One Million K(l)icks, 2014.
Directed by Alex Padrutt and Oliver Juhrs
Starring Mike Moeller, Martin Baden, Bartholomaeus Kowalski, Volkram Zschiesche, Sabine Steinbach and Yanlong Li.
SYNOPSIS:
A fighter with a heart of gold finds himself drawn into an Internet-streaming underground martial arts tournament.
Since Bruce Lee took on an island of fighting experts in Enter the Dragon, martial arts cinema has been incredibly popular. Van Damme and Chuck Norris become the next line of icons, before Jackie Chan’s popularity spread west from his home nation and found an audience in the US and Europe. The evolution of the fight sequence has been interesting too.
Whilst Lee’s fight sequences still hold up very well today, particularly due to his immense on-screen charisma, the intricacy and intensity of fight sequences have developed massively. Chan introduced the world to fast, frantic sequences laced with comical brilliance and eye-popping feats of physical prowess. In more recent times the level of impact has increased. The very best fight scenes look extreme and painful as stunt men and the leading men favour contact on camera to increase the realism and allow for a wider range of camera angles. In The Raid 1 and 2 the audience were treated to fights of fiery intensity and brutal impact, while Donnie Yen continues to push the envelope in Chinese action cinema (whilst still not getting the appreciation here that contemporaries, Chan and Jet Li were rewarded). So in the year 2015, we find ourselves at a stage in action cinema where it’s very hard to produce something exciting and dazzling on the eye. Even in big budget blockbusters a fight rests at times on additional factors like visual effects, camera tricks or frenetic editing. Alongside the likes of Yen, Tony Jaa and from the west, Scott Adkins and Michael Jai White continue to impress at varying budget levels.
So, we come to One Million K(l)icks. Yet another fight film. Like all other martial arts epics it has a history of past films to try and live up to, but no star name to rest on. A Van Damme fight sequence looks outdated in its choreography and execution, but it’s still Van Damme and he sells it. Without the star power you need fights that will capture the audience’s attention. One Million K(l)icks is jam-packed with fights, but do they impress?
The story is simple. This is often the case in this genre. A flimsy premise on which fisticuffs can be unleashed. Mike Moller, who looks a little like a pocket-sized version of Daniel Craig, full to the brim with martial arts expertise and springs in his heels, plays Michael, an obnoxious idiot who tries unsuccessfully, and ungentlemanly, to pick up women. Occasionally he gets into fights. He captures the attentions of a couple of internet geeks who have the bright idea of filming him in order to post videos up on the internet and make a tonne of money. So Michael and his associates
then set about being obnoxious in order to start fights with martial arts experts. Along the way of course Michael learns that he should stop being a douche-bag and comes to terms with his deep-rooted father issues before the inevitable final showdown.
So there’s not much to the story. That said we live in a moronic age and the internet breeds idiocy. The film in that respect is somewhat topical, and makes it differ slightly from the atypical revenge or simple tournament structure that a lot of these films have. Anyone can become an internet star these days. You just need a camera. Absolute end of bells walk the streets filming pranks that are nothing more than obnoxious attempts to be funny, and pull in advertising revenue on their YouTube sites, but more fool the people watching and contributing to lining the talentless idiots pockets. So, if it hasn’t happened already, how long before we see instigated fights becoming commonplace and popular online?
The fight sequences are impressive. They make up for the somewhat wooden acting and dull cinematography. As seems commonplace in films like this, the directors (Alex Padrutt and Oliver Juhrs) seem to treat all the non-fighting sequences as something of a chore, but suddenly a fight breaks out and everything is injected with energy and precision. Moller is a physical dynamo, bouncing around screen like he’s had a rocket lit up his backside. The fights are fierce and efficiently cut without resorting to editing tricks to spruce up the action. The choreography, performance and some solid steadicam work do that fine.
One Million K(l)icks won’t win any originality awards, nor stay as long in the memory as something like The Raid, but it’s entertaining enough for genre enthusiasts.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Tom Jolliffe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=Yo85WjqklYY
Originally published October 27, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
