It's a good kind of hurt: BROKEN PATH and DEVON'S GHOST: LEGEND OF THE BLOODY BOY

I will watch the workof a filmmaker, actor, cinematographer, fight choreographer or nubile young woman if I see ONE thing that I like by them.

And I will follow them home and stare through the bedroom window as they undress.

It's a naive notion that that an artist will consistent create a certain quality of work, but it's one that I blindly believe in. Sometimes you get SHAUN OF THE DEAD after SPACED other times you're shanked by SWEPT AWAY after SNATCH.

Koichi Sakamoto first caught my attention with his work on the flat out brilliant martial arts film DRIVE. Koichi is a Japanese stuntman/action choreographer that brought the best of kinetic Hong Kong action choreography to the screen (In a North American production no less!) Sadly, after Drive fizzled on it's Direct to Television run (Butchered by the Producers) Koichi dissapeared into the fog to work on Power Rangers TV shows.

Every now and then, he and his ALPHA STUNT team would work on a feature film that gets released with a whimper.

I hunt down every one.

Even if they finally ending up sucking.

Really badly.

BROKEN PATH



It's difficult to review a film that's composed of nothing but fight scenes. Literally, Broken Path has 70 minutes of its running time dedicated to people punching themselves repeatedly in the face. The fights are cleverly choreographed, suitably graphic, filled with real stuntman pain and evenly paced. If you like martial arts films, you MUST check this out.

There's nothing more for me to say.

You still here?

FINE!

The story-line about EX-POWER ranger Johnny Yong Bosch moving in with his wife and child to a new cottage home. Twenty minutes in, they get attacked by a gang of masked thugs. I expected them to rape and kill Johnny's wife and the rest of the film would be a revenge action beat'em up.

Nope.

Johnny decides to fight them...and fight them...and fight them...till the film ends. It's almost impossible to criticize because it plainly succeeds at what it sets out to be: A kick-ass stunt man show reel. Sure, the first twenty minutes are slow going. It looks like they filmed in their mom's vacation spot (It's convenient they land on plastic tarps when it's time to slice off an arm or lop off a head) The acting is sub-par and the storyline we do get is moronic. But really, do the people fight reaaaaal good? Yes. Did I ever get bored? No. I can't deny there's a sensory overload, but it's still very well planned out to keep the audience interested as opposed to numbed.

The film has languished unreleased for three years, but I heard through a digital bird that it MAY be floating around on the internet somewhere. But what do I know.


DEVON'S GHOST: LEGEND OF THE BLOODY BOY

I can hear the can't miss pitch meeting now:

"Hey guys! Lets make a slasher film with no gore, a confusing as hell storyline that doesn't involve a ghost at all and 35 year olds pretending to be teenagers! One word: Box Office Gold"

Beware the lengthy title. It's the harbinger of doom. Another warning sign is that the film is directed by Koichi Sakamoto AND the star of the film Johnny Yong Bosch. Duel directors (especially star/director combos) usually spell a troubled set.

Some people killed some other people, and a girl is afraid that the person that killed this person is still alive, even if everyone says he's dead, and they read off cue cards and everyone spits blood when they die. The killer has a baseball bat with a saw blade in it and he walks around with a baseball cap over his eyes like I made the bad guys do in the short films I made when I was twelve.

Bad in an dull unfunny way, BLOODY GHOST has maybe one or two hilariously inept scenes and a climax filled with weirdly out of place martial arts fights that are good, but not great. Watch it if it comes on television at 2 AM and nothing else is on. It shall float meekly out of your memory once the sun shines bright.

The only memorable part was a lengthy conversation with this very comfortable man:




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