Die Fighting (2014)
The Secret to Success
Here at Project DeadPost we don’t just like Horror, Sci-Fi and Cult films.
We like violence…
I mean kung fu films so here’s one that might have flown under your radar.
Written, directed and starring Fabien Garcia, Die Fighting is a low budget Mixed Martial Arts film that punches well above it’s weight.
Fabien is a director who, along with 3 of his friends, have just had some success with one of his short films but are longing to make a full length feature film.
Thanks to a mysterious and sadistic director they are going to star in a real life or death martial arts movie.
Now this does have a low budget look about it and due to a combination of their accents and the music drowning out what they are saying you will miss some dialogue.
The plot whilst original is basic and a lot of the acting is not the best but they tried.
So how does this punch above its weight?
Well the romantic aspect of the story, there always has to be one, is merely there as motivation for the friends to play the directors game and not really explored that much so it gets points for that from me.
The film’s plot is only there to link fight scenes together and the film almost immediately jumps into the action plus once it starts it hardly stops.
Only the briefest of interludes between fights means very little wasted time on redundant and unnecessary story and dialogue, also acting thankfully.
For a film like this you are only here for the fighting so as little downtime as possible is essential and Die Fighting doesn’t fall into the trap of trying to be more than it is.
Trying to fit a story in where one doesn’t belong but with that said I did like the twist at the end.
There were errors with it but it was nice and darkened the tone suitably.
The real reason I and most of you will watch this film, the fights.
They are spectacular. Fast and relentless, beautifully choreographed with nice stunt work that shows all the lead actors definitely know what they are doing.
This reminded me of the first time I watched Marc Dacascos’ Drive (1997). Another low budget martial arts film I would recommend.
There is one scene involving a gun fight that could’ve been better but each and every of the other fight scenes was a joy to watch with some incredible and no doubt unrealistic moves pulled off.
I will be watching this again so thankfully there is little to fast forward between the action and I will recommend this for anyone who likes full on fast paced martial arts.
Ignore the story (which is true of most martial arts films) and what you have is simply excellent.
More of the same please.
