After his tribe are betrayed and slaughtered by an old enemy Hongi, the chief's son, vows to take revenge and retrieve his father's head. He follows the warriors who killed his family into the forbidden Dead Lands, the land of a fabled monster who kills and eats all those who trespass there. He joins with the monster, a warrior whose own family were murdered, and they hunt the killers together.
Maori action movie from Fijian/Kiwi director Toa Fraser. Though not very well known outside New Zealand, he directed the well-received My Talks with Dean Spanley starring Sam Neill and Peter O'Toole. Hongi is played by the young and pretty James Rolleston quite convincingly. The warrior/monster is played by Lawrence Makoare. Makoare has been around as an also-ran for quite a while with bit parts in two of the Lord of the Rings films and The Hobbit. This is one of his few lead roles and he's very good. A big man with a big presence he really steals the show.
I went into this movie feeling it was going to be exploitative and overly violent and to an extent I was right. It pushes a 'mystic' theme, having them take mushrooms to speak to their dead ancestors, but it's well handled and it is integral to the story. There is a lot of bloody violence, it's an action movie after all, but again it's well done and the fact that it's Maori weapons and martial arts make it interesting and a break from the norm.
Over all I ended up really enjoying it. It's something different and the action was good. Well worth a look.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3399916/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_3
No comments:
Post a Comment