The Man with the Iron Fists trailer

So… the trailer for “forthcoming” Tarantino and RZA (no, me neither) film The Man with the Iron Fists is out. There are a number of aspects to this that may leap out at you (once you’ve confirmed you’re old enough — and presumably mature enough — to watch it), but probably the most obvious one is:

  • it’s screaming out in the classic Fudebakudo colours, which, as all martial scholars agree, is nearly always a tacit acknowledgement that Fudebakudo masters have been involved behind the scenes.

Anyway, here’s the trailer: on the Miramax site or on YouTube (given that the trailer is an advert anyway, watching it on YouTube means you tiresomely get to watch the advert with adverts, which may be a good enough reason to go to Miramax).

Obviously, I don’t know if the film will be any good — I haven’t been sent a preview copy, nor has an invitation to the premiere arrived. On the positive side, when everything comes together Tarantino can tell a thumpingly good tale stylishly well; but more relevant to Fudebakudo interests is the fact that he can turn out a richly-informed martial arts film too, as evidenced by the deceptively-knowing Kill Bill. On the cautious side, Lucy Liu’s agent has a knack for signing her up for films of questionable quality, and this does look a teensy bit as if she’s been asked to do an O-Ren-Ishii-a-like (which perhaps says more about how Quentin likes to imagine her than anything she had control over herself). But the real tease here is that there’s not quite enough of Russell Crowe’s dialogue to tell whether or not he’s going to be doing that sly Irish accent again, the one which so enthralled English (especially Northern English) audiences in Robin Hood.