Viraj's Weblog

This movie reminded me of the various street acrobatics videos out there. It had some really cool stunts, which I always get a kick out of watching. I had heard this movie came from the producers of Ong-bak, which pretty much blew me away with its martial arts style and stunts. They are different from the Jackie Chan type of stunts, as well as the wire-pulled anti-gravity flying martial arts so prevalent in movies these days. I really don't get why people get a kick out of that. Those seem happy and PG-rated to me. When it comes to martial arts, I'm more interested in real fighting with no strings attached. The street and ghetto-style building hopping of B13 gives a true gritty feel to the stunts and seem almost R-rated.

The violence and drugs in the movie also contributes to that. In general I found the story entertaining and cinematography very stylish. The storyline is interesting, that the ghettos have been walled off and a neutron bomb just happened to get inside the complex. Reminds me of another wall in the middle east, and perhaps the director is hinting at that.

Speaking of flying martial arts, I saw the trailer for the new Jet Li movie Fearless which looked cool. I still like the Crouching Tiger types of movies because they are so beautifully done, even if everyone is flying.