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GEOCHILMARU
AKA:
The Showdown
Year:
2005 Reviewer: Phil
Mills
Although
Martial Arts is primarily about self defence and attaining a
high degree of physical perfection, in some circles of the
arts pupils prefer to argue which technique is the most
effective in actual combat. When eight masters of
various styles cross paths on a website, they decide to meet
up and pit their skills against each other in an effort to
prove who is the greatest fighter. Tae kwon do, Kung Fu,
Muay Thai and Wu Shu all go head to head in a no holds barred
tournament that hopes to settle the arguments once and for
all with one prize awaiting the champion - the chance to
duel the mysterious and undisputed master known only to the
world as Geochilmaru. Will our competitors battle with
honour and dignity or will the name of the game be tactics and
dirty tricks? There's only one way
to find out - watch 'Geochilamaru'!
There's
something
about films that utilise the internet as their core component
that really bugs me. I realise that this is relatively bizarre statement
coming from someone who is so involved with the internet on a day
to day basis but within movies, it often seems to serve as
nothing more than an easy excuse to fill in the gaps.
Rarely has their been a more accurate example to corroborate
this theory than 'Geochilmaru', a movie that not only attempts to plug the
cavernous plot holes with the "internet" excuse but
also bases it's entire premise around the concept.
Essentially, the film breaks down as nothing more than a group of
Martial Artists who meet on the internet and organise a mini
tournament. The obvious lack of effort that has been put in to
devising this story means that the film is an extremely empty
vessel that relies solely on its action to provide the
entertainment with no room for even an ounce of original scripting. Alongside this, the acting talent on
display is extremely amateur and all concerned are highly
unlikely to progress any further in the industry. Its
fair to say they do just about enough to convince in their
expected roles but the character development and lack of distinguishable
personalities means that no one emerges as a face for the future.
Unfortunately
for a film that is crying out for awe inspiring action
sequences, 'Geochilmaru' also maintains a lightweight attitude
towards the fight choreography. In this incident, it can
mainly be attributed to the way
in which the action is directed and the talent is
handled. Most of the fighters who possess the more eye
pleasing abilities are dispatched of early on and each of the duels
(particularly the latter ones) appear choppy
and exceedingly raw. Its disappointing really
considering that a lot of the actors clearly know how to fight (from what I hear most of them were chosen because of their martial arts skills) and
there are a few moves that impress but the action
director chooses to setup the combat on a one hit basis that
sees each of the combatants strike and then dance around
before taking another calculated hit. Evidently this was
intended to add realism to the action but sadly it only
succeeds in slowing down the pacing of the scenes and prevents
them from ever igniting a significant spark in the
viewer. As a slight plus though, the soundtrack within the film does stand out
thanks to a memorable main theme and the insertion of
various upbeat dance style tracks
during the fight sequences that always help to attain the
right atmosphere.
How
much you enjoy 'Geochilmaru' is entirely dependant on just how
desperate you are for fresh blood in the action genre or
perhaps just how
much alcohol you've had to drink. That might sound harsh
because it's not the worst film ever made and could score
points as cult entertainment in a cheesy way but for
most, it is highly likely to leave a sour taste.
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