Blood & Bone
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DVD details
Actor: Michael Jai WhiteBrand: Son
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.77:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-09-15
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Blood & Bone
DVD Review: One of the better DTV releases you will see
Summary: 3 Stars
I want to just start off and say that this movie is definitely worth checking out. The action is satisfying with fast and slick martial arts moves, if unrealistic at times. I am not an MMA buff or a martial arts enthusiast but I have been a sucker for these types of films since American Ninja, Blood Sport and Enter the Dragon first captured my imagination when I was a kid. I just enjoy seeing an on screen tough guy kicking butt and taking names.
Michael Jai White has magnificent screen presence. He is a tall, muscular, good looking guy with loads of charisma and confidence. I'm sure he is a big hit with the ladies and his machismo certainly makes him appealing to guys as well, particularly action fans such as myself. He is clearly an accomplished martial artist (I believe he has 7 black belts) and his movements are so quick and punishing that he looks like a modern Bruce Lee. I like him a lot and would like to see him get more work, but I have to say that his acting does seem limited from what I have seen him in. I first remember him from Spawn and have caught his work in several other films as well and the characters he plays really isn't much different than the character he plays in this film. I'll have to check out Black Dynamite to see how he fairs at comedy but so far he seems to fall back on the same stone faced, man of few words tough guy in most of his films. In Blood and Bone, I can't recall many scenes where he showed any emotion at all. Pain, fear and anger would seem like no brainers in a movie like this but there also moments where he could have done a better job at expressing sorrow and anxiety, yet nothing. His characters have ice water running through their veins and though that may appeal to many writing reviews here, it does not make for a well rounded movie, even a martial arts spectacle like this.
Ok so you don't have to be a great actor to make a great martial arts flick, but Michael Jai White seems to suffer from what I call the 'Steven Seagal complex'. Steven Seagal used to always irritate me in his films because he would never get hurt. He was untouchable in most of his films, a pony tailed superman who never kicked with his legs. Guys would attack him one by one and he tossed each of them through a window, one by one. In this movie, Michael Jai White is indestructable, he can't be touched (though he certainly puts on a much more entertaining show than Seagal ever could). He beats the crap out of everyone, never breaks a sweat and never looks vulnerable for even the most fleeting of moments. Chances are the good guy is going to save the day no matter what, but by making this character so untouchable, it removed any tension what so ever these movies usually need to have to stay interesting. I loved the choreography, but otherwise I found myself bored with the too tough and too cool for school nature of the Michael Jai White character. Not only does he have complete control over his physical encounters, but he never falters emotionally or psychologically either, he is the perfect specimen! If he is so perfect, then what the heck was he doing in a Maximum security prison with murderers and rapists in the beginning of the film? We never get to know this character. Tony Jaa is my favorite modern martial artist in film, and he combines breathtaking stunts and moves with the right amount of tension and character depth which this movie lacks.
Another drawback are the villains in the film, I just didn't hate or fear them enough to the point where I couldn't wait to see Michael Jai White kick the crap out of them. The main villain is played by the talented Eamonn Walker, of Oz fame, but this character starts to fall apart all too soon in the film. I pitied him more than anything, which is too bad because Walker definitely has the talent to take a villain to Hannibal Lecter/Joker levels if he only had better writing to work with.
I see a lot of the people praising the story in this film but I just don't see where the praise comes from. It's a razor thin plot focused on revenge. The hero, as I just talked about, is incredibly one dimensional and every other character in the film other than Eamonn Walker's, a truly gifted actor, is quite shallow. The plot itself is predictable and the writing at times can be cheesy, though it is engaging enough. There is also a clear racial subtheme which echoes the black power themes of 70s blaxploitation flicks. I like this theme in the older blaxploitation movies but it just doesn't quite resonate in this film or in this era. While watching the movie, I don't recall seeing a single good white male in the entire film. The one female white lead is purely a sex object and there are plenty of references, verbally or visually, to inequity and inustice. Eamonn Walker does have a very witty response to a racist remark uttered by a British crime lord that had me laughing out loud though, it was great. Whatever racial theme the writer may have been trying to put forth really isn't deep enough to resonate with the viewer in my opinion.
After watching this film I have decided that Michael Jai White belongs in more movies, but he would make a much better antagonist. He has such screen presence and looks invincible as soon as he enters a scene that he would make a great villain. The bad guy, as long as he is not the star of the movie, can be more one dimensional and get away with it. The whole movie could be spent dreading that final battle between the hero and the seemingly indestructable Michael Jai White. It actually worked in Universal Soldier: The Return, an otherwise terrible movie that White made watchable.
I think as I get older I like my martial arts films a little deeper and a little more complex. Redbelt is one of my favorites to come out in a long time, but I still enjoyed and definitely recommend Blood and Bone.
Description of Blood & Bone
No description available for this title.Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: R
Street Date: 09/15/09
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
Language: ENGLISH
Foreign Film: noSubtitles: no
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: no
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve
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