Forget the fact that the Man in the title is a bit blah, because there's lots to enjoy in this movie if you're a fan of 'B Movies' or chop-socky action. This movie is a bit of a vanity project for RZA, one of the rappers from the Wu Tang Clan. He co-wrote the film (with Eli Roth, usually a horror merchant), directed it and stars as The Blacksmith. I think he should have stuck with writing and directing, because those jobs he has performed more than competently. Acting is not for him though, displaying an extremely limited range of facial expressions (mostly just the same one throughout) and not a lot of personality. This is more than made up for though, by some artfully hammy acting by Russell Crowe as Jack Knife, Lucy Liu as Madam Blossom, former WWE wrestler Bautista as Brass Body and especially Byron Mann as head baddie Silver Lion.
In case you couldn't tell by the silly names, this is an incredibly silly movie but I found it immensely enjoyable in all but a few flashback scenes. Set in feudal China just before modern weapons, a village is the battle ground for a number of different clans who want control. The Lion tribe tend to be fairly peaceful other than fighting the Wolf and Hyena clans, until Gold Lion (leader) is murdered by one of his own. His son and heir, Xen-Yi the Dagger Blade, tries to return to the village to avenge his father's murder and wrest back control of the clan from Silver Lion who has taken over with big plans to rob the government of a haul of gold that will be passing through the village. The Blacksmith has historically provided weapons to all sides, but finally chooses a side when Xen-Yi comes back and is wounded by the hulking, impervious goon Brass Body. English gentleman Jack Knife who is staying at Madame Blossom's brothel/hotel initially seems to be here coincidentally, but eventually a purpose is revealed.
The movie is essentially a series of fights, between clans, then between Jack Knife and anyone who interferes with him, then between Xen-Yi and his former clan members, then between The Blacksmith and Xen-Yi and Brass Body, then the Lion tribe with the Gemini Killers who are escorting the gold, then it sort of becomes all in once the gold has been jacked and the Government finds out, then the Blacksmith has to get revenge with his newly forged Iron Fists after Brass Body cut off his forearms. Madame Blossom and her girls are also a lot more than they seem! The fight scenes are all super-stylised and hyper-violent (eyeballs being punched out and flying across the screen and plenty of crimson squirting) and this is where the influence of Eli Roth is felt. It's got a similar feel to Kill Bill's big fight scenes, except with smaller weapons and hand to hand martial arts rather than samurai swords. The 'stylised' element also continues with the use of modern day hip hop music as the score rather than traditional score music.
My companion rated this as a 5 out of 10 but I would give it closer to a 7 out of 10 as I really enjoyed the fights and the campiness of it all.
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