“What’s
the matter, never humped a rock before?”

While
every other martial arts fan was watching the long-awaited Boyka:
Undisputed IV a
couple weeks ago, I was
getting my hands on a
more low-profile release called
Death Fighter. I
regret that decision, now.
While looking
up
lower-profile movies
has served me well in the past, it led
to a disappointment
this time. After having its
release pushed back repeatedly for
several
years, this film finally reveals that it has little more
going for it than
a
supergroup of karate stars and a few surprises. While
there are some things that I like and admire about this one,
I have
to admit that it’s just too plain to hang with its more substantial
competition.

The
story: A renegade FBI agent (Matt Mullins) teams up with an
ex-military mercenary (Don Wilson) to take down a dangerous kingpin
(Gigi Velicitat) in the Thai jungle.

Ensemble
casting is so common now that it’d almost be a bigger surprise to
feature less than four
prominent names in an action movie, but Death Fighter
certainly secured an iconic
draw. In addition to XMA
champ Mullins and kickboxing
hall-of-famer Wilson, the
cast packs two more legends
in Cynthia Rothrock as one of the evil lieutenants and the late Joe
Lewis as Mullins’ doomed partner. Throw in rising genre staple
Jawed El Berni and you can
see why I had such high hopes
for this. However, the utilization of its stars is the main
reason I’m unhappy with the film. Only the acrobatic El Berni
delivers approximate to his reputation; everyone else is in trouble.

• Matt
  Mullins: I’ve been waiting for this
  guy to step up and become the
  next Scott Adkins ever
  since I first saw
  him in Adventures
  of Johnny Tao. With
  Death Fighter being
  technically his first vehicle in 12 years, I thought it’d
  be the stepping stone he
  needed to get people at large
  to notice him…but now, I
  have doubts about his
  potential. Matt shows off his
  martial
  skills just fine, but jeez, are
  both he and his character
  ever bland! Mullins comes off
  as a Ken doll, and
  is absolutely unremarkable beyond
  his fight scenes.
  Adkins is no master thespian
  but at least he can create a memorable character, whereas Mullins
  barely creates an impression. Were
  it not for Matt’s
  physicality, anybody could’ve
  played this role.
• Don
  Wilson: The opposite of his younger costar, Wilson is charismatic but
  totally unprepared for the movie’s style of action. Choreographer
  Patrick Tang favors a flashy, acrobatic style of fight scene, but
  Wilson isn’t about to change up his usual grounded game for
  anybody. Though Don’s brawls feature significantly less slow motion
  than his regular fare, they’re noticeably slower and less creative
  than anybody else’s – giving the impression that everyone had to
  go at half-speed with the old man.
• Joe
  Lewis: Speaking of old men, the late
  karate god is in decisively poor shape. I know
  Joe was in failing
  health at this time in his life and thus excuse
  much
  about his utilization,
  but he still seems
  poorly-placed in an
  action-packed film like
  this. He briefly beats up a henchman
  and engages in a shootout before being killed off only
  a few minutes into the movie. Whereas
  his previous role in Kill ‘Em All
  seemed like an
  appropriate sendoff to the
  grandmaster’s film career,
  this almost seems like an unwanted obligation.
• Cynthia
  Rothrock: Having previously
  stated
  that she’d like to do at
  least one more Hong Kong film in her life, I’d hoped that the
  similar
  style of this picture might
  be the opening Cynthia needed to remind the world that she’s an
  action legend. Not so. Rothrock seems awkwardly cast in her
  supporting role, playing second fiddle to a performer less
  charismatic than she (Velicitat),
  and like Wilson, her two fights leave a lot to be desired. Her
  dream match against Don is
  particularly disappointing, featuring some
  cruddy
  camerawork.

Nevertheless,
the picture has some noteworthy redeeming traits. Despite
my complaints about some of the fighters’ individual performances,
I’m still generally pleased by
the action
content. Though he doesn’t
properly
distinguish himself from other performers who utilize the tricking
style, Matt Mullins is well-matched against Jawed El Berni and the
various Thai stuntmen, making
for occasionally nice
showdowns. However, the film’s trump cards aren’t any of its
advertised performers, but rather two hitherto-unknown costars who
just about blow their cohorts out of the water. Chiranan
Manochaem is introduced as a dramatic performer and potential love
interest to Matt Mullins, but explodes onto
the adrenaline scenes
with
some impressive
fights,
making her arguably the best-utilized performer of the bunch. Less of
a character but definitely the best onscreen fighter is Prasit
Suanphaka, playing
Don Wilson’s near-stoic sidekick. I’ll
be really
disappointed
if
this guy gets lost among the masses of stunt
guys
in Thailand, because he’s one of the most versatile and unhinged
performers
I’ve lately seen leading
a fight scene. With
a brawling style that’s a fair mix of Tony Jaa and Jackie Chan,
he’s
one guy who should definitely been in more movies.

Other
positive things I noticed include the
refreshingly
layered participation
of women in
the action scenes.
I recently wrote an essay on the depiction
of women in martial arts films, and it
seems as though the filmmakers were thinking along similar lines
regarding exceptionalism.
Chiranan Manochaem soundly dismantles any demure expectations you
develop about her character
leading up to her first fight (demonstrating
that
women can be action participants and
supporting stars at the same time),
and Cynthia Rothrock’s otherwise disappointing casting as an
enforcer helps level the field between the sexes and makes the sight
of women fighting men less extraordinary than filmmakers often
perpetuate. A
subplot involving human trafficking isn’t handled with as much
gravitas as I’d hoped (it takes a backseat to the personal revenge
angle), but it isn’t played for titillation. Not
only that, but
– for the first time I’ve ever
seen
in a U.S. production – the kidnapped women are rescued by another
woman. These
are small
touches, but the effect they have on the presentation is
noteworthy.

If
there
were
only such
aspects
to
consider and
the handful of weird B-grade
moments (e.g. a kid thinks it’s funny when a murder victim’s
blood pours onto
his head), the film might
yet manage to shine a little.
Disappointingly, the
technical presentation keeps
viewers
from properly engaging with
the story.
While the movie can get its plot
from A to B, choppy editing frequently
gives a strained feel to conversations, fight scenes, and
montages.
The presence of some naturally pretty scenery merely
draws
attention to the lack of standout cinematography. Also, the movie’s
tone can shift so drastically at times that it can
be like watching
two different films: it
favors a refreshingly optimistic outlook wherein characters develop
genuine bonds and manage
overcome personal problems, but it can quickly turn around and become
quite grim, like the rather gratuitous throat-slitting scene.
This film wasn’t rated by the MPAA, but
I
can
see
it getting one of those ironic R ratings based
on
just a
couple
of
scenes.
(For
the record, it’s gotten
a 14^ rating in Canada.)

Outright lack of quality isn’t
Death Fighter’s failing point so much as mediocrity. While a
movie like this would be a decent watch in most circumstances, the
amount of talent involved makes it all the more disappointing when
you see how little the filmmakers did with their resources. It makes
me fear for the career of Matt Mullins: Rothrock and Wilson
subsequently showed themselves prepared to shape up in The Martial
Arts Kid (produced after this one but released earlier), and the
sheer amount of movies coming out of Thailand assures me that I’ll
probably see Manochaem and Suanphaka again, but Mullins probably had
a lot riding on this for his prospective solo career. He’ll always
be able to find stuntwork and supporting roles, but if this is all he
can do when the spotlight’s on him, I have a feeling that it won’t
grace him many times more. However, responsibility for the picture’s
quality ultimately falls on the filmmakers: to the extent that
director Toby Russell wasn’t hampered by producers, he’s
demonstrated that he needs more practice in producing a standout
karate film and, for the time being, should stick to documentaries.

Death
Fighter (AKA
White Tiger)
(2017)
Directed
by Toby
Russell (Cinema of
Vengeance)
Written
by
Lawrence Riggins (Replicant)
Starring
Matt Mullins, Don Wilson, Chiranan
Manochaem,
Gigi Velicitat (The
Mark)
Cool
costars: Prasit
Suanphaka,
Cynthia Rothrock, Jawed El Berni (Ninja
II: Shadow of a Tear),
Joe Lewis
Title
refers to: The
official
title could refer to virtually any of the above-mentioned performers,
whereas the working title refers
to Matt Mullins.
(Don
Wilson: “Sometimes,
it takes a stubborn tiger like you to get a reluctant lion like me
to fight. And you’re white.”)
Content warning:
Kidnapping, implied torture, violence against women, extreme
violence
Copyright
Vision Films, Inc.