Review: DIE FIGHTING, An Energetic, Meta Martial Arts Flick

Garcia brings along the rest of the high-kicking squad: brothers Didier and Laurent Buson (whom you may remember got his ass whooped by Iko Uwais in Merantau), and Jess Allen. The story allows them to essentially play themselves, essentially, a struggling team of stuntmen looking for their big break in Los Angeles who get roped into filming a real-time fight flick lorded over by a mysterious Filmmaker giving instructions via cellphone. What follows is a riff on The Running Man mixed with the current found-footage fad, or "Reality Film" as it's called here (the whirring of camera zoom lens is a constant distraction).

There's a nice meta layer to all of this: the Z Team is making a movie in which they're forced to act out said movie, effectively mirroring their own career, but with added gunfights, kidnappings, and bone-crunching fights to the death.

All this leads to one of those improbable but fun twists which turns everything on its head; the original title The Price of Success should provide a clue. With Fabien Garcia acting as director, screenwriter, stunt choreographer, lead actor and who knows what else, the ending is probably proof of how seriously he takes his craft; it's a pretty direct statement of intent.

This isn't a deep metaphor for actors' struggles, though; the most important part of any martial arts flick is whether the fight scenes are any good, and there's nothing to complain about in this regard. Garcia choreographs some high-energy fisticuffs which give him and his friends ample room to show off their skills, without breaking too much of a sweat; special mention goes to a brawl involving a sudden case of Drunken Style Kung Fu. The guys aren't the greatest actors - it doesn't help that at least two of them have to speak through really thick European accents - but they have sufficient screen presence, and their fighting prowess more than makes up for the shortcomings.

The plot is ultimately secondary; this is more of a highlight reel for what Z Team is capable of. It's a pretty solid calling card, enough to earn them more high-profile gigs in other action movies. For martial arts aficionados, it's a pretty entertaining time and a good introduction to the Z boys.