Common Thought of Sir Rantsalot

When I think “gang movie”, I usually can’t help but think of films like The Warriors, The Wanderers, Deuces Wild, etc. and expect straight up violence along with rivalry, betrayal, and gang wars.

With this movie, there is the element of gang movie, but there also is a different depth to the whole feel of this movie. Something wholesome, upbeat and deep. Based on the novel by S.E. Hinton, Francis Ford Coppola delivers this film with something for everyone… plus Matt Dillon & Mickey Rourke! An all-star cast made this movie mesh together pretty well also.

After reading the book, the backdrop seems very colorful and alive, but the way it was shown in the film made it look like an art film that was made in college or a commercial for Calvin Klein, it worked pretty well. There was hardly any color, some scenes contained color but they were only shown on certain objects, more on that later. In almost every scene, there is presence of a clock and smoke (or at least something like it, steam, etc.). Rumor has it that the clocks represent that the main character, Rusty James (Dillon), is running out of time with his life and he has to move on or else something drastic might happen. The smoke I’m not too sure about for it serves as little purpose for when characters are present, I think it might represent the anger level Rusty James is at, which is probably why he’s smoking cigarettes all the time.     

Living day by day keeps getting harder and harder, especially with keeping everything in order. Rusty James is 18 and in high school, in a gang and trying to find a balance within himself. He lives in an industrial part of Tulsa, Oklahoma (very similar to  SoDo) with no drive and ambition towards life. All he wants to do is hang out with his friends, get drunk, fight here and there, and just doesn’t want to grow up. His brother (Rourke) has been gone for a while, and somewhat turned his back to all of his gang, so Rusty James was left in charge of taking care of everything gang-wise. Since the Motorcycle Boy left, the idea of ”gang” seemed a little scarce. One day, Rusty James receives word that he has been challenged by Biff Wilcox to a fight, and of course accepts. In the midst of the fight, his brother “the Motorcycle Boy” arrives back on the scene. Except this time, he’s not the usual badass everybody thought he was, it’s almost as if he had a spiritual awakening, and he’s deep in thought. Throughout the film, it’s almost as if there’s an inner war going on with Rusty James, and he’s just figuring out whats with himself and how he thought he wanted to be just like his brother.

By now, you’re probably wondering why this movie’s been entitled “Rumble Fish”, with all the deep storyline of a see-the-light-kind of deal. Rumble fish is another name for a Siamese fighting fish. The Motorcycle Boy is intrigued by how it’s in the fish’s genetics to fight each other fish to the death when he walks into a pet shop one day. Since the rumble fish are put in tanks, they have no choice but to fight. The Motorcycle Boy wonders, “If they got put in the river, would they still fight each other?” That’s the way he feels as if that’s what Rusty James should do, since he’s fighting all the time. The Motorcycle Boy wants Rusty James to go out to the ocean, and find the same peace he’s found within himself. When I was talking about color, one of the only colors being shown were the bright flashy colors from the rumble fish. When Rusty James realizes how boxed in he was, color is shown.

All in all, this film’s a very good one, no matter what kind of person you are, tough as nails or soft as feathers. It made me ponder for days on end about where I’m going with myself and if it’s right. If you find it on a video store shelf, don’t hesitate, rent it! You won’t be disappointed.

4.9 out of 5 Filleted Halibuts

Catch ya on the flipside

CGI animation is used way too much these days. Toy Story, Shrek, Monsters Inc., Antz, I could go on. What happened to the good ol’ days when animation was done on paper; it seems as if CGI is trying to overpower it. But case in point, Kung Fu is awesome, the idea of taking animal forms and developing a fighting style from it is just… extraordinary. I have been into Kung Fu ever since the ripe age of 13, from doing a report on Bruce Lee as an exit project from middle school. Ever since my studying of Lee, I’ve been intrigued by Kung Fu. I’ve been watching new & old Kung Fu movies, and have been intrigued by how facinating it is to watch the true nature of how Kung Fu is performed.

When I got word of Kung Fu Panda coming to theaters, I immediately thought of how overhyped movies don’t do that well (i.e. I Robot), and thought that this film would be a downer. Boy was I wrong.

Ticket prices are ridiculous nowadays! I don’t go and see a movie in theaters unless I think thrice about the movie I’m going to see. The exceptions with this one were due to one of my main likings, Kung Fu. The part of me that wasn’t quite sure was due to critics saying, “This film’s the funniest movie of the year,” when really, it didn’t make me chuckle a little bit (Sideways).

Anyway, I’m sure y’all are tired of my in-depth shpiel for what drove me to seeing this, so here’s the review.

All I can say about the beginning is WOW! Any beginning to a film that can make me laugh in under 5 minutes gets the gold. The beginning in a nutshell is a flashback-type story of how a panda kung fu master came to a village and saved everyone, and the other masters bowed down to his awesomeness, and then told the panda in a stern voice, “We should hang out sometime.” ”Agreed.” Replied the panda. Then the story begins, because it turns out it was all just a dream from this bumbling panda who lives with his father making noodles for a village. The plot goes on as would a normal Kung Fu movie, and it was pretty entertaining: An evil disciple seeking vengeance upon his master, a prophet of Kung Fu training from beginner to expert, a wise teacher with nothing but humbleness, stubborness from students, great fight scenes and a very good story. 

One thing that was all-around cool about this movie was that the animal styles were represented by the actual animals, Tiger, Crane, Monkey, Mantis, and Snake. Seeing the actual animal perform Kung Fu was an interesting touch, and it worked well.

The voice acting fit in nicely, Jack Black seemed his usual self, even in CGI. James Hong was the voice of the panda’s father, you might know him as the dad from Wayne’s World 2 or Wong from Balls of Fury. Dustin Hoffman was the stubborn, wise, little master who seemed to have the correct fitting. Angelina Jolie was the voice of the tiger, Lucy Liu was the voice of the snake, Seth Rogen was the voice of the mantis, one of my favorite comedians (David Cross) was the voice of the crane, and Jackie Chan was the voice of the monkey. While we’re on that subject, I just got to say that Jackie Chan is ok by me, but his voice acting just wasn’t too good. He had probably only 5 lines throughout the movie, and they were short little one-liners. Of course Chan helped out with the fighting choreography so he probably didn’t even want to do any voice acting.

All in all, it was rewarding to see a movie that had so much to offer due to it’s humongous stir-fry of Kung Fu, an appeal to kids, slapstick, engaging dialogue, and a pretty good message. Don’t think for one second that this is strictly for the kids. It’s got something for everybody. I’m pretty sure you know what the ending song for the movie is… Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting”.

Overall: 4.95 out of 5 Boards broken by a Kung Fu chop

Thanks For Reading,
catch ya on the flipside.