people. As the plot advances, we eventually learn what's going on, and it actually makes sense (which I didn't think it would, ten minutes into the movie.)

acting: Tim Man (who's also a skilled fight choreographer) is one of the most memorable prisoners. Ditto for Ammara Siripong, who looks good fighting as well as just sitting there. The late karate champion Joe Lewis is another, American prisoner. Johnny Messner has the most talking of any protagonist, but is often irritating since he seems to just ramble on. Gordon Liu is the bald head bad guy. There were some other greta martial artists here, but I'm unsure which ones match up to which character names.

final word: Interesting and action-packed mix of genres.

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