The_Phantom_Projectionist Coming off the heels of other recent, impressive fight flicks like THE RAID and UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING is KILL 'EM ALL, the second film to receive a wide release from director Raimund Huber who's in the process of perfecting the style of Thailand-set, Thai-looking action films made by a westerner. In contrast to its direct competition, KILL 'EM ALL is relatively small in scale and has sections of the story which definitely could have been written better, but it's still a remarkable powerhouse of diverse fight choreography done right, relatively intriguing characters, and a well-executed premise.The story: eight ace assassins are drugged, kidnapped, and awaken in an enclosed "killing chamber" where a voice over a loudspeaker (Gordon Liu) instructs them how they're expected to kill each other until only one remains. It will take ingenuity and persistence on their parts to find their way out of this alive.The first half of this picture feels like a martial arts-themed take on Saw, with the characters stuck in the room and being subjected to the instructions that pit them in one-on-one showdowns. Though some of the assassins are obviously expendable (e.g. poor Erik Schuetz, still waiting for a good role), there's a good deal more genuine acting and personality-exposition going on during this part of the film than one might expect, resulting in the viewer being able to take a genuine interest in some of the fighters beyond their action scenes. The majority of the acting falls upon the only real thespian of the bunch, non-martial artist Johnny Messner, and while an okay character, I think he's the most detracting part of the film, having been written as overly talkative and sarcastic, especially in the second half. Additionally, while the second and more conventional half of the film might disappoint some viewers who had really gotten into the setup of the first half (for the record, I wasn't), it's the eventual reveal of the master plan behind the whole plot that's universally disappointing and that keeps the movie from a five-star rating.However, like the best martial arts pictures, this one's fourteen fight scenes dutifully pick up the slack where the story falls short. Having seen the movie only recently, I can confidently state that karate flicks of the New Year have their work cut out for them in matching the action of KILL 'EM ALL. Much of it, of course, has to do with the fine casting of unique fighters. There are acrobatic tricksters (e.g. Rashid Phoenix), hard-edged muay thai exponents (e.g. Ice Chongko), physical powerhouses (e.g. the male lead henchman), realism-based hand-to-hand practitioners (e.g. the late karate god Joe Lewis), and several more. Equally important to the strength of the fights is the truly masterful choreography by star/fight wrangler Tim Man. While not every brawl in the film is a grade-A affair, Man shows great ingenuity in not only allowing each of the performers to play to their physical strengths and therein nullifying the need for stunt doubles, but also in matching the subsequent diverse styles of the fighters harmoniously: even for the final showdown when a methodical kickboxer (Ammara Siripong), a grounded kung fu practitioner (Gordon Liu), and an acrobatic fighter (Tim Man) are pitted in combat, no fighter has to modify his style for the others, resulting in a very unique match.Personally, I think this feature is unique enough just for being the last movie of the departed Joe Lewis' sporadic film career, which had been hit & miss thus far but I'm glad that his last one could be a winner. Though he died just months before this one's DVD release at age 68, his performance is stellar: despite appearing heavyset and visibly aged, Lewis' character gets a look in his eyes when it's time to fight that makes you believe he's going to sincerely beat the stuffing out of someone, and his rough, practical moves back it up. This aspect and all the rest accumulate for a very good martial arts flick - definitely one of the best of last year.

Greg Whilden I've been watching martial arts films for years. And this one rates a solid A for entertainment on my list. What brought me here to do this review was a google of the leading actress Ammara Siripong. A true and upcoming femme fetale. She and her body drove the movie forward. Fantastic stomach and abs that led the way from beginning to the end along with a cute face to follow. Good casting guys! From what I can see she's an up and coming bollywood star and I would like to see her in more of these kinds of flicks as she pulled off her part very well with martial arts moves and all. I've read the reviews which seem harsh for what this movie is. Yes it is action and fight scenes. But what do you expect from a martial arts flick? No it doesn't need a huge plot to drive it forward. Neither did many of Bruce Lee's movies. This one reminded me of a hybrid of Bruce's last movie Game of Death where he reached higher levels on his way to defeat greater fighter threats that presented themselves. I personally enjoyed the fight scenes as majority of the moves were believable with the exception of one big dude that Siripong was beating with bricks who would still almost not go down. Beyond that, no gravity flying kung fu masters who defy the laws of physics. Or Jackie Chan scenes where every inch of space is used to battle everything that comes after him. But a group of capable assassins with varying killing skills thrust into a situation of them against us. So for me the plot didn't need to be complex and the acting didn't need to be Oscar quality. I could understand all the English spoken and my brain didn't work overtime trying to figure out what was going on as many convoluted movies often force on you. Another good movie to check out is Van Damme's 6 Bullets.That has more of a plot although there are still a lot of holes for those that want to criticize. Again, these movies are action driven and the scenes either maintain your interest and carry you forward or lose it and leave you behind. For me this movie took me to a satisfying end.

grandmastersik Simple premise: 8 assassins wake up in a room and are ordered to kill each other or be killed.Okay, so with a story that has all the makings of a kick-arse B-flick, a beautiful woman for the boys to drool over and some skilled martial artists to boot, why not a higher score?Because:The two lead Americans are s-l-o-w, painfully so, and their fights scenes are horrible - it was as if their opponents had to stop and wait for the ensuing move to come.The fight choreography gave absolutely nothing new. Maybe this wouldn't have been a problem with more story and less action, but with fights constantly throughout the 90 minutes, watching this became repetitive.The villains' plan was absurd. "I'm a killer but I hate all other killers"? Seriously?Bad English. At first, I was thinking that the film was dubbed, and the voice over given by the female lead come the ending is hard to take.But it's not all bad - I've certainly seen worse - and it's true to what it claims to be: 90 minutes or so of full-on action.Oh, and the final fight is actually pretty cool... but with so many other decent M.A./action films out there, I'd have a hard job recommending this.

med77_99 I was having high hopes for Kill'em all, but was left disappointed at the lack of creativity and enjoyment of this movie. it had what seemed to be an interesting plot, the idea behind it sounded cool and intriguing, but the delivery of that idea was below what is expected. the plot involves a group of highly professional assassins who got kidnapped and locked into a bunker together by a madman who forces them to play his game and fight each other to escape, for no clear reason, probably for his own sick entertainment. the fight scenes in the film were impressive to some extent, some well choreographed fight scenes that involve mainly martial arts, but they add nothing new to the hundreds of action films out there.the lead actress had some impressive moves and a cool sexy outfit, very delicious to look at.generally, the acting was just awful, very rigid and lame, those people seem like professional athletes, but just don't cut it as actors which really harmed this movie big time.the script and dialog was just as awful if not the worst i've ever seen in a movie, just awful writing, that nothing smart comes out of those actors, lame and boring dialog that i just screamed please shut up once a conversation starts !Add to that a lame villain that looks like an Asian version of Blofeld of the Bond films, minus the cat. a bold villain in a grey suit with some good fighting skills actually, he also have an army of psychopaths and ninjas that ultimately fight our heroes. " one might ask why don't he just use his ninjas to fight each other for entertainment ? "the effects were also below average when explosions were involved, something that can be made with a simple editing program on your laptop.so generally, a boring film for the most part, low grade B film with only some good fight scenes as its positive, otherwise,atrocious acting and an avoidable B film that adds nothing new or special out of all the hundreds of B action films out there.