Abduction (2019)

 

Abduction (2019)- * *1\2

Directed by: Ernie Barbarash 

Starring: Scott Adkins, Andy On, Aki Aleong and Truong Anh

A man named Quinn (Adkins) wakes up in a mysterious room with a bunch of other abducted people, including his young daughter. Everyone has these weird, spider-like devices on the backs of their necks. Quinn manages to escape his captors, and somehow crawls out of a fountain in Vietnam. Last time he checked, it was 1985, and the fact that it's now 2018 is very disturbing to him. Naturally, people think he's crazy and a doctor named Anna (Anh) tries to get to the root of his problem.


Of course, she doesn't believe his tale of missing time and alien ABDUCTION, but when Conner (On) appears with a similar story involving his wife, the three of them get wrapped up in an adventure involving body-snatching aliens who are genuinely interested in Feng Shui. The Expert who may be able to figure out what's going on is Dao (Aleong), but the fact that these extraterrestrials have Martial Arts skills and regenerating power are going to make them tough opponents. Will Quinn and Conner rescue their loved ones from the diabolical space-baddies?


Well, you gotta give Abduction this: at least it's something different. It's DTV Sci-Fi action but thankfully it's not a space slog. So we do give it props for that right off the bat. Our personal hero Scott Adkins is quite good in the film, in both the acting and Martial Arts departments. Without him and his magnetic presence, the movie would have suffered a lot. But it does bring the action, there's no doubt about that, and at regular intervals we get some pretty nifty fight scenes with a Sci-Fi twist.


Sure, the plot doesn't make the most amount of sense, but so what? Most movies that make sense are boring. At least Abduction had some interesting ideas contained within it. The baddies provided worthy fight-foils for Adkins and On, even though it must be said that On's character of Conner is not very likable. Elements of They Live (1988) and The Matrix (1999) are there underneath the surface, and it's all mostly a bunch of quasi-nonsensical fun. Adkins is on record as stating that the fight scene in They Live is his favorite of all time, so he was probably happy to be in something with similar overtones. On perhaps a related note, one of director Ernie Barbarash's first films was called They Wait (2007).


The problem is the usual one: why is this movie 100 minutes long? It should have been 85. Barbarash's movies with Van Damme - Assassination Games (2011), 6 Bullets (2012), and Pound of Flesh (2015) - and Michael Jai White - Falcon Rising (2014) - are all well over the recommended 90-minute mark. Here, Adkins reunites with Barbarash after Assassination Games, which was one of the film's better ideas.


While Abduction may not be most people's first choice for cinematic entertainment, you could do a heck of a lot worse, and for fans it's worth seeing at least once for the Adkins factor alone.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Black Mask 2: City Of Masks (2002)

Black Mask 2: City Of Masks (2002)-* * *

Directed by: Tsui Hark

Starring: Andy On, Traci Lords, Jon Polito, Andrew Byrniarski, Rob Van Dam, Tyler Mane, Tobin Bell, and Scott Adkins











Moloch (Bell) and King (Polito) run a wrestling federation with a stable of “wrestling superstars” that include Thorn (Mane), Iguana (Bryniarski), Claw (Van Dam), Wolf (Erhuero), Snake (Mukes), and Chameleon (Lords). However, thanks to some DNA modification, he’s giving them the power their character might really have, but in a wildly mutated fashion. But now they’re running wild. Black Mask (On) not only has to stop them, he’s got to race against time to correct his own genetically-related problems. He’s going to need the help of Dr. Marco Leung (Herrera), and a young boy, Raymond (Marquette) that looks up to Black Mask because he saved his life from a rampaging evil wrestler. Pulling all the strings is evil puppet master Dr. Lang (Adkins). Black Mask sure has his hands full this time!

Okay. Anyone who reads this site knows how we feel about CGI. We think it’s the scourge of the movie industry and all traces of it should be wiped from the earth. It does nothing but ruin movies and make them look bad, only serving as a crutch to lazy filmmakers. Meanwhile the arts of makeup, monster effects, stunts, and Martial Arts - typically the things CGI is replacing - fade further into the distance. And while we’re not changing our stance anytime soon, we still liked Black Mask 2. It has CGI in seemingly every scene, but this movie is so wildly silly, we don’t really care.

What the filmmakers were obviously trying to do was make a live-action comic book. In 2002, CGI was still relatively new, so the adventurous Chinese makers of this movie decided to try to use this new technology to advance their vision. While it doesn’t always gel, it’s done so un-cynically and with such verve, we’re willing to give them a pass.  Director Tsui Hark, who we’re a fan of, brings that off-kilter, kinetic style and plenty of cockeyed angles, as well as a zooming, constantly in-motion feel to complete the comic-booky fun. We liked the idea of combining ideas from the worlds of wrestling, comic books and genetic engineering (!)  - we felt that was creative and original so we’ll look the other way at some of the dodgier aspects of this movie.

On top of that, there are actual Martial Arts fights, as well as wire-fu and more traditional stunts, all overseen by the great Yuen Wo-Ping. And though this was Andy On’s debut film, you’d never know it. He completely holds his own with the cast of more experienced actors. Joining him as the Kato-like Black Mask are fan favorites such as Rob Van Dam (Bloodmoon, 1997), Tobin Bell (Best Of the Best 4, 1998), and Traci Lords who looks...odd...and we prefer her in things from her classic non-porn DTV era such as A Time To Die (1991), Raw Nerve (1991), and Intent To Kill (1992), but she did liven things up in an already pretty lively movie. Super fan favorite Scott Adkins is unrecognizable as Dr. Lang, a character that looks like it wandered off the set of a Jeunet & Caro movie. But we did appreciate the presence of Adkins, as we usually do.

In all, if you’re charitable enough to forgive its trespasses, Black Mask 2 is a silly good time.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty