First Trailer for "The Man with the Iron Fists"

You'll get your first look at the film's poster in this afternoon's Photo Bomb!

I'm not sure I'm loving this film, but it did look interesting enough to give it its own featured post. Just yesterday the first trailer for "The Man with the Iron Fists" hit the internet. The film is produced by Quentin Tarantino, written by Eli Roth and RZA, and directed by RZA. For those of you unfamiliar with RZA (or, Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, for those of you that prefer his given name to his stage name), he's somewhat of a modern renaissance man. You'll probably be most familiar with his membership in the hip-hop group, Wu-Tang Clan, but he's much more into the overall music producing business these days than anything. Along with music, RZA is also an accomplished writer, actor, and now, director. He's contributed to soundtracks for such films as "8 Mile", "Smokin' Aces", and "Repo Men", and acting in a variety of films, including "Coffee and Cigarettes", "American Gangster", and "Funny People".

This time though, RZA gives his screenwriting and feature film directing a shot for "The Man with the Iron Fists".

As you'll be able to tell from the trailer after the break, the film is very stylized, and you can tell that Quentin Tarantino's presence was definitely felt; the film features the same exaggerated, brutal violence featured in films of his like the Kill Bill duo. The cast is impressive, and even though this is RZA's first directorial effort, you can tell he's much respected in the entertainment industry. Along with RZA, who's also acting in the film, the cast includes Russell Crowe, Jamie Chung, Lucy Liu, Pam Grier, and Cung Lee. The film, again similar to Kill Bill, is reminiscent of classic kung-fu movies, and is something of a battle royale between various clans in a feudal China.

Check out the gallons of blood splatter and cool looking weapons designs for this film after the break.


Here's the trailer, first featured on IGN.



As you can see, the film is full of buckets of blood and plenty of over-the-top action. I will say that first off, I really like the art design of this. I think it looks awesome and obviously super stylized. But that being said, I wasn't ever a fan of Tarantino's Kill Bill movies, and this has a very reminiscent feel to them (even featuring Lucy Liu again). If it plays like those movies, I'll probably have little interest other than with the art. But we'll wait and see with this one for now. Otherwise, I love the fact that Rusell Crowe is in this, and that gets me more excited than any other aspects of this film. Much like Leonardo DiCaprio in his interesting turn for "Django Unchained", this also seems like an odd yet intriguing selection for Crowe. But Crowe as something of an old West cowboy in an über-violent film? Sign me up!

This one will be releasing sometime later this year, though an official release date has not been set yet. I'm not sure if this will result in a theater visit for me or not, but I can easily say that I'm intrigued with the film. It's still yet to be seen whether RZA will be able to handle such a fast-paced film like this and keep everything together, but having Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth around definitely won't hurt things.

And just in case you're interested, here's the official synopsis for the film:

Quentin Tarantino presents The Man With the Iron Fists, an action-adventure inspired by kung-fu classics as interpreted by his longtime collaborators RZA and Eli Roth. Making his debut as a big-screen director and leading man, RZA—alongside a stellar international cast led by Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu—tells the epic story of warriors, assassins and a lone outsider hero in nineteenth-century China who must unite to destroy the clan traitor who would destroy them all.

Since his arrival in China’s Jungle Village, the town’s blacksmith (RZA) has been forced by radical tribal factions to create elaborate tools of destruction. When the clans’ brewing war boils over, the stranger channels an ancient energy to transform himself into a human weapon. As he fights alongside iconic heroes and against soulless villains, one man must harness this power to become savior of his adopted people.

Blending astonishing martial-arts sequences from some of the masters of this world with the signature vision he brings as the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan and as one of hip-hop’s most dominant figures of the past two decades, RZA embarks upon his most ambitious, stylized and thrilling project to date.

What do you guys think? Do you like the overly stylized look and feel to this one? Do you have confidence in RZA with a project such as this?