A Blistering Brawler with Heart
Summary
Blazing Fists takes a little while to get going, but it’s worth the wait as we get some brutal beatdowns as well as interesting character moments to make this worth checking out.
Plot: From the legendary cult filmmaker Takashi Miike comes the story of Ikuto and Ryoma, troubled teens who meet in juvenile detention and make a plan to fight their way to freedom. Inspired by MMA fighter and Breaking Down founder Mikuru Asakura, the two boys make a plan to compete in Asakura’s popular tournament. When released, they discover that they’ll have to defeat their past outside the ring, before they can be champions inside of it …
Review: Takashi Miike returns with the hugely entertaining Blazing Fists; for the first half hour I was wondering why it had that title as it was a little slow to get going however, it was just setting up the characters and story. Your patience is rewarded as the second half is filled with fight scenes including a massive brawl which is incredibly satisfying.
Our two leads Ikuto Yagura (Danhi Kinoshita) and Ryoma Akai (Kaname Yoshizawa) are young delinquents who meet in juvie and after a speech from a former inmate they are inspired to better themselves. They get out and want to be fighters so thus begins a few training montages and it feels quite familiar. Then things take a turn and the characters become far more interesting especially Jun (Chikashi Kuon) who may well be my favourite character in the movie.
Ikuto and Ryoma make for appealing leads and we are rooting for them, but I loved how certain characters we think are going to be one way but they turn out different and that’s what lifts this film up. You can have a million fight scenes but if the characters aren’t interesting then why bother?
There are some David Lynch-esque moments of humour which I loved as it gives the film a quirkiness that makes it stand out.
The fights are all well-choreographed and there is genuine emotion in them too, which brings you into the story and characters more.
Overall, Blazing Fists takes a little while to get going and the story may seem familiar, but there are enough interesting character moments and impressive fight scenes to keep you entertained.