No Caine, No Gain

A lieutenant officer working the first day on the job, a group of prisoners being transported to a high security facility, a father and daughter looking for their nanny’s home, and a mysterious interracial inner city gang. . . what do they all have in common? They all almost fatefully find their way to an emptied police precinct on the verge of closure in John Carpenter’s 1976 low budget cult classic Assault on Precinct 13. Only John Carpenter’s second feature film, the writer/director weaves these four stories together, a doomed pacing drawing them all to one location for a single fateful night. The officer is Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), an African American working his first day on the job. . . given a seemingly uneventful task, he is the man in charge of the derelict Precinct 13 – a semi-closed location that will have its power and telephone lines shut off the next morning. The only remaining skeleton staff are: Sergeant Chaney (Henry Brandon) and a pair of secretaries, Leigh (Laurie Zimmer) and Julie (Nancy Kyes).

You’ve got to give credit to guerrilla film making. Usually encompassing a newish director and actors, a limited budget, rebellious on-location shoots, and a certain disregard for rules and regulations (mostly due to a lack of money), some of cinemas most unique and creative pictures have come from this cheap form of movie making. Think Rocky, The Evil Dead, El Mariachi, Clerks, and today’s motion picture, Mad Max (1979). Made for 400 thousand Australian dollars, it went on to make more than 100 million US worldwide – at that point holding the Guinness Book of World Records for most profitable film (only losing it in 1999 to The Blair Witch Project). Putting writer/director George Miller and star Mel Gibson (in his first leading role) on the map, it also thrust Australian New Wave cinema into global consciousness, while bringing forth a surge in dystopic movies that dealt with similar ideas and themes. In fact, it was such a success, it also spawned three sequels – Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior (1981), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), and the Gibson-less Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). . . this most recent effort considered an instant classic (and one of the best reviewed films of the year).

If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if fifty savage prisoners attempted to attack a single man in a prison stall, then 2014's The Raid 2 might just be for you. Before moving on, to let you in on how they shot the scene, a simply genius technique is used where the stall walls are on hinges – so that the handheld camera can get in and around the developing action. Written, edited, and directed by Gareth Evans, this Indonesian import is a sequel to 2011's The Raid: Redemption (also created by Evans), starting up a mere two hours after the previous film finished. Miraculously, you really do not need to see the original, as this story is easy to catch on to, despite its complexity when compared to the 2011 feature. If Redemption was shot in the style of a non-stop action video game, its sequel is as if John Carpenter (Escape From New York) and David Cronenberg (A History of Violence) came together with Martin Scorsese to create a twisty story along the lines of The Departed.

With some early success in China in the mid to late 1970s, Jackie Chan attempted to break into Hollywood – making appearances in The Big Brawl (1980), The Cannonball Run and its sequel (1981 and 1984), and starring in The Protector (1985). . . perhaps you would think that this was the beginning of his now illustrious career, but no. His supporting roles did not bring him fame in the west, while his first American starring role was a box office bomb. Instead of returning to China sunken and defeated, he began work on what would arguably become his greatest film, Police Story (1985), co-writing and co-directing with Edward Tang and Chi-Hwa Chen respectively. Taking on the starring role of Chan Ka Kui, Chan brings forth that appealing blend of comedic goof-ball and ninja mastermind – a more than likeable everyman who just happens to be a master of the martial arts (for most of his future roles, Chan would play slight variations on this iconic character – making him one of the most popular action stars of the past thirty years).

Some roles just fit an actor like a finely made bespoke suit – and, in this case, said suit has a special bulletproof lining. . . you guessed it, I’m talking about Keanu Reeves as John Wick. Everything, from his direct delivery, longish hairstyle, and action persona, fit the character, and in the third feature in the franchise, 2019's John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, director Chad Stahelski (who has helmed all three efforts) builds on the previous two, creating an over the top, stylistic extravaganza that will make action fans giddy! If you saw Chapter 2, the film opened with silent film star Buster Keaton projected on a New York City building, symbolic in that this character is in many ways like The Great Stoneface’s iconic persona. . . as I put it in my previous review, Wick “bumps, crashes and bangs his way through foes, a wandering ‘tramp’ with no true home, albeit, wealthier, better dressed and much more connected”, well, as this picture opens, we once again see Keaton on a New York City building, only this time it is a sequence from his 1922 short Cops (a narrative in which the man is constantly being chased by the police, evading them time and time again in clever ways) – implying that this time, Wick will not be on the offensive, but rather, the defensive, endlessly tracked down after being marked as ‘excommunicado’ by the all powerful High Table for breaking their rules at the end of the last film.