“The Fist of the Condor” is a deadly 16th century martial arts technique that was concealed by the Incas in a sacred manual that has been passed down from generation to generation. The Masters of the Fist of the Condor had protected the manual for centuries, and only those who had an honest heart would be able to inherit the technique, but now it is in danger of falling into the wrong hands. El Guerrero (Marko Zaror) had been living an isolated life on a mountain for the past 6 years, leaving his wife and child, shaving his head like a monk, and training and tuning his body like a well-oiled machine. His only weakness is is photophobia, a sensitivity to light that causes him extreme pain, and is slowly making him blind. Before his isolation, the warrior had previously trained under Master Wook (Man Soo Yoon) and then under the Condor Woman (Gina Aguad), whose unorthodox techniques defy the laws of gravity. His time alone in nature has brought out some of the warrior’s more primitive and animalistic nature. He hasn’t seen or fought anyone in 6 years. However, that’s about to change as an enemy makes his way to the warrior’s beachside oasis looking to obtain the manual. The warrior believes it is his identical twin brother who has sent this evil guest and others after him, and so he decides to leave his sanctuary to find and confront his brother. But first he must take on his brother’s top student in a deadly face-off.
I was unfamiliar with Chilean martial arts action star Marko Zaror before watching this film—with the shaved head, he reminded me of a more ripped version of Mark Strong. It is easy to see right from the start that this guy is the real deal and a force to be reckoned with, especially the way that his powerful thrusts, kicks and leaps take down the warrior’s first attacker. While the actual martial arts fights in this movie are really well choreographed and executed, I was not really a fan of the movie overall. I was actually shocked when I checked IMDb afterwards and found that the film had rating of 8.5/10! Did these people watch the same movie I did?! Did I miss something? I found the film to be extremely slow, with long periods of inner monologue narrations, and a bit confusing in the way it constantly jumps back and forth in time. The trailer for the film makes it look like a very straightforward martial arts movie, however, the tone of the movie actually felt more campy and tongue-in-cheek to me. I couldn’t tell if this was intentional, or if I was misreading things. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the 1985 film Gymkata, which was another more serious action film that plays more campy, though I enjoyed that movie a lot more than this one. (On IMDb, this film is categorized under Action, not Comedy.) For example, when the warrior first shows up at Condor Woman’s school, she has her students move around on all fours like an animal, and later on they have their feet bound and end up looking almost like a shrimp, but still need to run and jump using their hands. Later, when the warrior faces off with an enemy there’s at least 2 minutes of the pair stretching before actually getting to their fight. It feels like this was supposed to be humorous, but was played very straight. The wigs on the flashback scenes for the warrior and his brother also look comically bad.
The film is broken into 9 chapters, the titles of which are displayed on the screen. Some of these are flashbacks while others are the warrior facing off against an attacker—other martial artists looking for the manual, or a trio of angry bikers at a bar. The action and fight sequences are generally quite good, but there’s also these long, seemingly endless narrations and inner monologues from the warrior, talking about how his body is a well-oiled machine, and how food helps to regulate the voltage, etc. I think the fact that all of this narration had to be read in subtitles didn’t help with the tedium. The film is also constantly jumping around in time without any notation as to when certain events took place, which didn’t help provide a cohesive story and timeline—you had to rely on the wigs to know you were watching a flashback. The movie builds towards one goal, and raises some questions to the viewer as to what is going on. However, it opts not to resolve these, instead holding out hope that this will be a continuing franchise of films following the further adventures of this warrior.
Well Go’s Blu-ray release offers just the original Spanish language track. The dialogue is clear and the track makes nice use of the stereo and surround sound to put the viewer into the action, whether it’s the sound of the crashing waves on the beach, the thuds as kick and punches land, or the film’s score. I wish there had been an English dub option as it would have helped alleviate some of the tedium of reading the constant inner monologue during some scenes. The picture quality is quite good overall, with a generally clean presentation that provides a nice level of detail. This is a low budget film but the video presentation does not feel like it.
Well Go’s Blu-ray release is pretty barebones, just including 90 seconds of raw behind-the-scenes footage, the film’s trailer, and some previews for three other Well Go releases as bonus material. I know there had been some special Q&A screenings for the film’s theatrical release—it would have been nice if some of that Q&A footage could had been included. The disc comes packed in a locking HD keepcase, and doesn’t include a digital copy. Our review copy did not include a slipcover.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:20:20)
-
Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.00:1
- Audio: Spanish DTS-HDMA 5.1, Spanish Stereo
- Subtitles: English
Extras:
- Behind the Scenes (1:35)
Montage of raw behind-the-scenes footage overlaid with a score (the original audio, with its heavy winds, can also still be heard). - Trailer (2:06)
- Previews
- Code of the Assassins (1:31)
- Legend of Gatotkaca (1:38)
- The Grandmaster of Kung Fu (1:17)
Final Thoughts:
While The Fist of the Condor has some excellent martial arts sequences, I found the tone of the movie to be a bit off, and the overall story a bit confusing. I was also not a fan of the constant inner-monologue narration. The film has a very high IMDb rating which baffles me—I’m not sure what others saw that I didn’t. However, for fans of the movie, Well Go’s Blu-ray features solid picture and sound, and even includes a small clip of behind-the-scenes footage. For others, I’d recommend checking it out on Hi-Yah! or a cheap rental first.
Fist of the Condor
$22.68 $9.98 (as of November 25, 2024 05:51 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Fist of the Condor
48% Off $24.98 $11.95 (as of November 25, 2024 05:51 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
